To the young urchins who intruded into his domains he was not so indulgent, but kept a keen eye and a long stick for their especial benefit. This, however, only subjected him to ten times more annoyance. They would pull him by the coat tail, or jerk his ragged pantaloons until they worked him up into a passion. Then their greatest delight was to be hunted over the prairie by the Black Bear (the name which he had received among them). He might as well have followed a cloud. They sprang like fawns over the prairie, scarcely appearing to rustle the grass in their flight. They played around him like swallows, until completely exhausted by his own lumbering movements, he was fain to give out, and return unavenged to his occupations. Woe to the unlucky urchin, however, who, having been once guilty, should venture at any subsequent time within his reach! A hearty cuffing would convince him that the memory of the Black Bear was more tenacious than his own, and would warn him in future to keep clear of so dangerous a neighbourhood. During the whole of our journey from Fort Leavenworth to the Otoe town, Mordecai had kept his fellow-servants in a state of constant tribulation. He gave such bloody accounts of Indians and Indian murders, that they regarded death as almost inevitable; and, I suspect, would have deserted at the first opportunity, had there not been more danger in leaving than in remaining with the party. When, however, we had been received by the Otoes, and the danger was past, Mordecai forgot his tales of terror. He pretended a kind of fellow-feeling for the Otoes. He talked Creek to the old women, who were willing to understand any language, so that they might but remain sufficiently near the tents to get an opportunity of stealing. He regarded the children that hung round with a kind of parental affection, and thoroughly discountenanced the thwackings which Jones so liberally bestowed upon them. When we were perfectly settled in our camp, the horses which he had driven were turned adrift with the rest. He then took upon himself the duties of cook, transferring to Jones the less honourable employment of cutting wood for fuel. He would stand by the hour, with a red flannel night-cap stuck upon the side of his head; his butcher-knife in one hand, and his arm akimbo, descanting upon the arduousness of the office. He had a high opinion of his own importance, and made no hesitation in saying that he ranked next to the Commissioner in the estimation of the Indians; that Mr. Ellsworth was respected by the chiefs on account of his having charge of the presents. As for himself, that he was popular among the vagabonds of the village; for they had no hope of presents, and, therefore, were delighted to come in for a share of the tit-bits and choice morsels which it was in his power to distribute while cooking.