The wagons then drove out of the grove, followed by the Indians; the rear being brought up by the horsemen. In front of them rode the Doctor mounted upon Kitty; and as they jogged slowly along, I could not help thinking, that they would have formed no inapt illustration of Sancho Panza and his beloved Dapple. CHAPTER XVI. _Elk Chase.—Wandering from Party.—Herd of Elk.—Night Camp.—Hill of Bones.—Racoon.—Indian.—Return to Party.—Wild Horse._ On the morning of the fifth day of our journey, an Otoe Indian, who was on the look-out, came running to us with the intelligence of a large _gang_ of elk. All was excitement. The soldiers snatched their yagers; the Otoes their rifles; the Pawnees strung their bows, drew their arrows from their quivers, and all hurried after the Indian guide, over the prairie which had been burnt before us. In ten minutes they reached the top of a hill, looking down into a deep ravine, about three hundred yards distant. It was thronged with elk. Some were gamboling about; some resting amid the high luxuriant grass, which here had escaped the fire. Others browzing upon the foliage of the vines, which hung in long and graceful festoons from the dwarf bushes; and some were slaking their thirst at a limpid brook. But even in these, their moments of greatest security, their instinctive vigilance was not at rest. For while most of the herd were frolicking, several, who from their enormous size, and the unwieldly length of their antlers, appeared to be the oldest in the gang, had stationed themselves as sentinels, on jutting rocks in the elevated banks, which commanded an extensive view. There they stood on the look-out, their heads high in the air, their nostrils expanded to catch the tainted breeze. Scarcely had our band paused on the top of the hill, before the eyes of the watchful sentinels were turned upon them, and a loud snort gave the signal for a general flight. The bushes and shrubs, snapped and crashed beneath their rush, as they rolled together in a heavy mass. Their branching antlers tore through the wild vines; and the whole herd dashed across the ravine and thundered up the opposite steep. Large stones and fragments of rock, gave way beneath the tread of the leaders, and fell bounding among the hindmost. Those in front broke off large masses of sandy soil from the edge of the banks, and losing their footing, were whirled back among their companions. Notwithstanding the confusion, however, half a minute had not elapsed, before the whole herd had surmounted the steep, and were flying over the prairie, with the swiftness of a whirlwind. “No elk meat to-day,” said Rash, (one of the soldiers,) leaning on the end of his yager, and watching the herd as they swept behind a distant skirt of trees. “Ugh!” ejaculated an Otoe, in answer. “Ugh!” ejaculated half a dozen Pawnees, unstringing their bows, and turning off towards the camp.