Night closed in upon us, long before we reached their camping ground. I was nearly exhausted; the light racoon, which I carried upon my back, seemed to grow almost as heavy as a deer. My thirst grew intense; I stopped to drink at every pool; and kept constantly breaking off the tops of the rosin weed, and chewing its pitchy sap to keep my mouth moist. Still the Indian kept on with unwearied steps, sometimes pausing to listen as a cry sounded through the night air, or turning to point out the light of a prairie on fire at a distance. He did not slacken his pace, until with a deep ugh! he pointed out to me the night-fires of our party, glimmering in a thick grove, on the borders of a brawling stream. A loud shout, followed by a genuine Indian yell, burst from the lips of the doctor, when he first caught sight of me. This was followed by a hearty shake of the hand, and warm congratulations from the commissioner, and the whole party. I was afterwards informed, that the Indian who discovered me, had crossed my track on the day previous; and, upon being told that I had not made my appearance, he had been induced by the promise of a blanket to set out in search of me. I had not been long seated before our fire, when the Wild Horse, dressed in a pair of white corduroy pantaloons, with the rest of his body naked, came stalking up to shake hands with me. His object evidently was to display this new article of dress; which had been presented to him by the doctor. Although highly delighted, he walked in them, as if in fetters; for though the doctor had a rotundity of abdomen, which completely out-measured that of the Indian, yet the other far exceeded him in the size and length of his lower extremities; and the garment sat so tight to his legs, that at a little distance he had the appearance of having been white-washed. He kept about us during the whole evening. I imagine, however, that in this short space of time he grew completely tired of his new garb, for the next morning, I saw his son scampering through the bushes, dressed in the same pair of breeches—though they were as much too large for him, as they were too small for his father. He, too, soon wearied of them; and after having once or twice tripped up his own heels in wearing them, he abandoned them to the wife of the Wild Horse, who, I believe, from that period “wore the breeches.” CHAPTER XVII. _The False Alarm._ The sun was glowing with a mellow warmth, upon the prairie; when our train, slowly ascended one of the black, undulating swells, which traverse the whole face of the country. At our feet, lay a great prairie, intersected by a waving thread of timber, which extended for many miles, and was now tinted with the bright and variegated hues of autumn.