" I felt rather awkward, for I had no %veapon but a double -bladed penknife. I, however, prepared for defence in the best way I could, and piled up small brands from the fire, to pepper him with, should he come nigh. The company of my horse now seemed a comfort to me ; the poor creature laid down beside me and soon fell asleep, being so tired. I kept watch, and nodded, and dozed, and started awake, and looked round, expecting to see the flaring eyes of the panther close upon me ; but, somehow or other, fatigue got the better of me, and I fell asleep outright. In the morning I found the tracks of a panther within sixty paces : they were as large as my two fists. He had evidently been walking backwards and forwards, trying to make up his mind to attack me, but luckily he had not courage."

The moon was shining feebly down into the glen from among light drifting clouds, the camp fires were nearly burnt out, and the men lying about them wrapped in blankets. With

the first streak of clay, our huntsman Beatte, with Antoine, the young lialf-breed, set off to recross the river in search of the stray horses, in company with several rangers who had left their rifles and baggage on the opposite shore. As the ford was deep, and they were obliged to cross in a diagonal line, against a rapid current, they had to be mounted on the tallest and strongest horses. By eight o'clock Beatte returned. He had found both horses, but had lost Antoine. The latter he said was a boy, a greenhorn that knew nothing of the woods. He had wandered out of sight of him, and got lost. However, there were plenty more for him to fall in company with, as some of the rangers had gone astray also, and old Ryan and his party had not returned.

We waited until the morning was somewhat advanced, in hopes of being rejoined by the stragglers, but they did not make their appearance. The Captain observed that the Indians on the opposite side of the river were all well disposed to the whites, so that

ho serious apprehensions need be entertained for the safety of the missing : the greatest danger was that their horses might be stolen, in the night, by stragghng Osages. He determined, therefore, to proceed, leaving a rear-guard in the camp to await their arrival.

I sat on a rock that overhung the spring, at the upper part of the dell, and amused myself by watching the changing scene before me. First, the preparations for departure : — horses driven in from the purlieus of the camp ; rangers riding about rocks and bushes in quest of others that had strayed to a distance ; the bustle of packing up camp equipage, and the clamour after kettles and frying-pans, borrowed by one mess from another, mixed up with oaths and exclamations at restive horses or others that had wandered away to graze after being backed, among which the voice of our little Frenchman Tonish was particularly to be distinguished.

The bugle sounded the signal to mount and march. The troop filed off in irregular line down the glen, and through the open

forest, winding and gradually disappearing among the trees, though the clanaour of voices, and the notes of the bugle, could be heard for some time afterwards. The rearguard remained under the trees in the lower part of the dell, some on horseback, with their rifles on their shoulders ; others seated by the fire or lying on the ground, gossiping in a low, lazy tone of voice, their horses, unsaddled, standing and dozing around ; while one of the rangers, profiting by this interval of leisure, was shaving himself before a pocket mirror stuck against the trunk of a tree.

Tlie clamour of voices and the notes of the bugle at length died away, and the glen relapsed into quiet and silence, broken occar sionally by the low murmuring tones of the group around the fire, the pensive whistle of some laggard among the trees, or the rustling of the yellow leaves which the lightest breath of air brought down in wavering showers, a sign of the departing glories of the year.

DEER SHOOTING LIFE ON THE PRAIRIES BEAU- TIFUL ENCAMPMENT. HUNTER's LUCK. — ANEC- DOTES OF THE DELAWARES, AND THEIR SUPER-

Having passed through the skirt of woodland bordering the river, we ascended the hills, taking a westerly course through an undulating country of '' oak openings," where the eye stretched at times over wide tracts of hill and dale, diversified by forests, groves, and clumps of trees. As we were proceeding at a slow pace, those who were at the head of the line descried four deer grazing on a grassy slope, about half a mile distant. They, apparently, had not perceived our approach, and continued to graze in perfect tranquillity. A young ranger obtained permission from the Captain to go in pursuit of them, and the troop halted in

lengthened line, watching him in silence. Walking his horse slowly and cautiously, he made a circuit, until a grove of wood intervened between him and the deer. Dismounting then, he left his horse among the trees, arid, creeping round a knoll, was hidden from our view. We now kept our eyes intently fixed on the deer, which continued grazing, unconscious of their danger. Presently there was the sharp report of a rifle ; a fine buck made a convulsive bound and fell to the earth ; his companions scampered off. Immediately our whole line of march was broken : there was a helter-skelter galloping of the youngsters of the troop, eager to get a shot at the fugitives ; and one of the most conspicuous personages in the chase was our little Frenchman Tonish on his silver grey, having abandoned his pack-horses at the first sight of the deer. It was some time before our scattered forces could be recalled by the bugle, and our march resumed.

Two or three times in the course of the day we were interrupted by hurry-scurry

scenes of the kind. The young men of the troop were full of excitement on entering an unexplored country abounding in game, and they were too little accustomed to discipline or restraint to be kept in order. No one, however, was more unmanageable than our Tonish. Having an intense conceit of his skill as a hunter, and an irrepressible passion for display, he was continually sallying forth, like an ill-broken hound, whenever any game was started, and had as often to be whipped back.

At length his vanity got a salutary check. A fat doe came bounding along in full sight of the whole line. Tonish dismounted, levelled his rifle, and had a fair shot. The doe kept on. He sprang upon his horse, stood up on the saddle like a posture master, and continued gazing after the animal, as if certain to see it fall. The doe, however, kept on its way rejoicing ; a laugh broke out along the line ; the little Frenchman slipt quietly into his saddle, began to belabour and blaspheme the wandering pack-horses,

as if they had been to blame ; and for some time we were reheved from his vamiting and vapouring.

In one part of our march we came to the remains of an old Indian encampment, on the banks of a fine stream, with the mossgroA\ai skulls of deer lying here and there about it. As we were in the Pawnee country, it was supposed, of course, to have been a camp of those formidable rovers. The Doctor, however, after considering the shape and disposition of the lodges, pronounced it the camp of some bold Delawares, who had probably made a brief and dashing excursion into these dangerous hunting-grounds.

Having proceeded some distance further, Ave observed a couple of figures on horseback, slowly moving parallel to us along the edge of a naked hill about two miles distant, and apparently reconnoitring us. There was a halt, and much gazing and conjecturing. Were they Indians ? If Indians, were they Pawnees ? There is something exciting to the imagination and stirring to the feelings.

while traversing" these hostile plains, in seeing a horseman prowling along the horizon. It is hke descrying a sail at sea in time of war, when it may be either a privateer or a pirate. Our conjectures were soon set at rest, by reconnoitring the two horsemen through a small spy-glass, when they proved to be two of the men we had left at the camp, who had set out to rejoin us, and had wandered from the track.

Our march this day was animating and delightful. We were in a region of adventure ; breaking our way through a country hitherto untrodden by white men, excepting perchance by some solitary trapper. The weather was in its perfection — temperate, genial, and enlivening ; a deep blue sky, with a few light feathery clouds ; an atmosphere of perfect transparency ; an air pure and bland ; and a glorious country spreading out far and wide in the golden sunshine of an autumnal day ; but all silent, lifeless, — without a human habitation, and apparently without a human inhabitant. It was as if a

ban hung over this fair but fated region. The very Indians dared not abide here, but made it a mere scene of perilous enterprise, to hunt for a few days, and then away.

After a march of about fifteen miles west, we encamped in a beautiful peninsula, made by the windings and doublings of a deep, clear, and almost motionless brook, and covered by an open grove of lofty and magnificent trees. Several hunters immediately started forth in quest of game, before the noise of the camp should frighten it from the vicinity. Our man Beatte also took his rifle, and went forth alone in a different course from the rest.

For my own part, I lay on the grass under the trees, and built castles in the clouds, and indulged in the very luxury of rural repose. Indeed, I can scarcely conceive a kind of life more calculated to put both mind and body in a healthful tone. A morning's ride of several hours, diversified by hunting incidents ; an encampment in the afternoon under some noble grove on the

borders of a stream ; an evening banquet of venison fresh killed, roasted, or broiled on the coals ; turkeys just from the thickets, and wild honey from the trees ; and all relished with an appetite unknown to the gourmands of the cities. And then at night — such sweet sleeping in the open air ; or waking and gazing at the moon and stars, shinino' between the branches of the trees !

On the present occasion, however, we had not much reason to boast of our larder. But one deer had been killed during the day, and none of that had reached our lodge. We were fain, therefore, to stay our keen appetites by some scraps of turkey, brought from the last encampment, eked out with a slice or two of salt pork. Tliis scarcity, however, did not continue long. Before dark, a young hunter returned well laden with spoil. He had shot a deer, cut it up in an artist-like style, and, putting the meat in a kind of sack, made of the hide, had slung it across his shoulder, and trudged with it to the camp.

Not long after, Beatte made his appearance, with a fat doe across his horse. It was the first game he had brought in, and I was glad to see him with a trophy that might efface the memory of the pole-cat. He laid the carcass down by our fire, without saying a word, and then turned to unsaddle his horse ; nor could any questions from us about his hunting draw from him more than laconic replies.