awakened, and in a few minutes were off again by the gray light of dawn. In this way they travelled two nights and a day. At the end of that time they came suddenly on a small party of nine Indians, who were seated on the ground with their snow-shoes and blankets by their sides. They had evidently been taken by surprise, but they made no attempt to escape, knowing that it was useless. Each sat still with his bow and arrows between his legs ready for instant use.
As soon as Cameron spoke, however, in their own language they felt relieved, and began to talk.
“Where do you come from, and what are you doing here?” asked the trader.
“We have come to trade with the white men,” one of them replied, “and to hunt. We have come from the Missouri. Our country is far away.”
“Do Peigans hunt with war-arrows?” asked Cameron pointing to their weapons.
This question seemed to perplex them, for they saw that their interrogator knew the difference between a war and a hunting arrow—the former being barbed, in order to render its extraction from the wound difficult, while the head of the latter is round, and can be drawn out of game that has been killed, and used again.
“And do Peigans,” continued Cameron, “come from a far country to trade with the white men with nothing?”
Again the Indians were silent, for they had not an article to trade about them. Cameron now felt convinced that this party of Peigans, into whose hands Joe Blunt and Henri had fallen, were nothing else than a war party, and that the men were a scouting party sent out from them, probably to spy out his own camp, so he said to them:—“The Peigans are not wise men; they tell lies to the traders. I will tell you that you are a war party, and that you are only a few warriors sent out to spy the trader’s camp. You have also two Pale-face prisoners in your camp. You cannot deceive me. It is useless to try. Now, conduct me to your camp. My object is not war; it is peace. I will speak with your chiefs about trading and we will smoke the pipe of peace. Are my words good?”
Despite their proverbial control of muscle, these Indians could not conceal their astonishment at hearing so much of their affairs thus laid bare; so they said that the Pale- face chief was wise, and that he must be a great medicine
