The Prairie Read Online Free PDF Page B

the travellers proceeded to make their
dispositions to pass the night. Several little bowers, or rather huts,
had already been formed of the tops of trees, blankets of coarse country
manufacture, and the skins of buffaloes, united without much reference
to any other object than temporary comfort. Into these covers the
children, with their mother, soon drew themselves, and where, it is more
than possible, they were all speedily lost in the oblivion of sleep.
Before the men, however, could seek their rest, they had sundry little
duties to perform; such as completing their works of defence, carefully
concealing the fires, replenishing the fodder of their cattle, and
setting the watch that was to protect the party, in the approaching
hours of night.
    The former was effected by dragging the trunks of a few trees into
the intervals left by the wagons, and along the open space between the
vehicles and the thicket, on which, in military language, the encampment
would be said to have rested; thus forming a sort of chevaux-de-frise
on three sides of the position. Within these narrow limits (with the
exception of what the tent contained), both man and beast were now
collected; the latter being far too happy in resting their weary
limbs, to give any undue annoyance to their scarcely more intelligent
associates. Two of the young men took their rifles; and, first renewing
the priming, and examining the flints with the utmost care, they
proceeded, the one to the extreme right, and the other to the left, of
the encampment, where they posted themselves within the shadows of the
thicket; but in such positions as enabled each to overlook a portion of
the prairie.
    The trapper loitered about the place, declining to share the straw
of the emigrant, until the whole arrangement was completed; and then,
without the ceremony of an adieu, he slowly retired from the spot.
    It was now in the first watch of the night; and the pale, quivering, and
deceptive light, from a new moon, was playing over the endless waves of
the prairie, tipping the swells with gleams of brightness, and leaving
the interval land in deep shadow. Accustomed to scenes of solitude like
the present, the old man, as he left the encampment, proceeded alone
into the waste, like a bold vessel leaving its haven to enter on the
trackless field of the ocean. He appeared to move for some time without
object, or, indeed, without any apparent consciousness, whither his
limbs were carrying him. At length, on reaching the rise of one of the
undulations, he came to a stand; and, for the first time since leaving
the band, who had caused such a flood of reflections and recollections
to crowd upon his mind, the old man became aware of his present
situation. Throwing one end of his rifle to the earth, he stood leaning
on the other, again lost in deep contemplation for several minutes,
during which time his hound came and crouched at his feet. A deep,
menacing growl, from the faithful animal, first aroused him from his
musing.
    "What now, dog?" he said, looking down at his companion, as if he
addressed a being of an intelligence equal to his own, and speaking in
a voice of great affection. "What is it, pup? ha! Hector; what is it
nosing, now? It won't do, dog; it won't do; the very fa'ns play in open
view of us, without minding so worn out curs, as you and I. Instinct
is their gift, Hector and, they have found out how little we are to be
feared, they have!"
    The dog stretched his head upward, and responded to the words of his
master by a long and plaintive whine, which he even continued after he
had again buried his head in the grass, as if he held an intelligent
communication with one who so well knew how to interpret dumb discourse.
    "This is a manifest warning, Hector!" the trapper continued, dropping
his voice, to the tones of caution and looking warily about him. "What
is it, pup; speak plainer, dog; what is it?"
    The hound had, however, already laid his nose to the earth, and was
silent;