When About Two Hours Had Passed,
Shaw Came Silently In, And Touching Henry, Called Him In A Low Quick
Voice To Come Out.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Indians, I believe,"
whispered Shaw; "but lie still; I'll call you if there's a fight."
He and Henry went out together. I took the cover from my rifle, put
a fresh percussion cap upon it, and then, being in much pain, lay
down again. In about five minutes Shaw came in again. "All right,"
he said, as he lay down to sleep. Henry was now standing guard in
his place. He told me in the morning the particulars of the alarm.
Munroe' s watchful eye discovered some dark objects down in the
hollow, among the horses, like men creeping on all fours. Lying flat
on their faces, he and Shaw crawled to the edge of the bank, and were
soon convinced that what they saw were Indians. Shaw silently
withdrew to call Henry, and they all lay watching in the same
position. Henry's eye is of the best on the prairie. He detected
after a while the true nature of the moving objects; they were
nothing but wolves creeping among the horses.
It is very singular that when picketed near a camp horses seldom show
any fear of such an intrusion. The wolves appear to have no other
object than that of gnawing the trail-ropes of raw hide by which the
animals are secured. Several times in the course of the journey my
horse's trail-rope was bitten in two by these nocturnal visitors.
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