“Of course, for I am sure he would not willingly miss an opportunity of seeing his old friend again. Of course, Biddon, we shall meet, if not in this world, I hope in the next.”
“P’r’aps so, though I can’t tell till we gits there. Don’t know much ’bout them matters, ogh!”
At this moment the voice of the steersman was heard, ordering the men to their places. Biddon turned, took a step, then halted and faced me.
“Good-by, Jarsey.”
He extended his hand, but ere I could take it it was hastily withdrawn. He mumbled something, dashed his hand across his face, and strode rapidly toward the boat.
“Good-by, Biddon. God bless you!” I called after him.
The voyageurs seized their oars, and in a few moments they were in the stream, their same cheery song echoing as loudly and as joyously as before. I stood upon the bank, watching them as the current bore them onward. In a few moments they reached a bend in the river—Biddon made a signal to me, and the next minute they had all vanished.
As the brigade vanished down the river, and the song of the voyageurs grew fainter and fainter, until it died away in the distant windings of the Yellowstone, I awoke from the mournful reverie into which I had fallen, and turned to the work before me. There was a dozen Indians around, all busy with their new possessions. Some were parading pompously in their new blankets, some examining their glitterng knives, and others wrenching off great mouthfuls from huge twists of tobacco, and all evidently in the highest spirits. The chief had been presented with a fine, polished rifle, and he was standing apart, trying its lock, and “drawing bead” on different objects in the distance.
I waited till he appeared satisfied, and then approached and made a complimentary remark; I saw at once it was not comprehended, and there was not probably a savage who could speak a word of English in the tribe. However, as they spoke the same tongue as the tribe in which I spent my captivity, my situation in this respect was not as bad as it might have been.
In the course of half an hour, the chief started toward his village, the others sauntering along behind him, and myself at his side. His rifle was now thrown over his shoulder, and he seemed to have lost all interest in it as he walked thoughtfully forward, his dark eyes bent upon the ground. A few minutes’ walk through the forest brought us to the Indian village. It was so similar to the one before described, that it needs no mention here.