Softly I rose and attempted to steal toward some growing timber; but the watchful chief did not risk his prey so carelessly, his keen eye was on me, and his iron hand grasped my wrist and drew me back.
Throwing me fiercely on the ground, he hissed a threat through his clenched teeth, which I momentarily expected him to put into execution, as I lay trembling at his feet.
I felt from this time that my captivity was for life, and a dull despair took possession of me.
Sleep, that balm for happier souls, brought only horrid dreams, in which a dreadful future pictured itself; and then the voices of my husband and child seemed calling me to their side, alas! in vain, for when I awoke it was to find myself in the grass of the savage camping ground, watched over by the relentless guard, and shut out from hope of home or civilized life.
My feet were covered with a pair of good shoes, and the chiefs brother-in-law gave me a pair of stockings from his stores, which I gladly accepted, never, for a moment, suspecting that, in doing thus, I was outraging a custom of the people among whom I was.
The chief saw the gift, and made no remark at the time, but soon after he shot one of his brother-in-law’s horses, which he objected to in a decided manner, and a quarrel ensued.
Realizing that I was the cause of the disagreement, I tremblingly watched the contest, unable to conciliate either combatant, and dreading the wrath of both.
The chief would brook no interference, nor would he offer any reparation for the wrong he had inflicted.
His brother-in-law, enraged at his arrogance, drew his bow, and aimed his arrow at my heart, determined to have satisfaction for the loss of his horse.
I could only cry to God for mercy, and prepare to meet the death which had long hung over my head, when a young Blackfoot, whose name was Jumping Bear, saved me from the approaching doom by dexterously snatching the bow from the savage and hurling it to the earth.