"Now," said Hugh, "take off all your things, put on them leggings and moccasins, and set here by the fire with that robe around you. The woman will hang up your things, and they'll be dry in a little while, and then you can dress again if you want to. I'm going out now to look after the horses, and maybe to look around the camp. Or, if you like, I'll just see after the horses, and then come back, and when you're dressed we'll go around the camp together."
"I'd like that best of all, Hugh, if you don't mind waiting. I suppose you've got a lot of friends in the camp you'd like to see."
"Yes," said Hugh, "I expect I have, but there ain't no great hurry. I'll have plenty of time to see them and visit with them;" and he went out.
CHAPTER XV. INDIANS AT HOME.
When Hugh and Jack went out of the lodge together, the sun was already touching the sharp peaks of the distant snow-patched mountains. The air was cool, and the sky still clear and bright, only toward the east it was beginning to take on the shade of dark blue which foretells the night. The camp was active. Women were hurrying up from the stream, each carrying one or two buckets of water. Men were walking here and there; boys racing to and fro, chasing each other, wrestling and shouting; from the piles of wood which stood near the door of each, little girls were carrying sticks into the lodges; boys and women were tethering horses to pins driven in the ground close in front of the lodges; a few men were coming into the camp, with red meat piled behind them on their horses. From different lodges, near and far, came loud voiced callings, while, riding around the circle of the camp, just within the lodges, passed an old man, who constantly shouted with powerful voice. From the smoke hole of every lodge, smoke was rising, and toward some of them, naked men were directing their steps.
"Oh, Hugh, isn't this great?" said Jack. "Hold on a minute; let's look and listen. Isn't this wonderful! I feel as if I wanted to stop right here, and ask you what every one of these things mean."
"Well," said Hugh, "I expect likely you never did see anything like this before, and maybe you never had no idea of what an Indian camp is. 'Course, it's all a pretty old story to me, but I'd like right well to tell you all I know about it."