Hunting adventures.
Some time now passed without any remarkable event. After a hunting or war expedition, the Indian men usually spend a large part of their time in idleness. For several weeks after their return, the warriors might be seen stretched at full length in their wigwams upon the beds of skins, and often, during the day, upon the bare ground, basking in the warm sunshine.
Thus they would repose day and night, sleeping a part of the time, and dozing away the rest of the hours. When hungry, they arose and ate the meal provided for them by the women, and then returned to their rest. At this period, they seemed like mere animals, such as wolves or foxes, idly slumbering in their caves, careless of the past, the present and the future.
Once in a while these men would rouse themselves from their indolence, and spend a night in a wild war-dance, or in other sports. When excited in their amusements, they shook off their lethargy and seemed totally changed from the stupid beings which they appeared to be, a few hours before. Their black eyes would now flash with fiery excitement; their parted lips would display their white teeth; their long, black hair would stream in the wind; their hands and arms would exhibit the most animated gestures, and their whole form seem to be animated by intense excitement. After the sport was over, these warriors would relapse into the same state of merely animal existence, as if they had no minds, no cares, no plans, no fears or hopes.
Thus some weeks passed away, but at last, it became necessary that a supply of food should be obtained. It is true that some small game was obtained by the boys, and some of the men, almost every day. This consisted of the heath hen, which resembles the partridge or pheasant of the Atlantic states; black and grey squirrels, rabbits and hares, wild turkeys, raccoons, prairie dogs, &c. These creatures were abundant, and I often accompanied the young Indians in hunting them.
There were some guns and rifles in the tribe, but the chief weapons were the bow and arrow. The boys and most of the young men had no other. It was surprising to see with what precision and force the arrows were thrown. I have often seen a squirrel, perched upon the limb of an aged tree, and being nearly a hundred feet in air, look down as if to laugh and jeer at the sportsman below; when the arrow was sent from the string, and, striking him in the head, brought him whirling and sprawling to the ground.
In these hunts I took a keen delight; and such was my enterprise and success, that I soon became rather famous as a hunter of the lesser game. My agility in pursuing a wounded bird or quadruped, and the facility with which I threaded the tangled forests, gave me the title of Jumping Rabbit, which long continued to be my name.
In these hunts, we seldom wandered to any great distance from the encampment, and rarely remained out over night. In a few instances, we were absent for two or three days, and extended our excursions to the distance of twenty or thirty miles.
I recollect that in one of these expeditions, we came to a considerable lake, entirely surrounded with dense forests. It was difficult even to peep through the woods, for the trees stood very close together, and the spaces between them were choked up with dead trunks and branches, woven and wedged together, as if the whole constituted one fabric.
With a great deal of labor, creeping and winding like serpents through the openings, we made our way through the forest, and came to the shores of the lake. Accustomed, as I then was, to nature in her wild moods, the scene that then presented itself, greatly surprised me. The forest that encircled the lake, consisted, to a great extent, of lofty firs, which stood close to the water, and formed, around its whole border, what seemed to be a dark green wall, rising almost to the clouds, and thus bestowing upon the spot an aspect of the most perfect protection and seclusion.