It is what I would advise others to do when they have difficulties to contend with, whether great or small.
The horses overtook us in the afternoon, when we rode on and camped by ourselves for the night, intending to join our Indian friends the next day. We had brought with us a small supply of provisions, in addition to the game which we had shot on our way, expecting that the Indians would be able to furnish us with buffalo meat, on which we had no objection to live for a few days.
Next morning, having breakfasted and caught our horses, we rode on; but it was not till nearly evening that we reached the Cree camp. We slept in a skin-covered wigwam which they appropriated to our use, and the following morning started for the southward in search of buffalo, which were supposed to be in considerable numbers in that direction. We rode on all day, stopping only to take a meal about noon, but not a buffalo did we see. We had exhausted all our provisions, and regretted that we had not brought more with us for our own private use.
Small fires only were formed, around which we lay down to sleep. It was nearly dawn when the Cree chief, touching my arm, awoke me.
“Listen!” he said, putting his head close down to the ground.
I did so, and could hear a low, dull sound, as if numberless feet were beating the soil.
“That is the tramp of buffaloes,” he observed.
When, however, I sat up I could hear nothing. The chief told me to call my brother and other friends, and proposed, as soon as we had had something to eat, that we should set off in the direction from whence the sounds we had heard proceeded.
I roused up my companions, and when they put their ears down to the ground and listened, they also could hear the same tramping sound.
I was not yet perfectly convinced that the chief was right, but he asserted that there was no mistake about the matter.