but it was at some distance from the spot.  She too was tired, and, making a fire in a thicket, she lay down to sleep.  About the middle of the night the man awoke and set out again on his solitary way.  It snowed all night:  the morning came, the day passed, the night closed again—­again the morning dawned, and still he wandered on.  For three days he travelled thus over an immense plain, without food, and having only the snow wherewith to quench his thirst.  On the third day he walked into a thicket; he felt around, and found that the timber was dry; with his axe he cut down some wood, then struck a light and made a fire.  When the fire was alight he laid his gun down beside it, and went to gather more wood; but fate was heavy against him, he was unable to find the fire which he had lighted, and by which he had left his gun.  He made another fire, and again the same result.  A third time he set to work; and now, to make certain of his getting back, again, he tied a line to a tree close beside his fire, and then set on to gather wood.  Again the fates smote him-his line broke, and he had to grope his way in weary search.  But chance, tired of ill-treating him so long, now stood his friend—­he found the first fire, and with it his gun and blanket.  Again he travelled on, but now his strength began to fail, and for the first time his heart sank within him—­blind, starving, and utterly lost, there seemed no hope on earth for him.  “Then,” he said, “I thought of the Great Spirit of whom the white men speak, and I called aloud to him, ’O Great Spirit! have pity on me, and show me the path! and as I said it I heard close by the calling of a crow, and I knew that the road was not far off.  I followed the call; soon I felt the crusted snow of a path under my feet, and the next day reached the fort.”  He had been five days without food.

No man can starve better than the Indian—­no man can feast better either.  For long days and nights, he will go without sustenance of any kind; but see him when the buffalo are near, when the cows are fat; see him then if you want to know what quantity of food it is possible for a man to consume at a sitting.  Here is one bill of fare:—­Seven men in thirteen days consumed two buffalo bulls, seven cabri, 40 lbs. of pemmican, and a great many ducks and geese, and on the last day there was nothing to eat.  I am perfectly aware that this enormous quantity could not have weighed less than 1600 lbs. at the very lowest estimate, which would give a daily ration to each man of 18 lbs.; but, incredible as this may appear, it is by no means impossible.  During the entire time I remained at Fort Pitt the daily ration issued to each man was 10 lbs. of beef.  Beef is so much richer and coarser food than buffalo meat, that 10 lbs. of the former would be equivalent-to 15lbs. or 16 lbs. of the latter, and yet every scrap of that 10 lbs. was eaten by the man who received it.  The women got 5 lbs., and the children, no matter how small, 3 lbs. each.  Fancy a child in arms