It was an excellent precaution, which prevented any Umbiqua straggler from perceiving us, a rather disagreeable event, which would have undoubtedly happened, as we were camped only two miles from them, and the prairie was flat until you came to the swell just mentioned.

There we beheld seven strong horses, bridled with our lassoes.

We had no saddles; but necessity rides without one.

The Indians had also killed a one-year-old colt, and taken enough of the meat to last us two days; so that when we started (and we did so long before the Umbiquas began to stir) we had the prospect of reaching the fishing-post thirty hours before them.
[Illustration: "We halted on the bank of a small river."] We knew that they would rest two hours in the day, as they were naturally anxious to keep their stolen horses in good condition, having a long journey before them ere they would enter into their own territory.

With us, the case was different, there were but forty miles, which we could travel on horseback, and we did not care what became of the animals afterwards.