My good dinner vanished there and then. I told Mrs. Delaney
there was no rabbit for me. I only ate to keep myself alive and well,
for if I showed signs of sickness I would have been put with the
Indians, and they would have put an end to me in a short time.
We had fifteen in our tent to bake for, besides the Indians, that came
in to gorge, about thirty at a time. We cut wood and carried water and
did Mrs. Pritchard sewing for her nine children; making their clothing
that came from our own house. She took some muslin that Mrs. Delaney
had bought before the trouble, and cut it up into aprons for her
little baby, and gave me to make, and then she went to the trunk that
had all my lace trimming that I had made through the winter, and
brought some for me to sew on the aprons. I made them up as neatly as
I possibly could, and when finished, she thanked me for it. The little
children played with keepsakes that my _mother_ had given to me
when a little girl, and I had to look and see them broken in pieces
without a murmur, also see my friends photographs thrown around and
destroyed. I gathered up a few that were scattered around in the dirt
and saved them when no one was looking.
If Big Bear's braves would say move camp immediately, and if we should
be eating and our tent not taken down just then, they would shout in
the air and come and tear it down.
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