Again,
speaking of the danger of fire-making, I will give an example of what
those Indians did with men of their own tribe.
A few of their men desired to go to Fort Pitt with their families,
while the others objected. The couple of families escaped and reached
the opposite side of a large lake. The Indians did not know which
direction the fugitives had taken until noon the following day, when
they saw their fire for dinner, across the lake. They started, half by
one side and half by the other side of the lake, and came up so as to
surround the fugitives. They took their horses, blankets, provisions,
and camps, and set fire to the prairie on all sides so as to prevent
the unhappy families from going or returning. When they thus treated
their own people, what could white people expect at their hands?
The second day after our escape we travelled through a thicker bush
and the men were kept busy cutting roads for us. We camped four times
to make up for the day before, its fast and tramp. We made a cup of
tea and a bannock each time. The third day we got into the open
prairie, and about ten in the morning we lost our way. We were for
ever three hours in perplexity We feared to advance too much as we
might be getting farther from our proper track. About one o clock the
sun appeared and by means of it we regained our right course.
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