and saturated with vermilion. Two or three more "mountain men" sat
cross-legged on the floor. Their attire was not unlike that of Richard
himself; but the most striking figure of the group was a naked Indian
boy of sixteen, with a handsome face, and light, active proportions, who
sat in an easy posture in the corner near the door. Not one of his limbs
moved the breadth of a hair; his eye was fixed immovably, not on any
person present, but, as it appeared, on the projecting corner of the
fireplace opposite to him.

On these prairies the custom of smoking with friends is seldom omitted,
whether among Indians or whites. The pipe, therefore, was taken from the
wall, and its great red bowl crammed with the tobacco and shongsasha,
mixed in suitable proportions. Then it passed round the circle, each man
inhaling a few whiffs and handing it to his neighbor. Having spent half
an hour here, we took our leave; first inviting our new friends to drink
a cup of coffee with us at our camp, a mile farther up the river. By
this time, as the reader may conceive, we had grown rather shabby; our
clothes had burst into rags and tatters; and what was worse, we had very
little means of renovation. Fort Laramie was but seven miles before us.
Being totally averse to appearing in such plight among any society that
could boast an approximation to the civilized, we soon stopped by the
river to make our toilet in the best way we could. We hung up small
looking-glasses against the trees and shaved, an operation neglected for
six weeks; we performed our ablutions in the Platte, though the utility
of such a proceeding was questionable, the water looking exactly like
a cup of chocolate, and the banks consisting of the softest and richest
yellow mud, so that we were obliged, as a preliminary, to build a
cause-way of stout branches and twigs. Having also put on radiant
moccasins, procured from a squaw of Richard's establishment, and made
what other improvements our narrow circumstances allowed, we took our