 so desperate and probably so fruitless an effort, and left him to
pursue his observations, and to mature his plans more at leisure.
    He particularly remarked that, while by far the greater part of the women
and all the children, together with the effects of the party, were hurried to
the rear, probably with an order to secrete themselves in some of the adjacent
woods, the tent of Mahtoree himself was left standing, and its contents
undisturbed. Two chosen horses, however, stood near by, held by a couple of
youths, who were too young to go into the conflict, and yet of an age to
understand the management of the beasts. The trapper perceived in this
arrangement the reluctance of Mahtoree to trust his newly found flowers beyond
the reach of his eye, and at the same time his forethought in providing against
a reverse of fortune. Neither had the manner of the Teton in giving his
commission to the old savage, nor the fierce pleasure with which the latter had
received the bloody charge, escaped his observation. From all these mysterious
movements, the old man was aware that a crisis was at hand, and he summoned the
utmost knowledge he had acquired, in so long a life, to aid him in the desperate
conjecture. While musing on the means to be employed, the Doctor, again,
attracted his attention to himself, by a piteous appeal for assistance.
    »Venerable trapper, or as I may now say liberator,« commenced the dolorous
Obed, »It would seem that a fitting time has at length arrived to dissever the
unnatural and altogether irregular connexion which exists between my inferior
members and the body of Asinus. Perhaps if such a portion of my limbs were
released as might leave me master of the remainder, and this favorable
opportunity were suitably improved, by making a forced march towards the
settlements, all hopes of preserving the treasures of knowledge of which I am
the unworthy receptacle, would not be lost. The importance of the results, is
surely worth the hazard of the experiment.«
    »I know not, I know not,« returned the deliberate old man. »The vermin and
reptiles which you bear about you, were intended by the Lord of the Prairies,
and I see no good in sending them into regions that may not suit their natur's.
And, moreover you may be of great and particular use as you now sit on the Ass;
though it creates no wonder, in my mind, to perceive that you are ignorant of
it, seeing that usefulness is altogether a new calling to so bookish a man.«
    »
