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This selection was written by a white man who ran away from home when a boy and lived among the Indians of the plains for twelve years about the middle of the last century. He married an Indian maiden, Washtella, and became a chief in the tribe. He gives many interesting descriptions of Indian life and customs, which probably give some idea of the way our own ancestors may have lived thousands of years ago.
The Indians depended upon the buffalo for their chief supply of food. Millions of these animals roamed the plains in vast herds. The Indians cannot be blamed in the least for slaughtering these animals for food, but the white men who drove the Indians from the plains killed the buffaloes often for mere sport, and exterminated them except for a few small herds now in captivity.
Read the story as rapidly as you can without skipping or losing the meaning, and be prepared to stand in front of the class and give a complete discussion of any of the topics given at the end of the selection.
When our camp was pitched, I walked out along the banks of the beautiful lake, to see what I could discover. Its waters were clear as crystal and full of fish. Not a boat, and perhaps not even a canoe, had ever rippled its bosom, and I could not but imagine, as I gazed across the blue expanse, that one day commerce would spring up, and towns and cities be built upon its green shores.
Looking to the north, I was startled from my reflections by seeing a large buffalo cow coming down to the water to drink. Hastening back to the village, I quickly procured my Hawkins rifle and ran over the little eminence that hid the lodges from the animal. She had approached quite near the water, and was not more than one hundred and fifty yards distant from me, when, hearing a noise in my rear, I looked back and saw several Indians running toward me with their guns. The cow at the same moment saw them, and turned to make off; but too late, for I had drawn a bead on her heart, and at one shot dropped her dead.