On this
subject were they conversing, when le Bourdon first got near enough
to observe their proceedings. After discussing the matter for some
time, torches were lighted, and most of the party followed a grim
old warrior, who had an exceedingly true nose for the scent of
whiskey, and who led them to the very spot where the half-barrel had
been first stove by rolling off a rock, and where its contents had
been mainly spilled. Here the earth was yet wet in places, and the
scent was so strong as to leave no doubt of the recent nature of the
accident which had wasted so much of a liquor that was very precious
in Pottawattamie eyes; for accident they thought it must be, since
no sane man could think of destroying the liquor intentionally.
All the movements, gestures, and genuflections of the savages were
plainly seen by the bee-hunter. We say the genuflections, for nearly
all of the Indians got on their knees and applied their noses to the
earth, in order to scent the fragrance of the beloved whiskey; some
out of curiosity, but more because they loved even this tantalizing
indulgence, when no better could be had. But le Bourdon was right in
his conjectures, that the matter was not to end here.
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