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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wild Man of the West, by R.M. Ballantyne
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Wild Man of the West
+       A Tale of the Rocky Mountains
+
+Author: R.M. Ballantyne
+
+Illustrator: Arch Webb
+
+Release Date: February 15, 2008 [EBook #24617]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WILD MAN OF THE WEST ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+The Wild Man of the West, by R.M. Ballantyne.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+The action of this book takes place entirely in the foothills of the
+Rocky Mountains in North America.  We can certainly appreciate the
+hardness of the life of the hunters in those days, which were during the
+early part of the nineteenth century.  The action is very well narrated,
+and is very exciting and interesting.  All sorts of things are suddenly
+pulled together in the very last few pages, and it would be quite hard
+for the reader to guess what was going to happen, before the last two
+chapters.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+THE WILD MAN OF THE WEST, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+IN WHICH THE READER IS INTRODUCED TO A MAD HERO, A RECKLESS LOVER, AND A
+RUNAWAY HUSBAND--BACKWOODS JUVENILE TRAINING DESCRIBED--THE PRINCIPLES
+OF FIGHTING FULLY DISCUSSED, AND SOME VALUABLE HINTS THROWN OUT.
+
+March Marston was mad!  The exact state of madness to which March had
+attained at the age when we take up his personal history--namely,
+sixteen--is uncertain, for the people of the backwoods settlement in
+which he dwelt differed in their opinions on that point.
+
+The clergyman, who was a Wesleyan, said he was as wild as a young
+buffalo bull; but the manner in which he said so led his hearers to
+conclude that he did not think such a state of ungovernable madness to
+be a hopeless condition, by any means.  The doctor said he was as mad as
+a hatter; but this was an indefinite remark, worthy of a doctor who had
+never obtained a diploma, and required explanation, inasmuch as it was
+impossible to know _how_ mad he considered a hatter to be.  Some of the
+trappers who came to the settlement for powder and lead, said he was as
+mad as a grisly bear with a whooping-cough--a remark which, if true,
+might tend to throw light on the diseases to which the grisly bear is
+liable, but which failed to indicate to any one, except perhaps
+trappers, the extent of young Marston's madness.  The carpenter and the
+blacksmith of the place--who were fast friends and had a pitched battle
+only once a month, or twice at most--agreed in saying that he was as mad
+as a wild-cat.  In short, every one asserted stoutly that the boy was
+mad, with the exception of the women of the settlement, who thought him
+a fine, bold, handsome fellow; and his own mother, who thought him a
+paragon of perfection, and who held the opinion (privately) that, in the
+wide range of the habitable globe there was not another like him--and
+she was not far wrong!
+
+Now, the whole and sole reason why March Marston was thus deemed a
+madman, was that he displayed an insane tendency, at all times and in
+all manners, to break his own neck, or to make away with himself in some
+similarly violent and uncomfortable manner.
+
+There was not a fence in the whole countryside that March had not bolted
+over at full gallop, or ridden crash through if he could not go over it.
+There was not a tree within a circuit of four miles from the top of
+which he had not fallen.  There was not a pond or pool in the
+neighbourhood into which he had not soused at some period of his stormy
+juvenile career, and there was not a big boy whom he had not fought and
+thrashed--or been thrashed by--scores of times.
+
+But for all this March had not a single enemy.  He did his companions
+many a kind turn; never an unkind one.  He fought for love, not for
+hatred.  He loved a dog--if any one kicked it, he fought him.  He loved
+a little boy--if any one was cruel to that little boy, he fought him.
+He loved fair play--if any one was guilty of foul play, he fought him.
+When he was guilty of foul play himself (as was sometimes the case, for
+who is perfect?) he felt inclined to jump out of his own body and turn
+about and thrash himself!  And he would have done so often, had it been
+practicable.  Yes, there is no doubt whatever about it March Marston was
+mad--as mad, after a fashion, as any creature, human or otherwise, you
+choose to name.
+
+Young Marston's mother was a handsome, stout, blue-eyed, flaxen-haired
+woman, of a little over thirty-five summers.  She was an English
+emigrant, and had, seventeen years before the time we write of settled
+at Pine Point, on the banks of the Yellowstone River, along with her
+brother, the blacksmith above referred to.  At that time she was the
+sweetest maiden in all the village, and now she was the handsomest
+matron.  Indeed, the bloom of her youth remained on her cheeks so little
+impaired that she was often mistaken by strangers for March Marston's
+elder sister.  The men of the place called her pretty widow Marston; but
+she was not a widow--at least, they had as little ground for saying that
+she was as they had for asserting that her son was mad.  Mrs Marston
+was peculiarly circumstanced, but she was not a widow.
+
+The peculiar circumstances connected with her history are soon told.
+Immediately after the arrival of the blacksmith and his pretty sister at
+Pine Point settlement, a tall stout young stripling--a trapper--about a
+year older than herself, fell deeply in love with Mary West--that being
+Mrs Marston's maiden name.  The young trapper's case was desperate.  He
+sank at once so deep into the profundities of love, that no deep-sea
+lead, however ingeniously contrived, could reach him.
+
+Although just emerging from boyhood, Louis the trapper was already a
+tall, strong, handsome man, and Mary felt flattered by his attentions.
+But when, a month afterwards, he boldly offered her his hand and fortune
+(which latter consisted of a trapper's costume and a western rifle), she
+was taken aback and flatly refused him.  Louis was hare-brained and
+passionate.  He told her he would give her one day and a night to think
+of it.  At the end of that time he came back and was again refused, for
+Mary West had no notion of being taken by storm in that fashion.  But
+she trembled and grew pale on observing the storm of angry passion that
+gleamed from the young trapper's eyes and caused his broad chest to
+heave violently.  He did not speak.  He did not even look at Mary--had
+he done so, years of sorrow and suffering might have been spared them
+both.  He stood for one moment with his eyes fixed upon the ground--then
+he turned, sprang through the doorway, vaulted on his horse, and went
+off from her cottage door as an arrow leaps from a bow.  The fences and
+ditches that lay in his way were no impediment.  His powerful steed
+carried him over all and into the forest beyond, where he was quickly
+lost to view.  Mary tried to resume her household occupations with a
+sigh.  She did not believe he was gone.  But he was!
+
+At first Mary was nettled; then she grew sad; as weeks passed away she
+became nettled again, and at this juncture another suitor appeared in
+the shape of a young immigrant farmer, whose good looks and insinuating
+address soothed her irritation at the strange abrupt conduct of her
+lover.  She began to think that she must have been mistaken in supposing
+that she cared for the wild trapper--and, in order to prove the
+correctness of her supposition, she married Obadiah Marston, the farmer.
+
+Alas! poor Mary discovered her error too late.  Marston turned out a
+profligate drunkard.  At first he did not come out in his true colours.
+A son was born, and he insisted on calling him March, for no other
+reason than that he was born in the month so named.  Mary was obliged to
+consent, and at last came to congratulate herself that the child had
+been born in March, and not in April or October, or any other month
+equally unsuitable for a Christian name.  After the first year, Obadiah
+Marston treated his wife badly, then brutally, and at last he received a
+sound drubbing from his brother-in-law, the blacksmith, for having
+beaten poor Mary with a stick.  This brought things to a climax.
+Marston vowed he would forsake his wife, and never set eyes on her
+again; and he kept his vow.  He embarked one day in a boat that was
+going down to the Missouri with a cargo of furs, and his poor wife never
+saw him again.  Thus was Mary West forsaken, first by her lover and then
+by her husband.
+
+It was long before she recovered from the blow; but time gradually
+reconciled her to her lot, and she devoted herself thenceforth to the
+training of her little boy.  As years rolled on, Mrs Marston recovered
+her spirits and her looks; but, although many a fine young fellow sought
+her heart and hand, assuring her that she was a widow--that she _must_
+be a widow, that no man in his senses could remain so long away from
+such a wife unless he were dead--she turned a deaf ear to them all.
+
+March Marston's infancy was spent in yelling and kicking, with the
+exception of those preternaturally calm periods when he was employed in
+eating and sleeping.  As he grew older the kicking and yelling
+decreased, the eating increased, and the sleeping continued pretty much
+the same.  Then came a period when he began to learn his A, B, C.  Mrs
+Marston had been well educated for her station in life.  She had read
+much, and had brought a number of books to the backwoods settlement; so
+she gave her boy a pretty good education--as education went in those
+days--and certainly a much better one than was given to boys in such
+out-of-the-way regions.  She taught him to read and write, and carried
+him on in arithmetic as far as compound division, where she stuck,
+having reached the extreme limits of her own tether.
+
+Contemporaneously with the cessation of squalling and kicking, and the
+acquirement of the A, B, C, there arose in little March's bosom
+unutterable love for his mother; or, rather, the love that had always
+dwelt there began to well up powerfully, and to overflow in copious
+streams of obedience and considerate attention.  About the same time the
+roving, reckless "madness," as it was styled, began to develop itself.
+And, strange to say, Mrs Marston did not check that!  She was a
+large-minded, a liberal-minded woman, that semi-widow.  She watched her
+son closely, but very few of his deeds were regarded by her in the light
+of faults.  Tumbling off trees was not.  Falling into ditches and horse
+ponds was not.  Fighting was, to some extent; and on this point alone
+did mother and son seem to entertain any difference of opinion, if we
+may style that difference of opinion where the son fell into silent and
+extreme perplexity after a short, and on his part humble, discussion on
+the subject.
+
+"Why, mother," said March in surprise (having attained the mature age of
+eight when he said it), "if a grisly bear was to 'tack me, you'd let me
+defend myself, wouldn't you?"
+
+Mrs Marston smiled to see the rotund little object of two-feet-ten
+standing before the fire with its legs apart and its arms crossed,
+putting such a question, and replied--
+
+"Certainly, my boy."
+
+"And when Tom Blake offered to hit Susy Jefferson, wasn't I right to
+fight him for that?"
+
+"Yes, my boy, I think it right to fight in defence of the weak and
+helpless."
+
+The object of two-feet-ten began to swell and his eyes to brighten at
+the unexpected success of this catechising of its mother, and went on to
+say--
+
+"Well, mother, why do you blame me for fightin', then, if it's right?"
+
+"Because fighting is not always right, my boy.  You had a fight with
+Bill Summers, hadn't you, yesterday?"
+
+"Yes, mother."
+
+Two-feet-ten said this in a hesitating tone, and shrank into its
+ordinary proportions as it continued--
+
+"But I didn't lick him, mother, he licked _me_.  But I'll try again,
+mother--indeed I will, and I'll be sure to lick him next time."
+
+"I don't want you to try again," rejoined Mrs Marston; "and you must
+not try again without a good reason.  Why did you fight him yesterday?"
+
+"Because he told a lie," said the object promptly, swelling out again,
+and looking big under the impression that the goodness of its reason
+could not be questioned.  It was, therefore, with a look of baffled
+surprise that it collapsed again on being told that that was not a
+sufficient reason for engaging in warfare, and that it was wrong to take
+the law into its own hands, or to put in its word or its little fist,
+where it had no right to interfere--and a great deal more to that
+effect.
+
+"But, March, my boy," said Mrs Marston, drawing the object towards her
+and patting its round little fair head, "what makes you so fond of
+fighting?"
+
+"I ain't fond o' fighting, mother, but I can't help it."
+
+"Can't help it!  Do you ever try?"
+
+"I--I--no, I don't think that I do.  But I feel so funny when I see Bill
+Summers cheatin' at play.  I feel all over red-hot--like--oh! you've
+seen the big pot boilin' over?  Well, I just feel like that.  An' w'en
+it boils over, you know, mother, it must be took off the fire, else it
+kicks up _sich_ a row!  But there's nobody to take me off the fire when
+I'm boilin' over, an' there's no fire to take me off--so you see I
+_can't_ help it.  Can I?"
+
+As the object concluded these precociously philosophical remarks, it
+looked up in its mother's face with an earnest inquiring gaze.  The
+mother looked down at it with an equally earnest look--though there was
+a twinkle in each eye and a small dimple in each cheek that indicated a
+struggle with gravity--and said--
+
+"I could stop the big pot from boiling-over without taking it off the
+fire."
+
+"How?" inquired Two-feet-ten eagerly.
+
+"By letting it boil over till it put the fire out."
+
+The object opened its eyes very wide, and pursed its mouth very tight;
+then it relaxed, grinned a little with an air of uncertainty, and was
+about to laugh, but checked itself, and, with a look of perplexity,
+said--
+
+"Eh?"
+
+"Ay, my boy," resumed the mother, "just you try the boiling-over plan
+next time.  When you feel inclined to fight, and know, or _think_, that
+you shouldn't, just stand quite still, and look hard at the ground--
+mind, don't look at the boy you want to fight with, but at the ground--
+and begin to count one, two, three, four, and so on, and I'm quite sure
+that when you've counted fifty the fire will be out.  Now, will you try,
+my son?"
+
+"Mother," replied Two-feet-ten earnestly (and becoming at least two feet
+eleven while he spoke), "I'll try!"
+
+This ended the conversation at that time, and we beg leave to apologise
+to our reader for having given it in such full detail, but we think it
+necessary to the forming of a just appreciation of our hero and his
+mother, as it shows one phase of their characters better than could have
+been accomplished by a laboured description.
+
+Before March Marston had attained to the age of sixteen he had read
+aloud to his mother--not once, but several times--the "Vicar of
+Wakefield", "Robinson Crusoe," the "Pilgrim's Progress," and "Tales of a
+Grandfather", "Aesop's Fables," and a variety of tales and stories and
+histories of lesser note--all of which he stored up in a good memory,
+and gave forth in piecemeal to his unlettered companions as opportunity
+offered.  Better than all this, he had many and many a time read his
+Bible through, and was familiar with all its leading heroes and
+histories and anecdotes.
+
+Thus, it will be seen that March Marston was quite a learned youth for a
+backwoodsman, besides being a hero and a "madman."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+THE GREAT PRAIRIE--A WILD CHASE--A REMARKABLE ACCIDENT AND AN
+EXTRAORDINARY CHARGER, ALL OF WHICH TERMINATE IN A CRASH--BOUNCE TALKS
+PHILOSOPHY AND TELLS OF TERRIBLE THINGS--OUR HERO DETERMINES TO BEARD
+THE WILD MAN OF THE WEST IN HIS OWN DEN.
+
+The rising sun lifted his head above the horizon of the great western
+prairie, gilding the upper edges of those swelling undulations that bear
+so strong a resemblance to solidified billows as to have acquired the
+name of prairie waves.
+
+On the sunny side of these waves the flowerets of the plains were
+already basking in full enjoyment of the new day; on the summits only
+the tips of their petals were turned to gold.  On the other side of
+those waves, and down in the hollows, everything was clothed in deep
+shadow, as if the still undissipated shades of night were lingering
+there, unwilling or unable to depart from so beautiful a scene.  This
+mingling of strong lights and deep shadows had the effect of rendering
+more apparent the tremendous magnitude of those vast solitudes.
+
+There were no trees within the circuit of vision, but there were a few
+scattered bushes, so low and insignificant in appearance as to be quite
+unobvious to the eye, except when close to the feet of the spectator.
+Near to a clump of these bushes there stood two horses motionless, as if
+chiselled in stone, and with their heads drooping low, as if sound
+asleep.  Directly under the noses of these horses lay two men, each
+wrapped in a blanket, with his head pillowed on his saddle, and his
+rifle close at his side.  Both were also sound asleep.
+
+About a mile distant from the spot on which those sleepers rested, there
+grew another small bush, and under its sheltering boughs, in the
+snuggest conceivable hole, nestled a grouse, or prairie hen, also sound
+asleep, with its head lost in feathers, and its whole rotund aspect
+conveying the idea of extreme comfort and good living.  Now, we do not
+draw the reader's attention to that bird because of its rarity, but
+because of the fact that it was unwittingly instrumental in influencing
+the fortunes of the two sleepers above referred to.
+
+The sun in his upward march overtopped a prairie wave, and his rays,
+darting onward, struck the bosom of the prairie hen, and awoke it.
+Looking up quickly with one eye, it seemed to find the glare too strong,
+winked at the sun, and turned the other eye.  With this it winked also,
+then got up, flapped its wings, ruffled its feathers, and, after a
+pause, sprang into the air with that violent _whirr-r_ which is so
+gladdening, yet so startling, to the ear of a sportsman.  It was
+instantly joined by the other members of the covey to which it belonged,
+and the united flock went sweeping past the sleeping hunters, causing
+their horses to awake with a snort, and themselves to spring to their
+feet with the alacrity of men who were accustomed to repose in the midst
+of alarms, and with a grunt of surprise.
+
+"Prairie-hens," muttered the elder of the two--a big, burly
+backwoodsman--as he turned towards his companion with a quiet smile.
+"It was very thoughtful on 'em to rouse us, lad, considerin' the work
+that lies before us."
+
+"I wish, with all my heart, they didn't rise quite so early," replied
+the younger man, also a stout backwoodsman, who was none other than our
+hero March Marston himself; "I don't approve of risin' until one wakes
+in the course of nature; d'ye see, Bounce?"
+
+"I _hear_; but we can't always git things to go 'xactly as we approves
+of," replied Bounce, stooping down to arrange the embers of the previous
+night's fire.
+
+Bounce's proper name was Bob Ounce.  He styled himself, and wrote
+himself (for he could write to the extent of scrawling his own name in
+angularly irregular large text), "B. Ounce."  His comrades called him
+"Bounce."
+
+"You see, March," continued Bounce in a quiet way, thrusting his rugged
+countenance close to the embers occasionally, and blowing up the spark
+which he had kindled by means of flint, steel, and tinder--"you see,
+this is a cur'ous wurld; it takes a feelosopher to onderstand it
+c'rectly, and even he don't make much o't at the best.  But I've always
+noticed that w'en the time for wakin' up's come, we've got to wake up
+whether we like it or no; d'ye see, lad?"
+
+"I'd see better if you didn't blow the ashes into my eyes in that way,"
+answered March, laughing at the depth of his companion's philosophical
+remark.  "But I say, old chap," (March had no occasion to call him "old
+chap," for Bounce was barely forty), "what if we don't fall in with a
+herd?"
+
+"Then we shall have to go home without meat that's all," replied Bounce,
+filling and lighting his pipe.
+
+"But I promised my mother a buffalo-hump in less than three days, and
+the first day and night are gone."
+
+"You'd no right to promise your mother a hump," returned the
+plain-spoken and matter-of-fact hunter.  "Nobody shud never go to
+promise wot they can't perform.  I've lived, off an' on, nigh forty
+years now, and I've obsarved them wot promises most always does least;
+so if you'll take the advice of an oldish hunter, you'll give it up,
+lad, at once."
+
+"Humph!" ejaculated March, "I suppose you began your _obsarvations_
+before you were a year old--eh, Bounce?"
+
+"I began 'em afore I was a day old.  The first thing I did in this life
+was to utter an 'orrible roar, and I obsarved that immediately I got a
+drink; so I roared agin, an' got another.  Leastwise I've bin told that
+I did, an' if it wasn't obsarvation as caused me for to roar w'en I
+wanted a drink, wot wos it?"
+
+Instead of replying, March started up, and shading his eyes with his
+right hand, gazed intently towards the horizon.
+
+"Wot now, lad?" said Bounce, rising quickly.  "Ha! buffaloes!"
+
+In half a minute the cords by which the two horses were fastened to pegs
+driven into the plain, were coiled up; in another half-minute the
+saddle-girths were buckled; in half a second more the men were mounted
+and tearing over the prairie like the wind.
+
+"Ha, lad," remarked Bounce with one of his quiet smiles--for he was a
+pre-eminently quiet man--"but for them there prairie-hens we'd ha' slept
+this chance away."
+
+The buffaloes, or, more correctly speaking, the bisons which young
+Marston's sharp eye had discovered, were still so far-distant that they
+appeared like crows or little black specks against the sky.  In order to
+approach them as near as possible without attracting their attention, it
+was necessary that the two horsemen should make a wide circuit, so as to
+get well to leeward, lest the wind should carry the scent of them to the
+herd.  Their horses, being fleet, strong, and fresh, soon carried them
+to the proper direction, when they wheeled to the right, and galloped
+straight down upon their quarry, without any further attempt at
+concealment.  The formation of the ground favoured their approach, so
+that they were within a mile of the herd before being discovered.
+
+At first the huge, hairy creatures gazed at the hunters in stupid
+surprise; then they turned and fled.  They appeared, at the outset, to
+run slowly and with difficulty, and the plain seemed to thunder with
+their heavy tread, for there could not have been fewer than a thousand
+animals in the herd.  But as the horsemen drew near they increased their
+speed and put the steeds, fleet and strong though they were, to their
+mettle.
+
+On approaching the buffaloes the horsemen separated, each fixing his
+attention on a particularly fat young cow and pressing towards it.
+Bounce was successful in coming up with the one he had selected, and put
+a ball through its heart at the first shot.  Not so Marston.  Misfortune
+awaited him.  Having come close up with the animal he meant to shoot, he
+cocked his rifle and held it in readiness across the pommel of his
+saddle, at the same time urging his horse nearer, in order to make a
+sure shot.  When the horse had run up so close that its head was in line
+with the buffalo's flank, he pointed his rifle at its shoulder.  At that
+precise moment the horse, whose attention was entirely engrossed with
+the buffalo, put its left forefoot into a badger's hole.  The
+consequence of such an accident is, usually, a tremendous flight through
+the air on the part of the rider, while his steed rolls upon the plain;
+but on the present occasion a still more surprising result followed.
+March Marston not only performed the aerial flight, but he alighted with
+considerable violence on the back of the affrighted buffalo.  Falling on
+his face in a sprawling manner, he chanced to grasp the hairy mane of
+the creature with both hands, and, with a violent half-involuntary
+effort, succeeded in seating himself astride its back.
+
+The whole thing was done so instantaneously that he had scarce time to
+realise what had happened to him ere he felt himself sweeping
+comfortably over the prairie on this novel and hitherto unridden steed!
+A spirit of wild, ungovernable glee instantly arose within him.  Seizing
+the handle of the heavy hunting-whip, which still hung from his right
+wrist by a leather thong, he flourished it in the air, and brought it
+down on his charger's flank with a crack like a pistol-shot, causing the
+animal to wriggle its tail, toss its ponderous head, and kick up its
+heels, in a way that wellnigh unseated him.
+
+The moment Bounce beheld this curious apparition, he uttered a short
+laugh, or grunt, and, turning his horse abruptly, soon ranged up
+alongside.
+
+"Hallo, March!" he exclaimed, "are you mad, boy?"
+
+"Just about it," cried Marston, giving the buffalo another cut with the
+whip, as he looked round with sparkling eyes and a broad grin at the
+hunter.
+
+"Come, now, that won't do," said Bounce gravely.  "I'm 'sponsible to
+your mother for you.  Git off now, or I'll poke ye over."
+
+"Git off!" shouted the youth, "how can I?"
+
+"Well, keep your right leg a bit to one side, an' I'll stop yer horse
+for ye," said Bounce, coolly cocking his rifle.
+
+"Hold hard, old fellow!" cried Marston, in some alarm; "you'll smash my
+thigh-bone if you try.  Stay, I'll do the thing myself."
+
+Saying this, Marston drew his long hunting-knife, and plunged it into
+the buffalo's side.
+
+"Lower down, lad--lower down.  Ye can't reach the life there."
+
+March bent forward, and plunged his knife into the animal's side again--
+up to the hilt; but it still kept on its headlong course, although the
+blood flowed in streams upon the plain.  The remainder of the buffaloes
+had diverged right and left, leaving this singular group alone.
+
+"Mind your eye," said Bounce quickly, "she's a-goin' to fall."
+
+Unfortunately Marston had not time given him to mind either his eye or
+his neck.  The wounded buffalo stumbled, and fell to the ground with a
+sudden and heavy plunge, sending its wild rider once again on an aerial
+journey, which terminated in his coming down on the plain so violently
+that he was rendered insensible.
+
+On recovering consciousness, he found himself lying on his back, in what
+seemed to be a beautiful forest, through which a stream flowed with a
+gentle, silvery sound.  The bank opposite rose considerably higher than
+the spot on which he lay, and he could observe, through his half-closed
+eyelids, that its green slope was gemmed with beautiful flowers, and
+gilded with patches of sunlight that struggled through the branches
+overhead.
+
+Young Marston's first impression was that he must be dreaming, and that
+he had got into one of the fairytale regions about which he had so often
+read to his mother.  A shadow seemed to pass over his eyes as he thought
+this, and, looking up, he beheld the rugged face of Bounce gazing at him
+with an expression of considerable interest and anxiety.
+
+"I say, Bounce, this is jolly!"
+
+"Is it?" replied the hunter with a "humph!"
+
+"If ye try to lift yer head, I guess you'll change yer opinion."
+
+Marston did try to raise his head, and did change his opinion.  His neck
+felt as if it were a complication of iron hinges, which had become
+exceedingly rusty, and stood much in need of oil.
+
+"Oh dear!" groaned Marston, letting his head fall back on the saddle
+from which he had raised it.
+
+"Ah, I thought so!" remarked Bounce.
+
+"And is that all the sympathy you have got to give me, you old savage?"
+said the youth testily.
+
+"By no means," replied the other, patting his head; "here's a drop o'
+water as'll do ye good, lad, and after you've drunk it, I'll rub ye
+down."
+
+"Thank'ee for the water," said Marston with a deep sigh, as he lay back,
+after drinking with difficulty; "as to the rubbin' down, I'll ask for
+that when I want it.  But tell me, Bounce, what has happened to me?--oh!
+I remember now--the buffalo cow and that famous gallop.  Ha! ha! ha!--
+ho--o!"
+
+Marston's laugh terminated in an abrupt groan as the rusty hinges again
+clamoured for oil.
+
+"You'll have to keep quiet, boy, for a few hours, and take a sleep if
+you can.  I'll roast a bit o' meat and rub ye down with fat after you've
+eat as much of it as ye can.  There's nothing like beef for a sick man's
+inside, an' fat for his outside--that's the feelosophy o' the whole
+matter.  You've a'most bin bu'sted wi' that there fall; but you'll be
+alright to-morrow.  An' you've killed yer buffalo, lad, so yer mother
+'ll get the hump after all.  Only keep yer mind easy, an' I guess human
+nature 'll do the rest."
+
+Having delivered himself of these sentiments in a quietly oracular
+manner, Bounce again patted March on the head, as if he had been a large
+baby or a favourite dog, and, rising up, proceeded to kindle a small
+fire, and to light his pipe.
+
+Bounce smoked a tomahawk, which is a small iron hatchet used by most of
+the Indians of North America as a battle-axe.  There is an iron pipe
+bowl on the top of the weapon, and the handle, which is hollow, answers
+the purpose of a pipe stem.
+
+The hunter continued to smoke, and Marston continued to gaze at him till
+he fell asleep.  When he awoke, Bounce was still smoking his tomahawk in
+the self-same attitude.  The youth might have concluded that he had been
+asleep only a few minutes and that his friend had never moved; but he
+was of an observant nature, and noticed that there was a savoury,
+well-cooked buffalo-steak near the fire, and that a strong odour of
+marrow-bones tickled his nostrils--also, that the sun no longer rested
+on the green bank opposite.  Hence, he concluded that he must have slept
+a considerable time, and that the tomahawk had been filled and emptied
+more than once.
+
+"Well, lad," said Bounce, looking round, "had a comf'rable nap?"
+
+"How did you know I was awake?" said March.  "You weren't looking at me,
+and I didn't move."
+
+"P'r'aps not, lad; but you winked."
+
+"And, pray, how did you know that?"
+
+"'Cause ye couldn't wink if ye wos asleep, an' I heerd ye breathe
+diff'rent from afore, so I know'd ye wos awake; an' I knows that a man
+always winks w'en he comes awake, d'ye see?  That's wot I calls the
+feelosophy of obsarvation."
+
+"Very good," replied Marston, "and, that bein' the case, I should like
+much to try a little of the `feelosophy' of supper."
+
+"Right, lad, here you are; there's nothin' like it," rejoined Bounce,
+handing a pewter plate of juicy steak and marrow-bones to his young
+companion.
+
+Marston attained a sitting posture with much difficulty and pain; but
+when he had eaten the steak and the marrow-bones he felt much better;
+and when he had swallowed a cup of hot tea (for they carried a small
+quantity of tea and sugar with them, by way of luxury), he felt
+immensely better; and when he finally lay down for the night he felt
+perfectly well--always excepting a sensation of general batteredness
+about the back, and a feeling of rusty-hinges-wanting-oiliness in the
+region of the neck.
+
+"Now, Bounce," said he, as he lay down and pulled his blanket over his
+shoulder, "are the horses hobbled and the rifles loaded, and my mother's
+hump out o' the way of wolves?"
+
+"All right, lad."
+
+"Then, Bounce, you go ahead and tell me a story till I'm off asleep.
+Don't stop tellin' till I'm safe off.  Pull my nose to make sure; and if
+I don't say `hallo!' to that, I'm all right--in the land of Nod."
+
+March Marston smiled as he said this, and Bounce grinned by way of
+reply.
+
+"Wot'll I tell ye about, boy?"
+
+"I don't mind what--Indians, grislies, buffaloes, trappers--it's all one
+to me; only begin quick and go ahead strong."
+
+"Well, I ain't great at story-tellin'!  P'r'aps it would be more to the
+p'int if I was to tell ye about what I heer'd tell of on my last trip to
+the Mountains.  Did I ever tell ye about the feller as the trappers that
+goes to the far North calls the `Wild Man o' the West'?"
+
+"No; what was he?" said Marston, yawning and closing his eyes.
+
+"I dun know 'xactly wot he _was_.  I'm not overly sure that I even know
+wot he _is_, but I know wot the trappers says of him; an' if only the
+half o't's true, he's a shiner, he is."
+
+Having said this much, Bounce filled his tomahawk, lighted it, puffed a
+large cloud from it, and looked through the smoke at his companion.
+
+March, whose curiosity was aroused, partly by the novelty of the "Wild
+Man's" title, and partly by the lugubrious solemnity of Bounce, said--
+
+"Go on, old boy."
+
+"Ha! it's easy to say, `go on;' but if you know'd the 'orrible things as
+is said about the Wild Man o' the Mountains, p'r'aps you'd say, `Go
+off.'  It 'll make yer blood froze."
+
+"Never mind."
+
+"An' yer hair git up on end."
+
+"Don't care."
+
+"An' yer two eyes start out o' yer head."
+
+"All right."
+
+Bounce, who was deeply superstitious, looked at his young friend with
+severe gravity for at least two minutes.  Marston, who was not quite so
+superstitious, looked at his comrade for exactly the same length of
+time, and winked with one eye at the end of it.
+
+"They says," resumed Bounce in a deep tone, "the Wild Man o' the West
+_eats men_!"
+
+"Don't he eat women?" inquired March sleepily.
+
+"Yes, an' childers too.  An' wot's wuss, he eats 'em raw, an' they say
+he once swallered one--a little one--alive, without chewin' or chokin'!"
+("Horrible!" murmured March.) "He's a dead shot, too; he carries a
+double-barrelled rifle twenty foot long that takes a small cannon-ball.
+I forgot to tell ye he's a giant--some o' the trappers calls him the
+`giant o' the hills,' and they say he's 'bout thirty feet high--some
+says forty.  But there's no gittin' at the truth in this here wurld."
+
+Bounce paused here, but, as his companion made no observation, he went
+on in a half-soliloquising fashion, looking earnestly all the time into
+the heart of the fire, as if he were addressing his remarks to a
+salamander.
+
+"Ay, he's a crack shot, as I wos sayin'.  One day he fell in with a
+grisly bar, an' the brute rushed at him; so he up rifle an' puts a ball
+up each nose,"--("I didn't know a grisly had two noses," murmured
+March,)--"an' loaded agin', an' afore it comed up he put a ball in each
+eye; then he drew his knife an' split it right down the middle from nose
+to tail at one stroke, an' cut it across with another stroke; an',
+puttin' one quarter on his head, he took another quarter under each arm,
+an' the fourth quarter in his mouth, and so walked home to his cave in
+the mountains--'bout one hundred and fifty miles off, where he roasted
+an' ate the whole bar at one sittin'--bones, hair, an' all!"
+
+This flight was too strong for March.  He burst into a fit of laughter,
+which called the rusty hinges into violent action and produced a groan.
+The laugh and the groan together banished drowsiness, so he turned on
+his back, and said--
+
+"Bounce, do you really believe all that?"
+
+Thus pointedly questioned on what he felt to be a delicate point, Bounce
+drew a great number of whiffs from the tomahawk ere he ventured to
+reply.  At length he said--
+
+"Well, to say truth, an' takin' a feelosophical view o' the p'int--I
+_don't_.  But I b'lieve _some_ of it.  I do b'lieve there's some
+'xtraord'nary critter in them there mountains--for I've lived nigh forty
+years, off and on, in these parts, an' I've always obsarved that in this
+wurld w'enever ye find _anythin'_ ye've always got _somethin'_.  Nobody
+never got hold o' somethin' an' found afterwards that it wos nothin'.
+So I b'lieve there's somethin' in this wild man--how much I dun know."
+
+Bounce followed up this remark with a minute account of the reputed
+deeds of this mysterious creature, all of which were more or less
+marvellous; and at length succeeded in interesting his young companion
+so deeply, as to fill him with a good deal of his own belief in at least
+a wild _something_ that dwelt in the heart of the Rocky Mountains.
+
+After a great deal of talk, and prolonged discussion, Bounce concluded
+with the assertion that "he'd give his best rifle, an' that was his only
+one, to see this wild man."
+
+To which Marston replied--
+
+"I'll tell you what it is, Bounce, I _will_ see this wild man, if it's
+in the power of bones and muscles to carry me within eyeshot of him.
+Now, see if I don't."
+
+Bounce nodded his head and looked sagacious, as he said--
+
+"D'ye know, lad, I don't mind if I go along with ye.  It's true, I'm not
+tired of them parts hereabouts--and if I wos to live till I couldn't
+see, I don't think as ever I'd git tired o' the spot where my father
+larned me to shoot an' my mother dandled me on her knee; but I've got a
+fancy to see a little more o' the wurld--'specially the far-off parts o'
+the Rocky Mountains, w'ere I've never bin yit; so I do b'lieve if ye wos
+to try an' persuade me very hard I'd consent to go along with ye."
+
+"Will you, though?" cried March eagerly (again, to his cost, forgetting
+the rusty hinges).
+
+"Ay, that will I, boy," replied the hunter; "an' now I think on it,
+there's four as jolly trappers in Pine Point settlement at this here
+moment as ever floored a grisly or fought an Injun.  They're the real
+sort of metal.  None o' yer tearin', swearin', murderin' chaps, as
+thinks the more they curse the bolder they are, an' the more Injuns they
+kill the cliverer they are; but steady quiet fellers, as don't speak
+much, but _does_ a powerful quantity; boys that know a deer from a
+Blackfoot Injun, I guess; that goes to the mountains to trap and comes
+back to sell their skins, an' w'en they've sold 'em, goes right off
+agin, an' niver drinks."
+
+"I know who you mean, I think; at least I know one of them," observed
+March.
+
+"No ye don't, do ye?  Who?"
+
+"Waller, the Yankee."
+
+"That's one," said Bounce, nodding; "Big Waller, we calls him."
+
+"I'm not sure that I can guess the others.  Surely Tim Slater isn't
+one?"
+
+"No!" said Bounce, with an emphasis of tone and a peculiar twist of the
+point of his nose that went far to stamp the individual named with a
+character the reverse of noble.  "Try agin."
+
+"I can't guess."
+
+"One's a French Canadian," said Bounce; "a little chap, with a red nose
+an' a pair o' coal-black eyes, but as bold as a lion."
+
+"I know him," interrupted March; "Gibault Noir--Black Gibault, as they
+sometimes call him.  Am I right?"
+
+"Right, lad; that's two.  Then there's Hawkswing, the Injun whose wife
+and family were all murdered by a man of his own tribe, and who left his
+people after that an' tuck to trappin' with the whites; that's three.
+An' there's Redhand, the old trapper that's bin off and on between this
+place and the Rocky Mountains for nigh fifty years, I believe."
+
+"Oh, I know him well.  He must be made of iron, I think, to go through
+what he does at his time of life.  I wonder what his right name is?"
+
+"Nobody knows that, lad.  You know, as well as I do, that he wos called
+Redhand by the Injuns in consekence o' the lot o' grislies he's killed
+in his day; but nobody never could git at his real name.  P'r'aps it's
+not worth gittin' at.  Now, them four 'll be startin' in a week or two
+for the mountains, an' wot's to hinder us a-jinin' of them?"
+
+To his own question Bounce, after a pause, replied with deliberate
+emphasis, "Nothin' wotsomdiver;" and his young companion heartily echoed
+the sentiment.
+
+Exactly thirty-six hours after the satisfactory formation of the above
+resolution, March Marston galloped furiously towards the door of his
+mother's cottage, reined up, leaped to the ground, seized the
+buffalo-hump that hung at his saddle-bow, and entered with a good deal
+of that impetuosity that had gone far to procure for him the title of
+madman.  Flinging the bloody mass of meat on the floor he sat down on a
+chair, and said--
+
+"There, mother!"
+
+"Well, you _are_ a clever fellow," said Mrs Marston, drying her hands
+(for she had been washing dishes), and giving her son a hearty kiss on
+the forehead.
+
+"Clever or not clever, mother, I'm off to the Rocky Mountains in two
+days."
+
+Mrs Marston was neither dismayed nor surprised.  She was used to that
+sort of thing, and didn't mind it.
+
+"What to do there, my boy?"
+
+"To see the Wild Man o' the West."
+
+"The what?"
+
+"The Wild Man o' the West, mother."
+
+It is needless to try our reader's patience with the long conversation
+that followed.  March had resolved to preach a discourse with the "Wild
+Man o' the West" for his text, and he preached so eloquently that his
+mother (who was by no means a timid woman) at length not only agreed to
+let him go, but commended him for his resolution.  The only restraint
+she laid upon her son had reference to his behaviour towards the Wild
+Man, if he should happen to meet with him.
+
+"You may look at him, March (Mrs Marston spoke of him as if he were a
+caged wild beast!) and you may speak to him, but you _must not_ fight
+with him, except in self-defence.  If he lets _you_ alone, you must let
+_him_ alone.  Promise me that, boy."
+
+"I promise, mother."
+
+Not long after this promise was made, a light bark canoe was launched
+upon the river, and into it stepped our hero, with his friend Bounce,
+and Big Waller, Black Gibault, Hawkswing, and Redhand, the trappers.  A
+cheer rang from the end of the little wharf at Pine Point, as the frail
+craft shot out into the stream.  The wild woods echoed back the cheer,
+which mingled with the lusty answering shout of the trappers as they
+waved their caps to the friends they left behind them.  Then, dipping
+their paddles with strong rapid strokes, they headed the canoe towards
+the Rocky Mountains, and soon disappeared up one of those numerous
+tributary streams that constitute the head waters of the Missouri river.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+THE BEAUTIES OF THE WILDERNESS--PORTAGES--PHILOSOPHY OF SETTLING DOWN--
+AN ENORMOUS FOOTPRINT--SUPPER PROCURED, AND A BEAR-HUNT IN PROSPECT.
+
+After paddling, and hauling, and lifting, and tearing, and wading, and
+toiling, and struggling, for three weeks, our hero and his friends found
+themselves deep in the heart of the unknown wilderness--unknown, at
+least, to the civilised world, though not altogether unknown to the
+trappers and the Red Indians of the Far West.
+
+There is something inexpressibly romantic and captivating in the idea of
+traversing those wild regions of this beautiful world of ours which have
+never been visited by human beings, with the exception of a few
+wandering savages who dwell therein.
+
+So thought and felt young Marston one splendid afternoon, as he toiled
+up to the summit of a grassy mound with a heavy pack on his shoulders.
+Throwing down the pack, he seated himself upon it, wiped his heated brow
+with the sleeve of his hunting-shirt, and gazed with delight upon the
+noble landscape that lay spread out before him.
+
+"Ha! _that's_ the sort o' thing--that's it!"--he exclaimed, nodding his
+head, as if the rich and picturesque arrangement of wood and water had
+been got up expressly for his benefit, and he were pleased to signify
+his entire approval of it.
+
+"That's just it," he continued after a short contemplative pause, "just
+what I expected to find.  Ain't I glad? eh?"
+
+March certainly looked as if he was; but, being at that moment alone, no
+one replied to his question or shared his enjoyment.  After another
+pause he resumed his audible meditations.
+
+"Now, did ever any one see sich a place as this in all the wide 'arth?
+That's what I want to know.  Never!  Just look at it now.  There's miles
+an' miles o' woods an' plains, an' lakes, an' rivers, wherever I choose
+to look--all round me.  And there are deer, too, lots of 'em, lookin'
+quite tame, and no wonder, for I suppose the fut of man never rested
+here before, except, maybe, the fut of a redskin now an' again.  And
+there's poplars, an' oaks, an' willows, as thick as they can grow."
+
+March might have added that there were also elm, and sycamore, and ash,
+and hickory, and walnut, and cotton-wood trees in abundance, with
+numerous aspen groves, in the midst of which were lakelets margined with
+reeds and harebells, and red willows, and wild roses, and chokeberries,
+and prickly pears, and red and white currants.  He might, we say, have
+added all this, and a great deal more, with perfect truth; but he
+didn't, for his knowledge of the names of such things was limited, so he
+confined himself, like a wise youth, to the enumeration of those things
+that he happened to be acquainted with.
+
+"And," continued March, starting up and addressing his remark to a
+hollow in the ground a few yards off, "there's grisly bars here, too,
+for there's the futmark of one, as sure as I'm a white man!"
+
+Most people would have been inclined to differ with March in regard to
+his being a white man, for he was as brown as constant exposure in hot
+weather could make him; but he referred to his blood rather than to his
+skin, which was that of white parents.
+
+The footprint which he had discovered was, indeed, that of a grisly
+bear, and he examined it with more than usual interest, for, although
+many of those ferocious denizens of the western woods had been already
+seen, and a few shot by the trappers on their voyage to this point, none
+had been seen so large as the monster whose footprint now attracted
+Marston's attention.  The print was eleven inches long, exclusive of the
+claws, and seven inches broad.
+
+While March was busily engaged in examining it, Black Gibault came
+panting up the hill with a huge pack on his back.
+
+"Ho!  March, me garcon, vat you be find la?" cried the Canadian,
+throwing down his pack and advancing.  "A bar, Gibault; Caleb himself.
+A regular big un, too.  Just look here."
+
+"Ah! oui, vraiment; dat am be one extinishin' vopper, sure 'nuff.  Mais,
+him's gone pass long ago, so you better come avay an' finish de
+portage."
+
+"Not I, lad," cried March gaily, as he flung himself upon the grassy
+mound; "I'm goin' to admire this splendid country till I'm tired of it,
+and leave you and the other fellows to do the work."
+
+"Oh! ver' goot," cried Gibault, sitting down beside our hero, and
+proceeding to fill his pipe, "I will 'mire de countray, too.  Ha! it be
+unmarkibly beautiful--specially when beholded troo one cloud of tabacca
+smoke."
+
+"Alas!  Gibault, we'll have to move off sooner than we expected, for
+there it comes."
+
+The two friends leaped up simultaneously, and, seizing their packs,
+hurried down the mound, entered the thick bushes, and vanished.
+
+The object whose sudden appearance had occasioned this abrupt departure
+would, in truth, have been somewhat singular, not to say alarming, in
+aspect, to those who did not know its nature.  At a distance it looked
+like one of those horrible antediluvian monsters one reads of, with a
+lank body, about thirty feet long.  It was reddish-yellow in colour, and
+came on at a slow, crawling pace, its back appearing occasionally above
+the underwood.  Presently its outline became more defined, and it turned
+out to be a canoe instead of an antediluvian monster, with Big Waller
+and Bounce acting the part of legs to it.  Old Redhand the trapper and
+Hawkswing the Indian walked alongside, ready to relieve their comrades
+when they should grow tired--for a large canoe is a heavy load for two
+men--or to assist them in unusually bad places, or to support them and
+prevent accidents, should they chance to stumble.
+
+"Have a care now, lad, at the last step," said Redhand, who walked a
+little in advance.
+
+"Yer help would be better than yer advice, old feller," replied Bounce,
+as he stepped upon the ridge or mound which Marston and his companion
+had just quitted.  "Lend a hand; we'll take a spell here.  I do believe
+my shoulder's out o' joint.  There, gently--that's it."
+
+"Wall, I guess this _is_ Eden," cried Big Waller, gazing around him with
+unfeigned delight.  "Leastwise, if it ain't, it must be the very nixt
+location to them there diggins of old Father Adam.  Ain't it
+splendiferous?"
+
+Big Waller was an out-and-out Yankee trapper.  It is a mistake to
+suppose that all Yankees "guess" and "calculate," and talk through their
+nose.  There are many who don't, as well as many who do; but certain it
+is that Big Waller possessed all of these peculiarities in an alarming
+degree.  Moreover, he was characteristically thin and tall and sallow.
+Nevertheless, he was a hearty, good-natured fellow, not given to
+boasting so much as most of his class, but much more given to the
+performance of daring deeds.  In addition to his other qualities, the
+stout Yankee had a loud, thundering, melodious voice, which he was fond
+of using, and tremendous activity of body, which he was fond of
+exhibiting.
+
+He was quite a contrast, in all respects, to his Indian companion,
+Hawkswing, who, although about as tall, was not nearly so massive or
+powerful.  Like most North American Indians, he was grave and taciturn
+in disposition; in other respects there was nothing striking about him.
+He was clad, like his comrades, in a trapper's hunting-shirt and
+leggings; but he scorned to use a cap of any kind, conceiving that his
+thick, straight, black hair was a sufficient covering, as undoubtedly it
+was.  He was as courageous as most men; a fair average shot, and, when
+occasion required, as lithe and agile as a panther; but he was not a
+hero--few savages are.  He possessed one good quality, however, beyond
+his kinsmen--he preferred mercy to revenge, and did not gloat over the
+idea of tearing the scalps off his enemies, and fringing his coat and
+leggings therewith.
+
+"'Tis a sweet spot," said Redhand to his comrades, who stood or reclined
+in various attitudes around him.  "Such a place as I've often thought of
+casting anchor in for life."
+
+"An' why don't ye, then?" inquired Waller.  "If I was thinkin' o'
+locating down anywhar', I guess I'd jine ye, old man.  But I'm too fond
+o' rovin' for that yet.  I calc'late it'll be some years afore I come to
+that pint.  Why don't ye build a log hut, and enjoy yerself?"
+
+"'Cause I've not just come to that point either," replied the old man
+with a smile.
+
+Redhand had passed his best days many years before.  His form was spare,
+and his silvery locks were thin; but his figure was still tall and
+straight as a poplar, and the fire of youth still lingered in his
+dark-blue eye.  The most striking and attractive point about Redhand was
+the extreme kindliness that beamed in his countenance.  A long life in
+the wilderness had wrinkled it; but every wrinkle tended, somehow, to
+bring out the great characteristic of the man.  Even his frown had
+something kindly in it.  The prevailing aspect was that of calm
+serenity.  Redhand spoke little, but he was an attentive listener, and,
+although he never laughed loudly, he laughed often and heartily, in his
+own way, at the sallies of his younger comrades.  In youth he must have
+been a strikingly handsome man.  Even in old age he was a strong one.
+
+"I'll tell ye what's my opinion now, boys, in regard to settlin' down,"
+said Bounce, who, having filled and lighted his pipe, now found himself
+in a position to state his views comfortably.  "Ye see, settlin' down
+may, in a gin'ral way, be said to be nonsense.  In pint o' fact, there
+ain't no sich a thing as settlin' down.  When a feller sits down, why,
+in a short bit, he's bound to rise up agin, and when he goes to bed, he
+means for to get up next mornin'."  (Here Bounce paused, drew several
+whiffs, and rammed down the tobacco in his pipe with the end of his
+little finger.) "Then, when a feller locates in a place, he's sure for
+to be movin' about, more or less, as long as he's got a leg to stand on.
+Now, what I say is, that when a man comes to talk o' settlin' down,
+he's losin' heart for a wanderin' life among all the beautiful things o'
+creation; an' when a man loses heart for the beautiful things o'
+creation, he'll soon settle down for good and all.  He's in a bad way,
+he is, and oughtn't to encourage hisself in sich feelin's.  I b'lieve
+that to be the feelosophy o' the whole affair, and I don't b'lieve that
+nobody o' common edication--I don't mean school edication, but backwoods
+edication--would go for to think otherwise.  Wot say you, Waller?"
+
+"Sartinly not," replied the individual thus appealed to.
+
+Big Waller had a deep reverence for the supposed wisdom of his friend
+Bounce.  He listened to his lucubrations with earnest attention at all
+times, and, when he understood them, usually assented to all his friend
+said.  When Bounce became too profound for him, as was not infrequently
+the case, he contented himself with nodding his head, as though to say,
+"I'm with you in heart, lad, though not quite clear in my mind; but it's
+all right, I'm quite sartin."
+
+"Well, then," resumed Bounce, turning to Redhand, "what do _you_ think
+o' them sentiments, old man?"
+
+Redhand, who had been paying no attention whatever to these sentiments,
+but, during the delivery of them, had been gazing wistfully out upon the
+wide expanse of country before him, laid his hand on Bounce's shoulder,
+and said in a low, earnest tone--
+
+"It's a grand country!  D'ye see the little clear spot yonder, on the
+river bank, with the aspen grove behind it, an' the run of prairie on
+the right, an' the little lake not a gun-shot off on the left?  That's
+the spot I've sometimes thought of locatin' on when my gun begins to
+feel too heavy.  There'll be cities there some day.  Bricks and mortar
+and stone 'll change its face--an' cornfields, an'--but not in our day,
+lad, not in our day.  The redskins and the bears 'll hold it as long as
+we're above ground.  Yes, I'd like to settle down there."
+
+"Come, come, Redhand," said Bounce, "this sort o' thing 'll never do.
+Why, you're as hale and hearty as the best on us.  Wot on 'arth makes
+you talk of settlin' down in that there fashion?"
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Waller energetically, "I guess if ye goes on in that
+style ye'll turn into a riglar hiplecondrik--ain't that the word,
+Bounce?  I heer'd the minister say as it was the wust kind o' the blues.
+What's _your_ opinion o' settlin' down, Hawkswing?"
+
+To this question the Indian gravely replied in his own language (with
+which the trappers were well acquainted), that, not having the remotest
+idea of what they were talking about, he entertained no opinion in
+regard to it whatever.
+
+"Well, wotiver others may hold," remarked Bounce emphatically, "I'm
+strong agin' settlin' down nowhar'."
+
+"So am I, out an' out," said Waller.
+
+"Dat be plain to the naked eye," observed Gibault, coming up at the
+moment.  "Surement you have settle down here for ever.  Do you s'pose,
+mes garcons, dat de canoe will carry _hisself_ over de portage?  Voila!
+vat is dat?"
+
+Gibault pointed to the footprint of the grisly bear, as he spoke.
+
+"It's a bar," remarked Bounce quietly.
+
+"Caleb," added Waller, giving the name frequently applied to the grisly
+bear by western hunters.  "I calc'late it's nothin' new to see Caleb's
+fut in the mud."
+
+"Mais, it be new to see hims fut so big, you oogly Yankee," cried
+Gibault, putting Waller's cap over his eyes, and running into the bush
+to avoid the consequences.
+
+At that moment a deer emerged from the bushes, about fifty yards from
+the spot on which the trappers rested, and, plunging into the river,
+made for the opposite bank.
+
+"There's our supper," said Bounce, quietly lifting his rifle in a
+leisurely way, and taking aim without rising from the spot on which he
+sat or removing the pipe from his lips.
+
+The sharp crack was followed by a convulsive heave on the part of the
+deer, which fell over on its side and floated downstream.
+
+Big Waller gave utterance to a roar of satisfaction, and, flinging his
+pipe from him, bounded down the bank towards a point of rock, where he
+knew, from the set of the current, the deer would be certain to be
+stranded.  Gibault, forgetting his recent piece of impertinence, darted
+towards the same place, and both men reached it at the same instant.
+Big Waller immediately lifted his little friend in his huge arms, and
+tossed him into the centre of a thick soft bush, out of which he
+scrambled in time to see his comrade catch the deer by the horns, as it
+floated past, and drag it on shore.
+
+"Hoh!  I vill pay you off von time," cried Gibault, laughing, and
+shaking his fist at Waller.  Then, seizing the last bale of goods that
+had not been carried across the portage, he ran away with it nimbly up
+the bank of the stream.
+
+Big Waller placed the deer on his shoulders with some difficulty, and
+followed in the same direction.
+
+On reaching the other end of the portage, they found the canoe reloaded
+and in the water, and their comrades evincing symptoms of impatience.
+
+"Come on, lads, come on," cried March, who seemed to be the most
+impatient of them all.  "We've seen Caleb!  He's up the river, on this
+side.  Get in!  He's sich a banger, oh!"
+
+Before the sentence was well finished, all the men were in their places
+except Black Gibault, who remained on the bank to shove off the canoe.
+
+"Now, lad, get in," said Redhand, whose usually quiet eye appeared to
+gleam at the near prospect of a combat with the fierce and much-dreaded
+monster of the Far West.
+
+"All right, mes garcons," replied Gibault; "hand me mine gun; I vill
+valk on the bank, an' see vich vay hims go--so, adieu!"
+
+With a powerful push, he sent the light craft into the stream, and,
+turning on his heel, entered the woods.
+
+The others at once commenced paddling up the river with energetic
+strokes.
+
+"He's a wild feller that," remarked Bounce, after they had proceeded
+some distance and reached a part of the stream where the current was
+less powerful.  "I'd bet my rifle he's git the first shot at Caleb; I
+only hope he'll not fall in with him till we git ashore, else it may go
+hard with him."
+
+"So it may," said Waller; "if it goes as hard wi' Gibault as it did wi'
+my old comrade, Bob Swan, it'll be no fun, I guess."
+
+"What happened to him?" asked March, who was ever open-eared for
+stories.
+
+"Oh, it was nothing very curious, but I guess it was `onconvanient,' as
+them coons from Ireland says.  Bob Swan went--he did--away right off
+alone, all by hisself, to shoot a grisly with a old musket as wasn't fit
+to fire powder, not to speak o' ball.  He was sich a desprit feller, Bob
+Swan was, that he cut after it without takin' time to see wot wos in the
+gun.  I follered him as fast as I could, hollerin' for him to stop and
+see if he wos loaded; but I calc'late he was past stoppin'.  Wall, he
+comes up wi' the bar suddently, and the bar looks at him, and he looks
+at it.  Then he runs up, claps the gun to his shoulder, and pulls the
+trigger; but it wos a rusty old lock, an' no fire came.  There was fire
+come from the bar's eyes, though, I _do_ guess!  It ran at him, an' he
+ran away.  Of course Caleb soon came up, an' Bob primed as he ran an'
+wheeled about, stuck the muzzle of the old musket right into Caleb's
+mouth, and fired.  He swallered the whole charge, that bar did, as if it
+had been a glass o' grog, and didn't he cough some?  Oh no! an' he
+roared, too, jist like this--"
+
+Big Waller, in the excitement of his narrative, was about to give a
+vocal illustration, when Bounce suddenly extinguished him by clapping
+his hand on his mouth.
+
+"Hist! you wild buffalo," he said, "you'll frighten off all the bars
+within ten miles of us, if you raise your horrable trumpet!"
+
+"I do believe, I forgot," said the Yankee with a low chuckle, when his
+mouth was released.
+
+"Well, but what happened to Bob Swan?" inquired March eagerly.
+
+"Wot happened?  I guess the bar cotched him by the leg, an' smashed it
+in three places, before you could wink, but, by good luck, I come up at
+that moment, an' put a ball right through Caleb's brains.  Bob got
+better, but he never got the right use o' his leg after that.  An' we
+found that he'd fired a charge o' small shot down that bar's throat--he
+had!"
+
+"Hallo! look! is yon Caleb?" inquired March in a hoarse whisper, as he
+pointed with his paddle to a distant point up the river, where a dark
+object was seen moving on the bank.
+
+"That's him," said Bounce.  "Now then, do your best, an' we'll land on
+the point just below him."
+
+"That's sooner said than done," remarked Redhand quietly, "for there's
+another portage between us and Caleb."
+
+As the old man spoke, the canoe passed round a low point which had
+hitherto shut out the view of the bed of the river from the travellers,
+and the vision of a white, though not a high, waterfall burst upon their
+sight, at the same moment that the gushing sound of water broke upon
+their ears.  At any other time the beauty of the scene would have drawn
+forth warm, though perhaps quaint and pithy, remarks of admiration.
+Wood and water were seen picturesquely mingled and diversified in
+endless variety.  Little islands studded the surface of the river, which
+was so broad and calm at that place as to wear the appearance of a small
+lake.  At the upper end of this lake it narrowed abruptly, and here
+occurred the fall, which glittered in the sun's bright rays like a
+cascade of molten silver.  The divers trees and shrubs, both on the
+islets and on the mainland, presented in some places the rich cultivated
+appearance of the plantations on a well-tended domain; but, in other
+places, the fallen timber, the rank tangled vegetation, and the
+beautiful wild flowers showed that man's hand had not yet destroyed the
+wild beauty of the virgin wilderness.  The sky above was bright and
+blue, with a few thin feathery clouds resting motionless upon its vast
+concave, and the air was so still that even the tremulous aspen leaves
+were but slightly agitated, while the rest of the forest's drapery hung
+perfectly motionless.
+
+Complete silence would have reigned but for the mellow sound of the
+distant fall and the sweet, plaintive cries of innumerable wildfowl that
+flew hither and thither, or revelled in the security of their sedgy
+homes.  Flocks of wild geese passed in constant succession overhead, in
+the form of acute angles, giving a few trumpet notes now and then, as if
+to advertise their passage to the far north to the dwellers in the world
+below.  Bustling teal rose in groups of dozens or half-dozens as the red
+canoe broke upon their astonished gaze, and sent them, with whistling
+wings, up or down the river.  A solitary northern diver put up his long
+neck here and there to gaze for an instant inquisitively, and then sank,
+as if for ever, into the calm water, to reappear long after in some
+totally new and unexpected quarter.  A napping duck or two, being
+wellnigh run over by the canoe, took wing with a tremendous splutter and
+a perfectly idiotical compound of a quack and a roar, while numerous
+flocks of plover, which had evidently meant to lie still among the
+sedges and hide while the canoe passed, sprang into the air at the
+unwonted hullabaloo, and made off, with diverse shriek and whistle, as
+fast as their wings could carry them.  Besides these noisy denizens of
+the wilderness, there were seen, in various places, cranes, and crows,
+and magpies, and black terns, and turkey-buzzards, all of which were
+more or less garrulous in expressing surprise at the unexpected
+appearance of the trappers in their wild domain.  And, just as the canoe
+drew near to the place at the foot of the fall where they meant to land
+and make the portage, a little cabri, or prong-horned antelope, leaped
+out of the woods, intending, doubtless, to drink, caught sight of the
+intruders, gave one short glance of unutterable amazement, and then
+rebounded into the bush like an electrified indiarubber ball.
+
+"Now, then," said Bounce as he leaped ashore, and held the canoe steady
+while his comrades landed, "jist be cool, an' no hurry; make the
+portage, launch the canoe atop o' the fall, sot off agin, an' then--
+hurrah for that there grisly bar!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+GIBAULT HAS AN ADVENTURE, AND DISCOVERS A VERY STRANGE CREATURE IN THE
+WOODS--A MOST TREMENDOUS BEAR-HUNT PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED.
+
+Meanwhile Black Gibault, having followed the course of the river for
+some distance on foot, struck into the woods, sought for and found the
+track of the bear, and, looking carefully to the priming of his gun, and
+knocking the edge of the flint to sharpen it, pushed forward in pursuit
+with the ardour of a reckless man.
+
+Gibault Noir was a goose!  But he was an amiable goose; therefore men
+forgave his follies.  Had Gibault not been a goose he never would have
+set off alone in pursuit of a grisly bear when he had comrades who might
+have accompanied him.  Every one knows--at least, if every one does not
+know, every one who reads these pages may know henceforth--that the
+grisly bear of the western prairies and Rocky Mountains is one of the
+most desperate and most dreaded animals on the face of the earth; not
+dreaded merely by the weak and the timorous, but dreaded also by the
+bravest Indians and the boldest trappers.  Of course we do not mean to
+say that by these latter the grisly bear is dreaded with anything like
+cowardly terror; but it is regarded with that degree of wholesome
+anxiety and extreme caution with which men usually regard an excessively
+dangerous and powerful enemy.
+
+Unlike other bears, the grisly bear scorns to fly from before the face
+of man.  His ferocity, when wounded, is terrible, and his tenacity of
+life is such that, however many mortal wounds one may give him, he will
+retain life and strength long enough to kill his assailant before he
+himself dies, unless he is shot dead at once by a ball being planted in
+his heart or brain, both of which are difficult to reach.
+
+He has a grumpy sort of magnanimity of his own, however, and will
+usually let men alone if men will let him alone.  But men are not prone
+to let anything alone; hence encounters are frequent; wounds, on both
+sides, are numerous; and death, on one or other side, is almost certain.
+
+Old trappers are not fond of attacking Caleb single-handed, but young
+hot-blooded fellows, who have got their names to make, are less
+cautious, and sometimes even court the combat, as was the case in the
+present instance with reckless Gibault Noir.
+
+For half an hour, Gibault went over the ground at a sort of half-walk,
+half-trot, stopping occasionally to examine the prints of the bear more
+narrowly when they passed across hard ground that did not take a good
+impression.  At length he came to a deep gully or creek, where the
+bushes were so dense that he could not see far through them in any
+direction.  Here he halted, re-examined his priming, and, peering
+cautiously through the underwood, advanced with much greater
+deliberation and care than heretofore.
+
+In descending the gully, Gibault stumbled once or twice, and made one or
+two crashing bursts through bushes that would have proved quite
+impervious to most men.  After much toil he reached the bottom, and,
+standing there, up to the ankles in a small rivulet, gazed upward at the
+bank he had now to ascend.
+
+"Vraiment, it be uncommonly difficile," said he, addressing himself to
+the task, while the perspiration began to roll down his forehead.
+
+At last he reached the top of the bank on the other side, and, after
+panting for some time, began to look for the bear's footprints; but
+these could not now be found.  In his scramble through the gully he had
+lost them, and the ground on the side he had just reached was so hard
+and rocky that it seemed to him doubtful whether it was capable of
+receiving any visible impression from a bear's paw.  It was just
+possible, too, that the animal had found the descent of the gully as
+difficult as he himself had; in which case it was highly probable that
+it had used the course of the rivulet as a pathway.
+
+For a moment, the little Canadian meditated a second descent into the
+gully for the purpose of settling this point, but, having not yet quite
+ceased to pant from his recent exertions, he thought better of it, and
+determined to make a further examination of the ground where he was.
+After doing so for a quarter of an hour, his exertions were rewarded by
+the discovery of what appeared to be a track.  It was not very distinct,
+but it was sufficiently so to induce him to follow it up with renewed
+ardour.
+
+Presently he came upon a spot where the ground was not so thickly
+covered with underwood, and where, in some places, it was so soft as to
+show an exact print of the foot of the animal he was following up.  Here
+he received a great disappointment, and an equally great surprise--a
+disappointment on finding that the track he followed was _not_ that of a
+bear, and a surprise on discovering that it _was_ that of a man!
+
+On first making this discovery, Gibault stopped short, laid his gun on
+the ground, stooped down, planted a hand on each knee, opened his eyes
+to their utmost, pursed his lips to the tightest, and stared at the
+footprint, the very embodiment of astonishment.  After a few seconds he
+gave vent to a low whistle, and said "Ho!"  Exactly ten seconds after
+that, he said "Ha!" and, raising his right hand, scratched the point of
+his nose, which, being too red naturally, was not improved by the
+operation.
+
+None of these acts and exclamations, either collectively or singly,
+seemed to afford him any enlightenment, for he began to shake his head
+slowly from side to side, as if he had come to the conclusion that the
+whole affair was utterly beyond his limited comprehension; then he
+started up, shouldered his gun, and followed the track of the man with
+as much ardour as he had formerly pursued that of the bear.
+
+Perseverance is almost invariably rewarded.  This would seem to be one
+of those laws of nature which fail to operate only on very rare and
+peculiar occasions.  Gibault had not advanced more than a hundred yards
+when he came suddenly upon the man whose feet had made the tracks he had
+been following.
+
+"The Vild-Man-of-de-Vest! certainement!" muttered Black Gibault slowly,
+as he gazed at the creature before him, and quietly cocked his rifle to
+be ready for any emergency.
+
+Certainly the man upon whom our trapper had stumbled thus suddenly might
+have been styled the wild man of any region--west, north, east, or
+south,--with perfect propriety.  On his legs were a pair of dark grey
+fustian trousers, which had seen so much service that, from the knee
+downwards, they were torn into shreds.  His feet were covered by a pair
+of moccasins.  Instead of the usual hunting-shirt he wore one of the
+yellow deerskin coats of a Blackfoot chief, which was richly embroidered
+with beads and quilt work, and fringed with scalp-locks.  On his head he
+wore a felt hat, with a broad rim and a tall conical crown, somewhat
+resembling a Spanish sombrero, and beside him, on the bough of a tree,
+hung a long blue Spanish cloak.  The countenance of this extraordinary
+man was handsome and youthful, but wild and somewhat haggard, as if from
+much recent suffering.  His eye was black and piercing, his nose
+aquiline, and his forehead broad, but his mouth was effeminate, his chin
+small and beardless, his neck long, his shoulders narrow and sloping,
+and his black hair hung in long straight locks over his shoulders.  A
+short sword, somewhat resembling that of the ancient Roman, lay on the
+sward beside him, and near to it a huge cavalry pistol of the olden
+time, with a brass barrel and a bell mouth--a species of miniature
+blunderbuss.  Its fellow was stuck in his belt, beneath the chief's
+coat, as could be observed from the appearance of the butt protruding
+from the opening in the breast thereof.
+
+This personage was seated on a grassy knoll so absorbed in some curious
+kind of occupation that he was totally unobservant of the presence of
+Gibault until he had approached to within thirty yards of him.  Although
+his occupation was a mystery to the trapper, to one a little more
+conversant with the usages of civilised life, the open book on the knee,
+the easy flow of the pencil, and the occasional use of a piece of
+indiarubber, would have been sufficient evidence that the young man was
+sketching the view before him.
+
+"Ahem!" coughed Gibault.
+
+The stranger scattered book, pencil, and indiarubber to the winds (or to
+the atmosphere, for there happened to be no wind at the time), and
+started up.  In doing so, he showed that he was at least a tall, if not
+a stout fellow.  Seizing a pistol with one hand and his sword with the
+other, he presented both at Gibault, and yelled, rather than shouted,
+"Stay! halt! stop now, my man; drop the butt of your gun, else I'll--
+I'll blow out your brains."
+
+Although somewhat startled by this unusual mode of salutation, the
+trapper had sense and quickness enough to perceive that the artist was
+in anything but a warlike state of mind, and that his violent
+demonstration was the result of having been startled; so, pulling off
+his cap with that native politeness which is one of the characteristics
+of the French Canadian, he advanced, and said--
+
+"Bon jour, monsieur.  I ver' moch sorray dat I be give you von fright.
+Pardon, sair; how you do?"
+
+"Thank you--thank you, good fellow," replied the artist, laying down his
+weapons and grasping Gibault's proffered hand with a sigh of evident
+relief, "I am well, excellently well.  You did, indeed, startle me by
+your sudden appearance; but no harm is done, and where none was intended
+no apology is necessary.  You are a Frenchman, I think?"
+
+"Non, sair; not 'xactly.  I be French Canadian.  Mine fadder was be von
+Canadian; mine moder was a Frenchvoman; I be leetle of both."
+
+"And you have cause to be proud of your country, my man," returned the
+artist, collecting his scattered drawing materials and quietly sitting
+down to continue his sketch, "a splendid country and a noble people.
+Sit down, my good friend, if you can spare time, while I put a few
+finishing touches to this sketch."
+
+"Mais," said Gibault, rubbing his nose in great perplexity at the
+coolness of this eccentric wanderer; "mais, monsieur, I hab _not_ time;
+I be follerin' de tracks of von monstracious grisly bar--"
+
+"What! a grisly bear?" cried the artist, looking up with sudden
+animation.
+
+"Oui, monsieur.  We have see him not long 'go, an' hopes to kill him
+soon."
+
+The artist's dark eye sparkled with animation as he hastily shut up his
+sketch-book and thrust it, with his drawing materials, into a small
+pocket inside the breast of his coat.
+
+"A grisly bear!" he repeated.  "Ha! lead on, good fellow, I will
+follow."
+
+Thus urged, Gibault, without further loss of time, led the way to the
+banks of the river, followed closely by his new friend, who stalked
+behind him with long ostrich-like strides.  The semi-theatrical air of
+the artist made a deep impression on the trapper.  Had Gibault known
+what a theatrical air was, he might have been immensely tickled; but,
+being what he was--an unsophisticated son of the wilderness--he knew
+nothing about such airs, and therefore regarded his companion in the
+light of a superior order of being, or a madman; he was not quite sure
+which.
+
+In a few minutes they emerged from the bushes and came out upon the bank
+of the river, which at that part was high and precipitous, with few
+trees, but a considerable quantity of underwood on the slopes.
+
+"Are you sure, friend, that a bear has been seen by you?" inquired the
+artist.
+
+"Oui; most positavly sure, sair.  Ha! an' here be him's fut encore.  I
+have lose him in de vood.  Now, monsieur, have your pistol ready."
+
+"Lead on," returned the artist.  "I have longed much for this day.  To
+shoot an individual of this ferocious class has been my ambition--Ho!
+friend, look here.  Yonder object seems like a canoe.  Whence comes it,
+think you?  This region, I know, is not very safe.  There are Indians
+who do not love the whites in--"
+
+"No fear, monsieur," interrupted Gibault, "dat be mine comerades--Good
+mans an' true every von.  Dey come to land here, I see."
+
+A low growl in the bushes a little distance ahead of them put an abrupt
+termination to the conversation.  Gibault threw forward the muzzle of
+his gun, and glanced at his comrade.  The glance did not tend to comfort
+him.  The artist was pale as death.  This, and an occasional twitch of
+the lip, were clear and unmistakable signs to the backwoodsman that fear
+had taken possession of his friend, and that he was not to be counted on
+in the moment of danger.  Yet there was a stern knitting of the
+eyebrows, and a firm pressure of the lips, that seemed to indicate
+better qualities, and perplexed him not a little.
+
+"P'r'aps, monsieur," suggested Gibault hesitatingly, "you had better
+vait for de canoe."
+
+"Lead on!" said the artist, cocking both pistols, and pointing with one
+of them to the place whence the growl had issued.
+
+Gibault elevated his eyebrows, shrugged his shoulders
+characteristically, and, uttering the single word "bien!" walked quickly
+forward.
+
+A few steps brought him to an open space, in the midst of which the
+grisly bear was discovered.  It was seated on its haunches, looking
+sulkily about, as if it had a suspicion that enemies were tracking it.
+Creeping with the utmost caution on his hands and knees, Gibault got to
+within forty yards of the monster, whose aspect at that moment was
+enough to try the courage of most men.  There was a wicked glare in his
+little eye, as he swayed his huge body from side to side, that indicated
+but too clearly the savage nature of his disposition.  Even Gibault felt
+a little uneasy, and began to think himself a fool for having ventured
+on such an expedition alone.  His state of mind was not improved by the
+sound of the artist's teeth chattering in his head like castanets.
+
+Taking a very long and deliberate aim at the bear's heart, he pulled the
+trigger, but the faithless lock of his old flint-gun missed fire.
+Without a sign of annoyance or agitation, the trapper recocked the gun,
+again pulled the trigger, and with the same result.  Three times this
+occurred, and at each click of the lock the bear cocked his ears
+inquiringly.  The third time, he rose and sauntered slowly towards the
+spot where the men lay concealed.
+
+"Stay," whispered the artist, as Gibault was once more about to try his
+piece, after rubbing the edge of his flint with his thumb-nail; "stay, I
+will fire."
+
+So saying, he suddenly pointed a pistol straight at the advancing
+monster and fired.  A tremendous roar followed the report.  Gibault
+leaped up, exclaiming angrily, "Vat foolishness! a pistol! hah! ve must
+run."  He turned at once to do so.
+
+"Stay!" cried the artist, who no longer trembled, though his countenance
+was still ashy pale, "I have another pistol."
+
+"Does you vish to _die_?" yelled the trapper, seizing his comrade by
+the collar.
+
+Whether it was the yell of the man, or the reiterated roar of the
+advancing bear, or both combined, that had an effect on the artist, we
+cannot tell, but certain it is that he sprang up and darted after
+Gibault with astonishing rapidity.  Being long-legged and uncommonly
+supple he soon passed him; but, fast though they both ran, the bear ran
+faster, and, having been badly cut up about the face by the slugs with
+which the pistol had been charged, his spirit was roused to the utmost
+pitch of ferocity.
+
+Now, while this was going on in the bush, the other trappers were
+quietly fastening the line of their canoe to a shrub that held it
+floating in a pool of still water near the shore.  No sooner did the
+pistol-shot ring upon their ears than every man seized his gun, hastily
+examined the priming, and scrambled up the bank, which at that spot was
+very steep.
+
+Having gained the top, they paused for an instant to gaze intently at
+the bank of the river above them, in order to ascertain the exact spot
+to which they ought to hurry.
+
+"I see no smoke," said March Marston in a tone of deep anxiety.
+
+"Gibault's gun didn't use for to bark in that sort o' voice," observed
+Bounce.
+
+"I do b'lieve that bar's got 'im," cried Big Waller, bounding forward.
+
+He had not taken a second bound when the artist, flying at full speed
+about three hundred yards up the river, burst upon the astonished vision
+of the party.  His sombrero had blown off, his long hair streamed
+straight behind him, so did the scalp-locks on his coat, and so did his
+long cloak which was fastened to his neck by a clasp, and which, in his
+present panting and rushing condition, wellnigh strangled him.
+
+Before the wonder-stricken trappers had time to remark on this singular
+apparition, or to form any opinion in regard to it, poor Gibault came
+tearing round the point like a maniac, with the bear close upon his
+heels.  This was enough.  The backwoodsmen no longer showed any signs of
+surprise or hesitancy.  A grisly bear was a familiar object--a comrade
+in imminent danger was equally so.  They sprang forward to meet the
+fugitives.
+
+By this time the cloak had so retarded and strangled the poor artist
+that he had fallen a pace or two behind Gibault, and it seemed almost
+certain that he would fall a victim to the furious bear before the
+trappers could kill it, for they could not venture to fire at it while
+the fugitives almost screened it from their view.  As they drew near to
+each other the trappers almost instinctively divided into two parties.
+Redhand and Hawkswing went a little to the right; Bounce, Waller, and
+our hero, diverged to the left, so as to let the flying men pass between
+them, and thus attack the bear on both sides at once.
+
+Gibault attempted to cheer as he darted through the friendly line, but
+he could only give forth a gasp.  At that moment an unexpected incident
+contributed to the deliverance of the artist.  The bear was within a
+yard of him as he came up; just then the clasp of his cloak gave way,
+and the huge garment instantly enveloped the head of the bear and a
+considerable portion of its body.  It tripped, rolled over, and, in
+attempting to free itself, tore the cloak to shreds.
+
+At the same instant a volley was fired by the trappers, and three balls
+pierced its body.  None of them, however, seemed to have hit a mortal
+part, for the infuriated animal instantly rose and glared from side to
+side in disappointed malice, while the trappers who had fired were
+reloading, each behind a bush, with perfect coolness, but with the
+utmost celerity.
+
+While the bear was on the ground, the fugitives had each sprung into the
+bush, and found a place of concealment.  Redhand on the one side, and
+Bounce on the other, had reserved their fire; the wisdom of this was now
+shown.  The bear made a rush at the bushes on one side, and instantly
+received a shot from the other.  It turned at once to rush on the
+concealed enemy there, but, before it had made a stride in that
+direction, another ball was lodged in it from the opposite side.  The
+vacillations thus produced gave the other trappers time to reload, and,
+before it had made up its mind which to attack, another volley was
+fired, and three balls took effect, Redhand and Bounce still reserving
+their fire as at the first.
+
+The impotent fury of the creature was now awful to behold.  It was
+mortally wounded; there could be no doubt as to that, for the trappers
+were all pretty good shots and knew where to fire, but they had not
+succeeded yet in reaching the seat of life.  One ball had broken the
+bear's shoulder, and the blood flowed from its wounds, while churned
+blood and foam dropped from its jaws.
+
+Before another volley could be fired it made a furious rush at the three
+men who had kept away to the left, namely, Big Waller, Bounce, and
+March.  There was no help for it; not having completed their loading,
+they had to drop their guns and run.  We have already said that these
+three had diverged towards the river.  It now proved to be unfortunate
+that they had done so, for the bank at that place jutted out into the
+stream in such a way that it was impossible for them to avoid leaping
+into the river.  The bank overhung the stream and was fully twenty feet
+high.  Big Waller, who reached it first, hesitated to take the leap.
+Bounce, who came next, rushed violently against him, and the two went
+over together, fell into the water with a tremendous splash, and sank.
+March come up the instant after, and sprang far out at once with a bold,
+unhesitating spring.  The bear was so close upon the youth that for one
+moment they were both in the air at the same time, but the former had
+not gone off with a spring, he merely tumbled over, half involuntarily,
+so that when they struck the water there was at least a yard between
+them.  But this was not a long space.  The superior swimming powers of
+the bear over the man would have diminished the distance to nothing in a
+minute or so.  Even as it was, the bear was within six inches of March's
+heels when Hawkswing and Redhand gained the edge of the bank.
+
+Redhand was armed with a rifle--an old and trusty weapon that had been
+the means of saving his own life and the lives of comrades in many a
+doubtful encounter with beast and with man.  Kneeling down, he took a
+rapid aim and fired.  The bullet sped true.  It entered the back of the
+bear's head, and the lifeless carcass floated down the stream.  The
+three men, instantly observing the effect of the shot, turned round,
+and, swimming towards their late enemy, laid hold of him, and dragged
+and pushed him with some difficulty towards the shore.
+
+Meanwhile Black Gibault, who had issued from his hiding-place and had
+witnessed Redhand's successful shot, began to caper and dance and shout
+in the exuberance of his glee.  Most men are apt to suffer when they
+give way to extravagant action of any kind.  Gibault forgot that he was
+on the edge of an overhanging bank.  The concussion with which he came
+to the ground after the performance of a peculiarly complicated
+pirouette broke off the edge of the bank, and he was precipitated
+headlong into the river, just a yard or so from the spot where his
+comrades were engaged in landing the bear.
+
+A loud laugh greeted his sudden and unexpected descent.  Scrambling on
+shore, and laying hold of the bear's tail, he exclaimed--
+
+"Hah! mes garcons, heave avay.  I have come down for to give you leetle
+help.  Splenderous hear!  Pull avay!"
+
+The bear was then dragged out of the water and stretched upon the green
+sward, where for some time the trappers stood round it in a picturesque
+group, commenting upon its size and appearance, and remarking upon the
+various incidents of the chase.
+
+As the exact dimensions of this particular bear were taken and noted
+down on the spot, we will give them here for the benefit of inquiring
+minds.  It weighed, as nearly as could be guessed by men who were
+practised in estimating weights, 600 pounds.  On its hind legs it stood
+8 feet 7 inches.  Round the chest it measured 5 feet 10 inches; round
+the neck 3 feet 11 inches.  The circumference of the thickest part of
+the fore leg was 2 feet, and the length of each of its claws was 4 and a
+quarter inches.  It was whitey-brown in colour, and a shaggier, fiercer,
+uglier monster could not well be imagined.
+
+"But, I say," cried Bounce, looking round suddenly, "wot's come o' yon
+'xtraor'nary feller as--"
+
+Bounce paused abruptly, for at that moment his eye fell on the
+"'xtraor'nary feller" in question.  He was seated quietly on a large
+stone, not many yards distant, with book on knee and pencil in hand,
+making a rapid sketch of the party and the surrounding scene!
+
+"Wot is he?" inquired Bounce of Gibault in a whisper.
+
+"I calc'late," observed Waller in a low voice, at the same time touching
+his forehead and looking mysterious; "I calc'late, he's
+noncombobble-fusticated."
+
+"Perhaps," said Redhand with a quiet laugh.
+
+"Whatever he is, it's bad manners to stand starin' at him," said
+Redhand, "so you'd better go and pick up yer guns and things, while
+Bounce and I skin this feller and cut off his claws."
+
+The party separated at once, and the artist, who seemed a little
+disappointed at being thus checked in his work, no sooner observed the
+flaying process begin than he turned over the leaf of his book, and
+began a new sketch.
+
+Not many minutes were required for the skinning of the bear.  When it
+was done, it, along with all the scattered things, was placed in the
+canoe, and then Redhand, approaching the artist, touched his cap and
+said--
+
+"You have shared our hunt to-day, sir; mayhap you'll not object to share
+our camp and our supper."
+
+"Most willingly, my good friend," replied the artist, rising and holding
+out his hand, which the trapper shook heartily.  "You seem to be
+trappers."
+
+"We are, sir, at your service.  It's gettin' late and we've a good bit
+to go yet, before we come to the place where we mean to camp, so you'd
+better come at once."
+
+"Certainly; by all means; let us embark without delay," replied the
+artist, pocketing his sketch-book.
+
+"Pardon me, sir," said Redhand, with some hesitation, "are you alone?"
+
+"I am," replied the other sadly; then, as if a sudden thought had struck
+him--"I had two pistols and a cloak once."
+
+"We've picked 'em up, sir.  They're in the canoe now.  At least the
+pistols are, an' what's left o' the cloak."
+
+"Ha! 'twas an old and cherished friend!  Are you ready?"
+
+"All ready, sir."
+
+So saying, the old man led the way to the canoe and embarked with his
+strange companion.  Then, pushing out into the stream just as the shades
+of night began to descend upon the wilderness, the trappers paddled
+swiftly away, wondering in their hearts who and what the stranger could
+be, and talking occasionally in subdued tones of the chief incidents of
+the exciting combat through which they had so recently passed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+FIERY REMARKS AND COGITATIONS--ROUND THE CAMP FIRE--THE ARTIST GIVES AN
+ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF--VALUE OF A SKETCH-BOOK--DISCOVERIES AND DARK
+THREATS--THE BEAR'S-CLAW COLLAR.
+
+There is no doubt whatever that a western trapper knows how to make a
+fire.  That is an axiomatic certainty.  He also knows how to enjoy it.
+He is thoroughly conversant with it in all its phases, and with all the
+phenomena connected with it, from the bright little spark that flies
+from his flint and steel, and nestles on his piece of tinder, to the
+great rolling flame that leaps up among the branches of the forest
+trees, roaring lustily as it goes out upon the night air, like a mighty
+spirit set free from some diminutive prison house, rejoicing in being
+once more permitted to reassume its original grand dimensions.
+
+Yes, a western trapper has a grand, massive notion of a fire, and his
+actions are all in keeping with that notion.  Almost everything is small
+at the fountain.  A mighty river usually begins in a bubbling spring or
+a tiny rivulet.  So the trapper's initial acts are delicate.  He handles
+the tinder gently, and guards it from damp.  He fosters the spark, when
+caught, and blows upon it softly, and wraps it up in dry grass, and
+watches it intently as a mother might watch the life-spark of her
+new-born babe.  But when once the flame has caught, and the bundle of
+little dry twigs has been placed above it, and the pile of broken sticks
+has been superadded, the trapper's character is changed.  He grasps the
+ponderous hatchet, and, Homerically speaking--
+
+  "Now toils the hero: trees on trees o'erthrown,
+  Fall crackling round him, and the forests groan."
+
+These, "lopp'd and lighten'd of their branchy load," he assaults singly.
+Heaving the huge axe with lusty sweeping blows, he brings it down.
+Great wedgy splinters fly and strew the plain like autumn leaves.  Then,
+with massive logs, full six feet long, he feeds the hungry fire until it
+leaps and roars in might, and glows full red and hot and huge enough to
+roast him a bison bull for supper, an he should feel so disposed.
+
+Descending now from the abstract to the concrete, we would remark that,
+whether the reader does or does not admit the general proposition, that
+western trappers are pre-eminently up to fire (not to mention smoke or
+snuff), he cannot deny the fact that Big Waller, the Yankee trapper, was
+peculiarly gifted in that way.  On the evening of the day on which
+occurred the memorable encounter with the grisly bear, as related in the
+last chapter, that stalwart individual heaved his ponderous axe and
+felled the trees around him in a way that would have paled the
+ineffectual fires of Ulysses himself, and would probably have induced
+that hero not only to cease cutting trees, but to commence cutting his
+stick thenceforth from the field of competition!  March Marston
+meanwhile kindled the spark and nursed the infant flame.  The others
+busied themselves in the various occupations of the camp.  Some cut down
+pine-branches, and strewed them a foot deep in front of the fire, and
+trod them down until a soft elastic couch was formed on which to spread
+their blankets.  Others cut steaks of venison and portions of the grisly
+bear, and set them up on the end of sticks before the fire to roast, and
+others made fast and secured the canoe and her lading.
+
+The artist, seating himself beside the fire, just near enough to profit
+by the light, but far enough away to obtain a general view of everything
+and everybody, proceeded with enthusiasm to sketch the whole affair,
+collectively and in detail.  He devoted his chief attention, however, to
+Big Waller.  He "caught" that gigantic Yankee in every conceivable
+action and attitude.  He photographed him, we might almost say, with his
+legs apart, the hatchet high above his head, and every muscle tense and
+rigid, preliminary to a sweeping blow.  He "took" him with a monstrous
+pile of logs on his brawny shoulder; he portrayed him resting for a
+moment in the midst of his toil; he even attempted to delineate him
+tumbling over one of the logs, and hurling a shoulder-load upon the
+ground; but he failed utterly in the last attempt, being quite destitute
+of comical perception, and he did not finally conclude until Gibault
+went forward and informed him that supper was ready.  Then he shut up
+his book, and, taking his place beside the trappers, began supper.
+
+"This is comfortable--this is pleasant!" remarked the artist, as he sat
+down before the warm blaze, and applied himself with infinite relish to
+the venison steak placed before him by Bounce.  "You live well here, it
+would seem."
+
+This latter remark was addressed to Hawkswing, who sat close beside him;
+but that imperturbable worthy shook his head gravely.
+
+"He don't understand ye," interposed Bounce, "knows, nothin' but his own
+mother tongue.  We _do_ live pretty middlin' so so hereabouts when we
+ain't starvin', w'ich it isn't for me to deny is sometimes the case,
+d'ye see."
+
+Bounce stopped his own talk at this point by stuffing his mouth so full
+of meat that no word, not even a word of one syllable, could have forced
+itself out, had it tried ever so much.  A long silence now ensued,
+during which the clack of seven pairs of active jaws was the only sound
+that broke upon the ear.  It might have been observed, however, that all
+eyes were fixed more or less wonderingly on the stranger.  Big Waller in
+particular looked him, figuratively speaking, through and through.  He
+did not remove his eyes off him for an instant, but devoured his food
+with somewhat the expression of a dog that expects his bone to be
+snatched from him.
+
+"Try a duck," said March Marston to the artist, observing that he had
+finished his steak.
+
+"Thank you," answered the artist, accepting the proffered bird, which
+happened to be a teal, and beginning to carve it with a pen-knife.  He
+had no fork, but used the fingers of his left hand instead.
+
+Silence again ensued.
+
+"Try another," said March again.
+
+The artist hesitated.
+
+"You'd better; it's a fat un."
+
+"N-no.  No!" said the artist, shutting up his knife with an air of
+decision.  "No, thank you, I always advocate moderation, and it would
+ill become me to set an example of glut--ah, of the reverse."
+
+"Wal, stranger," said Waller, who, having finished eating, wiped his
+mouth with a tuft of grass, and began to fill his pipe.  "You _do_ come
+out in the way o' moderation rather powerful.  Why a teal duck an' a
+ven'son steak is barely enough to stop a feller dyin' right off.  I
+guess a down-east baby o' six months old 'ud swab up that an' axe for
+more."
+
+"Nevertheless it is quite enough for me," replied the artist, leaning
+down on his elbow.  "I could, indeed, eat more; but I hold that man
+should always rise from table capable of eating more, if required."
+
+Here was a proposition that it had not entered into the minds of the
+trappers, even in their most transcendental efforts of abstruse
+meditation, to think of!  They gazed at each other in amazement.
+
+"Wot! not eat yer fill w'en ye git the chance," exclaimed Bounce.
+
+"No, certainly not."
+
+"I say, stranger, when did you feed last?" inquired Big Waller.
+
+"Why do you ask?" said the artist, looking quickly up.
+
+"'Cause I wants to know."
+
+The artist smiled.  "My last meal was eaten yesterday morning."
+
+"Ha!  I was sure ob dat," cried Gibault; "your face look like as if you
+be full ob starvation."
+
+"An' _wot_ did ye eat last?" inquired Bounce, laying down his pipe and
+looking at their guest with much interest not unmingled with pity.
+
+"I breakfasted on a little bird about the size of a hen's egg.  I know
+not what it is named, but it was excellently flavoured.  I relished it
+much."
+
+On hearing this, Gibault pressed his hand on his stomach, as if the mere
+thought of such a delicately minute breakfast caused him pain in that
+region.
+
+"I say, stranger," broke in Waller, in a tone of voice that seemed to
+imply that he was determined to be at the bottom of this mystery, and
+would stand it no longer--"wot's your name?"
+
+"Theodore Bertram," replied the artist without hesitation.
+
+"Where do you come from?"
+
+"From England."
+
+"Where air you a-goin' to?"
+
+"To the Rocky Mountains."
+
+"Wot for to do there?"
+
+"You are inquisitive, friend," said Bertram, smiling; "but I have no
+reason for concealing my object in travelling here--it is to sketch, and
+shoot, and take notes, and witness the works of the Almighty in the
+wilderness.  I hold it to be an object worthy the ambition of a great
+man to act the part of pioneer to the missionary and the merchant in
+nature's wildest and most inaccessible regions; and although I pretend
+not to greatness, I endeavour, humbly, to do what I can."
+
+"No one can do more than that," said Redhand, regarding the young
+enthusiast with interest.  "But surely you have not travelled to this
+out-o'-the-way place without a guide?"
+
+Bertram pointed to the stars.
+
+"These are my guides," said he; "the man who can read the heavens needs
+no guide."
+
+"But that book ain't always readable," said Redhand; "when clouds are
+flying what do you do then?"
+
+"Fur-traders in the far north have taught me how to ascertain the north
+by the bark on the trees; besides this I have a bosom friend who always
+points the way."  So saying he pulled a small compass from an inner
+pocket and held it up.
+
+"Good," rejoined Redhand; "but a compass is not food, neither will it
+kill game.  Have you nought but them pistols?"
+
+"I have none other arms now but these, save this good sword.  They will
+serve to defend me in the hour of need, I trust; though now that I have
+seen the grisly bear I should doubt my chance of success were I to cope
+with him alone.  I should imagine that monster to be worse even than the
+Wild Man of the West himself."
+
+"The Wild Man o' the West!" echoed March Marston eagerly; "have you seen
+_him_?"
+
+"Nay, verily; but I have heard of him," replied the artist, smiling,
+"and a strangely ferocious creature he must be, if all that's said of
+him be correct.  But, to say truth, I believe the stories told of him
+are idle tales.  Indeed, I do not believe there is such a man at all!"
+
+March Marston's countenance fell.  No Wild Man of the West at all!  The
+bare possibility of such a crushing blow to all his romantic hopes and
+dreams caused his heart to sink.  Bertram observed the change in his
+countenance, and, quickly divining the cause, added, "But I am of a
+sceptical turn of mind, and do not easily believe unless I see.  There
+is one thing I have observed, however, which is in favour of his
+existence."
+
+"What's that?" inquired March, brightening up.  "That the nearer one
+comes to his reputed dwelling-place, this wild man assumes smaller and
+more natural proportions.  I first heard of him in the Red River
+Prairies, where he is held to be a giant who devours men as well as
+brutes.  As I came nearer to the Missouri, I found that the people there
+do not believe him to be either a cannibal or a giant, but assert that
+he is an enormously tall and powerful man, exceedingly fierce, and the
+sworn enemy of the whole human race; a species of Cain, whose hand is
+against every man, and every man's hand against him.  The last white man
+I met--about two weeks ago--told me he had been with a tribe of Indians,
+some of whom had seen him, and they said that he was indeed awfully
+wild, but that he was not cruel--on the contrary, he had been known to
+have performed one or two kind deeds to some who had fallen into his
+power."
+
+"Most extonishin'!" exclaimed Gibault, who sat open-mouthed and
+open-eyed listening to this account of the Wild Man of the West.
+
+For some time the party round the camp fire sat smoking in silence,
+ruminating on what had been said.  Then Big Waller broke the silence
+with one of his abrupt questions--
+
+"But, I say, stranger, _how_ did you come here?"
+
+Bertram looked up without speaking.  Then, settling himself comfortably
+in a reclining position, with his back against a tree, he said--
+
+"I will relieve your curiosity.  Listen: I am, as I have said, an
+Englishman.  My father and mother are dead.  I have no brothers or
+sisters, and but few relations.  Possessing, as I do, a small
+independence, I am not obliged to work for my living.  I have therefore
+come to the conclusion that it is my duty to work for my fellow-men.  Of
+course, I do not mean to deny that every man who works for his living,
+works also for his fellow-men.  What I mean is, that I hold myself bound
+to apply myself to such works as other men have not leisure to
+undertake, and the profit of which will go direct to mankind without
+constituting my livelihood on its passage.  To open up the unknown
+wilderness has ever been my ambition.  For that purpose I have come to
+these wild regions.  My enthusiasm on quitting my native land was
+unbounded.  But--"
+
+Here Bertram paused and gazed dreamily at the glowing embers of the camp
+fire with an expression that led the trappers to infer that experience
+had somewhat moderated his enthusiasm.  After a few minutes he
+resumed:--
+
+"I have done wrong to make this venture alone.  On reaching Canada I
+succeeded, through the kindness of the governor of the Hudson's Bay
+Company, in obtaining a passage in one of the company's canoes through
+that series of rivers and lakes by which the fur-traders penetrate into
+the regions of the far north.  Arrived at Red River Settlement, I pushed
+forward on horseback over the plains with a small party of horsemen to
+the head waters of the Saskatchewan.  Here I succeeded in engaging a
+party of twelve men, composed of half-breeds and Indians, and set out on
+a journey of exploration over the prairies towards the Rocky Mountains.
+Circumstances led me to modify my plans.  We diverged towards the south,
+and finally came to within a few days' journey of the region in which we
+now are.  We were suddenly surprised one night by a war-party of
+Blackfoot Indians.  My men had grown careless.  They neglected to keep
+strict watch, and before we were aware that danger threatened us, all
+our horses were carried off.
+
+"This was a terrible calamity.  My men declared that it was impossible
+to advance without horses, and refused to accompany me any farther.  I
+remonstrated in vain; then, filled with indignation at their cowardice,
+I left them and pursued my journey alone.  Since then I have seen only
+one man, a trapper, who was travelling south to the settlements.  He
+offered to take me with him, but I declined.  I felt that no great or
+good work could ever be accomplished by the man who turns back at the
+first disaster; so he left me.  I have suffered somewhat.  I am,
+unfortunately, a bad shot, and, although game is everywhere abundant, I
+cannot kill it.  I have subsisted hitherto on small birds; but my powder
+and lead are almost expended.  Had I not fallen in with you, I know not
+what I should have done."
+
+To this narrative the trappers listened with respectful attention, for,
+despite the feelings of pity, almost bordering on contempt, with which
+they regarded the stranger's weapons and his knowledge, or rather
+ignorance, of woodcraft, they could not help reverencing the
+simple-minded enthusiasm in a good cause that had conducted the artist
+so deep into a savage land in which he was evidently unfitted, either by
+nature or training, to travel.
+
+"But I say, stranger," said Big Waller, "wot _do_ ye mean by openin' up
+the country?  It ain't a oyster, that ye can open it up with a big knife
+I guess."
+
+"There, friend, you are wrong.  This country does, indeed, resemble an
+oyster; and I hope, by the aid of the mighty levers of knowledge and
+enterprise, to open it up.  I mean to take notes and sketches, and, if
+spared, return to my native land, and publish the result of my
+observations.  I do not, indeed, expect that the public will buy my
+work; but I shall publish a large edition at my own cost, and present
+copies to all the influential men in the kingdom."
+
+The trappers opened their eyes wider than ever at this.
+
+"What!  Make a book?" cried Redhand.
+
+"Even so."
+
+"Will it have pictures?" eagerly asked March, who regarded the artist
+with rapidly increasing veneration.
+
+"Ay, it will be profusely illustrated."
+
+"Wot! pictures o' grisly bears?" inquired Bounce.
+
+"Of course."
+
+"An' men?" cried Big Waller.
+
+"And men also, if I fall in with them."
+
+"Then here's one, I guess," cried the bold Yankee, combing out his
+matted locks hastily with his fingers, and sitting up in what he
+conceived to be a proper position.  "Here you are, sir.  I'm your man;
+fix me off slick.  Only think!  Big Waller in a book--a _raal_ book!"
+
+He chuckled immensely at the bright prospect of immortality that had
+suddenly opened up to him.
+
+"I have drawn you already, friend," said Bertram.
+
+"Draw'd me already?"
+
+"Ay, there you are," he replied, handing his sketch-book to the trapper,
+who gazed at his own portrait with unmitigated satisfaction.  Turning
+over the leaf, he came unexpectedly on the likeness of Gibault, which,
+being a truthful representation, was almost a caricature.  Big Waller
+burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter at this.  He rolled over on
+his back and yelled with delight.  His yell being quite in keeping with
+his body, the din was so tremendous that Bounce roared--
+
+"Stop yer noise, ye buffalo!"
+
+But Waller didn't hear him; so March Marston effected the desired object
+by stuffing the corner of a blanket into his mouth and smothering his
+face in its folds.
+
+Bertram's sketch-book was now examined, and for nearly an hour proved a
+source of the most intense interest and amusement to these
+unsophisticated trappers.  In those days few, very few men of education
+had succeeded in penetrating far into the western wilderness; and
+although the trappers there knew what books and pictures meant, they had
+seen but few of them in the course of their lives, and none of those few
+had any reference to the wild country in which their lives were spent.
+
+It may be imagined, then, with what delight and excitement they now, for
+the first time, beheld scenes of their own beloved woods and prairies,
+as well as their own rough forms, vividly sketched by a master-hand.
+One of the most interesting points in the inspection of the sketch-book
+was, that old Redhand recognised almost every one of the landscapes as
+spots with which he was well acquainted; and as Bertram had sketched
+most diligently as he travelled along, Redhand told him that by the aid
+of that book, without compass or anything else, he could trace his route
+backward, step by step, to the Saskatchewan river.  Moreover, he
+described to the artist accurately many scenes which were near to those
+he had sketched, and gradually fell to talking about adventures and
+rencontres he had had in many of them, so that at last it became evident
+there would be no proposal to go to rest that night at all unless some
+wise one of the party should remind the others that another day's toil
+lay before them in the course of a few hours.
+
+At length they took up their pipes, which had been forgotten in the
+excitement, and refilled them with the intention of having a last quiet
+whiff before lying down.
+
+"Ho!" exclaimed Redhand, who still continued to turn over the pages of
+the book, "here's a face I know.  Where saw ye that Indian?"
+
+"I cannot easily tell where it was we met him; but I remember well that
+it was just a day's ride from the spot where our horses were stolen."
+
+"Were there others with him?"
+
+"No, he was alone."
+
+"Ha! at least he said so, I fancy."
+
+"Yes, he did; and I had no reason to doubt him."
+
+"You're not used to the ways o' the redskin, sir," replied Redhand,
+looking meditatively at the fire.  "Did he chance to mention his name?"
+
+"Oh yes, he called himself Big Snake, at least one of my men translated
+it so."
+
+A significant smile overspread the old trapper's face as he replied--
+
+"I thought as much.  A greater thief and villain does not disgrace the
+prairies.  He's the man that took yer horses; sich a fellow as that
+never goes about alone; he's always got a tail following him as black as
+himself.  But I'll see if we can't pay the rascal off in his own coin."
+
+"How so?" inquired Bertram.  "He must be far from this spot."
+
+"Not so far as you think.  I know his haunts, and could take you to them
+in a few days overland; but it'll take longer by the river, and we can't
+quit our canoe just now."
+
+"But, good friend," said Bertram quietly, "I cannot presume on your
+hospitality so far as to expect you to carry me along with you for the
+purpose of redressing my wrongs."
+
+"Make your mind easy on that pint," returned Redhand; "we'll talk of it
+in the mornin'."
+
+While the old trapper and the artist were conversing, Bounce had busied
+himself in stringing the claws of the grisly bear on a strip of
+deerskin, for the purpose of making a collar.  A necklace of this
+description is very highly prized among Indians, especially when the
+claws are large.
+
+While it was being made, Gibault sighed so deeply once or twice, that
+March suggested he must be in love.
+
+"So I is," sighed Gibault.
+
+"That's interesting," remarked March; "who with?"
+
+"Ay, that's it," said Bounce; "out with her name, lad.  No one ought
+never to be ashamed o' bein' in love.  It's a glorious state o' mind an'
+body as a feller should gratilate hisself on havin'.  Who be ye in love
+wi', lad?"
+
+"Vid dat necklace," replied Gibault, sighing again heavily.
+
+"Oh! if that's all, ye don't need to look so blue, for it's yer own by
+rights," said Bounce.  "I'm jist doin' it up for ye."
+
+"Non; it cannot be mine," returned Gibault.
+
+"How so?" inquired Waller, "ye 'arned it, didn't ye?  Drew first blood I
+calc'late."
+
+"Non, I not draw de fuss blood.  Mais, I vill hab chance again no doubt.
+Monsieur Bertram he drew fuss blood."
+
+"Ho, he!" cried Waller in surprise.  "You didn't tell us that before.
+Come, I'm glad on't."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Bertram, "the necklace mine? there must be some
+mistake.  I certainly fired my pistol at the bear, but it seemed to have
+had no effect whatever."
+
+"Gibault," said Bounce emphatically, "did you fire _at all_?"
+
+"Non, pour certain, cause de gun he not go off."
+
+"Then," continued Bounce, handing the much-coveted necklace to Bertram,
+"the thing b'longs to you, sir, for that bar comed up wounded, an' as he
+couldn't ha' wounded hisself, _you_ must ha' done it--there."
+
+The young man positively refused for some time to accept of the
+necklace, saying, that as Gibault had tracked and discovered the bear,
+it certainly belonged to him; but Gibault as positively affirmed that he
+would not disgrace himself by wearing what belonged rightfully to
+another man; and as the other trappers confirmed what their comrade
+said, Bertram was at last fain to accept of a trophy which, to say
+truth, he was in his heart most anxious to possess.
+
+At the close of this amicable dispute, each man rolled himself in his
+blanket and lay down to sleep with his feet to the fire.  Being in a
+part of the country where there were very few Indians, and these few on
+pretty good terms with the white trappers, no watch was set.  Bertram
+lay down with his tattered cloak around him, and, taking a little book
+from his pocket, read it, or appeared to read it, till he fell asleep--
+on observing which, March Marston crept noiselessly to his side, and,
+lying gently down beside him, covered him with a portion of his own
+blanket.  Ere long the camp was buried in repose.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+THE DANGERS OF THE WILDERNESS--AN UNEXPECTED CATASTROPHE, WHICH
+NECESSITATES A CHANGE OF PLANS--A DESCENT UPON ROBBERS PROPOSED AND
+AGREED TO.
+
+There are few passages in Holy Writ more frequently brought to
+remembrance by the incidents of everyday life than this--"Ye know not
+what a day or an hour may bring forth."  The uncertainty of sublunary
+things is proverbial, whether in the city or in the wilderness, whether
+among the luxuriously nurtured sons and daughters of civilisation, or
+among the toil-worn wanderers in the midst of savage life.  To each and
+all there is, or may be, sunshine to-day and cloud to-morrow; gladness
+to-day sadness to-morrow.  There is no such thing as perpetual felicity
+in the world of matter.  A nearer approach to it may perhaps be made in
+the world of mind; but, like perpetual motion, it is not to be
+absolutely attained to in this world of ours.  Those who fancy that it
+is to be found in the wilderness are hereby warned, by one who has dwelt
+in savage lands, that its habitation is not there.
+
+March Marston thought it was.  On the morning after the night whose
+close we have described, he awoke refreshed, invigorated, and buoyant
+with a feeling of youthful strength and health.  Starting up, he met the
+glorious sun face to face, as it rose above the edge of a distant blue
+hill, and the meeting almost blinded him.  There was a saffron hue over
+the eastern landscape that caused it to appear like the plains of
+Paradise.  Lakelets in the prairies glittered in the midst of verdant
+foliage; ponds in the hollows lay, as yet unillumined, like blots of
+ink; streams and rivulets gleamed as they flowed round wooded knolls, or
+sparkled silvery white as they leaped over rocky obstructions.  The
+noble river, on the banks of which the camp had been made, flowed with a
+calm sweep through the richly varied country--refreshing to look upon
+and pleasant to hear, as it murmured on its way to join the "Father of
+waters."  The soft roar of a far-distant cataract was heard mingling
+with the cries of innumerable water fowl that had risen an hour before
+to enjoy the first breathings of the young day.  To March Marston's ear
+it seemed as though all Nature, animate and inanimate, were rejoicing in
+the beneficence of its Creator.
+
+The youth's reverie was suddenly broken by the approach of Theodore
+Bertram.
+
+"Good morrow, friend," said the latter, grasping March's hand and
+shaking it heartily.  "You are early astir.  Oh, what a scene!  What
+heavenly colours!  What a glorious expanse of beauty!"
+
+The artist's hand moved involuntarily to the pouch in which he was won't
+to carry his sketch-book, but he did not draw it forth; his soul was too
+deeply absorbed in admiration to permit of his doing aught but gaze in
+silence.
+
+"This repays my toils," he resumed, soliloquising rather than speaking
+to March.  "'Twere worth a journey such as I have taken, twice repeated,
+to witness such a scene as this."
+
+"Ay, ain't it grand?" said March, delighted to find such congenial
+enthusiasm in the young painter.
+
+Bertram turned his eyes on his companion, and, in doing so, observed the
+wild rose at his side.
+
+"Ah! sweet rose," he said, stooping eagerly down to smell it.
+
+  "Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
+  And waste its sweetness on the desert air."
+
+"He was no poet who wrote that, anyhow," observed March with a look of
+disdain.
+
+"You are wrong, friend.  He was a good poet and true."
+
+"Do you mean to tell me that the sweetness o' that rose is _wasted_
+here?"
+
+"Nay, I do not say that.  The poet did not mean to imply that its
+sweetness is utterly wasted, but to assert the fact that, as far as
+civilised man is concerned, it is so."
+
+"`Civilised man,'" echoed March, turning up his nose (a difficult feat,
+by the way, for his nose by nature turned down).  "An' pray what's
+`civilised man' that he should think everything's wasted that don't go
+in at his own eyes, or up his own nose, or down his own throat? eh?"
+
+Bertram laughed slightly (he never laughed heartily).  "You are a severe
+critic, friend."
+
+"I don't know, and I don't care, what sort o' cricket I am; but this I
+do know, that roses are as little wasted here as in your country--mayhap
+not so much.  Why, I tell ye I've seen the _bars_ smell 'em."
+
+"Indeed."
+
+"Ay, an' eat 'em too!"
+
+"That was not taking a poetical view of them," suggested Bertram.
+
+"Perhaps not, but it was uncommonly practical," returned March,
+laughing.
+
+The conversation was abruptly terminated at this point by a flock of
+wild ducks, which, ignorant of the presence of the two youths, swept
+close past their heads with a startling _whirr_.  The artist leaped
+backwards, and March, partly in the exuberant glee of his heart and
+partly to relieve his own startled feelings, gave utterance to a hideous
+yell.
+
+"Hi! hallo!" roared Big Waller, starting up and replying to the yell
+with compound interest.  "Wot's to do?  Bars or savages--which?  Oh!
+_savages_ I see," he added, rubbing his eyes, as he observed March
+laughing at him.  "Ha! lad, d'ye know there's a sort o' critter in other
+diggins o' this here world as they calls a hi-eeno, or somethin' o' that
+sort, as can _laugh_, it can; so you're not the only beast as can do it,
+d'ye see!"
+
+The camp was now thoroughly roused, and the trappers set about making
+preparations for a start; but little was said.  It is generally the case
+at early morning--at least among healthy men who have work to do before
+breakfast in the wilderness--that tongues are disinclined to move.
+After the first somewhat outrageous and rather unusual burst, no one
+spoke again, while they carried their goods down to the water's edge,
+except in a short grumpy way when an order or a remark was needful.  In
+about ten minutes after the utterance of Big Waller's roar, they were in
+their places in the little red canoe, paddling blithely up the river.
+
+Bertram's place in the canoe was the centre.  He was placed there as a
+passenger, but, not being by any means of a lazy disposition, he
+relieved all the men by turns, and thus did a good share of the work
+during the day.
+
+Towards evening the travellers came to a cataract, which effectually
+barred their further progress, and rendered a portage necessary.  Just
+above the cataract there was a short stretch of comparatively smooth
+water, in which, however, the current was very strong.  Immediately
+above that there was a rapid of considerable length and strength, which
+boiled furiously among the rocks, and seemed to be impassable to a
+canoe.  After close inspection of it, however, Redhand and Bounce, who
+were tacitly recognised as joint leaders of the party, agreed that the
+canoe could easily enough be hauled up by means of a line.  To make a
+long portage, and so avoid the whole obstruction, was desirable; but the
+precipitous nature of the banks at that place rendered the carrying of
+the canoe and goods a work not only of severe labour, but of
+considerable danger.
+
+The mode of proceeding having been settled, all hands went to work
+without delay.  The goods were carried to the top of the fall, which was
+about fifteen feet high, then the canoe was shouldered by Waller and
+Bounce, and soon it floated in a calm eddy near the head of the
+cataract.  Having replaced the cargo, a strong line or rope was fastened
+to the bows, and Redhand and Bounce proceeded to take their places in
+the canoe, in order to guide it through the rapid, while the others were
+engaged in hauling on the track-line.
+
+"Stay," cried March Marston as Bounce was stepping in, "let me go in the
+canoe, Bounce.  You know well enough that I can manage it; besides,
+you're a heavy buffalo, and more able to track than I."
+
+"Nay, lad," replied Bounce, shaking his head, "you'll only run the risk
+o' gettin' a wet skin--mayhap somethin' worse."
+
+"Now, that's too bad.  D'ye think nobody can manage a canoe but
+yourself?  Come, Redhand, do let me go."
+
+"It's not safe, boy.  The rapid looks bad, and you're not much used to
+the bow-paddle."
+
+"Tut, nonsense," exclaimed March, pushing Bounce aside and stepping into
+the canoe.  "Now hold on."
+
+Before the men on the bank of the river were well aware of what the
+reckless youth was about, he shoved the bow of the canoe off.  The
+instant it passed the still water of the eddy and caught the powerful
+stream, the light bark darted like an arrow from the bank, and Redhand
+was obliged to use his paddle with the utmost dexterity, while the men
+on shore had to haul on the line with all their might, to prevent it
+being swept over the brink of the fall.  In a second, however, the
+danger was past, and, putting their strength to the track-line, they
+dragged the canoe slowly but steadily upstream, while Redhand and March
+guided it past rocks and dangerous eddies.  Seeing that the youth used
+his paddle dexterously, Bounce, after a little thought, resolved to let
+him encounter the more dangerous rapid above.  Redhand silently came to
+the same conclusion, though he felt uneasy and blamed himself for
+allowing the ardour of the boy to get the better of him.
+
+"March is a bold fellow," observed Bertram, who walked immediately
+behind Bounce, hauling on the line like the rest.
+
+"Bold he is, sir," replied Bounce; "an' if ye'd seed him, as I did not
+many weeks agone, a-ridin' on the back of a buffalo bull, ye'd mayhap
+say he was more nor that."
+
+"Hah! he is mad!" cried Gibault, who, although the last in the line of
+tracksmen, was sharp-eared, and overheard the conversation.
+
+"Don't talk, Gibault," interposed Big Waller, "you need all the wind in
+your little carcass, I guess, to enable ye to steam ahead."
+
+"Oui, mon dear ami, you is right--I do ver' much require all mine
+steam--mine spirits--for to push such a heavy, useless hulk as you
+before me."
+
+"Here's a steep bit, lads; mind your eye, Hawkswing," said Bounce, as
+the Indian who led the party began to ascend a steep part of the bank,
+where the footing was not secure, owing to the loose gravelly nature of
+the soil.
+
+As they advanced, the path along the bank became narrower, and the cliff
+itself so precipitous that it seemed as if a jerk on the line would drag
+the men off and send them rolling down into the flood below, in the
+midst of which the canoe was buffeting its way through the hissing foam.
+
+Bertram, who was unused to such a position of comparative danger, and
+whose head was not capable of standing the sight of a precipice
+descending from his very feet into a roaring stream, began to feel
+giddy, and would have given the world to return; but he felt ashamed to
+confess his weakness, and endeavoured, by gazing earnestly into the bank
+at his side, to steady himself, hoping that the nature of the track
+would improve as they advanced.  Instead of this being the case, it
+became worse at every step, and the trackers were at length obliged to
+proceed cautiously along a ledge of rock that barely afforded them
+foothold.  Bertram now felt an almost irresistible desire to turn his
+head to the left and glance at the river below; yet he knew that if he
+should do so, he would become utterly unable to advance another yard.
+While engaged in this struggle it suddenly occurred to him that it was
+impossible now to turn, no matter how nervous he should become, as the
+path was too narrow to permit one of the party to pass another!  He
+became deadly pale, and his heart sank at the thought.  Little did the
+hardy trappers think, as they plodded silently along, that such an
+agonising conflict was going on in the breast of one of their number!  A
+slight groan escaped him in spite of his utmost efforts to restrain
+himself.  Bounce looked back in surprise.
+
+"Hey! wot's to do, sir?"
+
+"No matter; lead on--I will follow," said Bertram sternly between his
+clenched teeth.
+
+"Hallo! up there," shouted Redhand, who was at that moment, along with
+March, exerting his utmost strength in order to keep the canoe off a
+rock over which the water was bursting in volumes of thick foam; "haul
+away! haul away! we're just about up."
+
+The shout attracted Bertram's attention; he turned his eyes
+involuntarily towards the river.  Instantly his brain swam round; he
+staggered, and would have fallen over the bank, had not Big Waller, who
+was close behind, observed his situation and caught him by the collar.
+In doing so he was compelled to let go his hold of the line.  The
+additional strain thus suddenly cast upon Gibault wrenched the line from
+his grasp with a degree of violence that wellnigh hurled him into the
+river.  Bounce and Hawkswing held on for one moment, but the canoe,
+having been eased off a little, caught a sweep of the rapid, and went
+out with a dart that the united strength of the whole party could not
+have checked.  The two men had to let go to save themselves, and in a
+shorter time than it takes to relate, the canoe went down the river
+towards the fall, dancing like a cork on the heaving spray, while the
+old man and the youth stood up in the bow and stern wielding their
+paddles, now on one side, now on the other, with ceaseless rapidity in
+their efforts to avoid being dashed to pieces on the rocks.
+
+The sight of this catastrophe, superadded to his already agonised
+feelings, caused the unhappy artist to swoon.  Gibault, on seeing the
+line let go, turned instantly, and sprang like a deer along the track
+they had been following; intending to render what assistance he could to
+his comrades at the foot of the rapid.  The others could not follow,
+because of Big Waller and the artist, who obstructed the path.  Seeing
+this, the powerful Yankee seized Bertram round the waist, and, heaving
+him on his shoulder as one would swing a child, followed in Gibault's
+footsteps as fast as he could run.
+
+The distance to the spot whence they had commenced to track the canoe
+was not great, but before they reached it the frail craft had been
+shattered against a rock, and was now hurrying, along with the scattered
+cargo and the two men, towards the fall, to pass over which involved
+certain destruction.
+
+There is nothing more uncertain, however, than the action of the
+whirling eddies of a great rapid.  True, the general flow of its body of
+water is almost always the same, but its superficial billows are more
+variable--now tossing a drifting log to the right, anon to the left, and
+casting it ashore, or dragging it with fearful violence into the raging
+current.  Although there was only the canoe's length between the old
+trapper and the youth when they were left struggling in the water, they
+were swept in totally different directions.  Redhand was hurled
+violently into the eddy where the canoe had lain before the ascent was
+commenced, and was dragged safe to land by his comrades.  March Marston,
+on the other hand, was swept out near to the main current, and would, in
+a few seconds more, have been carried over the fall, had he not, with
+wonderful presence of mind and an almost superhuman exertion of muscle,
+dashed into an eddy which was formed by a rock about fifty yards from
+the top of the fall.  The rock was completely covered with the bursting
+spray, so that it formed no resting-place, and it, with the partial eddy
+that tailed away from it, was about twenty yards from the shore, where
+the trappers stood gazing in horror at their companion as he struggled
+bravely to maintain his position by swimming; but to cross those twenty
+yards of gushing water, so as to afford him aid, seemed beyond the power
+of man.
+
+Men bred in the wilderness are not usually slow to act in cases of
+danger where action is possible.  Each man was revolving in fervid haste
+every plan that seemed likely to afford succour.  Redhand's quick eye
+observed that the rocks at the edge of the fall, on the side of the
+river on which they stood, projected out so far that a straight line
+drawn from the eddy to the fall would pass within a yard of them, and
+that, consequently, if March would push straight across the stream and
+make vigorously for the bank, he might hit the point of rocks referred
+to before being carried over.
+
+"Down, some of you," he cried, "to the point, an' be ready to catch him;
+I'll shout to him what to do."
+
+Big Waller and Gibault darted away.  Poor Bertram, having recovered,
+remained gazing in speechless agony at March, who, having made several
+fruitless efforts to seize hold of the sunken rock, was evidently
+growing weaker.  Bounce also remained to gaze, as if he had lost all his
+wonted self-command.
+
+"Ho!  March!" shouted Redhand.  "Dash into the stream--straight for me--
+with all yer might; don't be afraid, lad! do it boldly!"  But March
+heard not.  The rush of water about him deadened all other sounds.
+
+In an instant Bounce started at full speed up the river, plunged into
+it, and, descending with fearful rapidity, swung round into the eddy
+behind the stone almost before his companions could divine what he meant
+to do.
+
+Even in that moment of terrible suspense March Marston looked with an
+expression of surprise at his friend as he swam up beside him.  Bounce
+did not waste time or words; he merely raised one hand for a second,
+and, pointing to the bank of the river, cried, "Push for it--'tis your
+only chance!"
+
+March Marston made no reply, but at once obeyed; yet so exhausted was
+he, that, in the effort, he lost strength and sank.  Bounce was prepared
+for this.  He seized him by the hair and struck out with the energy of
+despair.  A moment more and he was within a foot of the brink of the
+fall--but, also, within a foot of the point of rock on which Big Waller
+was lying at full length, part of his body overhanging the cataract, his
+arms extended, and Gibault and Hawkswing holding him firmly by the legs.
+Bounce caught his comrade's hand, and swung close in to the bank, while
+with the other hand he continued to grasp March by the hair of the head.
+The force of the current was so great, however, that not one of the
+party dared move, and it seemed for a moment as if all of them would be
+lost, when Bertram rushed forward, and, seizing Bounce by the arm,
+dragged him still nearer the bank, and relieved the strain upon the
+others.  Just then, Redhand came to the rescue, and in another moment
+the two men were safe upon the land.
+
+Poor Bertram fell upon his knees, and while he thanked God for the
+deliverance of his companions, sobbed liked a little child.
+
+For some time the trappers spoke little.  Accustomed though they were to
+danger, they were solemnised by the recent narrow escape from sudden
+death.  Perhaps, too, their minds were more deeply affected than usual
+with a sense of their dependence upon the living God, by the example and
+the heartfelt, unrestrained thanksgiving of Bertram.  But men whose
+lives are spent in the midst of alarms are not long seriously affected,
+even by the most solemn events.  The trappers quickly recurred to their
+present circumstances, which were, in truth, of a nature calculated to
+fill them with anxiety, and cause them to bend the powers of their quick
+wits and iron energies to the simple consideration of how they were to
+subsist and how proceed on their journey.
+
+"First of all," said Redhand quickly, "we must try what we can recover
+of our odds and ends."
+
+"Right," cried Bounce, who was none the worse for his late gallant
+exertions; "the current won't stop for no man; an' the bales ain't
+likely to stem it o' their own accord till we're ready to look for 'em."
+
+Saying this, he set off down the river at a run, followed by all the
+others, including March, who, after wringing the water from his
+garments, and resting a few minutes, felt as well and strong as ever.
+But, alas! their losses were grievous and irreparable.  Their little
+bundles of spare clothing and trinkets for trading with, or
+conciliating, the Indians, were indeed saved, but their guns and all
+their ammunition were gone.  All that remained to them of the latter
+were the few charges of powder in the horns suspended round their necks,
+and a few slugs and bullets in their pouches.  The only firearms left
+were Bertram's cavalry pistols.
+
+As for the canoe, it was smashed so thoroughly, that only a very few
+shreds of bark were cast up on the shore; but entangled with these
+shreds they were happy to find several of their steel traps--a most
+fortunate circumstance, as it held out hopes that they might still be
+enabled to prosecute to some extent the main object of their expedition.
+
+As each man had been in the habit of carrying his axe and knife in his
+belt, those indispensable implements of the backwoodsman were saved; but
+the loss of guns and ammunition was a very severe misfortune, and one
+which, for at least half an hour after every attempt to recover them had
+failed, cast a damp over the spirits of the whole party.  But these men
+had neither time nor inclination to hang down their heads and sigh.  Big
+Waller, being a careless individual by nature, was the first to regain
+somewhat of his wonted tone and manner.  Sitting on a grassy knoll, on
+which all the party had been resting for some time after their fruitless
+exertions, in moody silence, Waller looked up suddenly and said, "Who's
+afraid?"
+
+As no one happened at that moment to be exhibiting symptoms of terror,
+and there was no apparent cause for fear, the question seemed
+irrelevant.  We therefore conclude that the bold Yankee meant by it to
+imply that _he_, at least, was not afraid of _circumstances_, no matter
+how disastrous or heartrending they might be.  Having said this, he
+looked at the faces of his companions one by one.  The last face he
+looked at was that of Gibault Noir, and it wore such a lugubrious aspect
+of hopeless melancholy that Big Waller burst into an uncontrollable fit
+of laughter, and Bounce, without knowing why, joined him.
+
+"Well, it's of no use looking blue about it," said March Marston, making
+an effort to cheer up; "the question to be settled now is, What's to be
+done?"
+
+"Ay, _that_ is the question," observed Bertram gravely.
+
+"Wall now, that _bein'_ the kee-westion," said Waller, "whose a-goin' to
+answer it?  There's a chance now, lads; but don't all speak at once."
+
+"Right; that's wot it is," observed Bounce, nodding; "that's the
+feelosophy on it.  When a feller's turned upside down, wot's he a-goin'
+to do nixt?  You can't put no other construction on it in this here
+wurld."
+
+Redhand, who had been ruminating abstractedly for some minutes, now
+looked round on his comrades and said--
+
+"Here's a plan for you, lads.  That outrageous villain the Big Snake
+lives, for the most part, in a pretty little spot just three days' march
+from this place.  He stole, as ye all know, the horses belongin' to Mr
+Bertram's party.  Well, I propose that we shud go an' call on him, an'
+make him stand an' re-deliver.  What say you?"
+
+"Agreed," cried Waller, tossing his cap into the air.  "Hurrah!" shouted
+March Marston.  In one way or another, each gave his consent to the plan
+of making a descent upon the robbers and causing them to make
+restitution.
+
+The plans of backwoodsmen, once formed, are always quickly put in
+execution.  They had no arrangements to make, no portmanteaus to pack,
+no difficulties in the way to overcome.  Each man strapped a portion of
+the remaining property on his broad shoulders, and, pushing into the
+forest with vigorous strides, they were soon far from the spot where
+their late disaster had occurred, and gradually drew near to the wild
+glens and gorges of the Rocky Mountains.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+A WOLFISH WAY OF KILLING BUFFALOES DESCRIBED--BOUNCE BECOMES
+METAPHYSICAL ON THE FINE ARTS--BUTCHERING ENLARGED ON--A GLORIOUS FEAST,
+AND SKETCHING UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
+
+One of the ancient poets has said that wandering through the wild woods
+is a pleasant thing.  At least, if one of them has not said that, he
+ought to have said it, and, certainly, many of them must have thought
+it, whether they said it or not.  Undoubtedly, if future historians
+record faithfully all that has been said and written from the
+commencement of time to the period in which they flourish, they will
+embalm the fact that at least one prose writer of the present day has
+enunciated that incontrovertible proposition.
+
+But we go a step further.  We assert positively that wandering through
+the wild woods is a healthy as well as a pleasant sort of thing.  The
+free air of the mountains and prairies is renovating, the perfumes of
+the forests are salubrious; while the constantly recurring necessity for
+leaping and scrambling is good for the muscles, and the occasional
+tripping over roots, tumbling into holes, scratching one's face and
+banging one's shins and toes against stumps, are good for--though
+somewhat trying to--the temper.
+
+Further still--we affirm that wandering through the wild woods is a
+funny thing.  Any one who had observed our friends March Marston, and
+Redhand, and Bounce, and Big Waller, and Black Gibault, the trappers,
+and Bertram the artist, and Hawkswing the Indian, one beautiful
+afternoon, not long after the day on which they lost their canoe, would
+have admitted, without hesitation, that wandering through the wild woods
+was, among other things, a funny thing.
+
+On the beautiful afternoon referred to, the first six individuals above
+named were huddled together in a promiscuous heap, behind a small bush,
+in such a confused way that an ignorant spectator might have supposed
+that Bounce's head belonged to Big Waller's body, and the artist's
+shoulders to Redhand's head, and their respective legs and arms to no
+one individually, but to all collectively, in a miscellaneous sort of
+way.  The fact was that the bush behind which they were huddled was
+almost too small to conceal them all, and, being a solitary bush in the
+midst of a little plain of about a half a mile in extent, they had to
+make the most of it and the least of themselves.  It would have been a
+refreshing sight for a moralist to have witnessed this instance of man--
+whose natural tendency is to try to look big--thus voluntarily
+endeavouring to look as small as possible!
+
+This bundle of humanity was staring through the bush, with, as the
+saying is, all its eyes, that is, with six pairs of--or twelve
+individual--eyes; and they were staring at a wolf--an enormous wolf--
+that was slowly walking away from the bush behind which they were
+ensconced!  It was a very singular wolf indeed--one that was well
+calculated to excite surprise in the breast even of trappers.  There was
+something radically wrong with that wolf, especially about the legs.
+Its ears and head were all right, and it had a tail, a very good tail
+for a wolf; but there was a strange unaccountable lump under its neck,
+and its fore legs bent the wrong way at the knees, and it seemed to have
+long feet trailing behind its hind legs, besides being otherwise
+misshapen.  The mystery is explained when we state that this wolf was
+none other than Hawkswing, down on his hands and knees, with a wolf-skin
+over his back, and Bertram's blunderbuss-pistol in his hand.  He was
+creeping cautiously towards a herd of six or seven buffaloes that
+chanced to be feeding quietly there, quite unconscious of the near
+proximity of so dangerous an enemy.
+
+"I hope the old pistol won't miss fire," whispered Redhand, as he
+observed that the wolf paused, evidently for the purpose of examining
+the priming.
+
+"I hope," added Bounce, "that the Injun won't miss his aim.  He be'n't
+used to pistols."
+
+"Never fear," said March with a quiet grin.  "If he aims within a yard
+o' the brute he's sure to hit, for I loaded the old blunderbuss myself,
+an' it's crammed nigh to the muzzle with all sorts o' things, includin'
+stones."
+
+At this Big Waller stared, and said emphatically, "It'll bust!"  Bertram
+felt and looked uneasy, but Bounce shook his head.
+
+"Them old things," said he, "never bust.  I've been forty years, off an'
+on, in these parts, an' I've always obsarved that old irons o' that sort
+_don't_ bust; cause why? they'd ha' busted w'en they wos new, if they'd
+bin goin' to bust at all.  The fact is, they _can't_ bust.  They're too
+useless even for that."
+
+"How comes it," inquired Bertram, "that the buffaloes are not afraid of
+a wolf?  I have been led to understand that wolves are the inveterate
+enemies of buffaloes, and that they often attack them."
+
+To this question March, whose head was in close proximity to that of the
+artist, replied--
+
+"Ay, the sneakin' brutes will attack a single wounded or worn-out old
+buffalo, when it falls behind the herd, and when there are lots o' their
+low-minded comrades along with 'em; but the buffaloes don't care a straw
+for a single wolf, as ye may see now if ye pay attention to what
+Hawkswing's doin'."
+
+Bertram became silent on observing that the Indian had approached to
+within about pistol range of the buffalo without attracting particular
+attention, and that he was in the act of taking aim at its shoulder.
+Immediately a sharp click caused the buffalo to look up, and apprised
+the onlookers that the faithless weapon had missed fire; again Hawkswing
+pulled the trigger and with a like result.  By this time the buffalo,
+having become alarmed, started off at a run.  Once more the click was
+heard; then the wolf, rising on its hind legs, coolly walked backed to
+its comrades behind the bush, while the herd of buffaloes galloped
+furiously away.
+
+The Indian solemnly stalked up to Bertram and presented the pistol to
+him with such an expression of grave contempt on his countenance that
+March Marston burst into an irresistible fit of laughter, thereby
+relieving his own feelings and giving, as it were, direction to those of
+the others, most of whom were in the unpleasant condition of being
+undecided whether to laugh or cry.
+
+To miss a buffalo was not indeed a new, or, in ordinary circumstances, a
+severe misfortune; but to miss one after having been three days without
+food, with the exception of a little unpalatable wolf's flesh, was not
+an agreeable, much less an amusing, incident.
+
+"I'll tell ye wot it is," said Bounce, slapping his thigh violently and
+emphasising his words as if to imply that nobody had ever told anybody
+"wot" anything "wos" since the world began up to that time, "I'll tell
+ye wot it is, I won't stand this sort o' thing no longer."
+
+"It is most unfortunate," sighed poor Bertram, who thoroughly identified
+himself with his pistol, and felt as much ashamed of it as if the fault
+had been his own.
+
+"Wall, lads," observed Big Waller, drawing forth his pipe as the only
+source of comfort in these trying circumstances, and filling it with
+scrupulous care, "it ain't of no use gettin' growowly about it, I guess.
+There air more buffaloes than them wot's gone; mayhap we'll splinicate
+one before we gits more waspisher."
+
+It may, perhaps, be necessary to explain that Waller's last word
+referred to the unusually small waists of the party, the result of a
+pretty long fast.
+
+"I'll tell ye what it is," said March, advancing towards Bounce with a
+swagger and drawing his hunting-knife, "I quite agree with Waller's
+sentiments.  I don't mean to allow myself to get any more waspisher, so
+I vote that we cut Bounce up and have a feed.  What say you, comrades?"
+
+"All right," replied Bounce, laying bare his broad chest as if to
+receive the knife, "only, p'r'aps, ye'll allow me to eat the first slice
+off myself afore ye begin, 'cause I couldn't well have my share
+afterwards, d'ye see?  But, now I think on't, I'd be rather a tough
+morsel.  Young meat's gin'rally thought the tenderest.  Wot say ye to
+cuttin' up March first, an' tryin' me nixt?"
+
+"If you'll only wait, lads," said Redhand, "till Mr Bertram gits a new
+flint into his pistol, we'll shoot the victim instead o' cutting him up.
+It'll be quicker, you know."
+
+"Hah! non," cried Gibault, leaping a few inches off the ground, under
+the impulse of a new idea, "I vill show to you vat ve vill do.  Ve vill
+each cot hoff von finger.  Redhand, he vill begin vid de thomb, et so on
+till it come to me, and I vill cot hoff mine leetle finger.  Each vill
+devour the finger of de oder, an' so've shall have von dinner vidout
+committing mordor--ha! vat say you?"
+
+As Bertram had by this time arranged the lock of his pistol and reprimed
+it, the hungry travellers resumed their weary march without coming to a
+decision upon this delicate point.
+
+It had happened that, during the last few days, the land over which they
+travelled being somewhat barren, small game had become scarce, and the
+large game could not be approached near enough to be shot with such
+weapons as the artist's antiquated pistols; and as the party possessed
+nothing better in the shape of a projectile, they had failed to procure
+supplies.  They had now, however, again reached a rich country, and had
+succeeded in trapping a large wolf, under the skin of which Hawkswing
+had made, as we have seen, an unsuccessful effort to shoot a buffalo.
+Soon after this failure the party came to a ridge of gravelly soil that
+stretched across the plain like a wave.
+
+The plain, or small prairie, to which we refer was in the midst of a
+most lovely scene.  The earth was carpeted with rich green grass, in
+which the wild flowers nestled like gems.  The ground was undulating,
+yet so varied in its formations that the waves and mounds did not
+prevent the eyes of the travellers ranging over a vast tract of country,
+even when they were down among the hollows; and, when they had ascended
+the backs of the ridges, they could cast a wide glance over a scene of
+mingled plain and wood, lake and river, such as is never seen except in
+earth's remotest wilds, where man has not attempted to adorn the face of
+nature with the exuberances of his own wonderful invention.
+
+Far away on the horizon the jagged forms and snowy peaks of the Rocky
+Mountains rose clear and sharp against the sky.  For some days past the
+trappers had sighted this stupendous "backbone" of the far west, yet so
+slowly did they draw near that March Marston and Bertram, in their
+impatience, almost believed they were a range of phantom hills, which
+ever receded from them as they advanced.
+
+On reaching the summit of the gravelly ridge, Redhand looked along it
+with an earnest, searching gaze.
+
+"Wot's ado now?" inquired Bounce.
+
+"There ought to be prairie-hens here," replied the other.
+
+"Oh! do stand still, just as you are, men!" cried Bertram
+enthusiastically, flopping down on a stone and drawing forth his
+sketch-book, "you'll make such a capital foreground."
+
+The trappers smiled and took out their pipes, having now learned from
+experience that smoking was not detrimental to a sketch--rather the
+reverse.
+
+"Cut away, Gibault," said Bounce, "an' take a look at the edge o' yon
+bluff o' poplars and willows.  I've obsarved that prairie-hens is fond
+o' sich places.  You'll not be missed out o' the pictur', bein' only a
+small objict, d'ye see, besides an ogly one."
+
+The jovial Canadian acknowledged the compliment with a smile and obeyed
+the command, leaving his companions to smoke their pipes and gaze with
+quiet complacency upon the magnificent scene.  Doubtless, much of their
+satisfaction resulted from the soothing influence of tobacco on their
+empty stomachs.
+
+"I say," whispered Waller, removing his pipe and puffing from his lips a
+large cloud of smoke, which rolled upwards in the form of a white ring,
+"I say, Bounce, I guess it's past my comprehension what he means by a
+foreground.  How does _we_ make a capital foreground?"
+
+Bounce looked at his companion in silence for a few seconds; then he
+removed his pipe, pursed his lips, frowned heavily, looked at the
+ground, and repeated slowly, "How does _we_ make a capital foreground?"
+
+Waller nodded.
+
+"Ay, that's it."  Bounce resumed his pipe for a few seconds, and then
+said with an air of the utmost profundity--
+
+"Don't you know?"
+
+"No, I don't."
+
+"Wot?  Nothin' about it wotiver?"
+
+"Nothin' wotsomdiver."
+
+"H'm, that's okard," said Bounce, once more applying to his pipe;
+"'cause, d'ye see, it's most 'orrible difficult to explain a thing to a
+feller as don't know nothin' wotiver about it.  If ye only had the
+smallest guess o--"
+
+"Wall, come, I does know _somethin'_ about it," interrupted Waller.
+
+"Wot's that?" inquired Bounce, brightening up.
+
+"I calc'late that I knows for certain it ain't got no place wotiver in
+my onderstandin'."
+
+"Hah!" exclaimed Bounce.  "Come, then, I'll do my best for to explain it
+t'ye.  Here's wot it is.  D'ye see Mr Bertram, there?"
+
+"Yes, I does."
+
+"An' d'ye see yerself?"
+
+"Wall, I does," replied Waller, looking complacently down at his huge
+limbs.
+
+"Good; then d'ye see the ground over there?" continued Bounce, pointing
+with his pipe to the Rocky Mountains.
+
+Waller nodded.
+
+"Now then," said Bounce, in those deep earnest tones with which men
+usually attempt to probe the marrow of some desperately knotty question;
+"now, then, when Mr Bertram's a drawin' of, an' tries to look at the
+ground over there, you an' me comes _before_ the ground, d'ye see; an'
+so we're, as ye may say, _before-grounds_.  But men wot studies human
+natur' an' langwidges, d'ye see, comes for to know that words is always
+gittin' onnecessary bits chopped off 'em--sometimes at one end,
+sometimes at t'other.  So they tuck off the B, d'ye see, an' made it
+foreground, and that's how we come to be foregrounds."
+
+"Oh!" said Waller, with the vacant air of a man who feels himself as
+wise at the termination as he was at the beginning of an explanation.
+
+"Yes," resumed Bounce, "that's how it is.  I must confess, for my part,
+that I don't 'xactly see the advantage o' us in that light.  I should
+ha' thought it would ha' bin better to make us stand to one side, d'ye
+see, and let him see how the land lies.  But there's no accountin' for
+taste in this wurld--I've obsarved that, iver since I was three fut
+two."
+
+Having delivered himself of this graphic exposition of an abstruse
+subject, Bounce relapsed into silence, and the whole party continued for
+some minutes in a profound reverie.  From this felicitous condition they
+were awakened by the sudden appearance of Black Gibault, who darted out
+of the poplar bluff and made towards them at the top of his speed.  He
+uttered no cry, but, on coming near enough to permit of his features
+being clearly seen, it was observed that his eyes were eagerly wide
+open, and that his mouth was engaged in the formation of words.  A
+second or two more, and he was near enough to be heard uttering the word
+"buffaloes" in a hoarse whisper.
+
+"Ho! boy, wot is't?" cried Bounce in an equally hoarse whisper.
+
+"Ba--buffaloes, hah! buffaloes," cried Gibault, panting violently as he
+came up; "Where be de leetle gun?  He!  Monsieur Bertram, out vid it."
+
+"Where saw ye them?" asked Redhand, seizing the two pistols, and
+examining the priming.
+
+"Jist oder side of de bluff.  Ver' close to de bushes.  Queek! queek!
+vite! mon garcon, you is so drefful slow."
+
+The latter part of this sentence was addressed to Hawkswing, who was
+quietly putting on his wolf-skin.  Although too slow for the hasty
+spirit of Gibault, the Indian was quick enough for all useful purposes.
+In three minutes he was in the clump of poplar trees behind which the
+buffaloes were reported to be feeding, and in another minute he was out
+upon the plain creeping towards his victims, while the rest of the party
+were again huddled together behind a bush, looking on with deep interest
+and breathless attention.
+
+Gradually and slowly the Indian crept towards the buffaloes, pausing and
+snuffing about from time to time as if he were a veritable wolf in
+search of something to eat.  At last he had approached near enough to
+the herd to attract their attention, but scarcely near enough to make
+sure of bringing one down.  The huge unwieldy creatures looked up
+inquiringly for a moment, but, seeing only a solitary enemy, they
+scorned to take further notice of him, and went on feeding.
+
+Hawkswing paused within a few yards of the side of a fat sleek animal,
+and slowly raised his pistol.  The trappers held their breath, and
+Bertram uttered a low groan of anxiety.  One moment more and a white
+puff was followed by a loud crack, and a bellow, as the horror-stricken
+buffaloes tossed up their heels and fled wildly from the spot, leaving
+one of their number in the agonies of death upon the plain.
+
+The knife of the Indian hastened its end, and with a rush and a yell of
+delight the whole party fell upon the luckless animal.
+
+It was a wonderful sight to see, the way in which these experienced men
+flayed and cut up that buffalo!  Hawkswing, without taking time to
+remove his wolf-skin covering, commenced upon the head and speedily cut
+out the tongue--a more difficult operation than inexperienced persons
+would suppose.  Redhand and Bounce began at the shoulders, and Big
+Waller and Gibault fell to work upon the flanks.  March Marston seized
+his axe, and hastening into the bluff felled a dead pine and kindled a
+fire.  As for Bertram, he sat down to sketch the whole with a degree of
+prompt facility and gusto, that showed the habit had become second
+nature to him.
+
+The way in which these men wielded their bloody knives, flayed and
+sliced, dismembered and divided that buffalo, is past belief--almost
+beyond description.  Each man threw off his capote and tucked up his
+shirt-sleeves to the elbows, and very soon each had on a pair of bright
+red gauntlets.  And the bloody appearance of Hawkswing's mouth proved
+that he had been anticipating the feast with a few tit-bits raw.  The
+others were more patient.
+
+In very nearly as short a time as it takes to tell, the buffalo was
+converted into a mass of fragments that were powerfully suggestive of a
+butcher's shop, and the trappers adjourned to a neighbouring rivulet to
+wash their hands and arms.
+
+"Now, I'll tell ye wot it is," observed Bounce while thus engaged, "I
+means for to have a most awful blow out, and then go to sleep for
+four-and-twenty hours on end."
+
+"Ditto," remarked Big Waller with a nod; to which old Redhand replied
+with a chuckle.
+
+"An' who be go to vatch, tink you?" inquired Gibault, as they all
+returned to the camp.  "Perhaps de Injuns look out for us--vat den?"
+
+"Ah ye may well ask that, Gibault," said Redhand; "the fact is I've been
+thinkin' that now we're drawin' near to enemies we must begin to keep
+better watch at night, and to burn small fires o' dry wood, lest the
+smoke should tell a tale upon us."
+
+"Oh, don't talk bam, old feller," said Waller; "I guess we'll have
+watchin' enough w'en we gits into the mountains.  Let's take it easy
+here."
+
+"We'll have one good blow out to-night, anyhow," cried March Marston,
+heaving a fresh pile of logs on the already roaring fire.  "Now, Mr
+Bertram, _do_ give up your scratchin' to-night, and let's see what you
+can do in the eatin' way.  I'm sure you've fasted long enough, at least
+for the good o' your health."
+
+The poor artist had indeed fasted long enough to give to his naturally
+thin and lank figure a thread-papery appearance that might have
+suggested the idea that he was evaporating.  He smiled good-humouredly
+when March Marston, who had now become rather familiar with him, shut up
+his sketch-book and set him forcibly down before the fire, all round
+which steaks and hunks of meat were roasting and grilling, and sending
+forth an odour that would have rendered less hungry men impatient of
+delay.  But they had not to wait long.  Each man sat before his
+respective steak or hunk, gazing eagerly, as, skewered on the end of a
+splinter of wood, his supper roasted hissingly.  When the side next the
+fire was partially cooked, he turned it round and fell to work upon that
+while the other side was roasting--thus the cooking and the eating went
+on together.
+
+After a considerable time symptoms of satiety began to appear, in the
+shape of an occasional remark.  Soon Bounce uttered a deep sigh, and
+announced his belief that, having taken the edge off his appetite, it
+was time to begin with the marrow-bones.  Thereupon, with the
+marrow-bones he began, and his example was quickly followed by his
+companions.  There was a business-like steadiness of purpose in the way
+in which that meal was eaten, and in the whole of the procedure
+connected with it, that would have been highly diverting to a
+disinterested spectator.
+
+When the feast was concluded, the pipes made their appearance as a
+matter of course; and when these were lighted, and in full blast, the
+trappers found leisure to look round upon each other's faces with
+expressions of benignity.
+
+"Dat be a monstrobolly goot supper," remarked Gibault Noir.  Gibault
+spoke with an effort.  It was quite plain that moderation was a virtue
+that he did not possess in a high degree--at least, not on the present
+occasion.
+
+"You'll need a `monstrobolly' good sleep arter it," observed Bounce
+quietly.
+
+"You will, jist," said Waller; "an' so will this coon, I cal--"
+
+Big Waller was going to have "calculated," according to custom; but
+sleepiness overpowered him at the moment, and he terminated the word
+with a yawn of such ferocity that it drew from Redhand a remark of doubt
+as to whether his jaws could stand such treatment long.
+
+Every member of that party seemed to be quite contented and amiable, but
+no one showed much inclination to talk, and ere many minutes had passed,
+half their number were under their blankets, their heads pillowed on
+their bundles and their eyes sealed in sleep.  A few minutes later, and
+Big Waller, sinking into a very sprawling and reckless posture, with his
+back against the stem of a large cotton-tree, dropped into a state of
+slumber with his pipe hanging gracefully from his lips.
+
+This seemed so picturesque to Theodore Bertram, who sat immediately
+opposite to the Yankee, on the other side of the fire, that he pulled
+out his sketch-book and began enthusiastically to sketch by the
+flickering light.  While he was thus occupied, the others lay down, one
+by one, and he was left, at last, the only waking member of the camp.
+
+But Theodore Bertram was human, and this is tantamount to saying that he
+was not capable of ignoring the somnolent influences of human nature.
+To his own extreme surprise his head fell forward with an abrupt nod
+while he was engaged in the act of depicting Big Waller's nose, and he
+found, on resuming work, with an imbecile smile at what he deemed his
+weakness, that that member of the Yankee's face was at least two feet
+long, and was formed after the pattern of a somewhat irregular Bologna
+sausage.  Indiarubber quickly put this to rights, however, and he set to
+again with renewed zeal.  Throwing back his head, and looking up as if
+for inspiration, his wide-awake fell off, and it required a sudden and
+powerful effort to prevent his head and shoulders falling in the same
+direction.
+
+Having replaced his hat and shaken himself a little, the persevering man
+once more applied himself to his task of finishing the Yankee's
+portrait, which, to say truth, now presented a variety of jagged and
+picturesque outlines, that savoured more of caricature than anything
+Bertram had ever yet accomplished.  For some time the pencil moved upon
+the paper pretty steadily, and the artist was beginning to congratulate
+himself on his success, when, to his horror, he observed that the tree
+against which the Yankee leaned was in the act of falling over to the
+right.  The same instant he received a shock upon the left side, and
+awoke to find that he had fallen heavily upon poor Gibault's breast, and
+that Waller and his tree were _in statu quo_.  But Gibault cared not; he
+was too deeply intent upon sleeping to mind such trifles.
+
+Bertram smiled meekly as he resumed his sitting posture; but the smile
+faded and was replaced by a gaze of mute astonishment as he observed
+that he had depicted Waller's right eye upon his chin, close beneath his
+nose!  There seemed to be some sort of magic here, and he felt disposed
+to regard the thing in the light of some serious optical illusion, when,
+on closer inspection, he discovered Waller's mouth drawn altogether
+beyond the circle of his countenance, a foot or so above his head, on
+the stem of the tree against which he leaned.  This changed the current
+of his thoughts and led him to believe that he must be dreaming, under
+which impression he fell back and went to sleep.
+
+Of course, Bertram recollected nothing after that; but when Gibault
+awoke next morning, he found him lying on his back, with his feet in the
+ashes of the extinct fire, his tall brigandish wide-awake perfectly flat
+beneath his shoulders, and his sketch-book lying open across his face.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+A CACHE DISCOVERED--BERTRAM BECOMES VALOROUS--FAILURE FOLLOWS, AND A
+BRIEF SKIRMISH, FLIGHT, AND SEPARATION ARE THE RESULTS.
+
+The sun was high, scattering the golden clouds in the bright sky,
+gilding the hilltops, flooding the plains, vivifying vegetable life, and
+gladdening the whole animal creation, when, on the following morning,
+our wearied trappers raised their heads and began to think of breakfast.
+
+To do these trappers justice, however, we must add that their looks,
+when they became wide enough awake to take full cognisance of the
+scenery, indicated the presence of thoughts and emotions of a more
+elevated character, though, from the nature of their training from
+infancy, they wanted words to express their feelings.
+
+It was otherwise with Bertram and March Marston.  Their exclamations,
+the instant they arose, showed that both their hearts were keenly alive
+to the good and the beautiful which surrounded them--and their tongues
+were not altogether incapable of uttering the praise of Him who clothes
+so gorgeously the lovely earth and peoples it with millions of happy
+creatures--yes, happy creatures, for, despite the existence of death and
+sin and sorrow everywhere, and the croaking of misanthropes, there _is_
+much, very much, of pure, overflowing happiness here below.
+
+"Come, March--Mr Bertram, time presses," said Redhand, interrupting the
+two friends in the midst of earnest conversation; "we've got a long day
+before us, and, mayhap, a fight with redskins at the end o't, so it
+behoves us to make a good breakfast and set off as soon as we can.
+We're late enough already."
+
+"Ah, Redhand!" exclaimed March, "you're a terrible fellow for duty an'
+business, an' all that sort o' thing.  It's always `time to be off,' or
+`time to think o' this or that,' or `we mustn't put off,' with you.  Why
+won't ye let us take a breathin' spell once in a way to enjoy ourselves,
+eh?"
+
+The old man pointed to the sun.  "You've enjoyed yourself late enough
+to-day, han't ye?"
+
+"Come, March, you're in a fault-finding humour this morning," said
+Bertram as they walked towards the camp.  "Let's enjoy ourselves in
+spite of circumstances.  Do you know, I hold it to be exceedingly wise
+as well as philosophical, to make the best of things at all times."
+
+"Do you?" exclaimed March in a tone of affected surprise; "now that's
+odd.  You must be a real clever fellow to have made up your mind on that
+point.  But somehow or other I'm inclined to think that most o' the
+trappers hereabouts are as wise as yourself on it, though, mayhap, they
+don't say it just in the same words.  There's Waller, now, as 'll tell
+ye that when he `can't help it he guesses he'll jist grin an' bear it.'
+And there's an old Irish trapper that's bin in the mountains nigh forty
+years now, and who's alive at this day--if he bean't dead--that used to
+say to himself when ill luck came upon him, `Now, Terence, be aisy, boy;
+an' av ye can't be aisy, be as aisy as ye can.'  So you see, Mr
+Bertram, we have got a few sparks of wisdom in these diggins."
+
+"Now, then, stop yer feelosophy," cried Bounce, hitching his shoulders
+so as to induce his light load to take up a more accommodating position.
+"Ye didn't use to be a slow feller, March; wot's to do?  Ye ain't
+a-goin' to cave in 'cause we're gettin' nigh the redskins, are ye?"
+
+To this March deigned no reply, but, swinging his bundle over his
+shoulder, set off at a pace that speedily left his laughing comrades far
+behind.  When, in the course of an hour after, they overtook him, he was
+discovered lying flat on his back, with his head resting on his bundle,
+and smoking his pipe with an air of perfect satisfaction.
+
+During the course of that day the trappers walked about thirty miles.
+Towards the afternoon they came to a large river, along the banks of
+which they pursued their way, led by Redhand, who seemed as familiar
+with the country as if he had dwelt there from infancy.  The old
+trapper's kindly visage was lighted up with a smile of recognition, ever
+and anon, when some new and striking feature of the landscape opened up
+to view, as if he had met with and were greeting some personal friend.
+He spoke occasionally in a low tone to March, who usually kept close to
+his side, and pointed to spots which were associated in his memory with
+adventures of various kinds.  But Redhand's observations were few.  He
+preferred to listen to the conversations of his comrades, as they
+plodded steadily along, enlivening their march with many an anecdote and
+legend.
+
+At last Redhand called a halt, and gazed inquiringly around him, as if
+in search of some object.
+
+"Wot's up?" inquired Bounce earnestly.
+
+"It was hereabouts, somewhere," muttered Redhand, to himself rather than
+to his friend; then added quickly, as he threw down his pack, "Ay, there
+it is--never touched.  Now that's what I call luck."
+
+"_Wot's_ luck?" inquired Waller.
+
+"Ah, dat is de keevestion," added Gibault with a look of surprise.
+
+"You must know, lads," said Redhand, turning to his comrades, who
+observed his movements with considerable astonishment; "you must know,
+lads, there was an old chap who once trapped beavers up in them parts--"
+
+"Oh! it's a hanikdot," interrupted Big Waller; "then I guess we'd as
+well sot down."  So saying, he seated himself on his bundle and, as a
+matter of course, proceeded to fill his pipe.  The others followed his
+example, with the exception of Redhand, who remained standing, and of
+Bertram, who quickly opened his sketch-book, that being the first
+opportunity he had enjoyed during the day of making an entry therein.
+
+"Right," exclaimed Bounce.  "It's allers more feelosophical to sot than
+to stand--also more ekornomical, 'cause it saves yer moccasins.  Go on
+with yer story, old man."
+
+"It ain't a story," said Redhand; "nor I don't think it can even be
+called an anecdote.  Well, this old chap that once trapped beaver in
+them parts came down to Pine Point settlement one year with a load o'
+furs, sold 'em all off, took a ragin' fever, and died."  Redhand paused,
+and gazed dreamily at the ground.
+
+"I say," observed Bounce seriously, "ain't that wot ye may call raither
+a short hanikdot--not much in it, eh?"
+
+"But before he died," resumed Redhand without noticing the interruption,
+"he sent for me an' said: `Redhand, I'm goin' onder, an' I've got some
+property as I don't want lost.  Ye know Beaver Creek?'  `Yes,' says I,
+`every fut of it.'  `Well, then,' says he, `there's a spot there with
+three mounds on the right side o' the Creek and a tall poplar in front
+of 'em.'  `I know it,' says I.  `Well, w'en I last come from that part,'
+says he, `I made a _cache_ at the foot o' that poplar, an' put one or
+two things in, which it 'ud be a pity to lose--so I give 'em to you,
+Redhand.  I was chased by Injuns at the place, so I couldn't stop to
+bring 'em away, d'ye see?'  `An' what were the things ye put there?'
+said I.  But he gave me no answer; his mind began to wander, and he
+never spoke sense again.  Now, lads, this is Beaver Creek, and there
+stands the poplar in front o' the three mounds."
+
+Redhand pointed to the tree as he spoke, and the others started up with
+alacrity, for the little touch of romance connected with the incident,
+combined with their comparatively destitute condition, and their
+ignorance of what the concealed treasure might be, powerfully stirred
+their curiosity.
+
+Arming themselves with strong staves, they began to dig away the earth
+at the roots of the poplar.
+
+After a few minutes' hard work, Bounce rose to wipe the perspiration
+from his brow, and said--
+
+"Wot for didn't ye tell us o' this before, Redhand?"
+
+"Because I wasn't sure the _cache_ might not have bin discovered long
+ago, and I didn't want to risk disappointin' ye."
+
+"Hallo! here's _somethin'_," exclaimed Big Waller, as the point of the
+stake with which he tore up the earth struck against some hard
+substance.
+
+"Have a care, boy," cried Bounce, stooping down and clearing away the
+earth with his hands.  "P'r'aps it's easy broken.  No--why--it's a keg!"
+
+"So it am," cried Gibault; "p'r'aps it am poudre."
+
+At this moment Big Waller and Bounce gave the keg a violent tug and
+disentombed it, an operation which proved Gibault's surmise to be wrong,
+for the shake showed that the contents were liquid.  In a moment the
+plug was driven in, and Bounce, putting his nose to the hole, inhaled
+the result.  He drew back with a look of surprise, and said--
+
+"Brandy!"
+
+"Ha! here is one oder ting," cried Gibault, laying hold of a bundle and
+dragging it to light.  "Vat can dis be?"
+
+The question was soon answered; the string was cut, the leathern cover
+unrolled, and a considerable quantity of tobacco was disclosed to the
+view of the trappers, whose looks showed pretty clearly that this latter
+discovery was much more agreeable than the former.
+
+After digging deep all round the tree, they came to the conclusion that
+this was all that the _cache_ contained.
+
+"Now," said Bounce, after some talk in reference to their newly-found
+treasure, "wot's to be done with dis here keg o' brandy?  As for the
+baccy, we'll carry that along with us, of course, an' if Master
+Redhand's a liberal feller, we'll help him to smoke it.  But the brandy
+keg's heavy, an' to say truth, I'm not much inclined for it.  I never
+wos fond o' fire-water."
+
+"If you'd allow me, friends, to suggest," said Bertram, whose experience
+among trappers in other regions had convinced him that spirits was a
+most undesirable commodity, "I would recommend that you should throw
+this brandy away.  I never saw good come of it.  We do not require it
+for health, neither do we for sickness.  Let us throw it away, my
+friends; it is a dangerous and deceitful foe."
+
+"Mais, monsieur," interposed Gibault with a rueful countenance; "you
+speak de trooth; but though hims be dangereux an' ver' bad for drink
+oftin, yet ven it be cold vedder, it doo varm de cokils of de hart!"
+
+Big Waller laughed vociferously at this.  "I guess Gibault's right,"
+said he, "it 'ud be a powerful shame to fling it away."
+
+"Well, lads," said Redhand, "it's evident that we can't drink it just
+now, for it would unsteady our hands for the work we have to do this
+night.  It's also clear we can't carry it with us on a war expedition;
+so I propose that we should put it where we found it an' come back for
+it when we've done wi' the redskins."
+
+This plan was finally agreed to; the keg was reburied at the foot of the
+poplar, and the party continued their journey, carrying the much-prized
+tobacco along with them.
+
+The sun was still blazing above the mountains in the west, tingeing
+their snowy spires with rosy red, when the trappers came upon the first
+indication of the neighbourhood of Indians in the shape of recent
+footprints and cuttings in the woods.  A large canoe was also found
+lying bottom up on the bank of the creek.  This Redhand examined, and
+found it to be in good condition, although, from the marks in the
+vicinity, it was evident that it had not been recently used.
+
+Men who spend their lives in the backwoods of America are celebrated for
+the closeness with which they observe every object and circumstance
+which happens to pass within the range of their perceptions.  This habit
+and acuteness of observation is the result of necessity.  The trapper
+and the Red Indian are alike dependent very much on this faculty for
+their sustenance and for their safety.  Surrounded as they are by perils
+of every kind, their eyes and ears are constantly on the alert, as they
+pass through the pathless wilderness on the hunt or on the war trail.
+No object within the range of vision is passed with indifference.
+Everything is carefully yet quickly noted--the breaking of a twig, the
+crushing of a blade of grass, or the footprint of man or beast.  Hence
+the backwoodsman acquires the habit of turning all things in his path to
+account, or notes them in case they should, by any possibility, be
+required by him at a future time.
+
+Redhand had no definite object in view when, with the assistance of
+March Marston, he lifted the canoe and placed it in the stream to
+ascertain that it was water-tight, and then replaced it on the bank with
+the paddles close beside it.  But he had a general idea, founded on
+experience, that a good canoe was a useful thing in many supposable
+circumstances, and that it was as well to know where such an article was
+to be found.
+
+"We shall have to go cautiously now," said he before resuming the march.
+"The Injuns are not far off, as ye may see by yonder thin line o' smoke
+that rises above the trees on the mountain side.  If they are the men we
+seek, they're sharp as foxes, so we'll have to step like the painter."
+
+Bertram looked up quickly at the last word; then he smiled the next
+moment, as he remembered that the panther was thus styled by trappers.
+
+Proceeding cautiously forward in single file, they at length gained a
+spot beyond which they could not advance without running the risk of
+being discovered.  Here another halt was made, and here it was agreed
+that Redhand should advance alone, near enough to ascertain whether the
+Indians, whose camp they were approaching, were actually the scamps who
+had robbed Bertram of his horses.  The old trapper was about to set
+forward when Bertram stopped him.
+
+"Methinks, old man," said he, "it were well that I should accompany you
+on this expedition, which I foresee is one of no little danger; and as
+the danger is encountered chiefly on my account, it seems to me right
+and fitting that I should share it along with you.  Besides, two are
+better than one in a struggle, whether mental or physical."
+
+Redhand looked a little perplexed.  He did not like to tell the poor
+artist that he was totally unfit to make a stealthy approach to an
+Indian camp, yet he felt that the danger of failure would be increased
+tenfold if he allowed him to make the attempt; but Bertram pleaded so
+earnestly, and withal so resolutely, that he at length consented, on
+condition of his doing nothing but what he was desired to do, and
+keeping as quiet as a mouse.  This the artist promised to do, and the
+two accordingly set forth, armed with their knives and the two pistols.
+Bertram also carried his sword.  The rest of the party were to remain in
+ambush until the return of the others.
+
+During the first part of their advance through the wood Bertram trod as
+softly and carefully as an Indian, and watched every motion of his
+companion, who led him down into a ravine which conducted them to within
+a few hundred yards of the camp.  From the absence of such noises as the
+barking of dogs and shouts of children, the old trapper conjectured that
+this must be either a party of trappers or a war-party of Indians.  A
+few minutes' creeping on hands and knees through the underwood brought
+them to a spot whence the camp could be seen, and showed that in the
+latter conjecture he was right.  The red warriors, forty in number, were
+seated in a circle round their watch-fire smoking their tomahawks in
+moody silence.
+
+To the eye of Bertram they all seemed to be lost in dreamy reverie, but
+Redhand observed, with a feeling of anxiety, that he who seemed to be
+their chief sat in that peculiar attitude which indicates intense
+attention.  Laying his hand on Bertram's shoulder, the old man said in
+the faintest possible whisper--
+
+"Yonder sits the thief, an't he?"
+
+Bertram at once recognised in the chief of the band before him Big
+Snake, the Indian who had stolen his horses and property; so he nodded
+his head violently, and looked excited, but wisely refrained from
+speech, lest his voice should be overheard.
+
+Redhand shook his head.  "The thief," said he in a tone that was
+scarcely audible, "has heard us; I see by his face that he suspects he
+has heard _something_, and he knows that it was not the falling of a
+leaf.  If we break a twig now we're done for."
+
+Redhand meant this to be a salutary caution to his companion, which
+would ensure a noiseless retreat.  To men of his own stamp it would have
+been useful, but he little knew the peculiar temperament of his friend;
+the mere idea of the success of the whole expedition depending upon his
+extreme care unhinged the nerves of the poor artist, who, although
+absolutely a brave man, in the true sense of the term, could no more
+control his nervous system than he could perform an Indian war-dance.
+He could have rushed single-handed on the whole body of warriors with
+ease, but he could not creep among the dry twigs that strewed the ground
+without trembling like an aspen leaf lest he should break one.
+
+It is wonderful, however, what necessity will enable men to do.  Bertram
+did creep after his friend, back towards the spot where the rest of his
+party lay, as softly and noiselessly as if he had been bred to the work
+from infancy.  On regaining the edge of the ravine, they rose and
+advanced in a crouching posture.  Then Bertram sighed and felt that
+imminent danger was over.  Alas! that feeling of partial security cost
+him dear.  The step that succeeded the sigh was a careless one.  His
+foot caught in a projecting root, and next moment he went headforemost
+into the centre of a decayed bush with a crackling crash that was
+absolutely appalling in the circumstances.
+
+Redhand cast upon the luckless man one glance of horror, and, uttering
+the words, "Run for your life!" dashed down the bank, and coursed along
+the bottom like a hare.  At the same moment that terrific yell, which
+has so often chilled the heart's blood of men and women in those western
+wilds, rang through the forest, telling that they were discovered, and
+that the Indians were in pursuit.
+
+Bertram kept close to the heels of the old trapper at first, but before
+he had run fifty yards he tripped and fell again.  On attempting to rise
+he was seized and thrown violently to the ground by an Indian warrior.
+Looking back and observing this, Redhand turned at once, like a hare
+doubling on its course, and rushed to the rescue; but before he reached
+his friend he was surrounded by a dozen yelling Indians.  At the
+foremost of these he levelled his pistol, but the faithless weapon
+missed fire, and he was in the act of hurling it at his adversary, when
+a blow from behind felled him to the ground.
+
+While this was going on, the trappers were bounding to the succour of
+their comrades.  When they came to the field of action and saw neither
+of their friends (for they had been borne swiftly away), and beheld an
+overwhelming band of armed savages rushing towards them, they at once
+perceived that strength or courage could avail them nothing in such an
+unequal conflict; so they turned and fled, scattering themselves among
+the bushes so as to divert pursuit as much as possible.
+
+Bounce and Gibault were the only two who kept together.  These made for
+the spot where the canoe had been left, but the latter outran the former
+so quickly that he was soon lost to view ahead of him.  In a few minutes
+Bounce gained the bank of the stream, and seized the end of the canoe.
+To his amazement Gibault was nowhere to be seen.  But he had no time for
+thought, for at that moment he was discovered by two Indians who ran
+towards him.  The canoe was launched, and a paddle seized in an instant,
+but the trusty trapper was loath, even in his extremity, to push off
+while his comrade might be in danger.
+
+"Ho!  Gibault!  Gibault Noir!" he shouted.  "Quick, lad; yer too late
+a'most, ho!"
+
+Grinding his teeth in an agony of anxiety, he made a sudden dart at the
+foremost Indian, who little dreamed of such an attack, and hit him with
+the paddle with all his force.  The savage dropped like a stone, and the
+paddle flew into a dozen splinters.  This was a foolish act on the part
+of Bounce, for the second Indian was now close upon him, and, seeing the
+fate of his companion, he stopped short, and hastily fitted an arrow to
+his bow.  Just then several of the savages burst from the wood with
+fierce cries.  There was no time to lose.  Bounce turned, pushed off the
+canoe, and leaped in as an arrow grazed his neck.
+
+The bold trapper's condition seemed hopeless; for, having broken the
+paddle to pieces, he could not propel his little bark out of danger.
+The stream was broad and rapid at that place, and swept him away
+swiftly.  Immediately a shower of arrows fell around him, some grazing
+his person and piercing his clothes and the canoe, but fortunately not
+wounding him.
+
+Meanwhile three of the Indians darted downstream, and, throwing
+themselves into the current, swam out so as to intercept the canoe as it
+passed.  Bounce, having lain down at full length in the bottom of his
+tiny bark to avoid the arrows which were discharged at him, did not
+observe these men, and the first intimation he had of what was taking
+place was the canoe being nearly upset, as a powerful savage laid hold
+of the side of it.
+
+To draw his knife and pass it round the wrist of the Indian, so as to
+sever the tendons, was the work of a moment.  The savage fell back with
+a yell of mingled rage and pain.  The others seeing what had occurred,
+wisely turned and made for the shore.  This incident was the means of
+saving the trapper, for the Indians, fearful of wounding their comrade,
+had ceased to discharge their arrows, and when they again ventured to do
+so, a tumultuous rapid had caught the canoe, and whirled it nearly over
+to the opposite shore.
+
+Bounce watched his opportunity.  As he swept near to a rocky point, he
+sprang towards it with all his might.  He fell short, but happily the
+water did not reach above his knees.  Next moment he sprang up the bank
+and stood on the edge of the underwood, where he paused, and, turning
+round, shook his clenched fist at his enemies, and uttered a shout of
+defiance.
+
+The disappointed Indians gave vent to a fiendish howl, and discharged a
+cloud of arrows, most of which fell short of their mark.  Ere the last
+shaft had fallen harmless to the ground, Bounce had entered the forest
+and was gone.
+
+The Wild Man of the West--by R.M. Ballantyne
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+BOUNCE COGITATES UPON THE EMBARRASSING CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS CONDITION--
+DISCOVERY OF BLACK GIBAULT--TERRIBLE FATE IN STORE FOR THEIR COMRADES--A
+MODE OF RESCUE PLANNED--DREADFUL EFFECTS OF FIRE-WATER--THE RESCUE.
+
+About ten minutes after making his escape from his Indian foes, Bounce
+seated himself on the trunk of a fallen tree and began to think upon
+"Number One."
+
+A little red squirrel had been seated on the trunk of that tree just two
+minutes before his arrival.  It was now seated on the topmost branch of
+a neighbouring pine, looking with a pair of brilliant black eyes
+indignantly at the unceremonious intruder.
+
+Possibly the reader may think that it was selfish of Bounce, at such a
+time, to devote much attention to Number One.  He had just escaped; he
+was in comparative safety; he was free; while there could be little or
+no doubt that his late companions were prisoners, if not killed, and
+that, in the ordinary course of things, they would eventually suffer
+death by torture.  At such a time and in such circumstances it would be
+more natural, even in a selfish man, to think of any or of all the other
+numerals than number one.
+
+But, reader, I need scarcely tell you that things are not always what
+they seem.  Men are frequently not so bad as, at a first glance, they
+would appear to be.
+
+Bounce always reasoned philosophically, and he often thought aloud.  He
+did so on this occasion, to the immense edification of the little red
+squirrel, no doubt.  At least, if we may judge from the way in which it
+glared and stared at the trapper--peeped at him round the trunk of the
+tree, and over the branches and under the twigs and through the leaves,
+jerking its body and quirking its head and whisking its tail--we have
+every reason to conclude that it experienced very deep interest and
+intense excitement.  Pleasure and excitement being, with many people,
+convertible terms, we have no reason for supposing that it is otherwise
+with squirrels, and therefore every reason for concluding that the
+squirrel in question enjoyed Bounce's visit greatly.
+
+"Now this is wot it comes to," said Bounce, calmly filling his pipe,
+from the mere force of habit, for he had not at that time the most
+distant idea of enjoying a smoke.  "This is wot it comes to.  Savages is
+savages all the wurld over, and they always wos savages, an' they always
+will be savages, an' they can't be nothin' else."
+
+At this point Bounce recollected having seen an Indian missionary, who
+had been taken when a boy from his father's wigwam and educated, and who
+had turned out as good and respectable a Christian gentleman as most
+white men, and better than many, so he checked himself and said--
+
+"Leastwise they can't be nothin' but savages so--so long as they is
+savages."
+
+This argument, although exceedingly obvious, seemed even to his own mind
+to possess so little power, that he endeavoured to enforce it by
+slapping his thigh with such energy that the body of the red squirrel
+nearly jumped out at its own eyes.  It clasped the tree stem to its
+beating heart bravely, however, and, judging from its subsequent
+conduct, speedily recovered its self-possession.
+
+"That's how it is," continued Bounce; "an' that bein' the case, savages
+always invariably thinks o' number one before they thinks on anythin'
+else.  Now, as men judges theirselves so they judges of others--that's a
+fact, as all feelosophy has preclaimed, an' all experience has pruven.
+Wot then?  Why, them savages 'll think I've cleared off--made tracks--
+thankful to git away with my own skin whole, and carin' no more for my
+comrades than if they wos so many stumps.  Thinkin' that, of coorse
+they'll think it's o' no use to try to cross the river and give chase,
+'cause I've got a long start o' 'em, an' so, d'ye see, they'll give me
+up an' think no more about me.  Good! very good!  But p'r'aps it's jest
+poss'ble that feller whose paw I tickled _may_ sometimes recall me to
+mind."
+
+This last idea tickled the trapper so powerfully that he chuckled in a
+quiet way, and in doing so exposed such a double row of white teeth that
+the squirrel, which had remained for some time in an attitude of deep
+attention, began to show symptoms of uneasiness.
+
+"Now I'll tell you wot I'll do," continued Bounce, resuming his look of
+grave anxiety as the thought of his comrades recurred to him; "I'll go
+up the river till I comes to opposite the place where I shoved the canoe
+into the water.  By the time I git there it'll be dark; then I'll swum
+across an' foller the redskins an' save my comrades if I can.  If I
+can't, wot then? why, I'll leave the scalp of Bob Ounce to dangle in the
+smoke of a redskin's wigwam."
+
+We have elsewhere hinted that when a Rocky Mountain trapper makes up his
+mind to do a certain thing he usually does it at once.  Having settled
+the plan of his future proceedings, Bounce did not waste more time in
+thought or speech.  He thrust his unsmoked pipe into his bosom, leaped
+up from the trunk of the fallen tree, and darted from the spot with such
+sudden promptitude, that the horrified squirrel sprang wildly into empty
+space and vanished from the scene for ever!
+
+For a quarter of an hour Bounce glided noiselessly through the forest,
+keeping a course parallel with the river.  In the deepening gloom of
+evening, he appeared more like a spectre than a human being--so quick
+and agile were his motions as he flitted past the tree stems, yet so
+noiseless the tread of his moccasined feet.  The bushes were thick and
+in places tangled, compelling him to stoop and twist and diverge right
+and left as he sped along, but, being unencumbered with weapons or
+weight of any kind, he advanced so rapidly that in the short space of
+time we have mentioned he stood opposite to that part of the bank where
+the attack had been made, and below which he had been swept for a great
+distance in the canoe by the rapid stream.
+
+Here he spent some time in reconnoitring the opposite bank, but without
+gathering much information from his observations.  No symptom of the
+presence of human beings could be discovered.  No column of smoke rising
+above the trees to tell of the watch-fire of white man or red.  The
+trapper listened intently, then he bethought him, for the first time, of
+giving the signal which, at setting out on their journey, they had
+agreed to use in all circumstances of danger.  It was the low howl of a
+wolf followed immediately by the hoot of an owl.  The reply to it was to
+be the hoot of the owl without the cry of the wolf when danger should be
+imminent and extreme caution necessary, or the howl of the wolf alone if
+danger should have passed away.
+
+To the first utterance of the signal no reply was made.  After waiting a
+few seconds, Bounce gave it forth again.  Immediately after, the low
+howl of a wolf was heard on the opposite bank, and a figure appeared at
+the edge of the river.  Darkness prevented the trapper ascertaining who
+it was, but a repetition of the cry convinced him that it could be none
+other than Black Gibault.
+
+With a grunt of satisfaction, Bounce at once proceeded to make
+preparations for crossing the river.  Cutting a large piece of bark from
+a neighbouring tree, he hastily formed it into a species of dish or flat
+boat; then, stripping off all his garments, he tied them up in a tight
+bundle, and placed them in this miniature canoe; after which he plunged
+boldly into the stream and made for the opposite shore, pushing his
+little ark before him.  In five minutes he had crossed, and entered into
+a hasty conversation with Gibault in low, eager tones, while pulling on
+his clothes.
+
+"First of all, lad," said Bounce, laying his hand impressively on the
+other's shoulder, "are they all safe?--none killed?"
+
+"Non; dey be all alive, for certain."
+
+"I'm thankful for that--_very_ thankful.  Now go ahead, lad, and tell me
+what ye know, while I pull on my leggins."
+
+"Vell, dey be alive, as I have say.  Mais dey not live long."
+
+Gibault said this with such a look of woebegone despair that Bounce
+paused in the midst of his dressing and said with much anxiety--"Wot's
+wrong?--why not, lad?"
+
+"'Cause dey vill be tortured to death demain, or de day apres de morrow.
+Stay, I vill tell to you all I knows.  You mus' know, ven I run avay
+from you, I do so 'cause I know dat canoe ver' probabilie git opturned,
+so I come to river bank before every von.  Dere is von big tree dere, so
+op I go like von skvirrel.  You know vat come to pass apres dat.  You
+smash de head of de Injun, aussi you smash de paddil.  Den you escape,
+an' de Injuns howl vid passion!
+
+"Ver' soon after dat, dey all come to de bank of river--forty of 'em, I
+tink--draggin' our comerades vid dem, all tied by de wrist--Redhand, an'
+Big Valler, an' March, an' Hawksving, an' poor Monsieur Bertram.  Mais,
+dat Monsieur Bertram, be most 'straordinary man!  He terriblement
+frightened for every leetle ting, but him not fright von bit for big
+ting!  Hims look at de sauvage dat hold him as if him be a lion.  I do
+tink Monsieur Bertram vould fight vell if hims obleeged.
+
+"After good deal of consultoration an' disputerin', dey vas about for go
+avay; so I sit ver' still, but I move my foot von leetle morsil, an' von
+small leaf fall to de ground.  It vas ver' small leaf, but Hawksving him
+see it.  Ah! he be von cliver Injun.  Ver' sharp in sight too!  I tink
+him should be named Hawkseye.  No von else notice it, but I see
+Hawksving visper to Big Valler.  Dat man be sharp feller too.  He turns
+hims back to de tree, nevair vonce looked up, but him burst into loud
+laugh, like von tondre-clap, an' cry out, `Vell done, Gibault!  Keep
+close, old feller; their village is one day off towards the sun!'  An'
+den he laugh again.  Ah! ho! how my heart him jump ven he speak my name!
+But de Injuns tink hims yell out to some von cross de river, for him
+looks dat vay.  Vell, off dey go, and I begin to breathe more easy; but
+ven dey git far-off, I hear the voice of Big Valler come back like
+far-avay tondre, cryin', `Dey're goin' to roast us alive to-morrow; look
+sharp!'  Dat vas de last I hear.  Den de darkness come, an' den you
+come, an', now, vat is to come nixt?"
+
+Poor Gibault spoke fast, and perspired very much, and looked wild and
+haggard, for his nature was sensitive and sympathetic, and the idea of
+his comrades meeting with such a horrible fate was almost too much for
+him.
+
+Bounce's honest face assumed an expression of deep anxiety, for, fertile
+though his resources usually were, he could not at that moment conceive
+how it was possible for two unarmed men, either by force or by
+stratagem, to rescue five comrades who were securely bound, and guarded
+by forty armed warriors, all of whom were trained from infancy in the
+midst of alarms that made caution and intense watchfulness second nature
+to them.
+
+"It looks bad," said Bounce, sitting down on a stone, clasping his hard
+hands together, and resting an elbow on each knee.  "Sit ye down,
+Gibault.  We'll think a bit, an' then go to work.  That's wot we'll do--
+d'ye see?"
+
+"Non, I don't see," groaned Gibault.  "Vat can ve do?  Two to forty!  If
+it was only swords ve had to fight vid--Hah!  But, alas! we have
+noting--dey have everyting."
+
+"True, lad, force won't do," returned Bounce; "an' yit," he added,
+knitting his brows, "if nothin' else 'll do, we'll try at least _how
+much_ force 'll do."
+
+After a short pause Bounce resumed, "Wos they tied very tight, Gibault?"
+
+"Oui.  I see de cords deep in de wrists, an' poor Redhand seem to be
+ver' moch stunned; he valk as if hims be dronk."
+
+"Drunk!" exclaimed Bounce, suddenly springing up as if he had received
+an electric shock, and seizing his companion by both shoulders, while,
+for a moment, he gazed eagerly into his eyes; then, pushing him
+violently away, he turned round and darted along the bank of the river,
+crying, as he went, "Come along, Gibault; I'll tell ye wot's up as we
+go!"
+
+The astonished Canadian followed as fast as he could, and, in an
+exclamatory interjectional sort of way, his friend explained the plan of
+rescue which he had suddenly conceived, and which was as follows:--
+
+First, he proposed to go back to the _cache_ at the foot of the tall
+tree, and dig up the keg of brandy, with which he resolved to proceed to
+the camp of the Indians, and, by some means or other, get the whole clan
+to drink until they should become intoxicated.  Once in this condition,
+he felt assured they could be easily circumvented.
+
+Gibault grasped at this wild plan as a drowning man is said to grasp at
+a straw, and lent his aid right willingly to disentomb and carry the
+brandy keg.  Neither he nor Bounce knew whether there was enough brandy
+to intoxicate the whole tribe, but they had no time to inquire minutely
+into probabilities.
+
+Vigorously, perseveringly, without rest or halt, did these two trappers
+pursue their way that night, with the keg slung on a pole between them.
+The stars glimmered down through the trees upon their path, as if they
+wished them success in their enterprise.  It was all-important that they
+should reach the Indian camp before daybreak; so, although footsore and
+weary from their late exertions after a long day's march, they
+nevertheless ran steadily on at a long swinging trot, which brought
+them, to their inexpressible joy, much sooner than they had anticipated,
+to their journey's end.
+
+It was two hours before dawn when they came suddenly upon the camp--so
+suddenly that they had to crouch the instant they saw the watch-fires,
+in order to avoid being discovered.
+
+"Now, Gibault," whispered Bounce, "you'll have to remain here.  Get into
+a hiding-place as fast as you can, and keep close.  You're clever enough
+to know what to do, and when to do it.  Only, lad, come near and have
+your knife handy when the row is at the loudest, and see that ye don't
+let the squaws cut out our livers when we're tied up."
+
+Gibault nodded significantly.
+
+"It's a curious fact," continued Bounce in a somewhat sad tone, "that
+I'm more afraid o' the squaws than o' the men.  Howsomdiver, it's got to
+be done!"
+
+So saying, Bounce shouldered the keg, and shaking his comrade by the
+hand, as if he felt that he might be parting with him for ever, he
+glided into the darkness of the forest, leaving Gibault to secrete
+himself on the side of a mound, from which he could witness all that
+went on in the camp.
+
+From this point of observation the poor Canadian beheld what was not
+calculated to allay his fears.  The camp lay in a hollow, surrounded by
+trees.  On an open space were erected several leathern huts or tents, in
+the midst of which blazed a large camp fire.  Round this the forty
+warriors were seated, eating their supper, while a number of squaws were
+sitting in the entrances to their tents variously engaged.  Horses
+hobbled--that is, with the fore-feet tied together to prevent their
+running away--were cropping the grass close to the tents.  Not far from
+them, and within the circle of light cast around by the fire, stood a
+group of small trees.  To each of these was tied a man, and Gibault had
+no difficulty in making them out to be his unfortunate comrades.
+
+Occasionally, as he gazed, one or two of the old Indian women went up to
+these helpless men, with a yell of execration, and, brandishing
+scalping-knives before their faces, appeared as if about to plunge them
+into their hearts; but their time had not yet come; the hags were only
+anticipating the feast of butchery that awaited them on the morrow.
+
+While Gibault was gazing at this scene with mingled feelings of anxiety,
+rage, and horror, the whole band of Indians suddenly sprang to their
+feet and seized their weapons.  Almost at the same moment Bounce strode
+into the circle of light and deposited his cask on the ground.  Then,
+making signs of peace, he advanced towards one of the Indians, who, from
+his dress and appearance, seemed to be the chief, and presented him with
+a piece of tobacco.  The chief accepted the gift in silence.
+
+Bounce, who was well acquainted with many of the dialects of that
+region, had no difficulty in making himself understood.  He stated that
+he was a trapper, that he had come to that country to trade, and asked
+whether his Indian friends had furs to dispose of.  As he had
+anticipated, the savages were in no mood to treat with a solitary man
+who was entirely in their power.  The chief, who evidently suspected
+that he was a friend of the prisoners, instead of replying, asked him
+sarcastically what he had in the keg.
+
+"Fire-water," replied Bounce unhesitatingly.
+
+At this the eyes of the savages sparkled with delight.  Not deigning to
+waste more time with him, they seized the unfortunate trapper and
+confronted him with his companions, gazing earnestly in their faces the
+while to observe whether they betrayed any sign of recognition.
+
+It said much for the self-control of these hardy men, that, although
+their comrade was thus suddenly and unexpectedly placed before them,
+they did not permit a muscle of their countenances to change, but gazed
+on him and on his captors with that expression of defiant contempt with
+which Indians usually meet their fate, and in which they are equalled,
+sometimes even outdone, by the unfortunate white trappers who chance to
+fall into their cruel hands.
+
+And well was it, for the success of the scheme, that Theodore Bertram's
+nerves had received such repeated and awful shocks that day, that they
+were now incapable of feeling.  He had been so terribly and repeatedly
+struck with amazement that his features had assumed a settled expression
+of surprise that could not be increased, so that when he beheld Bounce a
+prisoner before him, although he certainly felt astonishment, he could
+by no means increase the expression of that sensation.  The Indians,
+therefore, passed away from him with a howl of derision, and tied Bounce
+to a tree beside his comrades, concluding that, instead of a plotter,
+they had, in him, made another lucky capture.  Anxiety to taste their
+beloved beverage had something to do with their haste in this matter, no
+doubt.
+
+No one who has not seen it can conceive of the intense passion the North
+American Indian has for ardent spirits.  He seems to have no power of
+restraint whatever when the opportunity of indulging that passion
+presents itself.
+
+The head of the keg was quickly knocked in, and the eyes of the savages
+seemed positively to flash as they gazed upon the precious fluid.  The
+chief advanced first with a little tin mug, such as was sold to them by
+traders, and drank a deep draught; he then handed the cup to another,
+but the impatience of the others could not be restrained--they crowded
+round with their mugs, and dipping them into the keg drank eagerly,
+while the squaws, who loved the fire-water as much as did their masters,
+formed an outer circle, and, as patiently as they could, awaited their
+turn.  They knew full well that it would soon come.
+
+The Indians, being unaccustomed to frequent potations, were quickly
+maddened by the spirit, which mounted to their brains and rushed through
+their veins like wildfire, causing every nerve in their strong frames to
+tingle.  Their characteristic gravity and decorum vanished.  They
+laughed, they danced, they sang, they yelled like a troop of incarnate
+fiends!  Then they rushed in a body towards their prisoners, and began a
+species of war-dance round them, flourishing their tomahawks and knives
+close to their faces as if they were about to slay them; shrieking and
+howling in the most unearthly manner, and using all those cruel devices
+that are practised by Red Indians to terrify those unfortunates whom
+they intend ultimately to kill.
+
+Suddenly one of the warriors observed that the squaws were stealthily
+approaching the spirit keg, and rushed towards them with a howl of fury,
+followed by his comrades, who drove the women away and recommenced
+drinking.  And now a fiercer spirit seemed to seize upon the savages;
+old feuds and jealousies, that had long been cherished in silence, broke
+irresistibly forth.  Angry words and fierce looks were followed by the
+drawing of knives.  Suddenly a young man rushed upon a comrade and
+buried his knife in his heart.  The piercing death-cry was followed by
+the vengeful yell of the relatives of the murdered man, as they sprang
+upon the murderer.  Others flew to the rescue, and the drunken _melee_
+became general.  Blood began to flow freely, and there is no doubt that
+many lives would have been sacrificed had not the combatants been too
+much intoxicated to fight with vigour.  Many of them fell prostrate and
+helpless on attempting to rise.  Others dealt their blows at random,
+staggering and falling one upon another, until they lay in a heap,
+shrieking, biting, tearing, and stabbing--a bloody struggling mass,
+which told more eloquently than tongue can tell, that, deep and low
+though savage human nature has fallen in sin and misery, there is a
+depth profounder still, to which even those who seem to be the lowest
+may be precipitated by the fatal power of strong drink.
+
+And now Gibault Noir felt that it was time for him to draw near to the
+horrible scene, in order to be ready, when the moment should arrive, to
+release the prisoners, or to protect them in the event of any of the
+drunken crew being tempted to a premature slaughter.
+
+The women were now actively interfering to prevent further bloodshed.
+Most of the Indians were already dead drunk.  Only a few, whose powers
+of endurance were greater than those of their comrades, continued to
+shout their war-songs.  When these were down, the women rushed at the
+spirits like wolves.  Even the little children came out from the tents
+and got their share.  It was a terrible scene, such as has, alas! been
+often enacted before in the wilds of the Far West, and, doubtless, shall
+be enacted again, unless (so-called) Christian traders give up
+fire-water as an article of traffic.
+
+In a very short space of time the women were as helpless as their
+masters.  Then Gibault cut the thongs that bound his comrades, and set
+them free!
+
+"Thanks, thanks to the Almighty," said Bertram earnestly, when his bonds
+were cut.  "I had thought that my days were numbered; that it was to be
+my sad fate to fill a grave here in the wilderness.  But His hand is
+indeed mighty to save.  And thanks be to you, good Gibault.  Under God,
+we owe our lives to you."
+
+Bertram attempted to seize Gibault's hand as he spoke, but his own hands
+refused obedience to his will.  They had been so long and so tightly
+bound that they were utterly powerless.
+
+"Rub 'em, rub 'em well," said Gibault, seizing the artist's hands and
+enforcing his own recommendation vigorously.
+
+"Ay, that's it," said Redhand, who, with his companions, had, the
+instant he was loose, commenced to rub and chafe his own benumbed limbs
+into vitality, as if his life and theirs depended on their exertions--as
+indeed they did to no small extent, for, had they been called upon to
+fight or fly at that moment, they could have done neither.
+
+"Now, lads," said Bounce, who, having been a prisoner for but a short
+time, was unhurt by his bonds, "while ye rub the life into yer limbs
+I'll tell ye wot we must do.  Them scamps (pointing to the prostrate
+Indians) won't lie there long.  Of course, bein' white men an'
+Christians, we don't mean to kill them or to lift their scalps--"
+
+"I've know'd white men," interrupted Redhand, "who called themselves
+Christians, and didn't object to take scalps when they got the chance."
+
+"So have I," returned Bounce, "an' more's the pity.  It's sichlike
+blackguards as these that keeps honest trappers and fur-traders for iver
+in hot water here.  Howsomdiver, we're not a-goin' to turn ourselves
+into brute beasts 'cause they've turned theirselves into sich."
+
+"I'm not so sure o' that," broke in Big Waller, casting a scowling
+glance on the savages as he surveyed a wound in his left arm, which,
+although not serious, was, from want of dressing, sufficiently painful;
+"I calc'late it would serve them reptiles right if we was to whangskiver
+the whole on 'em as they lie."
+
+"I don't b'lieve," retorted Bounce, "that `_whangskiver_' is either
+English, Injun, French, or Yankee; but if it means _killin'_, you'll do
+nothing o' the sort.  Here's what we'll do.  We'll ketch as many horses
+as wos took from Mr Bertram's fellers, an' as many guns too (the same
+ones if we can lay hands on 'em), an' as much powder an' shot an' other
+things as that keg o' brandy is worth, an' then we'll bid the redskins
+good-bye without wakenin' of 'em up."
+
+"Goot," ejaculated Gibault, pausing in his manipulation of the artist,
+"now you can do!"
+
+"Capital; thanks, I feel quite strong again."
+
+"I say, Gibault," observed March ruefully, "they've almost sawed through
+the skin o' my ankle.  I've no left foot at all, as far as feelin'
+goes."
+
+"Hah! me boy, 'tis well you have foot left, though you not feel left
+foot!  Let me see."
+
+"That's it, Gibault, rub away; if your jokes were as good as your
+surgery you'd be too good, a long way, for the backwoods."
+
+By dint of chafing and rubbing and leaping and stamping, the whole party
+were soon restored to a serviceable condition, after which they set
+about active preparations for departure.
+
+First, they ransacked the tents, where they discovered all the guns that
+had been taken from Bertram's party.  These they tied up in a bundle,
+after each had secured one for his own use.  Among them the artist
+found, to his intense delight, his own double-barrelled gun, the loss of
+which he had mourned most sincerely.
+
+Next, they secured the horses, which, being hobbled, as we have said
+elsewhere, were easily caught.  Then the powder-horns and shot-belts of
+Bertram's party were found, and, being full of ammunition, were slung
+across their shoulders forthwith.  Among other things belonging to the
+same party were discovered a number of blankets, some tea and sugar, and
+a variety of other useful articles, besides several packs of furs; all
+of which were made up into portable bundles that could be easily carried
+at their saddle-bows.  The supply of everything was so ample that it was
+not necessary to touch a single article belonging to the Indians.
+
+This was a matter of much satisfaction to Redhand, who wished to show
+these unfortunate children of the wilderness that there were at least
+some white trappers who were actuated by different and kindlier feelings
+than many who sought their livelihood in those regions.
+
+"Hullo! wot have we here?" cried Big Waller, who was poking
+inquisitively about among the tents, to the consternation of the poor
+Indian children who lay huddled up in their rabbit-skin blankets,
+trembling from head to foot, and expecting to be scalped forthwith--such
+of them, at least, as were old enough to expect anything.  "Here's your
+blunderbusses, I guess, mister."
+
+"What! my pistols," cried Bertram, seizing his weapons with as much
+delight as if they had been really serviceable.
+
+"Hah! ver' goot for play vid," observed Gibault contemptuously.
+
+"I say, here's something else," said Bounce, picking up a rifle.
+
+"Wah!" exclaimed Hawkswing, pointing to the weapon in surprise, and
+turning his eyes on Redhand.
+
+"Wot! d'ye know who it b'long'd to?" inquired Bounce.
+
+An expression of deep sorrow overspread Redhand's countenance.  "Ay,"
+said he mournfully, "I know it well.  It belonged to young Blake."
+Glancing quickly up at a place where several scalps were hanging to a
+pole, he took one down, and, after gazing at it sadly for a few seconds,
+he added in a tone of deep melancholy: "Poor, poor Blake! ye had a
+hearty spirit an' a kindly heart.  Your huntin' days were soon over!"
+
+"Was he a friend of yours?" inquired Bertram, affected by the old
+trapper's look and tone.
+
+"Ay, ay, he was, he was," said Redhand quickly, and with a sternness of
+manner that surprised his companions; "come, lads, mount! mount!  The
+redskins won't part with plunder without making an effort to get it
+back."
+
+"But, stop a bit, Redhand," cried Bounce, detaining the old man, "ye
+didn't use for to be so hot an' hasty.  Where are we to go to?  That's
+wot I want to know."
+
+"True," observed Redhand in his old gentle tones, "we've more horses
+than we need, and some furs to dispose of.  There's a tradin' fort in
+the mountains, but it's a good bit from this."
+
+"What o' that?" said March Marston somewhat impetuously.  "Are we not
+armed and well mounted and strong, and have we not lots o' time before
+us?"
+
+"Well said," cried Bounce.
+
+"Ditto," echoed Waller.
+
+"Then we'll do it!" cried Redhand, vaulting into the saddle with a
+spring that a young man might have envied.
+
+The others followed his example, and in a few seconds they were picking
+their way carefully down the ravine in which the Indian camp was
+situated.  Leaving this quickly behind, they trotted briskly along the
+more open banks of the river until they gained a level sweep of land
+which terminated in a belt of low bushes.  Beyond this lay the great
+plains.  Breaking into a gallop, they speedily cleared the underwood,
+and just as the rosy smile of morning beamed in the eastern sky, they
+dashed away, with light hearts and loose reins, out upon the springy
+turf of the open prairie.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+SHORT TREATISE ON HORSEFLESH--REMARKS ON SLANG--DOINGS AND SIGHTS ON THE
+PRAIRIE--THE MOUNTAIN FORT.
+
+A horse is a wonderful thing--if we may presume to style so noble a
+creature "a thing!"  And the associations connected in some minds with a
+horse are wonderful associations.  No doubt a horse, to many people, is
+a commonplace enough sort of thing; and the associations connected with
+horseflesh in general, in some minds, are decidedly low--having relation
+to tugging a cart, or tumbling along with a plough, or rattling with a
+cab, or prancing in a carriage, or being cut up into butcher's meat for
+cats and dogs.  Nevertheless, a horse is a wonderful creature; and man's
+associations in connection with him are, not infrequently, of the most
+wonderful and romantic kind.  Talk to the warrior of his steed, and he
+will speak of him as of his dearest friend.  Talk to the Arab of his
+horse, and he will talk of his pet, his spoiled child!  As it is with
+these, so is it with the trapper of the western prairies.
+
+After a few weeks' acquaintance, the trapper and his horse become one--
+part and parcel of each other, at least as far as it is possible for man
+and horse to amalgamate.  On the one hand, the horse is tended, hobbled,
+patted, saddled, spoken to, watched over, and tenderly cared for by the
+man; on the other hand, the man is carried, respected, sometimes bitten
+(playfully), depended on, and loved by the horse.  Day after day, and
+week after week, the limbs of the one and the ribs of the other are
+pressed against each other, until they become all but united, and the
+various play of muscles on the part of both becomes so delicately
+significant that the bridle, to a great extent, becomes unnecessary, and
+the rider feels when the horse is about to shy, just as quickly as the
+horse feels, by a gentle pressure on either side, how much the rider
+wishes him to diverge to the right or left.
+
+Sometimes the horse breaks his hobbles and runs away, thus aggravating
+the spirits of, and causing infinite annoyance to, the man.  Frequently
+the man, out of revenge for such or similar freaks, larrups and pains
+and worries the horse.  But these little asperities are the occasional
+landmarks that give point and piquancy to the even tenor of their loving
+career.  Neither would, for a moment, think of allowing such incidents
+to rankle in his bosom.  Both would repudiate with scorn the idea that
+they were a whit less useful, or in any degree less attached, to each
+other on account of such trifling tiffs!
+
+Day after day our trappers mounted their steeds and traversed the great
+prairie--now at a rattling trot, now at a tearing gallop; frequently at
+a quiet foot-pace, when the nature of the ground rendered a more rapid
+progress dangerous, or when the exhaustion of horses and men rendered
+rest necessary, or when the beautiful nature of the scenery and the warm
+sunny condition of the atmosphere induced a contemplative frame of mind
+and a placid state of body.
+
+Night after night the horses--having stuffed themselves, like greedy
+things as they were, with the greenest and tenderest herbage on the rich
+plains--returned to the camp fire round which the trappers were lying in
+deep slumber, and each selecting his own master, would stand over him
+with drooping head and go to sleep, until dawn called them again to
+united action.
+
+Thus day and night passed for the space of three weeks after the night
+of the surprise of the Indian camp, without anything particular
+occurring; and thus quadrupeds and bipeds came to be familiar and well
+acquainted with each other--so thoroughly united in sympathetic action--
+as almost to become hexapeds, if we may be permitted the expression.
+
+March Marston's quadruped was a beautiful little bay, whose tendency to
+bound over every little stick and stone, as if it were a five-barred
+gate, and to run away upon all and every occasion, admirably suited the
+tastes and inclinations of its mercurial rider.
+
+There was one among the quadrupeds which was striking in appearance--not
+to say stunning.  No; we won't say stunning, because that is a slang
+expression, and many persons object to slang expressions; therefore we
+will avoid that word; although we confess to being unable to see why, if
+it is allowable (as every one will admit it is) to assert that men may
+be mentally "struck," it is not equally proper to say that they may be
+stunned.  But we bow to prejudice.  We won't say that that horse was
+"stunning."  While on this subject, we think it right to guard ourself,
+parenthetically, from the charge of being favourable to _all_ kinds of
+slang.  We are in favour of speech--yes, we assert that broadly and
+fearlessly, without reservation--but we are not in favour of _all_
+speech.  Coarse speech, for instance, we decidedly object to.  So, we
+are in favour of slang, but not of _all_ slang.  There are some slang
+words which are used instead of oaths, and these, besides being wicked,
+are exceedingly contemptible.  Tempting, however, they are--too apt to
+slip from the tongue and from the pen, and to cause regret afterwards.
+
+But to return.  Although we won't say that the quadruped in question was
+stunning, we will say again that it was striking--so powerfully striking
+that the force of the stroke was calculated almost to stun.  It was
+uncommonly tall, remarkably short in the body, and had a piebald coat.
+Moreover, it had no tail--to speak of--as that member had, in some
+unguarded moment, got into the blaze of the camp fire and been burnt off
+close to the stump.  The stump, however, was pretty long, and, at the
+time when the trappers became possessed of the animal, that appendage
+was covered with a new growth of sparsely scattered and very stiff hair,
+about three inches long, so that it resembled a gigantic bottle-brush.
+Being a spirited animal, the horse had a lively bottle-brush, which was
+grotesque, if it was nothing else.
+
+This quadruped's own particular biped was Theodore Bertram.  He had a
+peculiar liking for it (as he had for everything picturesque), not only
+on account of its good qualities--which were, an easy gait and a tender
+mouth--but also because it was his own original animal, that of which he
+had been deprived by the Indians, and which he had recaptured with
+feelings akin to those of a mother who recovers a long-lost child.
+
+We have said that the space of three weeks passed without anything
+particular occurring to our trappers.  This remark, however, must be
+taken in a limited sense.  Nothing particularly connected with the
+thread of this story occurred; though very many and particularly
+interesting things of a minor nature did occur during the course of that
+period.
+
+It would require a work equal in size to the "Encyclopaedia Britannica"
+to contain all the interesting things that were said and seen and done
+on those prairies by these trappers within that brief space of time.  A
+conscientiously particular chronicler of events would have detailed the
+route of each day, the latitude and longitude of each resting-place, the
+very nature of the wood which composed the fuel of each fire.  He would
+have recorded that March Marston's little bay ran away with him--not, in
+a general way, fifty or a hundred times, but exactly so many times,
+specifying the concomitant circumstances of each separate time, and the
+results of each particular race.  He would have noted, with painful
+accuracy, the precise number of times in which Theodore Bertram (being a
+bad rider) fell off his horse, or was pitched off in consequence of that
+quadruped putting its foot inadvertently into badger holes.  He would
+have mentioned that on each occasion the unfortunate artist blackened
+his eye, or bled or skinned his nasal organ, and would have dilated
+anatomically on the peculiar colour of the disfigured orb and the exact
+amount of damage done to the bruised nose.  He would have told not only
+the general fact that bears, and elks, and antelopes, and prairie dogs,
+and wolves, and buffaloes, were seen in great numbers continually, and
+were shot in abundance, but he would have recorded that Bertram did, on
+one occasion, in the height of his enthusiastic daring, give a shout and
+draw one of his blunderbuss-pistols, on observing a grisly bear at a
+short distance ahead of him; that he dashed his heels violently against
+the sides of his remarkable horse; that the said horse did toss his
+head, shake his bottle-brush, and rush full tilt towards the bear until
+he caught sight of it, when he turned off at a sharp angle, leaving
+Bertram on the plain at the mercy of the bear; that Bruin, who was in
+nowise alarmed, observing his condition, came to see what was the matter
+with him; and that he, Mr Bertram, would certainly have fallen a victim
+to his own headstrong courage on the one hand, and to the bear's known
+tendency to rend human beings on the other, had not March come up at
+that moment and shot it through the heart, while Redhand shot it through
+the brain.
+
+And this supposed conscientious chronicler of events, had he been a
+naturalist, would have further detailed, with graphic particularity, the
+rich, exuberant, and varied _flora_ of the region--from the largest
+plant that waved and blossomed in the prairie winds to the lowliest
+floweret that nestled among the tender and sweet-scented grasses on the
+prairie's breast.  In regard to the _fauna_ of those regions, he would
+have launched out upon the form, the colour, size, habits,
+peculiarities, etcetera, of every living thing, from the great buffalo
+(which he would have carefully explained was _not_ the buffalo, but the
+_bison_) down to the sly, impudent, yet harmless little prairie dog
+(which he would have also carefully noted was _not_ the prairie dog, but
+the marmot).
+
+Had this supposed recorder of facts been of an erratic nature, given to
+wander from anecdote to description, and _vice versa_, he would perhaps
+have told, in a parenthetical sort of way, how that, during these three
+weeks, the trappers enjoyed uninterrupted fine weather; how the artist
+sketched so indefatigably that he at last filled his book to overflowing
+and had to turn it upside down, begin at the end, and sketch on the
+backs of his previous drawings; how Big Waller and Black Gibault became
+inseparable friends and sang duets together when at full gallop, the
+latter shrieking like a wild-cat, the former roaring like a buffalo
+bull; how March Marston became madder than ever, and infected his little
+steed with the same disease, so that the two together formed a species
+of insane compound that caused Redhand and Bounce to give vent to many a
+low chuckle and many a deep sagacious remark, and induced Hawkswing to
+gaze at it--the compound--in grave astonishment.
+
+All this and a great deal more might be told, and, no doubt, might prove
+deeply interesting.  But, as no man can do everything, so no man can
+record everything; therefore we won't attempt it, but shall at once, and
+without further delay, proceed to that part of our tale which bears more
+directly on the Rocky Mountains and the Wild Man of the West himself.
+
+"It's a strong place," said Redhand, checking the pace of his horse and
+pointing to a small edifice or fort which stood on the summit of a
+little mound or hill about a quarter of a mile in advance of them--"a
+very strong place--such as would puzzle the redskins to break into if
+defended by men of ordinary pluck."
+
+"Men of pluck sometimes get careless, and go to sleep, though," said
+March Marston, riding up to the old trapper; "I've heard o' such forts
+bein' taken by redskins before now."
+
+"So have I, lad, so have I," returned Redhand; "I've heard o' a fort
+bein' attacked by Injuns when the men were away huntin', an' bein' burnt
+down.  But it ginerally turns out that the whites have had themselves to
+thank for't."
+
+"Ay, that's true," observed Bounce; "some o' the whites in them parts is
+no better nor they should be.  They treats the poor Injuns as if they
+wos dogs or varmints, an' then they're astonished if the redskins murder
+them out o' revenge.  I know'd one feller as told me that when he lived
+on the west side o' the mountains, where some of the Injuns are a
+murderin' set o' thieves, he niver lost a chance o' killin' a redskin.
+Of course the redskins niver lost a chance o' killin' the whites; an' so
+they come to sich a state o' war, that they had to make peace by givin'
+them no end o' presents o' guns an' cloth an' beads--enough to buy up
+the furs o' a whole tribe."
+
+"I guess they was powerful green to do anything o' the sort," said Big
+Waller.  "I knowed a feller as was in command of a party o' whites, who
+got into much the same sort of fix with the Injuns--always fightin' and
+murderin'; so what does he do, think ye?"
+
+"Shooted de chief and all hims peepil," suggested Gibault.
+
+"Nothin' o' the sort," replied Waller.  "He sends for the chief, an'
+gives him a grand present, an' says he wants to marry his darter.  An'
+so he _did_ marry his darter, right off, an' the whites an' redskins was
+friends ever after that.  The man what did that was a gentleman too--so
+they said; tho' for my part I don't know wot a gentleman is--no more do
+I b'lieve there ain't sich a thing; but if there be, an' it means
+anything good, I calc'late that that man _wos_ a gentleman, for w'en he
+grew old he took his old squaw to Canada with him, 'spite the larfin' o'
+his comrades, who said he'd have to sot up a wigwam for her in his
+garden.  But he says, `No,' says he, `I married the old ooman for better
+an' for worse, an' I'll stick by her to the last.  There's too many o'
+you chaps as leaves yer wives behind ye when ye go home--I'm detarmined
+to sot ye a better example.'  An' so he did.  He tuk her home an' put
+her in a grand house in some town in Canada--I don't well mind which--
+but when he wasn't watchin' of her, the old ooman would squat down on
+the carpet in the drawin'-room, for, d'ye see, she hadn't bin used to
+chairs.  His frinds used to advise him to put her away, an' the kindlier
+sort said he should give her a room to herself, and not bring her into
+company where she warn't at ease; but no, the old man said always,
+`She's my lawful wedded wife, an' if she was a buffalo cow I'd stick by
+her to the last'--an' so he did."
+
+"Vraiment he was von cur'ous creetur," observed Gibault.
+
+"See, they have descried us!" exclaimed Bertram, pointing to the fort,
+which they were now approaching, and where a bustle among the
+inhabitants showed that their visitors were not always peacefully
+disposed, and that it behoved them to regard strangers with suspicion.
+
+"Would it not be well to send one of our party on in advance with a
+white flag?" observed Bertram.
+
+"No need for that," replied Redhand, "they're used to all kinds o'
+visitors--friends as well as foes.  I fear, however, from the haste they
+show in closing their gate, that they ain't on good terms with the
+Injuns."
+
+"The red-men and the pale-faces are at war," said Hawkswing.
+
+"Ay, you're used to the signs, no doubt," returned Redhand, "for you've
+lived here once upon a time, I b'lieve."
+
+The Indian made no reply, but a dark frown overspread his countenance
+for a few minutes.  When it passed, his features settled down into their
+usual state of quiet gravity.
+
+"Have ye ever seed that fort before?" inquired Bounce in the Indian
+tongue.
+
+"I have," answered Hawkswing.  "Many moons have passed since I was in
+this spot.  My nation was strong then.  It is weak now.  Few braves are
+left.  We sometimes carried our furs to that fort to trade with the
+pale-faces.  It is called the Mountain Fort.  The chief of the
+pale-faces was a bad man then.  He loved fire-water too much.  If he is
+there still, I do not wonder that there is war between him and the
+red-men."
+
+"That's bad," said Bounce, shaking his head slowly--"very bad; for the
+redskins 'll kill us if they can on account o' them rascally
+fur-traders.  Howsomdiver we can't mend it, so we must bear it."
+
+As Bounce uttered this consolatory remark, the party cantered up to the
+open space in front of the gate of the fort, just above which a man was
+seen leaning quietly over the wooden walls of the place with a gun
+resting on his arm.
+
+"Hallo!" shouted this individual when they came within hail.
+
+"Hallo!" responded Bounce.
+
+"Friends or foes, and where from?" inquired the laconic guardian of the
+fort.
+
+"Friends," replied Redhand riding forward, "we come from the
+Yellowstone.  Have lost some of our property, but got some of it back,
+and want to trade furs with you."
+
+To this the sentinel made no reply, but, looking straight at Big Waller,
+inquired abruptly, "Are you the Wild Man?"
+
+"Wot wild man?" said Waller gruffly.
+
+"Why, the Wild Man o' the West?"
+
+"No, I hain't," said Waller still more gruffly, for he did not feel
+flattered by the question.
+
+"Have you seen him?"
+
+"No I hain't, an' guess I shouldn't know him if I had."
+
+"Why do you ask?" inquired March Marston, whose curiosity had been
+roused by these unexpected questions.
+
+"'Cause I want to know," replied the man quitting his post and
+disappearing.  In a few minutes he opened the gate, and the trappers
+trotted into the square of the fort.
+
+The Mountain Fort, in which they now dismounted, was one of those little
+wooden erections in which the hardy pioneers of the fur trade were wont
+in days of old to establish themselves in the very heart of the Indian
+country.  Such forts may still be seen in precisely similar
+circumstances, and built in the same manner, at the present day, in the
+Hudson's Bay territories; with this difference that the Indians, having
+had long experience of the good intentions and the kindness of the
+pale-faces, no longer regard them with suspicion.  The walls were made
+of strong tall palisades, with bastions built of logs at the corners,
+and a gallery running all round inside close to the top of the walls, so
+that the defenders of the place could fire over the palisades, if need
+be, at their assailants.  There was a small iron cannon in each bastion.
+One large gate formed the entrance, but this was only opened to admit
+horsemen or carts; a small wicket in one leaf of the gate formed the
+usual entrance.
+
+The buildings within the fort consisted of three little houses, one
+being a store, the others dwelling-houses, about which several men and
+women and Indian children, besides a number of dogs, were grouped.
+These immediately surrounded the trappers as they dismounted.  "Who
+commands here?" inquired Redhand.
+
+"I do," said the sentinel before referred to, pushing aside the others
+and stepping forward, "at least I do at present.  My name's McLeod.  He
+who ought to command is drunk.  He's _always_ drunk."
+
+There was a savage gruffness in the way in which McLeod said this that
+surprised the visitors, for his sturdy-looking and honest countenance
+seemed to accord ill with such tones.
+
+"An' may I ask who _he_ is?" said Redhand.
+
+"Oh yes, his name's Macgregor--you can't see him to-night, though.
+There'll be bloody work here before long if he don't turn over a new
+leaf--"
+
+McLeod checked himself as if he felt that he had gone too far.  Then he
+added, in a tone that seemed much more natural to him, "Now, sirs, come
+this way.  Here," (turning to the men who stood by), "look to these
+horses and see them fed.  Come into the hall, friends, an' the squaws
+will prepare something for you to eat while we have a smoke and a talk
+together."
+
+So saying, this changeable man, who was a strange compound of a trapper
+and a gentleman, led the way to the principal dwelling-house, and,
+throwing open the door, ushered his guests into the reception hall of
+the Mountain Fort.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+ORIGINAL EFFORTS IN THE ART OF PAINTING--FUR-TRADING HOSPITALITY--
+WONDERFUL ACCOUNTS OF THE WILD MAN OF THE WEST, FROM AN EYE-WITNESS--
+BUFFALO HUNTING, SCALPING, MURDERING, AND A SUMMARY METHOD OF INFLICTING
+PUNISHMENT.
+
+The reception hall of the Mountain Fort, into which, as we have stated,
+the trappers were ushered by McLeod, was one of those curious apartments
+which were in those days (and in a few cases still are) created for the
+express purpose of "astonishing the natives!"
+
+It was a square room, occupying the centre of the house, and having
+doors all round, which opened into the sleeping or other apartments of
+the dwelling.  In the front wall of this room were the door which led
+direct into the open air, and the two windows.  There were no passages
+in the house--it was all rooms and doors.  One of these doors, towards
+the back, opened into a species of scullery--but it was not exactly a
+scullery, neither was it a kitchen, neither was it a pantry.  The squaws
+lived there--especially the cooking squaws--and a few favoured dogs.  A
+large number of pots and pans and kettles, besides a good deal of lumber
+and provisions in daily use, also dwelt there.  A door led from this
+room out to the back of the house, and into a small offshoot, which was
+the kitchen proper.  Here a spirited French Canadian reigned supreme in
+the midst of food, fire, and steam, smoke, smells, and fat.
+
+But to return to the reception hall.  There were no pictures on its
+walls, no draperies about its windows, no carpets on its floors, no
+cloths on its tables, and no ornaments on its mantelshelf.  Indeed,
+there was no mantelshelf to put ornaments upon.  The floor, the walls,
+the ceiling, the chairs, the tables; all were composed of the same
+material--wood.  The splendour of the apartment was entirely due to
+paint.  Everything was painted--and that with a view solely to startling
+effect.  Blue, red, and yellow, in their most brilliant purity, were
+laid on in a variety of original devices, and with a boldness of
+contrast that threw Moorish effort in that line quite into the shade.
+The Alhambra was nothing to it!  The floor was yellow ochre; the ceiling
+was sky-blue; the cornices were scarlet, with flutings of blue and
+yellow, and, underneath, a broad belt of fruit and foliage, executed in
+an extremely arabesque style.  The walls were light green, with narrow
+bands of red down the sides of each plank.  The table was yellow, the
+chairs blue, and their bottoms red, by way of harmonious variety.  But
+the grand point--the great masterpiece in the ornamentation of this
+apartment--was the centre-piece in the ceiling, in the execution of
+which there was an extraordinary display of what can be accomplished by
+the daring flight of an original genius revelling in the conscious
+possession of illimitable power, without the paralysing influence of
+conventional education.
+
+The device itself was indescribable.  It was a sun or a star, or rather
+a union and commingling of suns and stars in violent contrast, wreathed
+with fanciful fruits and foliage, and Cupids, and creatures of a now
+extinct species.  The rainbow had been the painter's palette; genius his
+brush; fancy-gone-mad his attendant; the total temporary stagnation of
+redskin faculties his object, and ecstasy his general state of mind,
+when he executed this magnificent _chef d'oeuvre_ in the centre of the
+ceiling of the reception hall at the Mountain Fort.
+
+The fireplace was a capacious cavern in the wall opposite the entrance
+door, in which, during winter, there usually burned a roaring bonfire of
+huge logs of wood, but where, at the time of which we write, there was
+just enough fire to enable visitors to light their pipe's.  When that
+fire blazed up in the dark winter nights, the effect of that gorgeous
+apartment was dazzling--absolutely bewildering.
+
+The effect upon our trappers when they entered was sufficiently strong.
+They gazed round in amazement, each giving vent to his feelings in his
+own peculiar exclamatory grunt, or gasp, or cough.  In addition to this,
+Bounce smote his thigh with unwonted vigour.  Gibault, after gazing for
+a few minutes, sighed out something that sounded like _magnifique_! and
+Bertram grinned from ear to ear.  He went further: he laughed aloud--an
+impolite thing to do, in the circumstances, and, for a grave man like
+him, an unusual ebullition of feeling.  But it was observed and noted
+that on this occasion the artist did not draw forth his sketch-book.
+
+McLeod, who, from his speech and bearing, was evidently a man of some
+education, placed chairs for his visitors, took the lid off a large
+canister of tobacco, and, pushing it into the middle of the yellow
+table, said--
+
+"Sit ye down, friends, and help yourselves."
+
+He set them the example by taking down his own pipe from a nail in the
+wall, and proceeding to fill it.  Having done so, he took a piece of
+glowing charcoal from the fire, and, placing it on the bowl, began to
+smoke, glancing the while, with an amused expression on his grave face,
+at the trappers, who, while filling their pipes, kept gazing round the
+walls and up at the ceiling.
+
+"Ha!" said he, "you are struck with our hall (puff, puff).  It's rather
+(puff) an effective one (puff).  Have a light?"
+
+Bounce, to whom the light was offered, accepted the same, applied it to
+his pipe, and said--
+
+"Well, yes (puff), it is (puff) raither wot ye may call (puff)
+pecooliar."
+
+"Most visitors to this place think so," said McLeod.  "The Indians
+highly approve of it, and deem me quite a marvel of artistic power."
+
+"Wot! did _you_ paint it?" inquired Waller.
+
+"I did," answered McLeod, with a nod.
+
+"Vraiment, de Injuns am right in deir opinion of you," cried Gibault,
+relighting his pipe, which, in the astonished state of his mind, he had
+allowed to go out.
+
+McLeod smiled, if we may so speak, _gravely_, in acknowledgment of the
+compliment.
+
+"Ha!" cried Gibault, turning to Bertram as if a sudden thought had
+occurred to him, "Monsieur Bertram et Monsieur Mak Load, you be broders.
+Oui, Monsieur Mak Load, dis mine comrade--him be von painteur."
+
+"Indeed!" said McLeod, turning to the artist with more interest than he
+had yet shown towards the strangers.
+
+"I have, indeed, the honour to follow the noble profession of painting,"
+said Bertram, "but I cannot boast of having soared so high as--as--"
+
+"As to attempt the frescoes on the ceiling of a reception hall in the
+backwoods," interrupted McLeod, laughing.  "No, I believe you, sir; but,
+although I cannot presume to call you brother professionally, still I
+trust that I may do so as an amateur.  I am delighted to see you here.
+It is not often we are refreshed with the sight of the face of a
+civilised man in these wild regions."
+
+"Upon my word, sir, you are plain-spoken," said March Marston with a
+look of affected indignation; "what do you call _us_?"
+
+"Pardon me, young sir," replied McLeod, "I call you trappers, which
+means neither civilised nor savage; neither fish, nor flesh, nor fowl--"
+
+"That's a foul calumny," cried Bounce, knocking the ashes out of his
+pipe, and refilling it from the canister; "it's wot may be called a--
+a--"
+
+"Lie," suggested Waller.
+
+"No," said Bounce, "it ain't that.  I don't like that word.  It's a ugly
+word, an' you shouldn't ought to use it, Waller.  It's a _error_; that's
+wot it is, in a feelosophical pint o' view.  Jest as much of a error,
+now, as it was in you, Mister McLeod, putting so little baccy in this
+here thing that there ain't none left."
+
+"What! is it all done?" cried McLeod, rising, and seizing the canister;
+"so it is.  I declare you smoke almost as fast as the Wild Man himself;
+for whom I mistook you, Mr Waller, when I saw you first, at some
+distance off."
+
+Saying this, he left the room to fetch a further supply of the soothing
+weed, and at the same moment two squaws appeared, bearing smoking dishes
+of whitefish and venison.
+
+"That fellow knows something about the Wild Man o' the West," said March
+Marston in a low, eager tone, to his comrades.  "Twice has he mentioned
+his name since we arrived."
+
+"So he has," observed Redhand, "but there may be other wild men besides
+our one."
+
+"Unpossible," said Bounce emphatically.
+
+"Ditto," cried Waller still more emphatically; "what say you,
+Hawkswing?"
+
+"There is but one Wild Man of the West," replied the Indian.
+
+"By the way, Hawkswing, what was the name o' the rascally trader you
+said was in charge o' this fort when you lived here?" asked Redhand.
+
+"Mokgroggir," replied the Indian.
+
+"Ha, Macgregor, ye mean, no doubt."
+
+Hawkswing nodded.
+
+"Here you are, friends," said McLeod, re-entering the room with a large
+roll of tobacco.  "Help yourselves and don't spare it.  There's plenty
+more where that came from.  But I see the steaks are ready, so let us
+fall to; we can smoke afterwards."
+
+During the repast, to which the trappers applied themselves with the
+gusto of hungry men, March Marston questioned McLeod about the Wild Man.
+
+"The Wild Man o' the West," said he in some surprise; "is it possible
+there are trappers in the Rocky Mountains who have not heard of _him_?"
+
+"Oh yes," said March hastily, "we've heard of him, but we want to hear
+more particularly about him, for the accounts don't all agree."
+
+"Ha! that's it," said Bounce, speaking with difficulty through a large
+mouthful of fish, "that's it.  They don't agree.  One says his rifle is
+thirty feet long, another forty feet, an' so on.  There's no gittin' at
+truth in this here--"
+
+A bone having stuck in Bounce's throat at that moment he was unable to
+conclude the sentence.
+
+"As to the length of his rifle," said McLeod, when the noise made by
+Bounce in partially choking had subsided, "you seem to have got rather
+wild notions about that, and about the Wild Man too, I see."
+
+"But he _is_ a giant, isn't he?" inquired March anxiously.
+
+"N-not exactly.  Certainly he is a big fellow, about the biggest man I
+ever saw--but he's not forty feet high!"
+
+March Marston's romantic hopes began to sink.  "Then he's an ordinary
+man just like one o' us," he said almost gloomily.
+
+"Nay, that he is not," returned McLeod, laughing.  "Your comrade Waller
+does indeed approach to him somewhat in height, but he's nothing to him
+in breadth; and as for ferocity, strength, and activity, I never saw
+anything like him in my life.  He comes sometimes here to exchange his
+furs for powder and lead, but he'll speak to no one, except in the
+sharpest, gruffest way.  I think he's mad myself.  But he seems to lead
+a charmed life here; for although he has had fights with many of the
+tribes in these parts, he always puts them to flight, although he fights
+single-handed."
+
+"Single-handed!" exclaimed Bounce in surprise.
+
+"Ay.  I've seen him at it myself, and can vouch for it, that if ever
+there was a born fiend let loose on this earth it's the Wild Man of the
+West when he sets-to to thrash a dozen Indians.  But I must do him the
+justice to say that I never heard of him making an unprovoked attack on
+anybody.  When he first came to these mountains, many years ago--before
+I came here--the Indians used to wonder who he was and what he meant to
+do.  Then after a while, seeing he had a good horse, a good rifle, and
+plenty of ammunition, they tried to kill him; but the first fellow that
+tried that only tried it once.  He lay in a close thicket nigh to where
+the Wild Man used to pass from his home in the mountains to places where
+he used to hunt the elk and the buffalo, so, when he came up, the Indian
+laid an arrow on his bow.  But the Wild Man's eye was sharp as a needle.
+He stopped his horse, took aim like a flash of lightning, and shot him
+through the head.  I heard this from another Indian that was with the
+murderin' fellow that was shot.  The Wild Man did nothing to the other.
+He let him escape.
+
+"Of course the relations of the man who was killed were up immediately,
+and twenty of them set out to murder the Wild Man.  They took their
+horses, spears, and bows, with them, and lay in wait at a place where he
+was often seen passing.  Sure enough up he came, on horseback, at a slow
+walk, looking as careless and easy as if no blood of a redskin rested on
+his hand.
+
+"It chanced the day before that day that we had run out of fresh meat,
+so Mr Macgregor, our commandant here, ordered me to take three of the
+men, and go out after the buffaloes.  Away we went, looking sharp out,
+however, for some of the Indians had been treated by Macgregor so
+brutally, I am sorry to say, that we knew our scalps were not safe.
+Next morning I happened to pass close by the place where the Indians lay
+in ambush, and we came to the top of a precipice that overlooked the
+spot.  We saw them before they saw us, so we went quietly back into the
+bush, tied our horses to trees, and lay on the edge of the cliff to
+watch them.
+
+"In about ten minutes after, we saw the Wild Man riding slowly forward.
+He was a strange sight.  It was the first time I had seen him, although
+I had often heard of him before.
+
+"Well, on he came, with his head bent and his eyes fixed on the ground.
+A dense thicket hid his enemies from him, though not from us, we being
+so high above them.  The Wild Man was armed with his long rifle slung at
+his back, a hunting-knife, and a small shield, such as the Blackfoot
+Indians use to protect themselves from arrows.  The only unusual sort of
+weapon he carried was a long sword.
+
+"Not knowing at the time that the Indians were waiting for him, of
+course I gave no alarm to warn him of his danger.  When he came within a
+hundred yards of the thicket, I saw him push his arm a little further
+into the handle of the shield.  It was but a slight action such as one
+might perform to ease the arm by change of position; but the redskins
+are quick-witted.  They knew that he suspected they were there, so,
+giving one tremendous yell, they sent a cloud of arrows at him, and
+sprang out upon the plain at full gallop with their spears lowered.
+
+"Instead of turning to fly from such an unequal combat, the Wild Man
+drew his sword and rushed at them like a thunderbolt.  His onset was the
+most awful thing I ever saw in my life.  The plain seemed to shake under
+the tread of his gigantic horse.  His hair streamed wildly out behind
+him, and as he was coming towards me I could see that his teeth were set
+and his eyes flashed like those of a tiger.  The Indians were appalled
+by the sight.  The idea of one man attacking twenty had never occurred
+to them.  They drew up; but it was too late to prevent a shock.  There
+was a yell from the savages, a shout like the roar of a lion from the
+Wild Man, and two horses and their riders lay on the plain.  I saw the
+long sword gleam for one moment, just as the shock took place, and the
+head of a savage rolled immediately after along the ground.
+
+"The Indians, though overawed, were brave men.  They turned to pursue
+the flying horseman, but they needed not.  The Wild Man was not flying,
+he was only unable at first to check the headlong pace of his charger.
+In a few seconds he wheeled about and charged again.  The Indians,
+however, did not await the issue; they turned and fled, and they have
+ever since remained in the firm belief that the Wild Man is a `great
+medicine' man, and that no one can kill him.  They say that neither
+arrows nor bullets can pierce his skin, which is an inch thick; that
+fire and smoke come out of his mouth and eyes, and that his horse is,
+like himself, invulnerable.  I must confess, however, that with the
+exception of his enormous size and his ferocity, he is, from what I saw
+of him, much the same as other men."
+
+McLeod concluded his description of this singular being, to which his
+guests listened open-eyed and mouthed, and helped himself to a
+buffalo-steak.
+
+"An' what did he when the Indians ran away!" inquired March Marston.
+
+"Oh! he quietly pulled up his horse and let them run.  After they were
+gone, he continued his journey, as slow and cool as if nothing had
+happened.  Few Indians attack him now, except new bands from distant
+parts of the country, who don't know him; but all who meddle with him
+find, to their cost, that it would have been better had they let him
+alone."
+
+"Is he cruel?  Does he eat men and childers?" inquired Bounce,
+commencing a fourth steak with a degree of violent energy that suggested
+the possibility of his being himself able to do some execution in the
+cannibal line if necessary.
+
+McLeod laughed.  "Oh dear, no; he's not cruel.  Neither does he eat
+human flesh.  In fact, he has been known to do some kind acts to poor
+starving Indians when they least expected it.  The real truth is, that
+he is only fierce when he's meddled with.  He never takes revenge, and
+he has never been known to lift a scalp."
+
+"But what like is he when he comes to trade his furs at the fort here?
+how does he speak, and in what language?" inquired Marston, who,
+although delighted with the account given of the strength and valour of
+the Wild Man of the West, was by no means pleased to learn that he was
+not an absolute giant, something like the Giant Despair of whom he had
+read in the "Pilgrim's Progress."
+
+"He's just like a trapper--only he's a tremendous big one--six feet six,
+if he's an inch, and would make two of the biggest of the present
+company round the shoulders.  But he's very silent, and won't let any
+one question him.  The long and the short of it is, that I believe he is
+a madman--luckily he's a well-disposed madman, and I can vouch for it he
+is a crack hunter, though he don't bring many furs to trade.  I think he
+spends most of his idle time in moping among the caves of the
+mountains."
+
+"Does any one know where he lives?" asked Bertram, who was gradually
+becoming interested in this strange being.
+
+"No.  We have sometimes tried to track him, but at a certain place we
+have invariably lost all traces of him."
+
+"But what is his face like, and how does he dress?" inquired March
+eagerly; "you have not yet said anything about that."
+
+McLeod was about to reply, when he was interrupted by a loud shouting in
+the yard of the fort.  Leaping from their seats, the whole party ran to
+the windows.
+
+"I thought so," cried McLeod, seizing his cap and hurrying out.  "These
+are six of my men who have been out after the buffalo, and I see they
+have been successful."
+
+The fort gate had been swung open, and, just as the guests issued from
+the reception hall, six hunters galloped into the square with all the
+reckless noise and dash peculiar to that class of men.  Leaping from
+their foaming steeds, they were quickly surrounded by their comrades,
+and by the women and children of the place, who congratulated them on
+their success in the chase, and plied them with eager questions.
+
+That they had indeed been successful was evident from the masses of
+fresh meat with which the horses were laden.
+
+"Well done, Davis," said McLeod, stepping up to one of the men, who,
+from his age and intelligence, had been put in command of the hunting
+party.  "You are back sooner than I anticipated.  Surely, your good
+genius sent the buffalo across your path."
+
+"We have bin in luck, sir," replied the hunter, touching his cap.
+"We've killed more than we could carry, an', what's worse, we've killed
+more than we wanted."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"We've had a brush wi' the redskins, sir, an' we had to kill one or two
+in self-defence."
+
+McLeod's brow darkened.  He clenched his teeth, and the large veins
+swelled in his neck and forehead.  With a powerful effort he repressed
+his anger, and said--
+
+"Did I not warn you to avoid that if you could?"
+
+"True, sir," replied Davis humbly; "but we could not help it, for, in
+the first heat of passion, one o' them was shot, an' after that, of
+course, we had to fight to save our own scalps."
+
+"Who fired that first shot?" inquired McLeod sternly.
+
+Davis made no reply, but all eyes were at once turned upon a tall
+slouching man, with a forbidding cast of countenance, who had hitherto
+kept in the background.
+
+"So, so, Larocque," said McLeod, stepping up to the man, "you've been at
+your bloody work again, you scoundrel.  Hah! you not only bring the
+enmity of the whole Indian race down on your own worthless head, and on
+the heads of your innocent companions, but you have the effrontery to
+bring the evidence of your guilt into this fort along with you."
+
+As McLeod spoke, he laid hold of a scalp which still dropped fresh blood
+as it hung at the hunter's saddle-bow.
+
+"If I'm to answer to you for every scalp I choose to lift in
+self-defence, the sooner I quit you the better," answered Larocque
+sulkily.
+
+"Was there any occasion to lift this scalp at all?" demanded McLeod, as
+he seized the man by the collar.
+
+"Who talks of lifting scalps?" growled a loud, deep-toned voice.
+
+All eyes were instantly turned on the speaker, and the crowd fell back
+to permit Mr Macgregor, the person in command of the Mountain Fort, to
+approach the scene of action.
+
+The man who now appeared on the scene was a sad and a terrible sight to
+behold.  He was one of that wretched class of human beings who, having
+run a long course of unbridled wickedness, become total wrecks in body
+and mind long before the prime of manhood has been passed.  Macgregor
+had been a confirmed drunkard for many years.  He had long lost all
+power of self-control, and had now reached that last fearful stage when
+occasional fits of _delirium tremens_ rendered him more like a wild
+beast than a man.  Being a large and powerful man, and naturally
+passionate, he was at these times a terror to all who came near him.  He
+had been many years in charge of the fur-trading establishment, and
+having on many occasions maltreated the Indians, he was hated by them
+most cordially.
+
+One of his mad fits had been on him for some days before the arrival of
+March Marston and his friends.  He had recovered sufficiently to be able
+to stagger out of his room just at the time the buffalo hunters, as
+above described, entered the square of the fort.  As he strode forward,
+with nothing on but his shirt and trousers, his eyes bloodshot, his hair
+matted and dishevelled, and his countenance haggard in the extreme, he
+was the most pitiable, and, at the same time, most terrible specimen of
+human degradation that the mind of man could conceive of.
+
+"What now! who has been lifting scalps?" he growled between his set
+teeth, striding up to Larocque, and glaring in his face, with his
+bloodshot eyes, like a tiger.
+
+McLeod held up the bloody scalp.
+
+"Who did it?" roared Macgregor.
+
+"I did," said Larocque with an attempt at a defiant air.
+
+The words had barely passed his lips when he received a blow between the
+eyes that felled him to the earth.  He attempted to rise, but, with a
+yell that sounded more like the war-cry of a savage than the wrathful
+shout of a civilised man, Macgregor knocked him down again, and,
+springing at his throat, began to strangle him.
+
+Up to this point, McLeod refrained from interfering, for he was not
+sorry to see the murderer receive such severe punishment; but, having no
+desire to witness a second murder, he now seized his master, and, with
+the assistance of two of the men, succeeded in tearing him off from
+Larocque, and in conveying him, as respectfully as possible in the
+circumstances, to his private chamber.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+AN ARGUMENT ON ARGUMENTATION--ALSO ON RELIGION--BOUNCE "FEELOSOPHICAL"
+AGAIN--A RACE CUT SHORT BY A BULLET--FLIGHT AND PURSUIT OF THE REDSKINS.
+
+When McLeod returned to the square, he found that the trappers had
+adjourned with the men of the establishment to enjoy a social pipe
+together, and that Theodore Bertram was taking a solitary, meditative
+promenade in front of the gate of the fort.
+
+"You seem in a pensive mood, Mr Bertram," said the fur trader on coming
+up, "will you not try the soothing effects of a pipe?  Our tobacco is
+good; I can recommend it."
+
+He offered a plug of tobacco to the artist as he spoke.
+
+"Thank you, I do not smoke," said Bertram, declining the proffered
+luxury.  "Tobacco may be good--though I know it not from experience.
+Yet, methinks, the man is wiser who does not create an unnatural taste,
+than he who does so for the purpose of gratifying it."
+
+"Ah! you are a philosopher."
+
+"If judging of things and questions simply on their own merit, and with
+the single object of ascertaining what is truth in regard to them,
+constitutes a philosopher, I am."
+
+"Don't you find that men who philosophise in that way are usually deemed
+an obstinate generation by their fellow-men?" inquired the trader,
+smiling as he puffed a voluminous cloud from his lips.
+
+"I do," replied Bertram.
+
+"And don't you think the charge is just?" continued the other in a
+jocular tone.
+
+"I do not," replied the artist.  "I think those who call them obstinate
+are often much more truly deserving of the epithet.  Philosophers, in
+the popular sense of the word, are men who not only acquire knowledge
+and make themselves acquainted with the opinions of others, but who make
+independent use of acquired knowledge, and thus originate new ideas and
+frequently arrive at new conclusions.  They thus often come to differ
+from the rest of mankind on many points, and, having good reasons for
+this difference of opinion, they are ever ready to explain and expound
+their opinions and to prove their correctness, or to receive proof of
+their incorrectness, if that can be given--hence they are called
+argumentative.  Being unwilling to give up what appears to them to be
+truth, unless it can be shown to be falsehood, their opinions are not
+easily overturned--hence they are called obstinate.  Thinking out a
+subject in a calm, dispassionate, logical manner, from its first
+proposition to its legitimate conclusion, is laborious to all.  A very
+large class of men and women have no patience for such a process of
+investigation--hence argumentation, that most noble of all mental
+exercises, is deemed a nuisance.  Certainly argumentation with
+unphilosophical persons _is_ a nuisance; but I know of few earthly
+enjoyments more gratifying than an argument with a true philosopher."
+
+"That's wot I says, so I do, out-an'-out," observed Bounce, who had come
+up unperceived, and had overheard the greater part of the above remarks.
+"Jist wot I thinks myself, Mr Bertram, only I couldn't 'xactly put it
+in the same way, d'ye see?  That's wot I calls out-an'-out feelosophy."
+
+"Glad to hear you're such a wise fellow," said McLeod patronisingly.
+"So you agree, of course, with Mr Bertram in condemning the use of the
+pipe."
+
+"Condemn the pipe?" said Bounce, pulling out his own special favourite
+and beginning to fill it--"wot, condemn smokin'?  No, by no means
+wotsomdiver.  That's quite another kee-westion, wot we hain't bin a
+disputin' about.  I only heer'd Mr Bertram a-talkin' about obst'nitness
+an' argementation."
+
+"Well, in regard to that," said Bertram, "I firmly believe that men and
+women are all alike equally obstinate."
+
+"Ha!" ejaculated Bounce, with that tone of mingled uncertainty and
+profound consideration which indicates an unwillingness to commit
+oneself in reference to a new and startling proposition.
+
+"On what grounds do you think so?" asked McLeod.
+
+"Why on the simple ground that a man _cannot_ change any opinion until
+he is convinced that it is wrong, and that he inevitably must, and
+actually does, change his opinion on the instant that he is so
+convinced; and that in virtue, not of his will, but of the constitution
+of his mind.  Some men's minds are of such a nature--they take such a
+limited and weak grasp of things--that they cannot be easily convinced.
+Others are so powerful that they readily seize upon truth when it is
+presented to them; but in either case, the instant the point of
+conviction is reached the mind is changed.  Pride may indeed prevent the
+admission of this change, but it takes place, as I have said,
+inevitably."
+
+At this Bounce opened his eyes to their utmost possible width and said
+solemnly, "Wot! do ye mean for to tell me, then, that thair ain't no
+sich thing as obstinacy?"  He accompanied this question with a shake of
+the head that implied that if Bertram were to argue till doomsday he
+would never convince him (Bounce) of that.
+
+"By no means," returned the artist, smiling; "there is plenty of it, but
+obstinacy does not consist in the simple act of holding one's opinion
+firmly."
+
+"Wot _does_ it consist of, then?"
+
+"In this--in holding firmly to opinions that have been taken hastily up,
+without the grounds on which they are founded having been duly weighed;
+and in refusing to consider these grounds in a philosophical (which
+means a rational) way, because the process would prove tiresome.  The
+man who has comfortably settled all his opinions in this way very much
+resembles that `fool' of whom it is written that he `is wiser in his own
+conceit than seven men who can _render a reason_.'"
+
+"Well, but, to come back to the starting-point," said McLeod, "many wise
+men smoke."
+
+"If you say that in the way of argument, I meet it with the counter
+proposition that many wise men _don't_ smoke."
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated Bounce, but whether Bounce's ejaculation was one of
+approval or disapproval we cannot tell.  Neither can we tell what
+conclusion these philosophers came to in regard to smoking, because,
+just then, two horsemen were seen approaching the fort at full speed.
+
+Seeing that they were alone, McLeod took no precautions to prevent
+surprise.  He knew well enough that Indians frequently approach in this
+manner, so waited in front of the gate, coolly smoking his pipe, until
+the savages were within a few yards of him.  It seemed as if they
+purposed running him down, but just as they came to within a couple of
+bounds of him, they drew up so violently as to throw their foaming
+steeds on their haunches.
+
+Leaping to the ground, the Indians--who were a couple of strong,
+fine-looking savages, dressed in leathern costume, with the usual
+ornaments of bead and quill work, tags, and scalp-locks--came forward
+and spoke a few words to McLeod in the Cree language, and immediately
+after, delivering their horses to the care of one of the men of the
+establishment, accompanied him to the store.
+
+In less than half an hour they returned to the gate, when the Indians
+remounted, and, starting away at their favourite pace--full gallop--were
+soon out of sight.
+
+"Them fellows seem to be in a hurry," remarked Bounce as they
+disappeared.
+
+"Ay, they're after mischief too," replied McLeod in a sad tone of voice.
+"They are two Cree chiefs who have come here for a supply of ammunition
+to hunt the buffalo, but I know they mean to hunt different game, for I
+heard them talking to each other about a war-party of Blood Indians
+being in this part of the country.  Depend upon it scalps will be taken
+ere long.  'Tis a sad, sad state of things.  Blood, blood, blood seems
+to be the universal cry here; and, now that we've had so many quarrels
+with the redskins, I fear that the day is not far-distant when blood
+will flow even in the Mountain Fort.  I see no prospect of a better
+state of things, for savage nature cannot be changed.  It seems a
+hopeless case."
+
+There was a touch of pathos in the tone in which this was said that was
+very different from McLeod's usual bold and reckless manner.  It was
+evident that his natural disposition was kind, hearty, and peaceable;
+but that the constant feuds in which he was involved, both in the fort
+and out of it, had soured his temper and rendered him wellnigh
+desperate.
+
+"You are wrong, sir, in saying that their case is hopeless," said
+Bertram earnestly.  "There is a remedy."
+
+"I wish you could show it me," replied the trader.
+
+"Here it is," returned the artist, taking his little Testament from the
+inside pocket of his hunting-shirt.  "The gospel is able to make all men
+wise unto salvation."
+
+McLeod shook his head, and said, "It won't do here.  To be plain with
+you, sir, I don't believe the gospel's of any use in these wild regions,
+where murder seems to be as natural to man, woman, and child as food."
+
+"But, sir," rejoined Bertram, "you forget that our Saviour Himself says
+that He came not to call the righteous but _sinners_ to repentance.  In
+this volume we are told that the blood of Christ cleanseth us from _all_
+sin; and, not only have we His assurance that none who come unto Him
+shall be cast out, but we have examples in all parts of the known world
+of men and women who were once steeped to the lips in every species of
+gross iniquity having been turned to the service of God through faith in
+Christ, and that by the power of the Holy Spirit, who, in this Word of
+God, is promised freely to them that simply ask."
+
+"It may be so," returned McLeod; "I have not studied these things much.
+I don't profess to be a very religious man, and I cannot pretend to know
+much of what the gospel has done elsewhere; but I feel quite sure that
+it cannot do much _here_!"
+
+"Then you do not believe the Bible, which says distinctly that this
+`gospel is the power of God unto salvation to _every one_ that
+believeth.'"
+
+"Ay, but these wretched Indians won't believe," objected the trader.
+
+"True," answered Bertram; "they have not faith by nature, and they
+_won't_ because they _can't_ believe; but faith is the gift of God, and
+it is to be had for the asking."
+
+"To that I answer that they'll never ask."
+
+"How do you know?  Did you ever give them a trial?  Did you ever preach
+the gospel to them?"
+
+"No, I never did that."
+
+"Then you cannot tell how they would treat it.  Your remarks are mere
+assertions of opinion--not arguments.  You know the wickedness of the
+Indians, and can therefore speak authoritatively on that point; but you
+know not (according to your own admission) the power of the gospel:
+therefore you are not in a position to speak on that point."
+
+McLeod was about to reply when he was interrupted by the approach of Mr
+Macgregor, who had now recovered somewhat from the effects of his
+violent fit of passion.  Having observed during the _melee_ that
+strangers had arrived at his fort, he had washed and converted himself
+into a more presentable personage, and now came forward to the group of
+trappers, all of whom had assembled at the gate.  Addressing them in a
+tone of affable hospitality he said--
+
+"Good-day, friends; I'm glad to see you at the Mountain Fort.  That
+blackguard Larocque somewhat ruffled my temper.  He's been the cause of
+much mischief here, I assure you.  Do you intend to trap in these
+parts?"
+
+The latter part of this speech was addressed to Redhand, who replied--
+
+"We do mean to try our luck in these parts, but we han't yet made up our
+minds exactly where to go.  Mayhap you'll give us the benefit of your
+advice."
+
+While he was speaking the fur trader glanced with an earnest yet half
+stupid stare at the faces of the trappers, as if he wished to impress
+their features on his memory.
+
+"Advice," he replied; "you're welcome to all the advice I've got to give
+ye; and it's this--go home; go to where you belong to, sell your traps
+and rifles and take to the plough, the hatchet, the forehammer--to
+anything you like, so long as it keeps you out of this--" Macgregor
+paused a moment as if he were about to utter an oath, then dropped his
+voice and said, "This wretched Indian country."
+
+"I guess, then, that we won't take yer advice, old man," said Big Waller
+with a laugh.
+
+"`Old man?'" echoed Macgregor with a start.
+
+"Wall, if ye bean't old, ye ain't exactly a chicken."
+
+"You're a plain-spoken man," replied the trader, biting his lips.
+
+"I always wos," retorted Waller.
+
+Macgregor frowned for a moment, then he broke into a forced laugh, and
+said--
+
+"Well, friends, you'll please yourselves, of course--most people do; and
+if you are so determined to stick to the wilderness I would advise some
+of you to stop here.  There's plenty of fun and fighting, if you're fond
+of that.  What say you now, lad," turning to March, "to remain with us
+here at the Mountain Fort?  I've ta'en a sort of fancy to your face.  We
+want young bloods here.  I'll give you a good wage and plenty to do."
+
+"Thanks; you are kind," replied March, smiling, "but I love freedom too
+well to part with it yet awhile."
+
+"Mais, monsieur," cried Gibault, pushing forward, pulling off his cap,
+and making a low bow; "if you vants yonger blod, an' also ver' goot
+blod, here am von!"
+
+The trader laughed, and was about to reply, when a sudden burst of
+laughter and the sound of noisy voices in the yard interrupted him.
+Presently two of the men belonging to the establishment cantered out of
+the square, followed by all the men, women, and children of the place,
+amounting probably to between twenty and thirty souls.  "A race! a
+race!" shouted the foremost.
+
+"Hallo!  Dupont, what's to do?" inquired McLeod as the two horsemen came
+up.
+
+"Please, monsieur, Lincoln have bet me von gun dat hims horse go more
+queek dan mine--so we try."
+
+"Yes, so we shall, I guess," added the man named Lincoln, whose speech
+told that he was a Yankee.
+
+"Go it, stranger; I calc'late you'll do him slick," cried Waller
+patronisingly, for his heart warmed towards his countryman.
+
+"Ah! non.  Go home; put your horse to bed," cried Gibault, glancing at
+the Yankee's steed in contempt.  "Dis is de von as vill do it more
+slicker by far."
+
+"Well, well; clear the course; we shall soon see," cried McLeod.  "Now
+then--here's the word--one, two--away!"
+
+At the last word the riders' whips cracked, and the horses sprang
+forward at a furious gallop.  Both of them were good spirited animals,
+and during the first part of the race it could not be said that either
+had the advantage.  They ran neck and neck together.
+
+The racecourse at the Mountain Fort was a beautiful stretch of level
+turf, which extended a considerable distance in front of the gates.  It
+crossed a clear open country towards the forest, where it terminated,
+and, sweeping round in an abrupt curve, formed, as it were, a loop; so
+that competitors, after passing over the course, swept round the loop,
+and, re-entering the original course again, came back towards the fort,
+where a long pole formed the winning-post.
+
+Dupont and Lincoln kept together, as we have said, for some time after
+starting, but before they had cleared the first half of the course the
+former was considerably in advance of the latter, much to the delight of
+most of the excited spectators, with whom he was a favourite.  On
+gaining the loop above referred to, and making the graceful sweep round
+it, which brought the foremost rider into full side view, the distance
+between them became more apparent, and a cheer arose from the people
+near the fort gate.
+
+At that moment a puff of smoke issued from the bushes.  Dupont tossed
+his arms in the air, uttered a sharp cry, and fell headlong to the
+ground.  At the same instant a band of Indians sprang from the underwood
+with an exulting yell.  Lincoln succeeded in checking and turning his
+horse before they caught his bridle, but an arrow pierced his shoulder
+ere he had galloped out of reach of his enemies.
+
+The instant Dupont fell, a savage leaped upon him, and plunged his knife
+into his heart.  Then, passing the sharp weapon quickly round his head
+with his right hand, with his left he tore the scalp off, and, leaping
+up, shook the bloody trophy defiantly at the horrified spectators.
+
+All this was accomplished so quickly that the horror-stricken people of
+the Mountain Fort had not time to move a finger to save their comrade.
+But, as the savage raised the scalp of poor Dupont above his head,
+Redhand's rifle flew to his shoulder, and in another moment the Indian
+fell to the earth beside his victim.  Seeing this, the other Indians
+darted into the forest.
+
+Then a fearful imprecation burst from the lips of Macgregor, as, with a
+face convulsed with passion, he rushed into the fort, shouting: "To
+horse! to horse, men! and see that your horns and pouches are full of
+powder and ball!"
+
+The commotion and hubbub that now took place baffle all description.
+The men shouted and raved as they ran hither and thither, arming
+themselves and saddling their horses; while the shrieks of poor Dupont's
+widow mingled with those of the other women and the cries of the
+terrified children.
+
+"Half a dozen of you must keep the fort," said McLeod, when they were
+all assembled; "the others will be sufficient to punish these fiends.
+You'll help us, I suppose?"
+
+This latter question was addressed to Redhand, who, with his comrades,
+stood armed, and ready to mount.
+
+"Ready, sir," answered the trapper promptly.
+
+McLeod looked round with a gleam of satisfaction on the stalwart forms
+of his guests, as they stood each at his horse's head examining the
+state of his weapons, or securing more firmly some portion of his
+costume.
+
+"Mount! mount!" shouted Macgregor, galloping at that moment through the
+gateway, and dashing away in the direction of the forest.
+
+"Stay!--my sketch-book!" cried Bertram in an agony, at the same time
+dropping his reins and his gun, and darting back towards the hall of the
+fort.
+
+"Git on, lads; I'll look arter him," said Bounce with a grin, catching
+up the bridle of the artist's horse.
+
+Without a moment's hesitation, the remainder of the party turned, and
+galloped after Macgregor, who, with the most of his own men, had already
+wellnigh gained the edge of the forest.
+
+In a few seconds Bertram rushed wildly out of the fort, with the
+sketch-book in one hand and the two blunderbuss-pistols in the other.
+In leaping on his horse, he dropped the latter; but Bounce picked them
+up, and stuck them hastily into his own belt.
+
+"Now put that book into its own pouch, or ye'll be fit for nothin',"
+said Bounce almost sternly.
+
+Bertram obeyed, and grasped the rifle which his friend placed in his
+hand.  Then Bounce vaulted into his saddle, and, ere those who were left
+behind had drawn the bolts and let down the ponderous bars of the gate
+of the Mountain Fort, the two horsemen were flying at full speed over
+the plain in the track of the avengers of blood who had gone before
+them.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+THE PURSUIT--CONSCIENTIOUS SCRUPLES OF THE ARTIST--STRATEGIC MOVEMENTS--
+SURPRISED IN THE WILD-CAT PASS--MARCH SHOWS COOLNESS AND PLUCK IN THE
+HOUR OF DANGER--A TERRIFIC ONSLAUGHT BY A WONDERFUL WARRIOR--THE
+BATTLE--HARD KNOCKS AND MYSTERIOUS DIFFERENCES OF OPINION.
+
+Crossing the open ground in front of the Mountain Fort, Bounce and
+Bertram entered the wood beyond, and traversed it with comparative ease,
+by means of a bridle-path which had been cut there by the fur-traders.
+A few minutes' gallop brought them to the other side of the wood, which
+was one of those narrow strips or clumps of forest which grow, more or
+less thickly, on the skirts of the Rocky Mountains, forming that fine
+picturesque region where the prairie and the forest meet and seem to
+contend for the mastery.
+
+The plain beyond this belt of wood was open and level--at least,
+sufficiently so to enable the two horsemen to see for a considerable
+distance around them.  Here, in the far distance, they descried their
+companions, sweeping over the turf at their utmost speed, and making
+towards a low hill or ridge that intercepted the view of the more
+distant country.
+
+"They'll have to draw in a bit," said Bounce, turning to his comrade.
+"Horses no more nor men can't go helter-skelter up a hill without takin'
+breath; so rouse up your beast, Mr Bertram, an' we'll overtake 'em
+afore they gits to the t'other side."
+
+Bertram obeyed his friend's command, but made no rejoinder, his thoughts
+being too deeply engaged at that moment in a controversy with his
+conscience as to the propriety of the business he had then in hand.
+
+The young artist had a deep veneration for abstract truth--truth pure
+and simple, not only in reference to morals, but to all things
+terrestrial and celestial; and he was deeply impressed with the belief
+that what was right was right, and what was wrong was wrong, and could
+not, by any possibility, be otherwise.  He felt, also, that the man who
+recognised truth and acted upon it must go right, and he who saw and did
+otherwise _must_ go wrong!
+
+Holding this simple creed very tenaciously, and, as we think, very
+properly, Bertram nevertheless found that his attempts to act up to it
+frequently involved him in a maze of perplexities.
+
+On the present occasion, as he and Bounce thundered over the green turf
+of the flowering plains, scattering the terrified grasshoppers right and
+left, and causing the beautifully striped ground-squirrels to plunge
+with astonishing precipitancy into their holes, he argued with himself,
+that the mere fact of a murderous deed having been done was not a
+sufficient reason, perhaps, to justify his sallying forth with a
+reckless band of desperate fur-traders, bent on indiscriminate revenge.
+It was quite true, in his opinion, that a murderer should be punished
+with death, and that the pursuit and capture of a murderer was not only
+a legitimate act in itself but, in the circumstances, a bounden duty on
+his part.  Yet it was equally true that most of the men with whom he was
+associated were thirsting for vengeance, and from past experience he
+knew full well that there would be no attempt to find out the murderer,
+but a simple and general massacre of all the Indians whom they could
+overtake.
+
+Then it suddenly occurred to him that the murderer had already been shot
+by Redhand, so that his mission was one of simple revenge; but, a moment
+after, it flashed across his troubled mind that Lincoln had been left in
+the fort wounded--might possibly be dead by that time; so that there
+were probably among the flying savages other murderers to be dealt with.
+This idea was strengthened by another thought, namely, that the savage
+who stabbed and scalped Dupont might not have been the savage who shot
+him.  The complication and aggregate of improbability amounted, in
+Bertram's mind, so nearly to a certainty, that he dismissed the
+digressive question as to whether there might or might not be a murderer
+among the Indians, and returned to the original proposition, as to
+whether it was right in him to take part in a pursuit of vengeance that
+would very likely terminate murderously.  But before he could come to
+any satisfactory conclusion on that point he and Bounce found themselves
+suddenly in the midst of the cavalcade, which had halted on the summit
+of the ridge, in order to allow them to come up.
+
+"Here we are, lads," cried Macgregor, his flushed face still blazing
+with wrath, which he made no effort to subdue, and his eyes red with
+prolonged debauchery, flashing like the eyes of a tiger--"here we are,
+too late to cut off the retreat o' these detestable reptiles from the
+woods, but not too late to circumvent them."
+
+The fur trader spoke rapidly, almost breathlessly, and pointed to the
+band of Indians they were in pursuit of, who, observing that their
+pursuers had halted, also drew rein on the edge of a belt of thick
+forest that extended for miles into the mountains.  They appeared to
+wait, in order to ascertain what their enemies meant to do.
+
+"The villains," continued Macgregor, "think we've given up pursuit as
+hopeless, but they're mistaken--they're mistaken, as they'll find to
+their cost.  Now, mark me, men; we shall turn back as if we had really
+given in; but the moment we get down into the hollow, out of sight,
+we'll go as hard as we can bolt up that valley there, and round by the
+place we call the Wild-Cat Pass.  It's a difficult pass, but who cares
+for that?  Once through it we can get by a short cut to the other side
+of that wood, and meet the redskins right in the teeth.  They're
+Blackfoot Indians, I know by their dress; and, as they don't belong to
+this part o' the country, they can't be aware of the pass.  But some of
+us must go back a good way towards the fort, so as to deceive the
+blackguards, who'll be sure to get on the first hill they can to see
+where we've gone to.  Now--away!  Stay," he added in a less commanding
+tone, "I don't know that my guests are willing to go with us through
+thick an' thin in this fashion.  I've no desire to have unwilling
+warriors."
+
+"Had we not been _willing_" replied Redhand dryly, "we wouldn't have
+come even thus far."
+
+"Very good," rejoined Macgregor with a grim smile; "then, perhaps, since
+you are so good as to go along with us, you'll make for the head of that
+valley, and when you come to the Wild-Cat Pass I've spoken of, you'll
+wait there till the rest of us, who are to sham going back to the fort,
+come up with ye; then we'll go through the pass together, and polish off
+the redskins."
+
+To this plan Redhand assented; so he and his comrades prepared to take
+the way to the pass, while the men of the fort turned homewards.  A
+triumphant shout from the Indians showed that they imagined the pursuit
+was given up; but Macgregor knew their cunning too well to fall into the
+mistake of at once concluding that they were thoroughly deceived.  He
+knew that they would send out scouts to dog them, and felt, that if his
+plan was to succeed, he must put it into execution promptly.
+
+"I've scarce had time to ask your names or where you've come from," he
+said on parting from the trappers; "but there'll be plenty of time for
+that when we meet again.  Keep close in the bottom, and ride fast, till
+the shadow of yonder crag conceals you from view.  If the Indians get
+sight of you, they'll smell the dodge at once and escape us.  Perhaps,
+young man, you'd like to come with my party?"
+
+The latter part of this speech was made rather abruptly to March
+Marston, who received it with some surprise, and with a distinct
+refusal.
+
+"I'll stick by my comrades," said he, "till I see good reason--"
+
+"Well, well, boy--please yourself!" muttered the trader angrily, as he
+broke away at full speed, followed by his men.
+
+Our trappers instantly turned their horses' heads towards the mountains,
+and made for the Wild-Cat Pass.
+
+Macgregor's estimate of the cunning of the Indians was but too correct.
+The instant the fur-traders disappeared behind the ridge, as if on their
+return homewards, several of their fastest riders were dispatched to the
+nearest hill, to watch the movements of the enemy.  They ascended one
+which commanded a wide view of the surrounding country, and thence
+beheld the fur-traders proceeding swiftly back in the direction of the
+fort.  Unfortunately, they also perceived the bottle-brush of Bertram's
+steed, as it disappeared behind the crag which already concealed the
+rest of his comrades from view.  One instant later, and the Indians
+would have failed to make this discovery, for a deep impassable gorge
+lay between them and the ravine which conducted to the pass.  It was but
+the barest possible glimpse they got of that shabby tail; but it told a
+tale which they perfectly understood, for they flew back in the utmost
+haste to warn their comrades, who, knowing the smallness of the party
+thus sent against them, from the largeness of the party that had shammed
+returning to the fort, resolved upon executing a counter movement.
+
+They had a shrewd suspicion, from the nature of the country, that the
+intention of the whites was to get through a pass of some sort and
+intercept them, and, concluding that this pass must lie at the head of
+the valley up which the bottle-brush had vanished, they resolved to
+proceed to the same spot through the gorge that separated the hill from
+the crag or rocky ridge before referred to.
+
+Promptitude they knew to be everything, so they swept up the gorge like
+a whirlwind.  Thus both parties drew nearer to the chaotic opening
+styled the Wild-Cat Pass--the trappers, all ignorant of what awaited
+them there; the savages bent on giving their enemies an unpleasant
+surprise.
+
+But, unknown to either, there was a pair of eyes high on a rock above
+the Wild-Cat Pass, that overlooked the two valleys or ravines, and gazed
+with considerable interest and curiosity on the two advancing parties.
+Those eyes belonged to a solitary horseman, who stood on the edge of the
+wild precipice that overhung the pass.  The hunter, for such his
+leathern dress bespoke him, stood beside his horse, his right arm over
+its arched neck, and his right hand patting its sleek shoulder.  From
+the position which he occupied he could see without being seen.  His
+magnificent steed seemed to be aware that danger was at hand, for it
+stood like a statue, absolutely motionless, with the exception of its
+fine fiery eyes.  Whatever this solitary hunter's thoughts regarding the
+two approaching parties might be, it was evident that he meant to remain
+an invisible spectator of their doings; for he stood in the same
+attitude of statue-like attention until they reached the heads of the
+two ravines, where they were separated from each other only by the pass.
+Here, on the one side, the Indians, about forty in number, lay in
+ambush among the rocks, prepared to surprise and attack the trappers
+when they should pass.  On the other side the trappers halted, and
+dismounting, allowed their horses to graze while they awaited the
+arrival of Macgregor and his party.
+
+"They won't be long o' comin'," remarked Redhand, seating himself on a
+stone and proceeding to strike a light.  "That fellow Macgregor an't the
+man to waste time when he's out after the redskins.  I only hope he
+won't waste life when he gets up to them."
+
+"So do I," said Bounce, seating himself beside Redhand and carefully
+cutting a small piece of tobacco into shreds by means of a
+scalping-knife.  "A sartin amount o' punishment is needful, d'ye see, to
+keep 'em down; but I don't like slaughtering human bein's onnecessary
+like."
+
+"I'd skiver 'em all, I guess--every one," observed Big Waller angrily.
+"They're a murderin', thievin' set o' varmints, as don't desarve to live
+nohow!"
+
+"Bah!" exclaimed Gibault in disgust; "you is most awferfully
+onfeelosophicule, as Bounce do say.  If dey not fit for live, for fat
+vas dey made?  You vicked man!"
+
+Big Waller deigned no reply.
+
+"I'm off to look at the pass," cried March Marston, vaulting suddenly
+into the saddle.  "Come, Bertram; you'll go with me, won't you, and see
+if we can find some wild-cats in it?"
+
+The artist, who had not dismounted, merely replied by a nod and a smile,
+and the two reckless youths galloped away, heedless of Bounce's warning
+not to go too far, for fear they should find something worse than
+wild-cats there.
+
+The Wild-Cat Pass, through which they were speedily picking their steps,
+in order to get a view of the country beyond, was not inappropriately
+named; for it seemed, at the first glance of those who entered it, as if
+no creature less savagely reckless than a cat could, by any possibility,
+scramble through it without the aid of wings.
+
+The greater part of it was the ancient bed of a mountain torrent, whose
+gushing waters had, owing to some antediluvian convulsion of nature,
+been diverted into another channel.  The whole scene was an absolute
+chaos of rocks which had fallen into the torrent's bed from the
+precipice that hemmed it in on the west, and these rocky masses lay
+heaped about in such a confused way that it was extremely difficult to
+select a pathway along which the horses could proceed without running
+great risk of breaking their limbs.  The entire length of the pass could
+not have been much more than a quarter of a mile, yet it took March
+Marston and his companion full half an hour to traverse it.
+
+When about half through the pass March, who led the way, drew up on a
+small rocky elevation, from which he could survey the amphitheatre of
+rugged and naked rocks in the midst of which he stood.
+
+"Upon my word, Bertram," he said gazing round, "if Bunyan had ever been
+in the Rocky Mountains, I think he would have chosen such a spot as this
+for the castle o' Giant Despair."
+
+"I know not," replied Bertram with a deep sigh, as he drew rein, "what
+Bunyan would have done, but I know that Giant Despair has already
+located himself here, for he has been trying to take, possession of my
+bosom for at least twenty minutes.  I never rode over such ground in my
+life.  However, it ill becomes pioneers to be overcome by such a giant,
+so pray push on; I feel quite eager to see what sort of region lies
+beyond this gloomy portal."
+
+March laughed and turned to continue the scramble; Bertram removed his
+brigandish hat, wiped his heated brows, replaced the hat firmly thereon,
+and drove his heels violently against the ribs of his horse, an act
+which induced that patient quadruped to toss its head and shake its
+bottle-brush ere it condescended to move on.  It was quite evident that,
+although Bertram spoke in a half-jesting tone of Giant Despair, he was
+in reality much delighted with the singularity of this extemporised and
+interesting ramble.
+
+"I say, Bertram, don't you like this sort of thing?" inquired March,
+looking back at his companion, on reaching a somewhat level part of the
+pass.
+
+"Like it?  Ay, that do I.  I love it, March.  There is a freedom, a
+species of wild romance about it, that is more captivating than I can
+describe."
+
+"You don't need to describe it," returned March.  "I have it all
+described splendidly within me.  One don't want words when one's got
+feelins.  But I've often thought what a pity it is that we can't
+describe things or places at all with words.  At least, _I_ can't," he
+added modestly.  "When I try to tell a fellow what I've seen, it ain't
+o' no manner of use to try, for I don't get hold of the right words at
+the right time, and so don't give out the right meanin', and so the
+fellow I'm speakin' to don't take up the right notion, d'ye see?  It's a
+great pity that words are such useless things."
+
+"Why, that was spoken like Bounce himself," said Bertram, smiling.
+
+"Look out, or you'll go bounce into that hole, if you don't have a
+care," cried March, turning aside to avoid the danger referred to.  They
+proceeded through the remainder of the pass in silence, as the rugged
+nature of the ground required their undivided attention.
+
+Had there been a sprite in that place, who could have hopped invisibly
+to some elevated pinnacle, or have soared on gossamer wings into the
+air, so as to take a bird's-eye view of the whole scene, he would have
+noted that while March Marston and the artist were toiling slowly
+through the Wild-Cat Pass, the solitary hunter before referred to
+regarded their proceedings with some surprise, and that when he saw they
+were bent on going quite through the pass, his expression changed to a
+look of deep concern.
+
+With slow and gentle hand this man backed his quiet and docile horse
+deeper into the bush; and when he had got so deep into the shade of the
+forest as to be perfectly safe from observation, he leaped on its back
+with a single bound, and galloped swiftly away.
+
+A few minutes after the occurrence of this incident, March and his
+friend emerged from the pass and trotted out upon a level plain whence
+they obtained a fine view of the magnificent country beyond.  The pass
+from which they had just issued seemed to be the entrance to the heart
+of the Rocky Mountains.  The plain, or rather the plateau, on which they
+stood was a level spot covered with soft grass, free from bushes, and
+not more than a hundred yards in extent.  On three sides it was
+encompassed by inaccessible precipices and rocky ground, in the midst of
+which the opening out of the pass was situated.  On the fourth side it
+was skirted by a dense thicket of bushes that formed the entrance to a
+magnificent forest which extended for several miles in front of the
+spot.  Beyond this forest the scene was broken by hills and valleys, and
+little plains, richly diversified with wood and water--the former in
+dense masses, scattered groups, and isolated clusters; the latter
+shining in the forms of lakelet and stream, or glancing snow-white in
+numberless cascades.  Beyond all, the dark-blue giant masses of the
+Rocky Mountains towered up and up, hill upon hill, pile upon pile, mass
+on mass, till they terminated in distant peaks, so little darker than
+the sky that they seemed scarcely more solid than the clouds with which
+they mingled and blended their everlasting snows.
+
+"An't it beautiful?" cried March, riding forward with a bounding
+sensation of inexpressible delight.
+
+Bertram followed him, but did not answer.  He was too deeply absorbed in
+the simple act of intently gazing and drinking in the scene to listen or
+to reply.
+
+At the precise moment in which March made the above remark, his quick
+eye observed a spear head which one of the savages, hid among the bushes
+there, had not taken sufficient pains to conceal.
+
+March Marston was a young hunter, and, as yet an inexperienced warrior;
+but from childhood he had been trained, as if it were in spirit, by the
+anecdotes and tales of the many hunters who had visited Pine Point
+settlement.  His natural powers of self-control were very great, but he
+had to tax all these powers to the uttermost to maintain his look of
+animated delight in the scenery unchanged, after making the above
+startling discovery.  But March did it!  His first severe trial in the
+perils of backwoods life had come--without warning or time for
+preparation; and he passed through it like a true hero.
+
+That a spear handle must necessarily support a spear head; that an
+Indian probably grasped the former; that, in the present position of
+affairs, there were certainly more Indians than one in ambush; and that,
+in all probability, there were at that moment two or three dozen arrows
+resting on their respective bows, and pointed towards his and his
+comrade's hearts, ready to take flight the instant they should come
+within sure and deadly range, were ideas which did not follow each other
+in rapid succession through his brain, but darted upon the young
+hunter's quick perceptions instantaneously, and caused his heart to beat
+on his ribs like a sledge-hammer, and the blood to fly violently to his
+face.
+
+Luckily March's face was deeply browned, and did not show the crimson
+tide.  With a sudden, mighty effort he checked the natural look and
+exclamation of surprise.  That was the moment of danger past.  To
+continue his praise of the lovely scene in gay delighted tones was
+comparatively easy.
+
+"Isn't it beautiful?" he said, turning his face full towards the
+ambushed savages, gazing over their place of concealment with an
+unconscious joyous air, and sweeping his hand towards the mountains, as
+if to draw the attention of his companion to them.  March's only weapon
+at that moment was the small hatchet he was wont to carry in his girdle.
+This implement chanced to be in his hand.  Placing it carelessly in his
+belt, as though nothing was further from his mind than the idea of
+requiring to use it at that time, he cried--
+
+"See, yonder is a mound from which we may get a better view," and
+trotted to the summit of the spot alluded to.  In doing so, he placed
+himself still nearer to the Indians.  This was a bold stroke, though a
+dangerous one, meant to deceive the enemy.  After gazing a few seconds
+from this spot, he wheeled round and walked his horse quietly towards
+the entrance to the pass.  Arrived there, he turned, and pretending that
+he saw something in the far distance, he shaded his eyes with his hand
+and gazed for a short time intently, then calling to Bertram, who still
+remained in his original position all unconscious of his danger, said--
+
+"I say, come here; look at yonder splendid lake, it's worth
+seeing--_well_ worth seeing; and if you don't see it with that _curious
+light_ on it, you'll not care to see it at all."
+
+March did not dare, by energy of voice, to force his friend's attention,
+therefore the first part of this speech was unheeded; but the reference
+to a "curious light" had the desired effect.  Bertram turned, and rode
+to join his companion.  Getting Bertram into such a position that his
+own person partially screened him from the Indians, he made the
+following remarkable speech, from beginning to end, in the gay tones of
+one who discourses eloquently on the beauties of nature; pointing here
+and there as he rattled on.
+
+"An't it beautiful? eh?  I say, just look at it now!--listen to me,
+Bertram--attentively, but gaze admiringly at the scene--_at the scene_--
+oh! man, _do_ what I bid ye--your life hangs on it.  _Pretend_ to admire
+it--we're in great danger--but--"
+
+"Eh? what? where?" exclaimed the artist in a tone of intense excitement,
+at the same time laying his hand on one of his pistols and gazing
+anxiously all round him.
+
+Alas! poor Bertram.  It needed not the acute apprehension of a redskin
+to understand that you had been told of present danger.  Neither did it
+require much acuteness on the part of March to divine what was to
+follow.
+
+Scarcely had the symptoms of alarm been exhibited, when four arrows
+whizzed through the air and passed close to the persons of the two
+friends, who instantly turned and made a dash for the entrance of the
+pass.  At the same time the savages uttered a yell and darted after
+them.
+
+"We'll never be able to escape by the pass," exclaimed March, looking
+behind him hurriedly, as they approached the rocky gorge, "and, I
+declare, there's only four o' them on foot.  Come, Bertram, let's make a
+bold stroke for it.  We'll easy break through 'em."
+
+He reined up so suddenly as almost to throw the horse on its haunches,
+and, wheeling round, darted towards the savages.  Bertram followed
+almost mechanically.
+
+The Indians offered no opposition, but at that moment another yell rose
+from the hushes, and about thirty mounted Indians, who had been
+concealed behind a projecting cliff, sprang forward and closed up the
+only place of escape with a formidable array of spears.  From their not
+using their arrows it was evident that they wished to capture the white
+men alive, for the purpose, no doubt, of taking them home to their
+wigwams, there to put them to death by slow torture with the assistance
+of their squaws.
+
+March Marston's spirit rose with the occasion.  He uttered a furious
+cry, flourished his hatchet above his head, and dashed at full gallop
+towards the line.  Seeing this, one of the Indians levelled his spear
+and rode out to meet him.  Bertram's nerves recovered at that moment.
+He fired both pistols at the advancing savage, but without effect.  In
+despair he hurled one of them violently at the head of the Indian.  The
+missile went true to the mark and felled him.  On beholding this the
+whole body of savages rushed upon the two white men.
+
+One powerful Indian seized March by the throat.  Before either could use
+his weapon the horses separated and both fell violently to the ground.
+Bertram leaped off his horse and sprang to the rescue, but he was
+instantly surrounded, and for a few seconds defended himself with the
+butt of his large cavalry pistol with an amount of energy and activity
+that would have filled those who knew him best with amazement.  At that
+moment there was a clatter of hoofs in the gorge, and a roar or bellow
+was heard above the din of the fight.  All eyes were turned towards the
+pass, and next moment a solitary horseman leaped over the broken rocks
+and bounded over the turf towards the combatants.
+
+The aspect of this newcomer was something terrible to behold.  Both he
+and his horse were gigantic in size.  The man was dressed in the costume
+of an Indian, but his hair and beard were those of a white man.  The
+mane and tail of his huge horse were of enormous length, and as he swept
+over the little plain, which seemed to tremble beneath his heavy tread,
+the wind blew out these and the tags and scalp-locks of his coat and
+leggings as well as his own beard and hair in such a confused and
+commingled way as to make the man and horse appear like one monstrous
+creature.
+
+The Indians turned to flee, but, seeing only one enemy, they hesitated.
+In another moment the wild horseman was upon them.  He carried a round
+shield on his left arm and a long double-edged sword in his right hand.
+Two Indians lowered their spears to receive him.  The point of one he
+turned aside with his shield, and the shock of his heavy warhorse hurled
+horse and man upon the plain.  The other he cut the iron head off with a
+sweep of his sword, and, with a continuation of the same cut, he cleft
+his opponent to the chin.  Turning rapidly, he bounded into the very
+midst of the savages, uttering another of his tremendous roars of
+indignation.  The suddenness of this act prevented the Indians from
+using their bows and arrows effectively.  Before they could fit an arrow
+to the string two more of their number lay in the agonies of death on
+the ground.  Several arrows were discharged, but the perturbation of
+those who discharged them, and their close proximity to their mark,
+caused them to shoot wide.  Most of the shafts missed him.  Two quivered
+in his shield, and one pierced the sleeve of his coat.  Turning again to
+renew his rapid attacks he observed one of the Indians--probably a
+chief--leap to one side, and, turning round, fit an arrow with calm
+deliberation to his bow.  The furious horseman, although delivering his
+sweeping blows right and left with indiscriminate recklessness, seemed
+during the _melee_ to have an intuitive perception of where the greatest
+danger lay.  The savages at that moment were whirling round him and
+darting at him in all directions, but he singled out this chief at once
+and bore down upon him like a thunderbolt.  The chief was a brave man.
+He did not wince, but, drawing the arrow to its head as the other
+approached, let it fly full at his breast.  The white man dropped on the
+neck of his steed as if he had been struck with lightning; the arrow
+passed close over his back and found its mark in the breast of one of
+the savages, whose death yell mingled with that of the chief as, a
+moment later, the gigantic warrior ran him with a straight point through
+the body.
+
+The Indians were scattered now.  The rapid dash of that tumultuous
+fight, although of but a few seconds' duration, had swept the combatants
+to the extreme edge of the woods, leaving Bertram standing in the midst
+of dead and dying men gazing with a bewildered, helpless look at the
+terrible scene.  March Marston lay close by his side, apparently dead,
+in the grip of the savage who had first attacked him, and whose throat
+his own hand grasped with the tenacity and force of a vice.
+
+Most of the Indians leaped over the bushes and sought the shelter of the
+thick underwood, as the tremendous horseman, whom doubtless they now
+deemed invulnerable, came thundering down upon them again; but about
+twenty of the bravest stood their ground.  At that moment a loud shout
+and a fierce "hurrah!" rang out and echoed hither and thither among the
+rocks; and, next instant, Big Waller, followed by Bounce and his
+friends, as well as by Macgregor and his whole party, sprang from the
+Wild-Cat Pass, and rushed furiously upon the savages, who had already
+turned and fled towards the wood for shelter.  The whole band crossed
+the battlefield like a whirlwind, leaped over or burst through the
+bushes, and were gone--the crashing tread of their footsteps and an
+occasional shout alone remaining to assure the bewildered artist, who
+was still transfixed immovable to the ground, that the whole scene was
+not a dream.
+
+But Bertram was not left alone on that bloody field.  On the first sound
+of the approach of the white men to the rescue, the strange horseman--
+who, from the moment of his bursting so opportunely on the scene, had
+seemed the very impersonation of activity and colossal might--pulled up
+his fiery steed; and he now sat, gazing calmly into the forest in the
+direction in which the Indians and traders had disappeared.
+
+Stupefied though he was, Bertram could not avoid being impressed and
+surprised by the sudden and total change which had come over this
+remarkable hunter.  After gazing into the woods, as we have said, for
+some minutes, he quietly dismounted, and plucking a tuft of grass from
+the plain, wiped his bloody sword, and sheathed it.  Not a trace of his
+late ferocity was visible.  His mind seemed to be filled with sadness,
+for he sighed slightly, and shook his head with a look of deep sorrow,
+as his eyes rested on the dead men.  There was a mild gravity in his
+countenance that seemed to Bertram incompatible with the fiend-like fury
+of his attack, and a slow heaviness in his motions that amounted almost
+to laziness, and seemed equally inconsistent with the vigour he had so
+recently displayed, which was almost cat-like, if we may apply such a
+term to the actions of so huge a pair as this man and his horse were.
+
+A profusion of light-brown hair hung in heavy masses over his herculean
+shoulders, and a bushy moustache and beard of the same colour covered
+the lower part of his deeply browned face, which was handsome and mild,
+but eminently masculine, in expression.
+
+Remounting his horse, which seemed now to be as quiet and peaceable as
+himself, this singular being turned and rode towards that part of the
+wood that lay nearest to the wild rocky masses that formed the outlet
+from the pass.  On gaining the verge of the plain he turned his head
+full round, and fixed his clear blue eyes on the wondering artist.  A
+quiet smile played on his bronzed features for an instant as he bestowed
+upon him a cheerful nod of farewell.  Then, urging his steed forward, he
+entered the woods at a slow walk, and disappeared.
+
+The heavy tramp of his horse's hoofs among the broken stones of the
+rugged path had scarcely died away when the distant tread of the
+returning fur-traders broke on Bertram's ear.  This aroused him from the
+state of half-sceptical horror in which he gazed upon the scene of blood
+and death in the midst of which he stood.  Presently his eye fell, for
+the first time, upon the motionless form of March Marston.  The sight
+effectually restored him.  With a slight cry of alarm, he sprang to his
+friend's side, and, kneeling down, endeavoured to loosen the death-like
+grasp with which he still held the throat of his foe.  The horror of the
+poor artist may be imagined, when he observed that the skull of the
+Indian was battered in, and that his young comrade's face was
+bespattered with blood and brains.
+
+Just then several of the trappers and fur-traders galloped upon the
+scene of the late skirmish.
+
+"Hallo!  Mr Bertram, here you are; guess we've polished 'em off this
+time a few.  Hey! wot's this?" cried Big Waller, as he and some of the
+others leaped to the ground and surrounded Bertram.  "Not _dead_, is
+he?"
+
+The tone in which the Yankee trapper said this betrayed as much rage as
+regret.  The bare idea of his young comrade having been killed by the
+savages caused him to gnash his teeth with suppressed passion.
+
+"Out o' the way, lads; let me see him," cried Bounce, who galloped up at
+that moment, flung himself off his horse, pushed the others aside, and
+kneeling at his side, laid his hand on March Marston's heart.
+
+"All right," he said, raising the youth's head, "he's only stunned.
+Run, Gibault, fetch a drop o' water.  The horse that brained this here
+redskin, by good luck, only stunned March."
+
+"Ah! mon pauvre enfant!" cried Gibault as he ran to obey.
+
+The water quickly restored March, and in a few minutes he was able to
+sit up and call to remembrance what had passed.  Ere his scattered
+faculties were quite recovered, the fur-traders returned, with Macgregor
+at their head.
+
+"Well done, the Wild Man of the West!" cried McLeod, as he dismounted.
+"Not badly hurt, young man, I trust."
+
+"Oh! nothing to speak of.  Only a thump on the head from a horse's
+hoof," said March; "I'll be all right in a little time.  Did you say
+anything about the Wild Man of the West?" he added earnestly.
+
+"To be sure I did; but for him you and Mr Bertram would have been dead
+men, I fear.  Did you not see him?"
+
+"See him? no," replied March, much excited.  "I heard a tremendous roar,
+but just then I fell to the ground, and remember nothing more that
+happened."
+
+"Was that quiet, grave-looking man the Wild Man of the West?" inquired
+Bertram, with a mingled feeling of interest and surprise.
+
+This speech was received with a loud burst of laughter from all who
+heard it.
+
+"Well, I've never seed the Wild Man till to-day," said one, "though I've
+often heer'd of him, but I must say the little glimpse I got didn't show
+much that was mild or grave."
+
+"I guess your head's bin in a swum, stranger," said another.  "I've only
+seed him this once, but I don't hope to see him agin.  He ain't to be
+trusted, he ain't, that feller."
+
+"And I've seen him five or six times," added McLeod, "and all I can say
+is, that twice out o' the five he was like an incarnate fiend, and the
+other three times--when he came to the Mountain Fort for ammunition--he
+was as gruff and sulky as a bear with the measles."
+
+"Well, gentlemen," said Bertram with more emphasis in his tone than he
+was wont to employ, "I have seen this man only once, but I've seen him
+under two aspects to-day, and all that I can say is, that if that was
+really the Wild Man of the West, he's not quite so wild as he gets
+credit for."
+
+On hearing this, March Marston rose and shook himself.  He felt ill at
+ease in body and mind.  The idea of the Wild Man of the West having
+actually saved his life, and he had not seen him, was a heavy
+disappointment, and the confused and conflicting accounts of those who
+had seen him, combined with the racking pains that shot through his own
+brain, rendered him incapable of forming or expressing any opinion on
+the subject whatever; so he said abruptly--
+
+"It's of no use talking here all night, friends.  My head's splittin',
+so I think we'd better encamp."
+
+March's suggestion was adopted at once.  Provisions had been carried
+with them from the fort.  The dead bodies of the Indians were buried; a
+spot at some distance from the scene of the fight was chosen.  The fires
+were lighted, supper was devoured and a watch set, and soon March
+Marston was dreaming wildly in that savage place about the Wild Man of
+the West!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+THE HUNTING GROUND--HOW THEY SPENT THE SABBATH DAY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS--
+THREATENING CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON.
+
+Next day the fur-traders prepared to return to the Mountain Fort, and
+the trappers to continue their journey into the Rocky Mountains.
+
+At the period of which we write, the fur of the beaver was much in
+demand in the European markets, and trappers devoted much of their time
+to the capture of that sagacious animal.  From McLeod, Redhand learned
+that a journey of eight or ten days to the south-eastward would bring
+them to a country that was reported to be much frequented not only by
+the beaver, but by many other fur-bearing and wild animals; so it was
+resolved that, having brought their traps and supplies with them, the
+trappers, instead of returning to the fort, should part with their
+entertainers at the spot where the skirmish had occurred, and make for
+that hunting ground as quickly as possible.
+
+"I suppose you don't want to part company with us yet, Mr Bertram?"
+said old Redhand as they were about to start.
+
+"By no means," replied the artist quickly; "I have no intention of
+quitting you--that is, if you do not find me a burden on your hands," he
+added with a sad smile.
+
+"A burden!" cried Bounce in surprise; "I tell ye wot, sir, I consider
+yer company a honour."
+
+"So you won't return with us, young man?" said Macgregor to March
+Marston as he mounted his horse.  "I'm in want of a stout young fellow,
+and you'll like the life."
+
+"I thank ye, sir, for your good opinion," returned March; "but my mind's
+made up: I'll stick by my comrades; I like trappin', but I don't like
+tradin'--though I'm obliged to you for bein' so pressin' all the same."
+
+The two parties bade each other adieu and separated--the one retracing
+its way through the Wild-Cat Pass; the other, with old Redhand at its
+head, descending into the beautiful country that has been briefly
+described in the last chapter.
+
+Six quiet and peaceful weeks now succeeded to the stormy period that had
+just passed.  During this time they wandered pleasantly about in as
+beautiful a region of the world as the heart of man could wish to dwell
+in.  They reached this country after several days' travel.  After
+arriving they moved about from one beautiful spot to another, setting
+their beaver traps in the streams, and remaining a longer or shorter
+time at each place, according to their success in trapping and hunting.
+
+The country was of so peculiarly diversified a formation, that, within
+the compass of ten miles, every possible variety of scenery existed--
+from the level stretch of prairie to the towering snow-peaks of the
+mountains; from the brake-encompassed swamp, in which frogs, ducks,
+geese, plover, and other denizens of the marshes maintained perpetual
+jubilee, to the dry bush-dotted mounds and undulating lands, where the
+badger delighted to burrow in the sandy soil, while in other places, the
+wolf, the fox, and the grisly bear prowled amid the dark recesses of the
+forest.
+
+It was a truly beautiful and a pre-eminently enjoyable region, and, in
+the midst of it, under the spreading branches of a magnificent pine,
+which grew on the top of a little mound that commanded an extensive
+prospect on every side, the trappers pitched their camp, and began their
+campaign against the fur-bearing animals that dwelt there.
+
+It was a quiet sunny Sabbath morning when our trappers arrived at the
+tree above referred to.  They had encamped the previous night on a
+swampy piece of ground, having travelled too late to afford time to
+search for a better spot, so that they were glad to rise and push
+forward at the peep of day on Sabbath.  But when, in the course of a
+couple of hours, they reached the dry country, they at once proceeded to
+encamp.
+
+During their journeying the trappers had mutually agreed to rest from
+all labour on the Sabbath day.  Some of them did so from no higher
+motive than the feeling that it was good for themselves and for their
+beasts to rest one day in seven from bodily labour.  Although not
+absolutely regardless of religion, they nevertheless failed to connect
+this necessity of theirs with the appointment of a day of rest by that
+kind and gracious Father, who has told us that "the Sabbath was made for
+man."  Made for him not only, and chiefly, for the benefit of his soul,
+but also, and secondarily, for the good of his body.
+
+Others of the party there were, however, who regarded the Sabbath rest
+in a somewhat higher light than did their comrades; though none of them
+were fully alive to the blessings and privileges attaching to the
+faithful keeping of the Lord's day.  Independently altogether of the
+delight connected with the contemplation of the wonderful works of God
+in the wilderness--especially of that beautiful portion of the
+wilderness--the trappers experienced a sensation of intense pleasure in
+the simple act of physical repose after their long, restless, and
+somewhat exciting journey.  They wandered about from spot to spot, from
+hill to hill, in a species of charming indolence of body, that seemed to
+increase, rather than to diminish, the activity of their minds.
+Sometimes they rambled or rested on the sunny slopes in groups,
+sometimes in couples, and sometimes singly.  March Marston and the
+artist sauntered about together, and conversed with animated fluency and
+wandering volubility--as young minds are wont to do--on things past,
+present, and to come; things terrestrial and celestial.  In short, there
+was no subject, almost, that did not get a share of their attention, as
+they sauntered by the rippling brook or over the flowering plain, or
+stood upon the mountain side.  They tried "everything by turns, and
+nothing long," and, among other mental occupations, they read portions
+of the Bible together; for Bertram found that March carried his mother's
+Testament in an inner breast-pocket of his hunting-shirt, and March
+discovered that his friend had a small copy of the Bible--also a
+mother's gift--which shared the pouch of his leather coat with the
+well-known sketch-book.  They conversed freely and somewhat boldly on
+what they read, and we doubt not that our learned divines, had they
+listened to the talk of the youthful pioneer and the young hunter, would
+have been surprised, perhaps edified, by the simple, practical,
+common-sense views promulgated by those raw theologians.  Certainly, any
+one listening to the grave, kindly, philosophical commentaries of March
+Marston, would never have believed in the truth of that statement at the
+commencement of this story, wherein it is asserted somewhat positively
+that "March Marston was mad!"
+
+Bounce, and Big Waller, and Black Gibault, drew naturally together and
+speculated, after their own peculiar fashion, on every subject of
+thought within the reach of their capacities; and as Bounce's capacities
+embraced a pretty wide range, the "feelosophical" views he set forth
+upon that lovely Sabbath day were so varied, so eccentric, so graphic,
+and so apparently inexhaustible, that he effectually quelled Gibault's
+inveterate tendency, to jest, and filled Big Waller with deeper
+admiration than ever.
+
+As for Redhand and the Indian, they wandered about in sympathetic
+silence, broken ever and anon by the old trapper passing a remark on
+some interesting peculiarity of a leaf, an insect, or a flower.  It has
+been said, that as men grow older they find deeper pleasure in the
+contemplation of the minute things of nature, and are less desirous than
+they were wont to expatiate on the striking and the grand.  What truth
+there is in the remark we cannot tell; but, certain it is, while the
+younger men of the party seemed to cast longing, admiring, and gladsome
+looks over the distant landscape, and up at the snow-clad and
+cloud-encompassed heights of the Rocky Mountains, old Redhand bent his
+eyes, we might almost say lovingly, on the earth.  He would sit down on
+a stone and pluck a leaf, which he would examine with minute care; or
+watch with the deepest interest the frantic efforts of a little ant, as
+it staggered along under its gigantic burden of a single seed, climbing
+over a mountainous twig, tumbling into a cavernous hole the size of a
+hazelnut, or being brought to a hesitating pause by a mountain torrent a
+quarter of an inch broad.
+
+The sedate Indian took special pleasure in watching the doings of his
+old friend.  Usually, he contented himself with a grunt of assent when
+Redhand made a remark on the peculiarities of a plant or an insect, but
+sometimes he ventured on a brief observation, and occasionally even
+proposed a question to his aged companion, which Redhand found it
+difficult to answer.  There was little interchange of thought between
+those two silent men, but there was much of quiet enjoyment.
+
+So passed the Sabbath day.  Early on the following morning the trappers
+were astir, and before the sun tinged the mountain peaks, their beaver
+traps were set, an extensive portion of the territory they had thus
+quietly taken possession of had been explored in several directions, a
+couple of deer had been shot, a mountain goat seen, and a grisly bear
+driven from his den and pursued, but not killed; besides a number of
+wildfowl having been bagged, and an immense number of creatures,
+including mustangs, or wild horses, roused from their lairs.
+
+When the scattered hunters returned to the camp to breakfast, they found
+themselves in a satisfied, happy state of mind, with a strong
+disposition, on the part of some, to break their fast without wasting
+time in cooking the viands.  "It was of no manner of use cooking," Big
+Waller said, "when a feller was fit to eat his own head off of his own
+shoulders!"  As for Gibault, he declared that he meant to give up
+cooking his victuals from that time forward, and eat them raw.  The
+others seemed practically to have come to the same conclusion, for
+certain it is that the breakfast, when devoured on that first Monday
+morning, was decidedly underdone--to use a mild expression!
+
+But it was when the pipes were lighted that the peculiarities and
+capabilities of that wild region became fully known, for then it was
+that each hunter began to relate with minute accuracy the adventures of
+that morning.  As they had scattered far and wide, and hunted or trapped
+separately, each had something new and more or less interesting to tell.
+March told of how he had shot a grey goose, and had gone into a moving
+swamp after it, and had sunk up to the middle, and all but took to
+swimming to save himself, but had got hold of the goose notwithstanding,
+as the drumstick he had just picked would testify.  Bounce told of
+having gone after a moose deer, and, failing to come up with it, was
+fain to content himself with a bighorn and a buck; and Big Waller
+asserted that he had suddenly come upon a grisly bear, which he would
+certainly have shot, had it not run away from him.  Whereupon Gibault,
+wilfully misunderstanding, said, with a look of unutterable surprise,
+that he would never have believed it--no, never--had anybody else told
+him, that Big Waller had actually run away from a bear!  He couldn't
+bear to hear of it, and would not believe it though Waller himself said
+it.  As for Bertram, having filled the pages of his sketch-book, back
+and front, he was compelled to take to miniature drawing in corners and
+blank bits, and in this way began to book the entire region, and to
+revel in his loved art.
+
+Several weeks passed away, and during that time of peace and plenty, our
+trappers had it all to themselves.  They caught and killed numbers of
+animals; stripped off, dried, and packed quantities of valuable furs;
+ate enormous meals, with the gusto of men who had laboriously earned the
+right to do so, and related stories and anecdotes enough to fill a huge
+volume.  In short, they enjoyed themselves beyond conception, and
+Bertram agreed with March Marston in thinking that Bunyan's land of
+Beulah could not have surpassed that delightful region.
+
+But one day there came a small cloud on their blue sky of felicity.  An
+event occurred which rudely dispelled their pleasant dreams, filled
+their hearts with anxiety, and finally broke up their camp in a way that
+led to disastrous, though not altogether ruinous, consequences.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+BUSINESS UNPLEASANTLY INTERRUPTED--THE MOUNTAIN FORT IN DANGER--TRAPPERS
+TO THE RESCUE--A RUDE MEETING WITH FOES IN THE DARK--A WILD RACE--MARCH
+MEETS WITH A SEVERE MISFORTUNE.
+
+One morning, just as the trappers were dropping into camp about the
+usual breakfast hour, laden with the produce of the trap and the chase,
+they were startled by the sudden appearance of a large band of mounted
+Indians, who galloped to the top of a neighbouring mound, and, crowding
+together, stood still to gaze upon the invaders of their hunting
+grounds, for such they deemed the trappers, no doubt.
+
+To snatch up their arms and run to a place of safety was the work of a
+moment.  It must not be supposed that such experienced men as Redhand
+and Bounce were altogether unprepared for a surprise of this sort.  On
+the day of their arrival at the hunting ground, their first care had
+been to select such a place for their camp as lay in close proximity to
+some natural stronghold.  Not ten paces from the camp fire there was a
+sort of hollow in the ground, on the very summit of the mound on which
+they were encamped.  Here all their valuables had been placed, and round
+the edge of the hollow a rude breastwork had been raised, so that the
+party, when in it, could fire through little openings in the breastwork
+without exposing themselves to view.
+
+To this fortress they retired the instant the Indians made their
+appearance.  Fortunately all the members of the little party had come
+in.
+
+"They're holdin' a council o' war," said Bounce, carefully examining the
+priming of his piece.  "It's as like as not they'll attack us, but
+they'll get a hearty and an oncommonly warm welcome."
+
+"They'll not attack us," said Redhand.  "They know that white men never
+travel without plenty of powder and ball, and they don't like taking a
+place by storm."
+
+"Ay," remarked Waller sarcastically, "'cause they knows that the first
+man as comes on is sartin sure to fall, an' they knows that they can't
+come on without somebody comin' first."
+
+"But there's brave fellers among the redskins," rejoined Bounce.  "I
+knowed a set o' young fellers as banded theirselves together, and swore
+they'd go through fire an' water, thick an' thin, but they'd niver turn
+back from the face o' danger wherever they met it.  So, one day they wos
+crossin' a river on the ice, an' the first on 'em fell in, an' wos
+carried away by the current; an' what does the second do, but he walks
+straight into the hole, an' wos drowned too; an' the nixt wos goin' to
+foller, when the old warriors ran at him an' forced him back.  If they
+hadn't stopped him, I do b'lieve--"
+
+"They're makin' up their minds to do somethin' or other," interrupted
+March.
+
+"I sincerely hope they won't fight," murmured Bertram earnestly.  "It is
+fearful to think of the blood that is shed by these men needlessly."
+
+From the conduct of the Indians it became evident that on this occasion
+they sympathised with the artist in his desire not to fight, for one of
+their number dismounted, and, advancing unarmed towards the trappers,
+made signs of friendship.
+
+"It's as well to be bold an' appear to trust 'em," said Redhand, laying
+down his rifle and leaping over the breastwork; "keep your guns ready,
+lads, an' if ye see treachery, let drive at once.  Don't be afraid o'
+hittin' me.  I'll take my chance."
+
+After a few minutes' conversation with the Indian, Redhand returned to
+his party.
+
+"That redskin," said he, "tells me they're on an expedition to hunt the
+buffalo on the prairie, and that they're good friends of the white men,
+and would like to have a talk with us before they go on; but I don't
+believe 'em.  From what I heard Mr McLeod say at the Mountain Fort, I
+think it not unlikely they are bound on an expedition against the
+whites.  The very fact of their wishin' to keep friends with us instead
+of tryin' to lift our scalps and carry off our furs and horses, shows me
+they've some more pressin' business on hand.  Mr McLeod described to me
+the appearance of one or two o' the Injuns that hates the fur-traders
+most, so that I might be on my guard, an' I'm quite sure that some of
+them are with that band.  Now, what say ye?  Shall I tell 'em we don't
+want their acquaintance?"
+
+"Tell 'em they're a set o' lyin' thieves," said Big Waller.  "I guess
+we'll have nothin' to say to 'em wotiver."
+
+"Oui, et give to dem mine complements," added Gibault, "an' say we ver'
+moch 'blige by dere goodness, mais dey vill all be shooted if dey not go
+away queek."
+
+Redhand did not give these polite messages to the Indian, but on
+returning to him he presented him with a piece of tobacco, and advised
+him to continue his journey without loss of time, as the buffaloes were
+travelling south and might be out of the way when they reached the
+prairie.
+
+Whether the Indians felt angry or not it is impossible to say.  They
+seemed indifferent to their cool reception by the trappers, and soon
+after rode off at full speed, in a direction that led _away_ from the
+Mountain Fort, a circumstance which still further confirmed Redhand in
+his suspicions.
+
+After an eager, hasty consultation, it was resolved that they should
+follow the savages, and if their trail was found to diverge, as was
+fully expected, towards the fort, that they should endeavour to pass
+them in the night, and proceed by forced marches, in order to get there
+in time to warn the fur-traders of their impending danger.
+
+In less than an hour after the Indians left them, the trappers were
+galloping after them in hot haste.  During the course of the day they
+found that the trail doubled back, as they had anticipated, so, making a
+wide detour, they headed the Indians, and during the afternoon got a
+little in advance of them on their way to the Mountain Fort.
+
+But the trappers had a subtle enemy to deal with.  Just as the Indians
+were about to encamp that night for a few hours' rest, they chanced to
+diverge a short way from the direct line of march, and, in doing so,
+crossed the tracks of the trappers.  A halt was called, and a minute
+inspection of the tracks made.  One of the savages galloped back on them
+a considerable distance, and soon returned with the information that
+they led towards the camp of the pale-faces.  From the appearance of the
+hoof-prints they knew that they were fresh, and thus at once guessed
+that their true intentions had been suspected, and might yet be
+frustrated by the trappers.  Instead of encamping, therefore, they
+pushed on at full speed and very soon came up with the white men.  It
+was a dark night, so that they could not see far in advance of them, and
+thus it happened that the two parties, on entering a narrow defile,
+almost rode into each other, with a yell of fierce surprise on both
+sides.
+
+As there were at least fifty Indians, Redhand thought it better to avoid
+a doubtful combat by scattering his men through the woods, and letting
+each make the best of his way to the fort singly.
+
+"Run, boys! scatter! to the fort!"
+
+This was all that he deemed needful in the way of command or
+explanation.  Firing a single volley at the enemy, they turned and fled.
+
+"Foller me," shouted Waller to the bewildered Bertram, as a shower of
+arrows whistled past their ears.  The artist obeyed mechanically, and in
+another moment they were flying through the wood at a pace that seemed,
+and actually was, reckless under the circumstances.  But the Indians did
+not attempt to pursue.  They knew that their intention had been
+discovered, and that their only chance of success now lay in outriding
+the pale-faces.  The ride, in fact, became a long race, neither party
+making the slightest attempt to hunt up the other, but each straining
+every nerve and muscle to get first to the doomed fort.
+
+The scattered trappers rode for a long time singly, but as they neared
+the fort, one or two of them met, and when they came first in sight of
+the tall flagstaff, Bounce, Redhand, and Gibault rode abreast.
+
+McLeod was standing in front of the fort, when the three horsemen came
+dashing over the plain.  He hastily summoned his men and closed the
+gate, but as the foremost rider came near, he was recognised; the gate
+was thrown open, and they galloped into the square.  In a few hasty
+words their errand was explained.  Arms and ammunition were served out,
+and six men were stationed at the gate, to be in readiness to open it to
+approaching friends, or to shut it in the face of foes.
+
+But the others of the party were not so fortunate as these three.  The
+Indians reached the fort before they did, and one of their number was
+left, unknown to them, in a state of insensibility near the spot where
+the first rencontre had taken place.
+
+When the Indians and trappers met in the narrow defile, as before
+related, one of the arrows, which had been discharged very much at
+random, entered the shoulder of March Marston's horse and wounded it
+mortally.  At first March thought the wound was slight, and, hearing the
+shouts of some of the savages not far behind him, he urged his horse
+forward as rapidly as the nature of the ground would admit of.  Before
+he had gone a quarter of a mile, however, the poor steed fell, throwing
+March over its head.  In his flight the youth's forehead came into
+violent contact with a branch, and he fell to the ground insensible.
+
+His comrades, ignorant of his fate, continued their wild flight.  Thus,
+our hero was forsaken, and left bruised and bleeding in the dark forest.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+MARCH GETS A SURPRISE; MORE THAN THAT, HE GETS A VARIETY OF SURPRISES--
+MEETS WITH A STRANGE HUNTER--GOES IN A STRANGE FASHION TO A STRANGE
+CAVERN AND BEHOLDS STRANGE SIGHTS--BESIDES OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST.
+
+On recovering consciousness, March discovered that it was broad
+daylight--from which he argued in a confused sort of way that he must
+have lain there all night.  He also discovered that his head, which
+ached violently, rested on the knee of some unknown individual, who
+bathed his temples with cold water.  Looking up he encountered the gaze
+of a pair of soft blue eyes.
+
+Now there is something exceedingly captivating in a pair of soft blue
+eyes--not that there may not be something quite as captivating in a pair
+of brown or black or grey eyes--but there is something singularly
+captivating in the peculiar style of captivation wherewith a man is
+captivated by a pair of blue--distinctly _blue_--eyes.  Perhaps it is
+that their resemblance to the cerulean depths of the bright sky and the
+blue profundities of the ocean invests them with a suggestive influence
+that is agreeable to the romantic and idealising tendencies of human
+nature; or that the colour is (or ought to be, if it is not) emblematic
+of purity.  We throw out this suggestion solely for the benefit of
+unimpassioned philosophers.  Those whose hearts are already under the
+pleasant thraldom of black or brown eyes are incapable of forming an
+opinion on the abstract question.
+
+Well, March observed, further, that below those soft blue eyes, there
+was a handsome Roman nose, and immediately below that a moustache, and a
+thick short beard of curly light-brown hair.  A slight, very slight,
+feeling of regret mingled with the astonishment with which March passed
+from the contemplation of the soft blue eyes to the bushy beard.  He
+also noted that the stranger wore a little leathern cap, and that a
+profusion of rich brown hair descended from his head to his shoulders.
+
+"Ye're better, lad," said the owner of the blue eyes in that deep
+musical bass voice which one meets with but rarely, and which resembles
+strongly, at times, the low pipes of a cathedral organ.
+
+"Thankee, yes, I'm--"
+
+"There, don't move yet awhile.  You're badly bruised, lad.  I'll go
+fetch ye another drop o' water."
+
+The owner of the blue eyes rose as he spoke, laid March's head softly on
+the ground, and walked towards a neighbouring brook.  In doing so he
+displayed to the wondering gaze of March the proportions of a truly
+splendid-looking man.  He was considerably above six feet in height, but
+it was not that so much as the herculean build of his chest and
+shoulders that struck March with surprise.  His costume was the ordinary
+leather hunting-shirt and leggings of a backwoodsman, and, although
+deeply bronzed, his colour not less than his blue eyes and brown hair
+told that he was not an Indian.
+
+As he returned, carrying a little birch-bark dish full of water in his
+hand, March observed that the lines of his forehead indicated a mingled
+feeling of anger and sadness, and that his heavy brows frowned somewhat.
+He also noted more clearly now the man's towering height, and the
+enormous breadth of his chest.  As he lay there on his back with his
+head pillowed on a tuft of moss, he said inwardly to himself, "I never
+saw such a fellow as this before in all my life!"
+
+And little wonder that March Marston thought thus, for, as no doubt the
+reader has already guessed, the far-famed Wild Man of the West himself
+stood before him!
+
+But he did not know him.  On the only occasion on which he had had an
+opportunity of beholding this renowned man, March had been rendered
+insensible just as he came on the field, and the exaggerated
+descriptions he had heard of him seemed quite irreconcilable with the
+soft blue eye and gentle manner of the hunter who had come thus
+opportunely to his aid.  For one moment, indeed, the idea did occur to
+March that this was the Wild Man.  It was natural that, having had his
+thoughts for so long a period filled with conjectures in reference to
+this wonderful creature, he should suppose the first tall, mysterious
+man he met must be he.  But he dismissed the notion as untenable and
+absurd on second thoughts.  That the blue-eyed, calm, dignified hunter
+who kneeled by his side, and held the refreshing water to his lips as if
+he were a trained sick nurse, should be the Wild Man, the man reported
+to be forty feet high, covered with hair, and exceeding fierce besides
+ugly, was out of the question.  And when March shut his eyes in the full
+enjoyment of the cool draught, of which, poor fellow, he stood much in
+need, and heard the supposed Wild Man give vent to a sigh, which caused
+him to look up in surprise, so that he observed the mild blue eyes
+gazing sadly in his face, and the large head to which they belonged
+shaking from side to side mournfully, he almost laughed at himself for
+even momentarily entertaining such an absurd idea.
+
+March Marston had much to learn--we mean in the way of reading human
+character and in judging from appearances.  He had not yet observed, in
+the course of his short life, that if a blue eye is capable of
+expressing soft pity, it is also pre-eminently capable of indicating
+tiger-like ferocity.  He did not consider that the gentlest natures are,
+when roused to fury, the most terrible in their outward aspect.  He did
+not reflect that if this giant (for he almost deserved thus to be
+styled), instead of being engaged in an office of kindness, that
+naturally induced gentleness of action, and that called for no other
+feelings than those of tenderness and pity, were placed on a warhorse,
+armed with sword and shield, and roused to fury by some such sight as
+that of a large band of savage Indians attacking a small and innocent
+group of white trappers, he might then amply fulfil all the conditions
+that would entitle him to the wildest possible name that could be
+invented.
+
+The prominent ideas in March's mind at that time were, a pair of blue
+eyes and a large, gentle hand; so he quietly and finally dismissed the
+Wild Man from his thoughts.
+
+Luckily, the Wild Man did not treat March in a similar manner.  After
+allowing him to rest quietly for a few minutes, he said--
+
+"Now, lad, I think ye're improvin'.  Ye're badly battered about the head
+and shoulders, so I'll take ye home with me."
+
+"Home with you?" repeated March.
+
+"Ay, put your arms round my neck," returned the Wild Man in a tone
+which, though soft and low, it was not possible to disobey.
+
+March performed this somewhat endearing action in silent surprise,
+whereupon the Wild Man introduced his left arm below the poor youth's
+back, and with his right grasped him round the legs, and thus lifted him
+from the ground and carried him away.
+
+March experienced a sensation as if all his larger joints were being
+dislocated, and felt disposed to cry out, but restrained himself with a
+powerful effort.  Presently his bearer stopped, and, looking round,
+March observed that he was standing by the side of a horse.
+
+"Hold on, lad, till I mount."
+
+"You'd better let me down till you get up," suggested March.
+
+"No," replied the singularly laconic individual.
+
+Standing as he was, the Wild Man managed by raising March a little to
+lay his left hand on the pommel of his saddle; next moment his foot was
+in the stirrup, the moment after he himself was in the saddle, and a
+touch of his heel sent his horse cantering away towards the mountains.
+
+Had March Marston seen his deliverer at that moment, with his long hair
+waving freely in the breeze, in emulation of the voluminous mane and
+tail of his splendid horse, his thoughts regarding the Wild Man of the
+West would have certainly returned more powerfully than ever.  But March
+did not see him, his eyes being shut, his lips pursed, and his teeth set
+in a heroic attempt to endure the agonies to which he was subjected by
+the motion of the horse.
+
+In half an hour they reached a rocky defile that led up into one of
+those wild, gloomy glens that are so characteristic of the Rocky
+Mountains.  Here the Wild Man had to check his pace and proceed at a
+walk, thereby affording much relief to his wounded companion.
+
+"Art sore i' the bones, lad?" inquired the stout horseman, looking down
+at his charge as if he were a small infant in arms.
+
+"Rather," replied March.  "Don't you think it would be better for me to
+ride behind you?  I think I could manage to hold on."
+
+"No, you couldn't."
+
+"I fear I must be a terrible weight carried in this fashion," urged
+March.
+
+"Weight!" echoed the hunter with a quiet chuckle; but, as he did not
+vouchsafe any further reply, March was left to interpret the expression
+as he thought fit.
+
+"I hope no bones are broken," inquired March in a tone of anxiety.
+
+"Hope not," replied his captor.
+
+We use the word "captor" advisedly, for March was so utterly unable at
+that time, physically as well as morally, to resist the will of this
+strange hunter, that he felt much more like a captive in the grip of a
+mighty jailer than an invalid in the arms of his nurse.
+
+"I fear there are," said March, as a rude motion of the horse caused him
+excruciating agony.
+
+"Very likely," replied the other--not by any means in a careless,
+indifferent way, but with the air and tone of a straightforward man
+giving his opinion in reference to a matter of fact.  "But," he added in
+a consolatory tone, "I'll see when we get home."
+
+"Home!" repeated March.  "Why, where _is_ your home?"
+
+"In the mountains here.  We're about there now."  As he spoke, the
+hunter turned his horse sharp to the left and entered a still more
+narrow and gloomy defile than the one they had just been ascending.  So
+narrow was it, and overshadowed by high precipitous cliffs, that the
+light of day had to struggle for entrance even at noontide.  At night it
+was dark as Erebus.  The horse had considerable difficulty in advancing.
+Indeed no horse that had not been trained to pick its steps among the
+confused masses of rock and debris that formed the bottom of that ravine
+or chasm, could have ascended it at all.  But the fine animal which bore
+March and the Wild Man of the West seemed to act more like a human being
+than a horse in winding out and in among the intricacies of the place.
+
+At length they reached the upper end of the gorge.  Here the cliffs,
+which rose perpendicularly to a height of three or four hundred feet,
+drew so near to each other that at one place they were not more than
+three yards asunder.  Just beyond this point they receded again and
+terminated abruptly in a sort of circle or amphitheatre, the floor of
+which could not have been more than thirty yards in diameter, and was
+covered with small gravel; the sides were quite perpendicular, and rose
+so high that on looking up one felt as if one had got into the bottom of
+a natural tunnel, at the top of which a round bit of bright blue sky
+sent down a few scanty rays of light.
+
+In spite of the pain it caused him, March raised his head and looked
+round as they rode into this gloomy cavernous place.  Then, glancing at
+the face of the strange being who carried him, a feeling of
+superstitious dread took possession of his heart for a moment, as he
+remembered the many conversations he and Bounce had had about evil
+spirits appearing in human form, and he thought that perhaps he had
+actually fallen into the hands of one.  But the grave quiet face, and
+above all the soft blue eyes, quickly put to flight such fears, although
+they could not altogether dispel the solemn awe he felt at being carried
+so suddenly into such a mysterious place.
+
+But he had scarcely recovered some degree of confidence, when his mind
+was again thrown into a violent state of agitation by the fact that the
+horse, turning to the right, began deliberately to ascend the precipice,
+which was as perpendicular as a wall.  It did not indeed ascend after
+the manner of a fly on a window, but it went up on what appeared to be a
+narrow, spiral pathway.  In a few seconds they had ascended about fifty
+feet, and March, projecting out from the precipice as he did, owing to
+his position in the rider's left arm, felt a horrible sensation of
+giddiness come over him, and could not suppress a slight groan.
+
+"Don't be afear'd, lad," said his companion, "I've got ye tight, an' the
+horse is used to it.  The track's broader than ye think, only ye can't
+see it as ye lie now."
+
+March felt reassured; nevertheless, he shut his eyes very tight and held
+his breath.
+
+Presently he felt that they had turned sharp to the right, so he
+ventured to open his eyes, and found that they were standing at the
+mouth of what appeared to be a cavern.  In another moment they were
+under its dark roof and the horse came to a stand.  From the hasty
+glance he gave it, he could only ascertain that the interior was buried
+in profound darkness.
+
+Without causing March to move in any way, the stout horseman dismounted.
+In fact, the burden seemed no greater to him than a child would be to
+an ordinary man.
+
+"Here we are--at home," he said.  "Come, old horse, get away in."
+
+The horse obeyed, and disappeared in the darkness beyond.
+
+"Now, lad, don't be afear'd, I know every fut o' the way.  Ye can shut
+yer eyes an ye like--but there's no occasion."
+
+Saying this, he advanced with a steady tread into the cave, the echoes
+of which were still ringing with the clatter of the horse's hoofs as it
+passed over the stone floor.  It could not have been more than a quarter
+of a minute when they reached the end of what appeared to be the outer
+vestibule of this cavern, though to March it seemed to be more than five
+minutes; and, now that he could no longer see the blue eyes, all manner
+of horrible doubts and fears assailed him.  He felt deeply his helpless
+condition, poor fellow.  Had he been sound in wind and limb he would
+have cared little; for a brave and a strong man naturally feels that he
+can fight a stout battle for life in all or any circumstances.  But part
+of this prop (namely, strength) having been removed by his recent
+accident, he felt like a miserable child.
+
+Doubtless it is good for strong men to be brought thus low sometimes,
+just to prove to them, what they are by nature very slow to believe,
+that they, quite as much as the weak and helpless ones of this world,
+are dependent at all times on their fellows.
+
+On reaching the end of the outer cave, the hunter turned to the left,
+stooped down in order to pass below a small natural arch, and finally
+stood still in the middle of another cavern, on the floor of which he
+deposited his burden with much tenderness and care.
+
+There was light in this cave, but it was so dim as to be insufficient to
+illuminate the surrounding objects.  March perceived on looking up that
+it entered through a small aperture in the side of the cavern near the
+roof, which was not more than twelve feet from the floor.  There were
+several pieces of charred wood on one side of the cave, in which a few
+sparks of fire still lingered.
+
+Without saying a word the owner of this strange abode went towards
+these, and, blowing them into a flame, heaped large logs upon them, so
+that, in ten minutes, the place was brilliantly illuminated with a ruddy
+blaze that did one's heart good to look upon.
+
+By the light of the fire March perceived that he had been deposited on a
+couch of pine-branches.  He was about to make other observations, when
+his captor turned to him and said--
+
+"I'll go an' see to the horse, and be back in a minute; so keep yer mind
+easy."
+
+"And, pray, what name am I to call my host by?" said March, unable to
+restrain his curiosity any longer.
+
+A dark, almost fierce frown covered the man's face, as he said angrily,
+"Boy, curiosity is a bad thing--anywise, it's bad here.  I've brought
+you to this cave 'cause you'd ha' died i' the woods if I hadn't.  Don't
+ask questions about what don't consarn ye."
+
+"Nay, friend, I meant no offence," replied March.  "I've no desire to
+pry into any man's secrets.  Nevertheless, it's but natural to want to
+know how to address a man when ye converse with him."
+
+"True, true," replied the other, somewhat mollified.  "Call me Dick;
+it's as good a name as any, and better than my own."
+
+There was a slight touch of bitterness in the tone in which this was
+said, as the man turned on his heel to quit the cave.
+
+"Stay," cried March, "you only give me one name, friend, so I'll do the
+same by you.  My name's March--there, now you may march about your
+business."
+
+Dick smiled and said, "Well, March, I'll be with ye again, and have a
+look at your sore bones, in two minutes."
+
+When he was gone March, for the first time since his accident, bethought
+him of his comrades.  Since recovering from the state of insensibility
+into which his fall had thrown him, his mind had been so absorbed by the
+strange events that had been presented to him in such rapid succession,
+as well as with the pain that racked his head and limbs, that he had had
+no time to think about them.  But, now that he was left in that quiet
+place alone, the whole circumstances of the recent pursuit and flight
+rushed suddenly upon him, and his mind was filled with anxious
+forebodings as to the fate of his comrades.
+
+"Oh!  I'm glad you've come back," he cried, as Dick re-entered the cave;
+"I quite forgot my comrades--shame on me! but my miserable head has got
+such a smash, that a'most everything's bin drove out of it."
+
+"Time enough to speak o' them after we've seen to your bones," said
+Dick.
+
+"Nay, but--"
+
+"_After_," said Dick in a tone that was not to be gainsaid.
+
+March submitted with a sigh, and his eccentric host proceeded to
+manipulate and punch him in a way that might perhaps have been highly
+necessary, but was by no means agreeable.  After a few minutes he
+pronounced his patient all right, only a little bruised!  Having said
+which, he proceeded to prepare some food, and said to March that he
+might now speak about his comrades.
+
+At first he seemed to pay little attention to the youth's hasty
+narrative; but on hearing that the Indians were hastening to attack the
+Mountain Fort, he sprang up, and asked a few questions eagerly.  It was
+evident that the news troubled him deeply.
+
+Taking one or two hasty strides up and down the cavern, and paying no
+attention to the roasting meat, which he seemed to have utterly
+forgotten, the Wild Man of the West muttered angrily to himself, and a
+slight dash of that tiger-like flash, which had gone so far to earn him
+his title, lighted up his blue eyes, insomuch that March Marston looked
+at him in amazement not unmingled with awe.  Thoughts of the Wild Man of
+the West once more occurred to him; but in his former cogitations on
+that subject he had so thoroughly discarded the idea of this kind,
+blue-eyed hunter being that far-famed and ferocious individual, that his
+thoughts only took the form of the mental question, "I wonder if the
+Wild Man o' the West could beat such a fellow as that at a fair stand-up
+fight?"  So powerfully did this thought affect him, that he could not
+refrain from exclaiming--
+
+"I say, Dick, did you ever hear of the Wild Man of the West?"
+
+Dick was so much tickled by the question that his angry mood vanished,
+and, turning towards his guest with a smile, while his blue eyes seemed
+milder than they ever had appeared before, he said--
+
+"Yes, lad, I've heard of him."
+
+"Have you seen him?" continued March eagerly.
+
+"I have, many a time."
+
+"What is he like?"
+
+"He's like me," replied Dick with another smile, the softness of which
+would have driven March to an immeasurable distance from the truth, had
+he ever been near it.
+
+"Like _you_!  Oh, I suppose you mean he's something about your size.
+Well, I don't wonder at that, for you're an uncommonly big fellow, Dick;
+but I fancy his appearance is very different."
+
+"Well, no.  He's got light hair and blue eyes, like me."
+
+This was a poser to March.  It was so totally subversive of all his
+preconceived ideas, that it reduced him for some moments to silence.
+
+"Isn't he hairy all over, like a fox, and very ugly?" inquired March,
+recovering from his surprise.
+
+This was a poser, in turn, to the Wild Man.  To be called upon suddenly
+to pronounce an opinion on his own looks was embarrassing, to say the
+least of it.
+
+"He's not exactly hairy all over," said Dick after a moment's thought,
+"though it can't be denied he's got plenty of hair on his head and
+chin--like me.  As for his looks, lad, it ain't easy to say whether he's
+ugly or pritty, for men don't agree on sich pints, d'ye see?"
+
+"Do sit down beside me, Dick, and tell me about this Wild Man," said
+March earnestly.  "You can't fancy how anxious I am to see him.  I've
+come here for that very purpose.  No doubt I've come to shoot and trap,
+too, but chiefly to see the Wild Man o' the West.  An' isn't it
+provokin'?  I might have seen him some weeks agone, if I hadn't bin
+stunned with a fall jist as he came jumpin' into the middle o' us like a
+clap o' thunder--"
+
+"What, lad," interrupted Dick, "was it _you_ that I--"
+
+Just at this moment Dick was seized with a very violent fit of coughing,
+which, coming as it did from such a capacious chest and so powerful a
+pair of lungs, caused the roof of the cavern to reverberate with what
+might have been mistaken, outside, for a species of miniature artillery.
+
+"You've caught cold," suggested March, who gazed in unspeakable
+admiration at the magnificent locks and beard of this remarkable man, as
+they shook with the violence of his exertion.
+
+"I _never_ had a cold," replied Dick, becoming quiet again; "there's
+other things as cause a man for to cough, now and agin', besides colds."
+
+"True," rejoined March; "but you were sayin' somethin'--do you know of
+the fight I was speakin' of?"
+
+"Know of it--ay, that do I."
+
+"Why, how did you happen to hear of it?"
+
+"It's wonderful, lad, how I comes to know about things in this part o'
+the country.  I know everything the Wild Man does.  He can't move
+without my bein' on his track d'rectly.  In fact, I follers him like his
+shadow--leastwise, his shadow follers me."
+
+"Indeed," exclaimed March, whose interest in Dick became suddenly
+tenfold more deep on learning this.  "But why do you follow him about in
+this fashion?  Does he like your company, or do you only follow him on
+the sly, and keep out of sight?  Explain yourself, Dick--you puzzle me."
+
+"I can't explain just now, lad," said Dick, rising abruptly.  "You
+forget that your comrades may be in a fix before now wi' them blackguard
+redskins.  I must go an' help them.  It's but right that white men
+should lend one another a helpin' hand in these regions, where the
+Injuns have it almost all their own way."
+
+"But the Mountain Fort is far away from this, an' I'm afraid you'll
+never be able to get there in time," said March with an anxious
+expression of countenance.
+
+"I'll try," returned Dick.  "Anyhow, I'll send the Wild Man o' the West
+to help them," he added with a peculiar smile.  "Now, boy, listen, I
+must not waste more time in idle talk.  I shall leave you here under the
+charge of my little girl--"
+
+"Your little girl!" echoed March in surprise.
+
+"Ay, she ought to have been in before now," continued Dick, without
+noticing the interruption, "an' I would like to ha' told her who ye are,
+and how I come by ye, an' what to do till I come back.  But I can't
+wait; time's precious as gold just now; so I'll tell ye what to say to
+her when she--"
+
+At that moment a light footstep was heard in the outer cavern.  The Wild
+Man sprang up on hearing it, and strode hastily through the natural
+doorway, leaving March to listen, in a state of the utmost bewilderment,
+to a silvery musical voice, which held rapid converse with his strange
+host.
+
+Presently Dick returned, followed by a--_vision in leather_! the sight
+of which struck March Marston dumb, and rendered him for a few moments
+as totally incapable of moving hand, tongue, or foot, as if he had been
+bewitched--which, in a sense, he was.
+
+"This is the little girl I spoke of t'ye," said Dick looking at March,
+and patting the girl on her soft cheek with a hand that might have
+passed for a small shoulder of mutton.  "She'll take good care of ye,
+March.  I've told her what to do; but she don't need to be told.  Now,
+see ye don't do yerself a mischief, lad, till I come back.  It won't be
+long--a day or two, mayhap, more or less; but ye'll take that time to
+mend; you're worse battered than ye think of--so, good-day."
+
+While the Wild Man was ejaculating these sentences abruptly, he was
+striding about the cave with what may be styled _enormous_ vigour,
+picking up and buckling on his weapons of war.  He seized a double-edged
+sword of gigantic proportions, and buckled it to his waist; but March
+saw it not.  He pulled on the scalp-fringed coat of a Blackfoot chief,
+with leggings to match; but March knew it not.  He slung a powder-horn
+and bullet-pouch round his shoulders, stuck a knife and tomahawk into
+his belt, and grasped a long rifle which stood in a corner; and, in
+doing all this, he made such a tremendous clatter, and displayed such
+wonderful activity, and grew so much fiercer to look at in every stage
+of the process, that March would certainly have recurred to the idea of
+the Wild Man, had he been in his ordinary state of mind; but he was
+_not_ in that happy condition.  March knew nothing about it whatever!
+
+Before going, Dick stooped and kissed the "vision" on the cheek.  March
+saw that!  It recalled him for a moment and made him aware of the
+disappearance of his host, and of the loud clattering sounds of his
+charger's hoofs, as he led him at a rapid walk across the outer cave.
+March even heard the general clatter of all his accoutrements, as he
+vaulted into the saddle at one bound, and went down that terrible rocky
+way at a breakneck gallop that would have caused him (March) in other
+circumstances to shudder.  But he did _not_ shudder.  He was but faintly
+aware of these things.  His intellect was overturned; his whole soul was
+captivated; his imagination, his perceptions, his conceptions--all his
+faculties and capacities were utterly overwhelmed and absorbed by that
+wonderful _vision in leather_!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+THE VISION IN LEATHER.
+
+It is all very well for men of the world, men of fashion, men who pride
+themselves on being highly civilised and peculiarly refined, to fancy
+that there are no other visions in this world than "visions in silk,"
+"visions in white," and the like.  Those who think thus labour under an
+egregious, though a civilised, mistake.
+
+Happily there are kind, loving, pretty faces in this world, the
+possessors of which know nothing about pink gauze or white muslin--faces
+that have never felt the hot air of a drawing-room, but are much used to
+present themselves, unveiled, to the fresh breezes of the prairie and
+the mountain; faces that possess the rare quality of universal
+attraction, and that cause men to fancy, when they see them for the
+first time, that they have beheld a vision!
+
+The fact is that some faces are visions, whether the forms that support
+them appear to us in muslin or in deerskin.  The only requisite needful
+to constitute a face a vision to any particular person, is that it
+should have in it that peculiar _something_ which everybody wants, but
+which nobody can define; which is ineffably charming, though utterly
+incomprehensible; and which, when once seen by any one, constitutes the
+countenance that possesses it a vision evermore!
+
+It is quite immaterial what material composes the dress in which the
+vision appears.  No doubt, the first time it bursts upon the smitten
+victim, dress may be a powerful auxiliary; but, after the first time,
+dress goes for little or nothing.  March Marston's vision appeared, as
+we have said in leather.
+
+After the Wild Man had vanished, March continued to gaze at his new
+companion with all kinds of feelings and emotions, but without being
+able to move or speak.  The vision returned the compliment, also without
+speaking or taking any further notice of him.
+
+She was a wonderful creature, that vision in leather!  That she was of
+Indian extraction was evident from the hue of her skin, yet she was not
+nearly so dark as the lightest complexioned Indian.  In fact her clear
+soft forehead was whiter than those of many so-called pale-faces; but
+her ruddy cheeks, her light-brown hair, and, above all, her bright brown
+eye showed that white blood ran in her veins.  She was what men term a
+half-caste.  She was young, almost girlish in her figure and deportment;
+but the earnest gravity of her pretty face caused her to appear older
+than she really was.  March, unconsciously and without an effort,
+guessed her to be sixteen.  He was wrong.  She had only seen fifteen
+summers.
+
+Her dress was a beautifully dressed deerskin gown, reaching below the
+knees, as soft as chamois leather, and ornamented with beads and quill
+work.  It was girded round her small waist by a leather belt, from which
+depended a small hunting-knife.  A pair of ornamental leggings of the
+same material as the gown covered her limbs, and moccasins her feet,
+which latter, as well as her hands, were small and beautifully formed.
+Over her shoulders were slung the masculine appendages of a powder-horn
+and bullet-pouch, proving that this creature was, so to speak, a Dianic
+vision.
+
+Her staring so hard and so long at March without speaking or smiling, or
+taking any more notice of him than if he had been an effigy on a
+tombstone, seemed unaccountable to that youth.  Had he been able to look
+at himself from her point of view he would not have been so much
+surprised.
+
+In his late accident he had received so severe a blow on the left eye
+that that orb was altogether shut up.  As he did not move, and as the
+other eye, with which he gazed in supreme astonishment at the sweet face
+before him, happened to be farthest from the fire, besides being hid in
+the shadow of his own nose--which was not a small one by nature, and was
+a peculiarly large one by force of recent circumstances--the vision very
+naturally thought that he was fast asleep.  As she stood there gazing
+wonderingly and somewhat sadly at the poor youth, with the red
+flickering flame of the fire lighting up her yellow garments, deepening
+the red on her round cheeks, glinting on the loose masses of her rich
+tresses, and sparkling in the depths of her bright brown eyes, March
+thought he had never in all his life before beheld such an exquisite
+creature.
+
+Supposing that he was asleep, the vision sat down quietly on a log
+beside the fire, still keeping her eyes, however, fixed on her guest.
+The action took her out of "the direct line of fire" of March's sound
+eye, therefore he turned his head abruptly, and so brought his staring
+orb into the light of the fire, and revealed the fact that he was
+wide-awake; whereupon the vision uttered an exclamation of surprise,
+rose hastily, and went to his side.
+
+"You is woke," she said.  "Me tink you was be sleep."
+
+"Asleep!" cried March with enthusiasm, "no, I wasn't asleep.  More than
+that, I'll never go to sleep any more."
+
+This bold assertion naturally filled the vision with surprise.
+
+"Why for not?" she asked, sitting down on a log beside March in such a
+position that she could see him easily.
+
+"For thinkin' o' _you_!" replied the bold youth firmly.
+
+The vision looked at him in still greater astonishment, opening her eyes
+slowly until they seemed like two pellucid lakelets of unfathomable
+depth into which March felt inclined to fling himself, clothes and all,
+and be drowned comfortably.  She then looked at the fire, then at March
+again.  It was evident that she had not been accustomed to hold
+intercourse with jocular minds.  Perceiving this, March at once changed
+his tone, and, with a feeling of respect which he could not well account
+for, said rather bluntly--
+
+"What's your name?"
+
+"Mary."
+
+"Ay! did your father give you that name?"
+
+"My father?" echoed the girl, looking hastily up.
+
+"Ay, did Dick give it you?"
+
+"Did him tell you him's name be Dick?" asked Mary.
+
+"Oh! he's known by another name to you, then, it would seem.  But, Mary,
+what _is_ his name?"
+
+The girl pursed her mouth and laid her finger on it.  Then, with a
+little sad smile, said--
+
+"Him tell you Dick, that be good name.  But Dick not my father.  My
+father dead."
+
+The poor thing said this so slowly and in such a low pathetic tone that
+March felt sorry for having unwittingly touched a tender chord.  He
+hastened to change the subject by saying--
+
+"Is Dick kind to you, Mary?"
+
+"Kind," she cried, looking up with a flashing eye and flushed face,
+while with one of her little hands she tossed back her luxuriant
+tresses.  "Kind!  Him be my father _now_.  No have got nobody to love me
+now but him."
+
+"Yes, you have, Mary," said March stoutly.
+
+Mary looked at him in surprise, and said, "Who?"
+
+"Me!" replied March.
+
+Mary said nothing to this.  It was quite clear that the Wild Man must
+have neglected her education sadly.  She did not even smile; she merely
+shook her head, and gazed abstractedly at the embers of the fire.
+
+"Dick is not your father, Mary," continued March energetically, "but he
+has become your father.  I am not your brother, but I'll become your
+brother--if you'll let me."
+
+March in his enthusiasm tried to raise himself; consequently he fell
+back and drowned Mary's answer in a groan of anguish.  But he was not to
+be baulked.
+
+"What said you?" he inquired after a moment's pause.
+
+"Me say you be very good."
+
+She said this so calmly that March felt severely disappointed.  In the
+height of his enthusiasm he forgot that the poor girl had as yet seen
+nothing to draw out her feelings towards him as his had been drawn out
+towards her.  She had seen no "vision," except, indeed, the vision of a
+wretched, dishevelled youth, of an abrupt, excitable temperament, with
+one side of his countenance scratched in a most disreputable manner, and
+the other side swelled and mottled to such an extent that it resembled a
+cheap plum-pudding with the fruit unequally and sparsely distributed
+over its yellow surface.
+
+March was mollified, however, when the girl suggested that his pillow
+seemed uncomfortable, and rose to adjust it with tender care.  Then she
+said: "Now me bring blankit.  You go sleep.  Me sit here till you sleep,
+after that me go away.  If ye wants me, holler out.  Me sleep in next
+room."
+
+So saying, this wonderful creature flitted across the cavern and
+vanished, thereby revealing to March the fact that there was a third
+cavern in that place.  Presently she returned with a green blanket, and
+spread it over him, after which she sat down by the fire and seemed
+absorbed in her private meditations while March tried to sleep.
+
+But what a night March had of it!  Whichever way he turned, that vision
+was ever before his eyes.  When he awoke with a start, there she was,
+bending over the fire.  When he dreamed, there she was, floating in an
+atmosphere of blue stars.  Sometimes she was smiling on him, sometimes
+gazing sadly, but never otherwise than sweetly.  Presently he saw her
+sitting on Dick's knee, twisting his great moustache with her delicate
+hand, and he was about to ask Dick how he had managed to get back so
+soon, when he (the Wild Man) suddenly changed into March's own mother,
+who clasped the vision fervently to her breast and called her her own
+darling son!  There was no end to it.  She never left him.  Sometimes
+she appeared in curious forms and in odd aspects--though always pleasant
+and sweet to look upon.  Sometimes she was dancing gracefully like an
+embodied zephyr on the floor; frequently walking in mid-air;
+occasionally perambulating the ceiling of the cave.  She often changed
+her place, but she never went away.  There was no escape.  And March was
+glad of it.  He didn't want to escape.  He was only too happy to court
+the phantom.  But it did not require courting.  It hovered over him,
+walked round him, sat beside him, beckoned to him, and smiled at him.
+Never,--no, never since the world began was any scratched and battered
+youth so thoroughly badgered and bewitched, as was poor March Marston on
+that memorable night, by that naughty vision in leather!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+THE CAVE OF THE WILD MAN OF THE WEST--MARCH AND MARY HOLD PLEASANT
+INTERCOURSE--DICK'S GOOD QUALITIES ENLARGED ON--THE WILD MAN GIVES A
+REDSKIN A STRANGE LESSON--A STARTLING INTERRUPTION TO PLEASANT CONVERSE.
+
+When March Marston awoke the following morning, and found himself lying
+on a low couch in the mysterious cavern of the Wild Man of the West, he
+experienced the curious sensation, with which every one is more or less
+familiar, of not knowing where he was.
+
+The vision in leather, which had worried him to such an extent during
+the night, had left him in peace--as most visions usually do--an hour or
+so before daybreak, and as the real vision had not yet issued from the
+inner chamber of the cave, there was nothing familiar near him when he
+awoke to recall his scattered senses.  His first effort to rise,
+however, quickened his memory amazingly.  Pains shot through all his
+limbs: the chase, the fall, Dick, the cavern, recurred to him; and
+last--but not least, for it obliterated and swallowed up all the rest--
+the vision broke upon his beclouded brain and cleared his faculties.
+
+Looking curiously round the cavern, he observed for the first time--what
+he might have observed the night before had he not been preoccupied with
+sudden, numerous, and powerful surprises--that the walls were hung with
+arms and trophies of the chase.  Just opposite to him hung the skin of
+an enormous grisly bear, with the head and skull entire, and the mouth
+and teeth grinning at him in an awful manner.  Near to this were the
+skin and horns of several buffaloes.  In other places there were more
+horns, and heads, and hides of bears of various kinds, as well as of
+deer, and, conspicuous above the entrance, hung the ungainly skull and
+ponderous horns of an elk.
+
+Mingled with these, and arranged in such a manner as to prove that Dick,
+or the vision--one or other, or both--were by no means destitute of
+taste, hung various spears, and bows, and quivers, and shields of Indian
+manufacture, with spears and bows whose form seemed to indicate that
+Dick himself was their fabricator.  There was much of tasteful ornament
+on the sheaths and handles of many of these weapons.
+
+The floor of the apartment in which he lay was of solid rock, cleanly
+washed and swept, but there was no furniture of any kind--only a pile of
+fresh-cut pine-branches, with which the place was perfumed, and two or
+three rough logs which had been used as seats the night before by the
+host and hostess of this--to March--enchanted castle.
+
+March was staring earnestly at one of these logs which lay close to the
+ashes of the fire, trying to recall the form that had last occupied it,
+when a rustle at the inner passage attracted his attention, and next
+moment the vision again stood before him.  It was, if possible, more
+innocent and young and sweet than on the previous night.
+
+"Good mornin'.  You very good sleep, me hope?"
+
+"Ay, that had I, a capital sleep," cried March heartily, holding out his
+hand, which the vision grasped unhesitatingly, and shook with manly
+vigour.
+
+"Bees you hongray?"
+
+"No, not a bit," said March.
+
+The girl looked sad at this.  "You muss heat," she said quickly, at the
+same time raking together the embers of the fire, and blowing them up
+into a flame, over which she placed a large iron pot.  "Dick hims always
+heat well an' keep well.  Once me was be sick.  Dick him say to me,
+`Heat.'  Me say, `No want heat.'  Hims say, `You _muss_ heat.'  So me
+try; an' sure 'nuff, get well to-morrow."
+
+March laughed at this prompt and effectual remedy for disease, and said,
+"Well, I'll try.  Perhaps it will cure me, especially if you feed me."
+
+Poor March saw, by the simplicity of his companion's looks, that
+gallantry and compliments were alike thrown away on her; so he resolved
+to try them no more.  Having come to this conclusion, he said--
+
+"I say, Mary, come and sit by me while I talk with you.  I want to know
+how you came to be in this wild, out-o'-the-way place, and who Dick is,
+and what brought him here, an' in short, all about it."
+
+The girl drew her log near as he desired, but said, "What Dick no tell,
+me no tell."
+
+"But, surely," urged March in a somewhat testy tone, "you may tell me
+_something_ about ye."
+
+Mary shook her head.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Dick say, `No tell.'"
+
+"Oh!  Dick's an ass!"
+
+Had Mary known the meaning of her companion's rude speech, she might
+possibly have surprised him with a decided opinion in regard to himself.
+But, never having heard of nor seen such a creature in all her life,
+she only looked up with a quiet expression of curiosity, and said--
+
+"What bees an ass?"
+
+"Ha! ha!--ho! he! a--" roared our hero, with a mingled feeling of
+exasperation and savage glee--"an ass?  Why, it's a lovely slender
+creature, with short pretty ears and taper limbs, and a sleek, glossy
+coat, like--like _me_, Mary, dear; why, I'm an ass myself.  Pray, do get
+me somethin' to eat.  I really believe my appetite's comin' back agin."
+
+Mary looked at March in much concern.  She had once nursed the Wild Man
+through a severe illness, and knew what delirium was, and she began to
+suspect that her guest was beginning to give way.
+
+"Now, lie down," she said with an air of decision that was almost
+ludicrous in one so youthful.  Yet March felt that he must obey.  "Me
+will git meat ready.  You sleep littil bit."
+
+March shut his eyes at once; but, the instant that Mary turned to attend
+to the iron kettle, he opened them, and continued to gaze at the busy
+little housewife, until she chanced to look in his direction, when he
+shut them again quickly, and very tight.  This was done twice; but the
+third time Mary caught him in the act, and broke into a merry laugh.  It
+was the first time she had laughed aloud since March met her; so he
+laughed too, out of sheer delight and sympathy.
+
+When March had finished breakfast, he tried to get up, and found, to his
+great relief and satisfaction, that no bones were broken--a fact of
+which he had stood in considerable doubt--and that his muscles were less
+acutely pained than they had been.  Still, he was very stiff, and quite
+unable, with any degree of comfort, to walk across the cave; so he made
+up his mind to lie there till he got well--a resolution which, in the
+pride of his heart, he deemed exceedingly virtuous and praiseworthy,
+forgetting, either deliberately or stupidly, that the presence of Mary
+rendered that otherwise dull cavern the most delightful of sick
+chambers, and that her attendance was ample compensation and reward for
+any amount of pain or self-denial.
+
+"Mary," he said, when she had cleared away the debris of the morning
+meal, "sit down here, and tell me a few things.  You're so terribly
+close that one doesn't know what he may ask an' what he mayn't.  But if
+you don't like to speak, you can hold your tongue, you know.  Now, tell
+me, how old are you?"
+
+"Fifteen," replied Mary.
+
+"Ay!  I thought ye'd been older.  How long have ye bin with Dick?"
+
+"In cave here--ten year.  Before that, me live in my father's wigwam."
+
+"Was yer father a trapper?" inquired March tenderly.
+
+Mary's face at once assumed an expression of earnest gravity, and she
+answered, "Yes," in a low, sad tone.
+
+March was going to have inquired further on this point, but fear lest he
+should hurt the feelings of the poor child induced him to change the
+subject.
+
+"And how came ye," said he, "first to meet with Dick?"
+
+Mary pressed her lips.
+
+"Oh! very well; don't tell if it ain't right, by no manner o' means.  Do
+ye think that Dick intends to keep ye here always?"
+
+"Me not know."
+
+"Humph!  An' you say he's good to ye?"
+
+"Oh yes," cried Mary with a sudden blaze of animation on her usually
+placid countenance, "him's good, very good--gooder to me than nobody
+else."
+
+"Well, I could have guessed that, seein' that nobody else has had
+anything to do with ye but him for ten years past."
+
+"But him's not only good to me--good to everybody," continued the girl
+with increasing animation.  "You not know _how_ good--can't know."
+
+"Certainly not," assented March; "it ain't possible to know, not havin'
+bin told; but if you'll tell me I'll listen."
+
+March Marston had at last struck a chord that vibrated intensely in the
+bosom of the warm-hearted child.  She drew her log closer to him in her
+eagerness to dilate on the goodness of her adopted father, and began to
+pour into his willing ears such revelations of the kind and noble deeds
+that he had done, that March was fired with enthusiasm, and began to
+regard his friend Dick in the light of a demigod.  Greatheart, in the
+"Pilgrim's Progress," seemed most like to him, he thought, only Dick
+seemed grander, which was a natural feeling; for Bunyan drew his
+Greatheart true to nature, while Mary and March had invested Dick with a
+robe of romance, which glittered so much that he looked preternaturally
+huge.
+
+March listened with rapt attention; but as the reader is not March, we
+will not give the narrative in Mary's bad English.  Suffice it to say,
+that she told how, on one occasion, Dick happened to be out hunting near
+to a river, into which he saw a little Indian child fall.  It was
+carried swiftly by the current to a cataract fifty feet high, and in a
+few minutes would have been over and dashed to pieces, when Dick happily
+saw it, and plunging in brought it safe to shore, yet with such
+difficulty that he barely gained the bank, and grasped the branch of an
+overhanging willow, when his legs were drawn over the edge of the fall.
+He had to hold on for ten minutes, till men came from the other side of
+the stream to his assistance.
+
+Mary also told him (and it was evening ere she finished all she had to
+tell him) how that, on another occasion, Dick was out after grislies
+with a hunter, who had somehow allowed himself to be caught by a bear,
+and would have been torn in pieces had not Dick come up with his great
+two-edged sword--having fired off his rifle without effect--and, with
+one mighty sweep at the monster's neck, cut right through its jugular
+vein, and all its other veins, down to the very marrow of its backbone;
+in fact, killed it at one blow--a feat which no one had ever done, or
+had ever heard of as being done, from the days of the first Indian to
+that hour.
+
+Many such stories did Mary relate to the poor invalid, who bore his
+sufferings with exemplary patience and fortitude, and listened with
+unflagging interest; but of all the stories she told, none seemed to
+afford her so much pleasure in the telling as the following:--
+
+One day Dick went out to hunt buffaloes, on his big horse, for he had
+several steeds, one or other of which he rode according to fancy; but he
+always mounted the big black one when he went after the buffalo or to
+war.  Mary here explained, very carefully, that Dick never went to war
+on his own account--that he was really a man of peace, but that, when he
+saw oppression and cruelty, his blood boiled within him at such a rate
+that he almost went mad, and often, under the excitement of hot
+indignation, would he dash into the midst of a band of savages and
+scatter them right and left like autumn leaves.
+
+Well, as he was riding along among the mountains, near the banks of a
+broad stream, and not far from the edge of the great prairie, he came
+suddenly on an object that caused his eyes to glare and his teeth to
+grind; for there, under the shade of a few branches, with a pot of water
+by her side, sat an old Indian woman.  Dick did not need to ask what she
+was doing there.  He knew the ways of the redskins too well to remain a
+moment in doubt.  She had grown so old and feeble that her relations had
+found her burdensome; so, according to custom, they left her there to
+die.  The poor old creature knew that she was a burden to them.  She
+knew also the customs of her tribe--it was at her own request she had
+been left there, a willing victim to an inevitable fate, because she
+felt that her beloved children would get on better without her.  They
+made no objection.  Food, to last for a few days, was put within reach
+of her trembling hand; a fire was kindled, and a little pile of wood
+placed beside it, also within reach.  Then they left her.  They knew
+that when that food was consumed, and the last stick placed upon the
+fire, the shrunken limbs would stand in no need of warmth--the old heart
+would be still.  Yet that heart had once beat joyfully at the sound of
+those pattering feet that now retired with heavy ruthless tread for
+ever.  What a commentary on savage life!  What a contrast between the
+promptings of the unregenerate heart of man and the precepts of that
+blessed--thrice blessed Gospel of Jesus Christ, where love, unalterable,
+inextinguishable, glows in every lesson and sweetens every command.
+
+When Dick came upon her suddenly, as we have said, he was not ten paces
+distant from the spot where she sat; but she was apparently deaf and
+blind, for she evinced no knowledge of his presence.  She was reaching
+out her skinny arm to place another stick upon the sinking fire at the
+time, for it was a sharp and cold, though a bright and sunny autumn day.
+Dick stopped his horse, crushed his teeth together, and sat for a few
+moments regarding her intently.
+
+Either the firewood had originally been placed too far away from the old
+woman's hand, or she had shifted her position, for she could not reach
+it.  Once and again she made the effort--she stretched out her withered
+arm and succeeded in just touching the end of one of the pieces of wood,
+but could not grasp it.  She pawed it once or twice, and then gave up
+the attempt with a little sigh.  Drawing herself slowly together, she
+gathered up the rabbit-skin blanket which rested on her shoulders and
+attempted feebly to fold it across her chest.  Then she slowly drooped
+her white head, with an expression of calm resignation on her old
+wrinkled visage.
+
+Dick's great heart almost burst with conflicting emotions.  The wrath
+that welled up as he thought of the deserters was met by a gush of
+tender pity as he gazed through blinding tears on the deserted.  With a
+fling that caused his stout warhorse to stagger, he leaped to the
+ground, tore open the breast of his hunting-shirt, and, sitting down
+beside the old woman, placed her cold hand in his bosom.
+
+She uttered a feeble cry and made a slight momentary effort to resist;
+but Dick's act, though promptly, was, nevertheless, tenderly done, and
+the big hand that stroked her white head was so evidently that of a
+friend, that the poor creature resigned herself to the enjoyment of that
+warmth of which she stood so much in need.  Meanwhile Dick, without
+shifting his position, stretched forth his long arm, collected all the
+wood within reach, and placed it on the fire.
+
+After a few minutes the old woman raised her head, and looking earnestly
+in Dick's face with her bleared and almost sightless eyes, said in the
+Indian language, with which her companion was well acquainted--
+
+"My son, have you come back to me?"
+
+A gush of indignant feeling had again to be violently stifled ere Dick
+could answer in moderate tones--
+
+"No, mother, he's _not_ come back; but I'll be a son to ye.  See, sit up
+an' warm yerself at the blaze.  I'll get ye some meat and sticks."
+
+In hot haste, and with desperate activity, for he had no other way of
+relieving his feelings, Dick cut down a quantity of firewood and placed
+it close to the hand of the old woman.  Then he untied the tin kettle
+which he always carried at his saddle-bow, and, with a piece of dried
+venison, concocted a quantity of hot soup in a marvellously short space
+of time.  This done, he sat down beside the old woman and made her
+partake of it.
+
+"Is it long since they left ye, mother?" he said, after she had
+swallowed a little.
+
+The old woman pondered for a few seconds.  "No," she said, "not long.
+Only one sun has gone down since my son left me."  Then she added in a
+sad tone, "I loved him.  He is a great warrior--a brave chief--and he
+loved me, too.  But he had to leave me; I am old and useless.  It is my
+fate."
+
+"Describe your son to me," said Dick abruptly.  "He is tall and straight
+as the poplar," began the old creature, while a look of pride played for
+a moment on her withered countenance.  "His shoulders are broad and his
+limbs are supple.  He can run and leap like the deer, but not so well as
+he once could.  Grey hairs are now mingling with the black--"
+
+"Has he any mark by which I could find him out?" interrupted Dick
+impatiently.
+
+"He has a deep cut over the right eye," returned the woman; "but stay,"
+she added in some alarm, "you would not harm my son; you are not an
+enemy?"
+
+"No, I would not; I would do him good.  Which way did they go?"
+
+"To the prairie--to the rising sun."
+
+Dick at once arose, placed the kettle of soup close to the old woman's
+side, and unbuckling his saddle-girth, removed the blanket that covered
+his saddle, and transferred it to her shoulders.
+
+This done, without uttering another word, he vaulted into his saddle,
+and dashed away as if he were flying for his life.  The old woman
+listened until the clatter of his horse's hoofs ceased to beat upon her
+deadened ear, and then bent her head, as at the first, in calm
+resignation.  Doubtless she fancied that another fellow-creature had
+forsaken her, and that the end would soon come.
+
+But Dick had not forsaken her.  He bounded along over the rugged ground
+on the mettlesome steed, striking fire from the flinty rocks, leaping
+creeks and rivulets, bursting through bush and brake, mile after mile,
+until he gained the open prairie, while the black coat of his charger
+was speckled with foam.  Here he drew rein, and trotted hither and
+thither in search of the tracks of the Indians.  He found them at last,
+and dismounted to examine them, for, save to the eye of a trapper or a
+redman, there were no visible tracks on that hard turf.
+
+Remounting, he resumed his headlong course--sweeping over the springy
+turf of the plains as if his horse were a winged Pegasus, whose energies
+could not know exhaustion.  All day he rode, and as evening drew on he
+came in sight of the tribe of Indians.
+
+They had encamped for the night, and were preparing their evening meal;
+but when they saw the solitary horseman on the far-off horizon, the
+braves and old men went to the verge of the camp to watch him.  On he
+came, bounding over the turf like the prong-horned antelope, turning
+neither to the right hand nor to the left, but taking everything that
+intercepted him in a flying leap, and bearing down on the camp as an
+arrow flies from the bow.
+
+Although a single horseman is not usually an object of terror to a band
+of Indians, these braves soon began to evince by their looks that they
+did not feel easy in regard to this one.  As he drew near they
+recognised him; for Dick had on a former occasion given this particular
+tribe a taste of his prowess.  Each man instantly rushed to his weapons
+and horse; but the horses had been turned out to graze, and could not be
+easily caught.  Before they secured their weapons Dick was in the midst
+of them.  With an eagle glance he singled out the chief with the cut
+over his right eye, and rode between him and his tent.  The Indian,
+seeing that he was cut off from his weapons, darted swiftly out upon the
+plain, and made for a clump of stunted trees, hoping to find shelter
+until his comrades could come to his rescue.  But Dick was there before
+him, and rode down upon him in such a way that he was compelled to take
+to the open plain and run for his life.
+
+His pursuer allowed him to run, keeping just close enough to him to
+force him into the particular course he desired him to take.  But the
+savage proved, indeed, to be what his mother had styled him--a brave
+chief.  Apparently resolving rather to die than to be hunted thus like a
+wolf, he halted suddenly, turned sharp round, and, crossing his arms on
+his bare chest, looked Dick full in the face as he came up.  Just as he
+was within ten yards of him, the Indian drew his knife, and hurled it at
+the breast of his enemy with such violence that it hissed in its passage
+through the air.  Dick received it on his shield, where it stood
+quivering.  Plucking it therefrom with a grim smile, he placed it in his
+own girdle, and riding up to the Indian, sternly bade him mount in front
+of him.
+
+There was no refusing to obey that voice.  The Indian cast one uneasy
+glance towards his camp, which was now far away on the plain, but there
+was no sign of any one coming to the rescue.  His captor had got the
+credit of being an evil spirit, and he felt that he was left to his
+fate.  A hasty repetition of the order compelled him to turn and seize
+the mane of the horse.  Dick held out his toe for him to step on; the
+next moment he was seated in front of the pale-face, galloping towards
+the mountains.
+
+Whatever astonishment the Indian felt at this singular treatment, or
+whatever his curiosity as to the result of it all, his countenance
+expressed nothing but calm scorn and defiance.  He was evidently working
+himself into that state of mind which these redskin warriors endeavour
+to assume when they are captured and taken to the stake and the torture,
+there to prove their title to the name of brave by enduring the most
+inconceivable agonies with stoical indifference, or there to bring
+discredit on their tribe, infamy on their name, and joy to their
+enemies, by breaking down under the infliction of tortures at the bare
+mention of which humanity shudders.
+
+For some time they maintained the same headlong speed.  When, however,
+all danger of pursuit was over, Dick drew rein, and proceeded more
+leisurely, in order to relieve his now jaded steed.  But that was a
+steed of the true metal.  It possessed that generous spirit which would
+have induced it willingly to exert itself even to the death.  Its owner
+might have ridden it till it fell prostrate and dying on the plain, but
+he could not have ridden it to the point of refusing to advance because
+of exhaustion.  He was merciful to it, and went slowly during the night;
+but he did not come to a final halt until the rising sun found him close
+to the camp of the dying woman.
+
+The Indian now for the first time began partly to guess the object of
+his having been brought there, and steeled his heart to bear whatever
+might await him.
+
+Dick dismounted, and grasping the Indian with a force that showed him
+how helpless he would be in a personal struggle should he venture to
+attempt it, led him forward, and placed him a few paces in front of his
+dying mother.
+
+She was sitting just as she had been left, but the fire had gone out,
+and she trembled violently beneath the blanket which she had sought to
+pull closer around her wasted form.  Dick blamed himself mentally for
+having put so little wood on the fire, and proceeded to rekindle it;
+but, before doing so, he took a chain from his saddle-bow, with which he
+fastened the Indian to a tree that stood exactly opposite the spot on
+which the old woman sat, and not ten paces distant.  He bound him in
+such a way that he could sit on the ground and lean his back against the
+tree, but he could neither stand up nor lie down.
+
+For the first time the countenance of the savage betrayed uneasiness.
+He believed, no doubt, that he was to be left to witness the dying
+agonies of his mother, and the thought filled him with horror.  To leave
+her, as he did, to perish, had not been difficult, because he knew that
+he should not see the act of perishing; but to be brought there and
+compelled to witness this terrible doom acted out in all its minute and
+horrible details on the mother whom he had once loved so tenderly, was
+maddening to think of.  All the dread tortures that had yet been
+invented and practised on warriors must have seemed to him as nothing
+compared with this awful device of the pale-face, on whom he now glared
+with the eyes of implacable hate and ferocity.
+
+"Will the pale-face," he said fiercely, "cast me loose, and meet me hand
+to hand in a fair fight?  Surely," he added, changing his tone to one of
+ineffable scorn, "the pale-face is not weak, he is not a small man, that
+he should fear a chief like Bighorn."
+
+"Hark'ee!  Bighorn," said Dick, striding up to him, and laying the cold
+edge of his hatchet on the Indian's forehead; "if you speak another word
+above yer breath, the pale-face will cleave ye to the chin."
+
+There was something so thoroughly resolute in Dick's voice that the
+Indian was cowed effectually.
+
+The fire was soon lighted, and Dick chafed and warmed the limbs of the
+old woman until he brought back the vital spark.  Then he set on the
+kettle to boil.  While a new mess was preparing, he went into the wood,
+and, with lusty blows, brought down the trees and cut them into huge
+billets, which he piled upon the fire until it roared again, and the
+heart of the feeble creature began to beat once more with somewhat of
+its wonted vigour.  This done, he arranged a couch in such a way that
+she might get the full benefit of the heat without being scorched; after
+which he rubbed down his good steed and cast it loose to feed.  Then he
+cooked and ate some food, but offered never a bit to the Indian, who
+gazed at him as he performed these various actions with ever-increasing
+amazement and anxiety.
+
+Then Dick sat down beside the old woman, to feed and tend her till she
+should die; and he knew the signs of death too well to suppose that his
+care would long be required.  All that day, and all that night, and all
+the next day, did the trapper, the old woman, and the Indian, remain in
+much the same position.  Dick moved about a little, to give the old
+woman food and drink as she required it, and to wrap the blanket more
+comfortably round her, for which kind deeds the poor creature often
+tried to gaze fondly in his face with her sightless eyes.
+
+During all this time her son sat opposite, observing every look and
+motion, yet unable himself to move.  The pangs of hunger now began to
+gnaw within him, and from his cramped position, he became so cold that
+he trembled violently in every limb, despite his efforts to command
+himself.  But Dick paid no attention whatever to him; he knew that he
+was strong, and could stand it.  Once the Indian implored his jailer to
+give him some food, but Dick said sternly, "I'll give ye food before ye
+die, _if ye keep quiet_."
+
+At last, about nightfall of the second day, the sands of life began to
+run slowly.  Dick saw that the old woman's end was approaching, so he
+rose, and, going towards her son, he placed food before him.  He
+devoured it ravenously.  Then he gave him drink, and, loosing him, led
+him to the fire, where he speedily recovered his wonted heat and energy.
+After that, Dick led him to his mother's side and made him kneel.
+
+"Mother," said Dick, "can you see and hear me?"
+
+"Ay; but you are not my son," said the dying woman faintly.  "You are a
+pale-face--you are very good--but you are not my son."
+
+"True, mother; but see, I have brought your son back to you!--Lay your
+hand on her forehead," he added in that low, stern undertone which he
+had used throughout to Bighorn, who could not but obey.  "Stroke her
+head, look in her eyes, and speak to her."
+
+The redman did not require to be told now.  A natural impulse led him to
+do as he was bid.  The instant the tones of his voice struck her ear,
+the old woman seemed to awaken with a start; she looked up eagerly,
+caught the hand that touched her forehead, and, passing her own thin
+hand up to the Indian's face, felt the scar over his eye, as if to
+render herself doubly sure.  Then she grasped the hand again in both of
+hers, and, taking it under the blanket, pressed it to her withered
+breast and held it tightly there.
+
+But that burst of unexpected joy hastened the falling of the last few
+grains of sand.  For ten minutes longer they watched her as the breath
+went and came more and more feebly.  Then it ceased altogether, and
+death sealed her eyes.  But she did not release the hand of her son.  He
+had some difficulty in loosening that clasp of maternal love which was
+stronger even than death.
+
+After all was over, Dick seized the Indian and led him to the tree, to
+which he chained him again.  Then he dug a grave in the soft soil, in
+which he placed the body of the old woman with gentle care.  Having
+covered it over he went into the woods, caught and saddled his horse,
+and led him towards the wondering savage, whom he once more unbound and
+set free.
+
+"Bighorn," said Dick impressively, "you've been made to comfort and
+gladden the heart o' yer old mother in her last moments.  If ye was a
+pale-face, ye'd thank the Great Spirit for that to the last day o' yer
+life.  If ye ever do come to think like the pale-faces, you'll remember
+that you've to thank me for bringing ye here.  Go, tell the redskins who
+it is that caught ye, and what he did and said to ye."
+
+Saying this, Dick mounted his horse and rode very slowly into the
+forest, leaving the redman standing by the side of his mother's grave.
+
+After Mary had concluded this story, which, we may remark, she related
+with much fewer comments than we have seen fit to pass upon it, she and
+March looked at each other for a long time in silence.  Then March
+suddenly exclaimed--
+
+"He's a splendid fellow--Dick!"
+
+Mary, both by looks and words, highly approved of this opinion.  "And
+yet," said she somewhat abstractedly, "this bees the man who peepils
+call--"
+
+Mary pursed her lips suddenly.
+
+"Call _what_?" inquired March quickly.
+
+"Wicked, wild, bad man," replied Mary, who, fortunately, could say all
+this with perfect truth without betraying her secret.  In fact, poor
+Mary had never had a secret confided to her before, and having been told
+by the Wild Man of the West that she was on no account to reveal his
+real title to their guest, she was in the utmost perplexity lest it
+should slip out unawares.
+
+"Mary," said March, who was always stumbling upon the verge of the truth
+in a most unaccountable way, without actually getting hold of it, "have
+you ever seen the Wild Man of the West?"
+
+"Yes," replied the girl with a gay smile.
+
+"Have you?  Well now, that's odd!  How much I should like to see him.
+To tell you the truth, one of my chief reasons for coming here was to
+see him.  What like is he?"
+
+"Like Dick," replied the girl quietly.
+
+"Like Dick!" echoed March in surprise; "why, that's what Dick said
+himself, and yet, by all accounts, his character must be very different
+from that of Dick, who seems to be the kindest, tenderest-hearted man
+that ever came to trap in the Rocky Mountains."
+
+"What does peepil say 'bout this Wild Mans of the West?" inquired Mary.
+
+"That he's awful fierce an' terrible cruel, an' ten or fifteen feet
+high, I forget which, for everybody gives him a different height."
+
+Mary laughed.  "Bees that all?"
+
+"Oh no!  They say he eats men."
+
+Mary laughed again.
+
+"An' women and bars--raw."
+
+Mary laughed louder and longer than ever, and when she laughed she
+looked so ineffably sweet that March resolved to go on with the
+catalogue of the Wild Man's virtues piecemeal, waiting for the laugh
+between each statement, until there was not another idea left in his
+brain for his tongue to utter.  But this amiable intention was
+frustrated by the report of a gun outside, which echoed and re-echoed
+among these savage cliffs like muttering thunder.  It was followed by a
+yell that caused Mary to start up with a look of horror and rush out of
+the cave, leaving the invalid in a most distressing state of uncertainty
+as to what he should do, and in no little anxiety as to what would
+happen next.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+THE MYSTERIES OF THE CAVE EXPLAINED--INGENIOUS DEVICES OF THE WILD MAN--
+MARCH AND MARY BESIEGED--THE REDSKINS PROCEED TO MAKE THEMSELVES AT HOME
+IN THE CAVERN.
+
+There are few things in this world which are not somewhat mysterious, or
+that cannot be, by a peculiar combination of circumstances, more or less
+invested with mystery; and we hold it to be an unfair and a very paltry
+device on the part of an author to seek to mystify his readers by
+keeping them in unnecessary ignorance of that which is in itself simple
+and commonplace.
+
+Therefore, we beg leave to state that the apparent mystery with which we
+concluded the last chapter was not a mystery at all!  The loud report
+there referred to was caused by a savage discharging his gun, and the
+cry that followed was the result of that same savage opening his ugly
+mouth and giving vent to a tremendous howl.
+
+That this was a howl of triumph was evident to ears accustomed to the
+war-whoop of the redman.  That it was destined to be succeeded by an
+exclamation of mingled disappointment and surprise was evident, at least
+to Mary, who knew the mysteries of the place.
+
+In order to make this plain without further circumlocution, we may as
+well inform the reader at once that the Wild Man of the West (perhaps we
+should call him Dick, in deference to March Marston's ignorance of his
+real character at this time) was not only a subject of terror to the
+Indians inhabiting this region of the earth at that particular era in
+the world's history, but also a subject of intense curiosity.  Hence,
+for many years past, it had been an object of ambition, on the part of
+the more courageous of the Indian warriors, to trace this terrible
+creature to his familiar haunts, and "beard the lion in his den."
+
+Dick soon became fully aware of this, and, _not_ being a mysterious
+monster or demon, but a mere mortal (although, doubtless, a singularly
+huge and eccentric one), it behoved him to frustrate the amiable
+intentions of his savage tormentors.  In order to effect this, he first
+of all selected, as we have seen, a gloomy, secluded, and almost
+inaccessible spot among the Rocky Mountains as his residence, which he
+made a point of quitting and returning to only in the dark hours of
+night or early morning, as far as was practicable.
+
+Still further to bewilder the savages--against whom he bore no grudge,
+and to avoid encountering whom was his chief desire--Dick varied his
+costume, appearing sometimes in the dress of a Blackfoot chief, or a
+Cree warrior; at other times in the hunting-shirt and cap of a trapper.
+But, despite his utmost efforts, he occasionally had to face and fight
+the redskins--a necessity which so exasperated his naturally fiery
+temper that, on such occasions, he became utterly regardless of his
+life, and rushing upon any odds with a terrific roar of his deep bass
+voice, so different from the shrill yell of the Indians--would cleave
+his way right through their ranks with his long double-edged sword;
+then, returning to the charge with increased fury, would so appal and
+horrify them that the usual result was a general and precipitate flight.
+
+Perhaps some readers may wonder how it was possible that he could escape
+being killed in these encounters; but it must be remembered that in
+those days guns were by no means so plentiful among the Indians as they
+now are, and arrows are comparatively harmless missiles.  Dick always
+wore under his leather coat, a vest of thick buffalo leather, which
+rendered him arrow-proof in the vital regions of his body, unless shot
+at with a strong bow by a powerful arm from a short distance.
+
+This undercoat or piece of armour added a little to his naturally
+gigantic proportions, which were still further enhanced by the flying
+tags and scalp-locks and fringes of his dress, and the wild masses of
+his long hair.  He rode, as we have elsewhere mentioned, a magnificent
+charger, which he had purchased in Mexico, and whose sire, no doubt, had
+been one of those noble barbs which bore the cavaliers of Spain to the
+conquest of the New World.  The mane and tail of this animal, having
+never been cut, were of immense length, and, when violently agitated,
+seemed to envelop horse and man.  Altogether, the _tout ensemble_ of
+Dick and his charger on any of the rencontres above referred to, was
+sufficiently awful, and as he was seldom seen near at hand, except in a
+condition of blazing fury, there is little wonder that, in the process
+of time, he became celebrated throughout the country as the Wild Man of
+the West.  The white trappers, too, were somewhat curious to know
+something about this mysterious brother; but he shunned them even more
+determinedly than he did the Indians, though, of course, he never fought
+with them, seeing that they did not attempt to murder him or interfere
+with his movements as the savages did.  But there were one or two bolder
+or more inquisitive than their comrades, who dogged the Wild Man, and
+tried to force themselves upon him.  These he caught and thrashed
+soundly, after the fashion of a schoolmaster with a refractory boy, and
+turned them adrift with a warning thenceforth to mind their own
+business.  At last the Indians set him down as a "great medicine-man,"
+or a demon, whom it was impossible to slay; and the trappers shook their
+heads and touched their foreheads significantly, as if to indicate that
+they thought him mad.
+
+Thus Dick, in course of years, freed himself in a great measure from
+annoyance, and many good and kind actions which he did both to Indians
+and trappers began to be circulated and exaggerated, so that he became a
+greater mystery than ever, especially to the savages, who naturally
+misconstrued the spirit in which he made his furious attacks, in
+self-defence, just as much as they misunderstood his motives in
+performing deeds of kindness.  He was a monstrous mystery! the greatest
+mystery that had ever been seen or heard of in the Rocky Mountains since
+the beginning of time, and no doubt a greater mystery than will ever be
+heard of there again.
+
+Having traversed this roundabout pathway, we now come to the explanation
+which we intended to have given much earlier in this chapter.  But it is
+really wonderful how natural it is for the human mind to prose and to
+diverge, and how very difficult it is, at any time, to come to the
+point!  Public speakers know this well.  Perhaps their hearers know it
+better!
+
+Well, although Dick was thus feared, yet he was not entirely unmolested.
+Wandering tribes from distant hunting grounds used to go there, and,
+not knowing much about the Wild Man of the West, did not believe in him;
+even ventured to go in search of him, and on more than one occasion
+almost caught him asleep in his cave.  Having an ingenious turn of mind,
+and being somewhat fanciful, he devised a curious plan to deceive the
+savages and warn him of their approach.
+
+By means of an axe and a knife, he carved a representation of his own
+head, and covered it with hair by means of the tail of one of his
+light-coloured horses, which he docked for the purpose.  (His steeds, by
+the way, occupied another chamber of the cavern in which he dwelt.)  The
+head thus formed, he planted behind a bush that grew on a ledge of rock
+about two yards from the bottom of the cliff of the amphitheatre
+outside, and directly opposite to the entrance to it.  The cave, it will
+be remembered, was on the right of that entrance.  Thus, the first thing
+the savage beheld, on prowling up to the opening of the amphitheatre,
+was Dick's image peeping at him over the bush opposite.  Of course the
+instantaneous result was the firing of a shot or the discharge of an
+arrow, which, the Indians being excellent marksmen, invariably alighted
+on the bridge of Dick's nose, or in the centre of his forehead, or in
+one or other of his eyes.  As the head was balanced on the front edge of
+a deep narrow hole which happened to be there, it was invariably knocked
+into that hole by the blow, and disappeared.
+
+This was the supposed fall of the famous Wild Man that caused the yell
+which has taken so long to account for, and the discovery of nothing
+behind that bush except a small deep hole, much too small to secrete
+even a little man's body in, was the cause of the explanation of
+surprise which we asserted would certainly follow.
+
+When an event of this kind happened, Dick had a large blunderbuss in
+readiness.  It was loaded with a tremendous charge of small shot, and a
+small charge of powder, for he did not want to kill.  His object was
+simply to punish and to terrify.  He also had in readiness a curious
+machine which we find it rather difficult to describe.  Every one has
+heard, no doubt, of the wooden wheels, with wooden axles, attached to
+the carts in some eastern countries, which groan, and creak, and yell,
+and shriek for want of grease, in a manner that is almost maddening to
+all but native ears.  Dick's invention was founded partly on the
+principle of these eastern carts, only it was worked by turning a
+handle, and its sounds were much more excruciatingly intense.
+
+On being startled, then, Dick was wont to seize his blunderbuss, rush
+into the outer cave where the shrieking-machine was, give the handle
+half a dozen turns, and thus awaken, as it were, all the demons of the
+Rocky Mountains.  Dick came at last to know exactly what state of things
+he would find outside.  At the first burst of discord the savages,
+however numerous, took to their heels, and when Dick emerged from his
+cave, they were always within a yard or two of the entrance to the
+amphitheatre, every man with outstretched arms, sloped forward at the
+acutest possible angle with the ground, rushing on the wings of terror
+in a flight of unparalleled precipitancy.
+
+To pour the charge of small shot down into the centre of the flying mass
+was the work of a moment; to mount his unsaddled charger, and dash down
+the steep rugged path with a clatter equal to that of half a squadron of
+dragoons, was the work of two minutes more.  To pull up suddenly, when
+he had terrified the spirits of the intruders wellnigh out of their
+bodies, return slowly to his rude domicile, reload his blunderbuss, and
+retire to rest with a grim smile on his bearded mouth, and a lurking
+expression of fun in his big blue eyes, as he drew his blanket over him,
+was the usual termination of such scenes.
+
+But this was not all.  Dick, like a wise man, had prepared for the
+worst.  In the event of the Indians ever getting the length of the
+interior of his den, there were other contrivances ready for them; chief
+among which was a large cistern or tank of water, directly over the
+fireplace, the front of which was movable, and could be pulled down by
+means of a cord passing into the innermost cave of all--namely, the
+third cavern which we have alluded to as being Mary's dormitory.  By
+pulling this cord, the result--instantaneous and hideous--would be, that
+a deluge of water would drown the fire black out, fill the cavern with
+hot suffocating steam and ashes, and flood the floor.
+
+How the cavern was to be defended when he himself was not there was a
+problem which Dick, being a mere man and not a demon, had utterly failed
+to solve.  Of course, he could easily have set all manner of man-traps
+and spring-guns, but as these might have taken effect upon some poor
+wretch who had no design upon his life, he could not venture to run the
+risk.
+
+On the present occasion--Dick being absent, March being prostrated and
+all but helpless, and Mary being unable to turn the handle of the
+shrieking-machine or to fire the blunderbuss, which kicked like a small
+cannon--the case of the romantic pair was desperate, and their only hope
+seemed to be that the savages would go away without examining the
+cavern.  Vain hope!
+
+But Dick had not left them to take their chance in that way.  He had
+warned Mary long ago how to act in such circumstances, and she soon
+returned to March with the news that there were four Indian warriors
+outside, examining the bush behind which the head had disappeared, and
+that they would very soon find out the cave.
+
+"That's not pleasant news, Mary," said March, starting up in spite of
+pain and giddiness; "you seem to take it very easy!"
+
+"Com, quick," said she, seizing March by the hand; "com with me."
+
+March said, mentally, that he would go with her into the jaws of death,
+if need be; but he followed up the mental speech with the audible remark
+that he had better take some weapon with him.
+
+"No, no; com!  Me git you spear, hatchet very quick; but com."
+
+So saying, she dragged rather than conducted March to the little opening
+which led into her dormitory.  He had to stoop on entering; and great
+was his amazement on finding himself on the brink of a black yawning
+gulf, that seemed to descend into the bowels of the earth.  The end of a
+narrow plank rested on the edge of this gulf, and appeared to bridge it
+over, but the other end of the plank, and all beyond, were lost in
+impenetrable darkness.
+
+"Com after me," said Mary, passing rapidly across the gulf, and
+disappearing--absolutely like a vision.
+
+March hesitated.  He tried to steady his somewhat giddy head, but the
+single word "Com" issuing from darkness in a very commanding tone
+settled the point.  He staggered across, held out his hands, and almost
+tumbled over his fair guide, on reaching the other end of the plank much
+sooner than he had expected.
+
+"Now, wait.  I will com agin," said Mary, recrossing.
+
+The view back was a very different thing from the view forward.  As he
+stood there, on the brink of the yawning gulf, March could see right
+through into the cavern he had just left, and could observe everything
+that took place there.  Mary hastily loaded herself with a rifle and the
+blunderbuss, also with powder-horn, bullet-pouch, and a bag containing
+buffalo tongues.  With these she returned quickly, and, brushing past
+her companion, carried them farther into the cave.
+
+"Now, help me pull," she said, laying hold of the end of the plank.
+
+March obeyed; and obedience cost him much, poor fellow, for it seemed as
+if, in the act, he had rent asunder every muscle in his right shoulder.
+The plank being thus drawn away, an impassable gulf was left between the
+inner and middle cavern, which, even in the event of its being
+discovered, presented no particular temptation to induce any one to
+explore farther.  Mary drew the plank into the long natural passage
+which led to her private apartment; and as this passage turned abruptly
+to the right, there was no possibility of any one on the other side of
+the gulf being able to see into it.  Indeed, a light in it was not
+visible from that point of view, and their voices could not be heard
+unless they spoke loudly.
+
+Just as the plank was withdrawn, the Indians discovered the mouth of the
+cavern, and in a few minutes the two watchers beheld a painted savage
+peep in at the opening of the centre cave.  Seeing that it was empty,
+and observing at a glance the opening into the inner cave, he drew back
+quickly.  A minute after, the four Indians darted across, and got out of
+range of that opening--evidently fearing that some one was there.  They
+flitted past so quickly, yet noiselessly, that they appeared more like
+shadows than real men.
+
+Presently one of them stepped full in front of the opening with a bow
+and arrow in his hand.  The light of the fire was strong.  March saw him
+raise the bow, and had just time to draw back when an arrow whizzed past
+him, and was broken to pieces on the rock behind his back.  Instantly
+after the echoes of the place burst forth as a shot was fired in the
+same direction.  Having thus made sure that the way was clear, the
+boldest of the savages entered with a blazing pine-knot held high above
+his head--the others following with bows ready, and arrows fitted to the
+string.
+
+On reaching the edge of the yawning chasm, the foremost savage held the
+torch over it, and they all gazed in silence into its unfathomable
+depths.  Satisfied that it was impassable, they consulted for a few
+minutes, and then, apparently coming to the conclusion that the place
+was untenanted, they returned to the middle cave, and began to rummage
+and toss about the things they found there.
+
+"Bring the rifle," whispered March.  "I can floor two at a shot as they
+now sit."
+
+"No," Mary replied firmly.  "Why make blood?  They will go 'way soon."
+
+Mary was right; but a circumstance occurred which caused them to go away
+sooner than either she or they had anticipated.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+A GALLOP TO THE RESCUE--A DISCOVERY--RIGHT-ABOUT FACE--A DISAGREEABLE
+SURPRISE AND A SUDDEN EJECTION--A CALM AFTER THE STORM--MARY A
+HUNTRESS--DICK'S STORY OF THE MURDERED TRAPPER.
+
+When Dick, _alias_ the Wild Man of the West, left his cave, as narrated
+in a previous chapter, and galloped away with reckless speed to afford
+the aid of his stout right arm to his friends in the Mountain Fort--for
+he counted them friends, although they little knew it--he felt that if
+he was to be of any use he must travel over the country as he had never
+travelled before, except once, when he had to fly for his life before
+five hundred Pawnee warriors.
+
+It was a grand sight to behold that herculean backwoodsman on his noble
+steed, which seemed so well proportioned to its rider that it carried
+him as if he were but a boy, flying over the country on this brotherly
+errand.  Mile after mile was passed, not indeed at full speed, for that
+would have broken the good horse down long before the goal was reached,
+but at a bowling gallop, taking bogs, and rocks, and fallen trees, and
+watercourses, with an elastic bound that told of bone and muscle
+overflowing with surplus energy.
+
+Dick patted the horse's arching neck with a look of pride and affection,
+and the animal tossed its head with a slight neigh of pleasure and a
+playful snap towards its rider's right foot; for it loved its master, as
+the lower animals do always love those who treat them well, and it loved
+a wild, long, careering gallop, for that was the only means by which it
+could relieve its feelings.
+
+There was something unusually wild-like about this horse, besides its
+great size and extraordinarily long mane and tail.  It carried its head
+high and its ears pointed forward, and it looked boldly from side to
+side, as it went springingly along, more like a human being than a
+horse.  It actually appeared to be taking intelligent notice of things
+around it.  So much so, that Dick had got into a habit of saying a word
+or two now and then to it in a grave tone, as if he were conversing with
+a friend.
+
+"Ay, it's a fine country, isn't it?" he said, patting the neck again.
+
+The ears were pointed backwards at once, and a little neigh or squeak,
+with a toss of the head, was the reply.
+
+"Pity ye can't speak, an't it?" continued Dick in a low, quiet tone.
+
+The horse appeared to know that this was merely a meditative remark, not
+pointedly addressed to itself for it only put back one ear and kept the
+other forward.
+
+"Now, lass," said Dick firmly (both ears went full back at that sound
+and remained there), "take it easy; don't exert yerself over much.  It
+an't o' no use--a short pace or two, and--so."
+
+The horse went full swing over a roaring watercourse as he spoke, and
+alighted safe on the opposite bank, but the gravelly soil was
+treacherous; it gave way, and the animal's hind legs slipped back.  With
+a bound Dick sprang to the ground.
+
+"Hyp, good horse," he cried, raising the rein.
+
+A powerful effort, and footing was regained.  Dick vaulted into the
+saddle (he seldom used the stirrup), and away they went again, blithe as
+ever.  Then a long strip of tangled forest appeared.  Dick diverged
+here.  It was easier to skirt it than to crash through it.  Presently a
+broad deep river came in view.  There was no looking for a ford, no
+checking the pace.  In they went with sounding plunge, as if water were
+their native element, breasted the foaming tide, and gaining the
+opposite bank, went steadily forward.
+
+Thus on they sped, over hill and dale, all that night, for the moon was
+bright in a cloudless sky, and part of next day.  Then Dick made a
+sudden halt and dismounted, to examine something on the ground.
+Footprints of Indian horses--four of them--going in the direction of his
+dwelling!
+
+Dick rose, and his strong brows were knitted, and his lips firmly
+pressed together.  For a moment or two he pondered, then he told his
+horse to follow him, and, dropping the bridle, set off at a rapid walk,
+keeping steadily on the tracks, and stooping now and then to examine
+them when the nature of the ground rendered them less discernible.  Thus
+he retraced his course for about a mile, when he stopped and muttered,
+"No doubt o't.  Them reptiles niver come to these diggins but when they
+want to pay me a visit."
+
+As he said this he remounted his horse and sat for a minute or two
+undecided.  It was hard to give up his purpose; but it was impossible to
+leave his cavern defenceless with Mary in it, and the certainty that
+savages were hunting it out.  That thought settled the matter.  He shook
+the reins, and back they flew again towards the cave, at a much quicker
+pace than they had hitherto maintained.
+
+The result was that Dick gained the entrance of his ravine just two
+hours later than the savages, and in time to superintend personally the
+hospitalities of his own dwelling.  Riding quickly up to the head of the
+gorge, he dismounted and ascended the pathway to his cave with giant
+strides and a beating heart, for Dick thought of Mary, and the words
+"too late" _would_ whizz about in his brain.
+
+The Indians were still sitting round the fire enjoying themselves when
+March and Mary, to their unutterable surprise, beheld Dick stride
+through the low doorway of the cave, raise himself to his full height,
+and stand before the stricken invaders, absolutely blazing with wrath.
+His eyes, his hair, his beard, his glistening teeth, seemed each
+individually imbued with indignation.
+
+The Indians did not move--they could not move--they simply sat and
+stared; and thus both parties continued for a quarter of a minute.
+
+Mary used that short time well.  She knew exactly what to do.  Darting
+into her chamber, she seized the end of the rope connected with the tank
+and pulled it violently.  March saw the rock above the fireplace drop!
+A clear, sparkling cataract sprang as if by magic from the wall!  Next
+instant there was black darkness and yells, steam, shrieks, and howls--a
+hissing, hurling hubbub, such as no man can possibly conceive of unless
+he has seen and heard it!  We will not, therefore, even attempt a
+description.
+
+The Indians rushed _en masse_ to the doorway.  Death in the jaws of the
+Wild Man of the West was infinitely preferable to being parboiled and
+suffocated; but the Wild Man had judiciously made way for them.  They
+gained the outer cave, and sprang down the pathway.  Dick plied the
+handle of the shrieking-machine with the secondary object in view of
+relieving his own feelings!  The din was indescribable!  If those
+Indians are not lunatics at this moment they must be dead, for there
+could be no alternative in the circumstances.  Certain it is they
+vanished like smoke, and they have never been heard of since--from that
+day to this!
+
+Really, dear reader, if it were not that we are recounting the doings of
+a Wild Man--a notoriously eccentric creature--we would feel it necessary
+to impress upon you that such scenes as we have been describing are not
+characteristic of life in the Rocky Mountains; nay, more, we question
+whether such scenes as these have ever been witnessed or enacted in
+those regions at any time, with the exception, of course, of the present
+occasion.  But it must be carefully borne in mind that we are recounting
+the deeds of a "Wild Man," and, although the aspect of outward things--
+the general tone and current of manners and customs and natural
+phenomena--may remain exactly the same as heretofore, and be faithfully
+described without exaggeration (as we maintain they are), yet the acts,
+devices, and vagaries of such a creature as a Wild Man may, indeed must
+necessarily, be altogether eccentric and unparalleled.  We therefore
+pause here to express a hope that, whatever credit you may be able to
+give to the reported deeds of this hero, you will not withhold your
+belief in the fidelity of the other portions of this narrative.
+
+No sooner, then, were those unwelcome visitors ejected than Dick
+returned to the scene of devastation and shouted, "Hullo!  Mary!"
+
+"Safe, all safe," she replied, as, with the assistance of March Marston,
+she pushed the plank across the chasm, and returned to the centre cave.
+
+"Is the lad March safe too?" inquired Dick as he busied himself in
+striking a light with flint and steel.
+
+"All right," answered the youth for himself, "but horribly battered, an'
+fit to yell with pain, not to mention surprise.  Do look sharp and get
+the fire up.  Sich doins' as this I never did see nor hear of since I
+left the frontier.  I do declare it's worthy o' the Wild Man o' the West
+himself.  What d'ye find to laugh at, Dick?  I'm sure if ye had my
+miserable bones in yer body at this moment, ye'd laugh wi' your mouth
+screwed the wrong way.  Look alive, man!"
+
+"Patience, lad, patience.  That's one o' the vartues, I believe;
+leastwise, so I'm told.  Ah, it's caught at last.  (Hand me that dry
+stuff on the south shelf, Mary; ye can find it i' the dark, I doubt
+not.)  Yes, it's a vartue, but I can't boast o' having much o't myself.
+I dun know much about it from 'xperience, d'ye see?  There, now, we'll
+git things put to rights," he added, applying the kindled spark to some
+dry chips and producing a flame, with which he ignited a pine-knot, and
+stuck it blazing in a cleft in the rock.  "Just see what them reptiles
+ha' done to me.  If it wasn't that I'm a good-tempered feller, I b'lieve
+I'd git angry.  See, March, boy, there's a shelf in the corner that's
+escaped the flood.  Lie ye down there, while Mary and me puts the place
+in order."
+
+"I'd rather help you," said March dismally.  "I don't b'lieve it can
+make me worse, an' perhaps it'll make me better.  I wonder what in the
+world pain was made for."
+
+"Ye'll only be in our way, lad.  Lie down," said Dick, seizing a large
+broom and beginning to sweep away the water and ashes and pieces of
+charcoal with which the floor was plentifully covered, while Mary picked
+up the scattered skins and furniture of the cave, and placed them on the
+ledge of rock, about four feet from the ground, which Dick termed a
+shelf.
+
+This ledge ran all round the apartment, so March selected a corner, and,
+throwing a dry skin upon it, stretched himself thereon, and soon found
+his sufferings relieved to such an extent that he began to question his
+host as to his sudden and unlooked-for return.
+
+"How came ye to drop in upon us in the very nick o' time like that?" he
+said, gazing languidly at Mary, who bustled about with the activity of a
+kitten--or, to use an expression more in keeping with the surrounding
+circumstances, a wild kitten.
+
+Dick, without checking his broom, told how he had discovered the tracks
+of the Indians, and returned at once, as has been related.
+
+"Then," said March, looking anxiously at his host, "you'll not be able
+to help my poor comrades and the people at the Mountain Fort."
+
+"It an't poss'ble to be in two places at once nohow ye can fix it,"
+returned Dick, "else I'd ha' been there as well as here in the course of
+a few hours more."
+
+"But should we not start off at once--now?" cried March eagerly,
+throwing his legs off the ledge and coming to a sitting position.
+
+"You an't able," replied Dick quietly, "and I won't move till I have put
+things to rights here, an' had a feed an' a night's rest.  If it would
+do any good, I'd start this minute.  But the fight's over by this time--
+leastwise, it'll be over long afore we could git there! and if it's not
+to be a fight at all, why nobody's none the worse, d'ye see?"
+
+"But maybe they may hold the place for a long time," argued March, "an'
+the sudden appearance of you and me might turn the scale in their
+favour."
+
+"So it might--so it might.  I've thought o' that, and we'll start
+to-morrow if yer able.  But it would be o' no use to-night.  My good
+horse can't run for ever right on end without meat and rest."
+
+"Then we'll start to-morrow," cried March eagerly.
+
+"Ay, if ye can mount and ride."
+
+"That I have no fear of; but--but--" at that moment March's eye
+encountered Mary's--"but what about Mary?"
+
+"Oh, she'll stop here till we come back.  No fear o' redskins troublin'
+her agin for some time," replied Dick, throwing down the broom and
+patting the girl's head.  "Come, lass, let's have some supper.  Show
+March what a capital cook ye are.  I'll kindle a rousin' fire an' spread
+some pine-branches round it to sit on, for the floor won't be quite dry
+for some time.  What red reptiles, to be sure! and they was actually
+devourin' my poor old bay horse.  What cannibals!"
+
+In the course of an hour the cavern had resumed its former appearance of
+comfort.  The ruddy glare of the fire fell warmly on the rocky walls and
+on the curling smoke, which found egress through the hole near the roof
+that let in light during the day.  Branches were spread on the floor, so
+as to form a thick pile near the fire, and on the top of this sat the
+Wild Man of the West with the most amiable of smiles on his large,
+handsome countenance, and most benignant of expressions beaming in his
+clear blue eyes, as he gazed first at Mary, who sat on his right hand,
+then at March, who sat on his left, and then at the iron pot which sat
+or stood between his knees, and into which he was about to plunge a
+large wooden ladle.
+
+"There's worse things than buffalo-beef-bergoo, March, an't there?  Ha,
+ha! my lad, tuck that under yer belt; it'll put the sore bones right
+faster than physic.  Mary, my little pet lamb, here's a marrow-bone;
+come, yer growin', an' ye can't grow right if ye don't eat plenty o'
+meat and marrow-bones; there," he said, placing the bone in question on
+her pewter plate.  "Ah!  Mary, lass, ye've been mixin' the victuals.
+Why, what have we here?"
+
+"Moose nose," replied the girl with a look of pleasure.
+
+"I do b'lieve--so it is!  Why, where got ye it?  I han't killed a moose
+for three weeks an' more."
+
+"Me kill him meself," said Mary.
+
+"You!"
+
+"Ay, me! with me own gun, too!"
+
+"Capital!" cried Dick, tossing back his heavy locks, and gazing at the
+child with proud delight.  "Yer a most fit an' proper darter for the
+Wild--a--_ho_!" sneezed Dick, with sudden violence, while Mary glanced
+quickly up and opened her eyes very wide.  "Whisst--to--a--hah! whew!
+wot a tickler!  I raally think the mountain air's a-goin' to make me
+subjick to catchin' colds."
+
+March took no notice of the remark.  His attention was at that moment
+divided between Mary's eyes and a marrow-bone.
+
+There is no accounting for the besotted stupidity at this time of March
+Marston, who was naturally quick-witted, unless upon the principle that
+prejudice renders a man utterly blind.  A hundred glaring and obvious
+facts, incidents, words, and looks, ought to have enlightened him as to
+who his new friend Dick really was.  But his mind was so thoroughly
+imbued, so saturated, with the preconceived notion of the Wild Man of
+the West being a huge, ferocious, ugly monster, all over red, or perhaps
+blue, hair, from the eyes to the toes, with canine teeth, and, very
+probably, a tail, that unintentional hints and suggestive facts were
+totally thrown away upon him.  The fact is, that if Dick had at that
+moment looked him full in the face and said, "_I'm_ the Wild Man of the
+West," March would have said he didn't believe it!
+
+"How came ye by the iron pot?" inquired March suddenly, as the sight of
+that vessel changed the current of his thoughts.
+
+Dick's countenance became grave, and Mary's eyes dropped.
+
+"I'll tell ye some other time," said the former quietly; "not now--not
+now.  Come, lad, if ye mean to mount and ride wi' me to-morrow, you'll
+ha' to eat heartier than that."
+
+"I'm doing my best.  Did you say it was _you_ that shot the moose deer,
+Mary?"
+
+"Yes, it was me.  Me go out to kill bird for make dinner, two days back,
+an' see the moose in one place where hims no can escape but by one way--
+narrow way, tree feets, not more, wide.  Hims look to me--me's look to
+him.  Then me climb up side of rocks so hims no touch me, but _must_
+pass below me quite near.  Then me yell--horbuble yell!"  ("Ha!" thought
+March, "music, sweetest music, that yell!") "an' hims run round in great
+fright!"  ("Oh, the blockhead," thought March)--"but see hims no can git
+away, so hims rush past me!  Me shoot in back of hims head, an' him
+drop."
+
+"Huzza!" shouted Dick, in such a bass roar that March involuntarily
+started.  "Well done, lass; ye'll make a splendid wife to a bold
+mountaineer."
+
+March could not believe his eyes, while he looked at the modest little
+creature who thus coolly related the way in which she slaughtered the
+moose; but he was bound to believe his ears, for Mary _said_ she did the
+deed, and to suppose it possible that Mary could tell a falsehood was,
+in March's opinion, more absurd than to suppose that the bright sun
+could change itself into melted butter!  But Dick's enthusiastic
+reference to Mary one day becoming the wife of a mountaineer startled
+him.  He felt that, in the event of such a calamitous circumstance
+happening, she could no longer be his sister, and the thought made him
+first fierce, and then sulky.
+
+"D'ye kill many mountain sheep here, Dick?" inquired March, when his
+ruffled temper had been smoothed down with another marrow-bone.
+
+"Ay, lots of 'em."
+
+"What like are they close?  I've never been nearer to 'em yet than a
+thousand yards or so--never within range."
+
+"They're 'bout the size of a settlement sheep, an' skin somethin' like
+the red deer; ye've seen the red deer, of coorse, March?"
+
+"Yes, often; shot 'em too."
+
+"Well, like them; but they've got most treemendous horns.  I shot one
+last week with horns three fut six inches long; there they lie now in
+that corner.  Are ye a good shot, March?"
+
+"Middlin'."
+
+"D'ye smoke?"
+
+"Yes, a little; but I an't a slave to it like some."
+
+"Humph!" ejaculated Dick sarcastically.  "If ye smoke `a little,' how
+d'ye know but ye may come to smoke much, an' be a slave to it like other
+men?  Ye may run down a steep hill, an' say, when yer near the top, `I
+can stop when I like'; but ye'll come to a pint, lad, when ye'll try to
+stop an' find ye can't--when ye'd give all ye own to leave off runnin';
+but ye'll have to go on faster an' faster, till yer carried off yer
+legs, and, mayhap, dashed to bits at the bottom.  Smokin' and drinkin'
+are both alike.  Ye can begin when you please, an', up to a certain
+pint, ye can stop when ye please; but after that pint, ye _can't_ stop
+o' yer own free will--ye'd die first.  Many an' many a poor fellow _has_
+died first, as I know."
+
+"An' pray, Mister Solomon, do _you_ smoke?" inquired March testily,
+thinking that this question would reduce his companion to silence.
+
+"No, never."
+
+"Not smoke?" cried March in amazement.  The idea of a trapper not
+smoking was to him a thorough and novel incomprehensibility.
+
+"No; nor drink neither," said Dick.  "I once did both, before I came to
+this part o' the country, and I thank the Almighty for bringing me to a
+place where it warn't easy to get either drink or baccy--specially
+drink, which I believe would have laid me under the sod long ago, if I
+had bin left in a place where I could ha' got it.  An' now, as Mary has
+just left us, poor thing, I'll tell ye how I came by the big iron pot.
+There's no mystery about it; but as it b'longed to the poor child's
+father, I didn't want to speak about it before her."
+
+Dick placed an elbow on each knee, and, resting his forehead upon his
+hands, stared for some moments into the fire ere he again spoke.
+
+"It's many years now," said he in a low, sad tone, "since I left home,
+and--but that's nothin' to do wi' the pint," he added quickly.  "You
+see, March, when I first came to this part o' the world I fell in with a
+comrade--a trapper--much to my likin'.  This trapper had been jilted by
+some girl, and came away in a passion, detarminin' never more to return
+to his native place.  I never know'd where he come from, nor the
+partic'lars of his story, for that was a pint he'd never speak on.  I
+don't believe I ever know'd his right name.  He called himself Adam;
+that was the only name I ever know'd him by.
+
+"Well, him an' me became great friends.  He lived wi' a band of Pawnee
+Injuns, and had married a wife among them; not that she was a pure Injun
+neither, she was a half-breed.  My Mary was their only child; she was a
+suckin' babe at that time.  Adam had gin her no name when we first met,
+an' I remember him askin' me one day what he should call her; so I
+advised Mary--an' that's how she come to git the name.
+
+"Adam an' me was always together.  We suited each other.  For myself, I
+had ta'en a skunner at mankind, an' womankind, too; so we lived wi' the
+Pawnees, and hunted together, an' slep' together when out on the tramp.
+But one o' them reptiles took a spite at him, an' tried by every way he
+could to raise the Injuns agin' him, but couldn't; so he detarmined to
+murder him.
+
+"One day we was out huntin' together, an', being too far from the Pawnee
+lodges to return that night, we encamped in the wood, an' biled our
+kettle--this iron one ye see here.  Adam had a kind o' likin' for't, and
+always carried it at his saddle-bow when he went out o' horseback.  We'd
+just begun supper, when up comes the Wild-Cat, as he was called--Adam's
+enemy--an' sits down beside us.
+
+"Of course, we could not say we thought he was up to mischief, though we
+suspected it, so we gave him his supper, an' he spent the night with us.
+Nixt mornin' he bade us good-day, an' went off.  Then Adam said he
+would go an' set beaver traps in a creek about a mile off.  Bein' lazy
+that day, I said I'd lie a bit in the camp.  So away he went.  The camp
+was on a hill.  I could see him all the way, and soon saw him in the
+water settin' his traps.
+
+"Suddenly I seed the Wild-Cat step out o' the bushes with a bow an'
+arrow.  I knew what was up.  I gave a roar that he might have heard ten
+miles off, an' ran towards them.  But an arrow was in Adam's back before
+he could git to the shore.  In a moment more he had the Injun by the
+throat, an' the two struggled for life.  Adam could ha' choked him easy,
+but the arrow in his back let out the blood fast, an' he could barely
+hold his own.  Yet he strove like a true man.  I was soon there, for I
+nearly burst my heart in that race.  They were on the edge of the water.
+The Wild-Cat had him down, and was tryin' to force him over the bank.
+
+"I had my big sword wi' me, an' hewed the reptile's head off with it at
+one blow, sendin' it into the river, an' tossin' the body in after it.
+
+"`It's too late,' says Adam, as I laid him softly on the bank.
+
+"I could see that.  The head of the shaft was nearly in his heart.  He
+tried to speak, but could only say, `Take care o' my wife an' Mary'--
+then he died, and I buried him there."
+
+Dick paused, and clenched both hands convulsively as the thought of that
+black day came back upon him.  But the glare in his eye soon melted into
+a look of sadness.
+
+"Well, well," he continued, "it's long past now.  Why should I be angry
+with the dead?  Adam's wife never got the better o' that.  She dropped
+her head like a prairie flower in the first blast of winter, an' was
+soon beside her husband.
+
+"I waited till the little child could stump about on its own legs, an'
+then I mounted my horse an' rode away with it in my arms.  The only
+things belongin' to poor Adam I brought with me was the iron pot an' his
+long rifle.  There the rifle stands in the corner.  I've used it ever
+since."
+
+"And have you and Mary lived here all alone since that day?"
+
+"Ay.  I came straight here--not carin' where I went, only anxious to get
+out o' the sight o' men, an' live alone wi' the child.  I sought out a
+dwellin' in the wildest part o' these mountains, an' fell upon this
+cave, where we've lived happy enough together."
+
+"Do you mean to say the child has never played with other children?"
+inquired March, amazed at this discovery.
+
+"Not much.  I give her a run for a month or two at a time, now an' agin,
+when I fall on a friendly set o' well-disposed redskins--just to keep
+the right sort o' spirit in her, and comfort her a bit.  But she's
+always willin' to live alone wi' me."
+
+"Then she's never learned to read?" said March sadly.
+
+"That has she.  She's got one book.  It's a story about a giant an' a
+fairy, an' a prince an' princess.  Most 'xtraornar' stuff.  I got it
+from a Blood Injun, who said he picked it up in a frontier settlement
+where the people had all been murdered.  When we had nothin' better to
+do, I used to teach her her letters out o' that book, an' the moment she
+got 'em off she seemed to pick up the words, I dun' know how.  She's
+awful quick.  She knows every word o' that story by heart.  An' she's
+invented heaps o' others o' the most amazin' kind.  I've often thought
+o' goin' to the settlements to git her some books, but--"
+
+Dick paused abruptly, and a dark frown settled on his features, as if
+the thoughts of civilised men and things revived unpleasant memories.
+
+"The fact is," he continued somewhat bitterly, "I've been a hater of my
+race.  You'd scarcely believe it, lad, but you are the first man I've
+ever told all this to.  I can't tell why it is that I feel a likin' for
+ye, boy, an' a desire to have ye stop with me.  But that must not be.  I
+had but one friend.  I must not make another to have him murdered,
+mayhap, before my eyes.  Yet," he added in a gentle tone, taking March's
+hand in his and stroking it, "I feel a likin' for ye, boy, that makes me
+sad to think o' partin'."
+
+"But we don't need to part, Dick," said March eagerly.  "I like you too,
+and I like your style of life, an'--" He was going to have added that he
+liked Mary, and that he would live with them both all his days, when the
+little cottage at Pine Point settlement and his loving mother rose
+before him, and caused him to drop his head and terminate his speech
+abruptly.
+
+Just then Mary re-entered the cavern, and put an end to the
+conversation.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
+
+MARCH, THOUGH WILLING IN SPIRIT, FINDS HIS BODY WEAK--HE MAKES MARY A
+PRESENT--THE TRAPPERS SET OUT TO SEARCH FOR THEIR LOST COMRADE--AN
+UNEXPECTED MEETING--BIG WALLER WAXES PUGNACIOUS--NEWS OF MARCH--DICK
+BECOMES MORE MYSTERIOUS THAN EVER--A RECKLESS PROPOSAL AND A HAPPY
+MEETING.
+
+Next morning, before daybreak, March Marston attempted to set out for
+the Mountain Fort with Dick; but he was so thoroughly knocked up before
+the end of the first mile that he had to call a halt, and admit that he
+could not think of going further.  This was just what Dick wanted; so he
+laughed, told him to go back and take care of Mary, and he would advance
+alone.
+
+March returned, very much humbled, excessively pained in all his joints,
+and feeling as if he had reason to be ashamed of himself.
+
+"Oh! you com back?" cried Mary as he entered the cavern with a
+crestfallen air.  "Me so glad!  Me know very well you no was poss'ble
+for travel."
+
+Mary was perfectly artless.  She made no attempt whatever to conceal her
+satisfaction at the youth's return, so he felt amazingly comforted, and
+even began to recover his self-esteem.
+
+"Yes, Mary, I've come back, 'cause I can't go forward.  It's o' no use
+tryin'; I'd just have knocked up on the way, which would have been
+awkward for Dick, you know, as well as for me.  Besides, I couldn't
+fight just now to save my life."
+
+"Well, you is right.  You stop here an' git strong an' well.  Me tell
+you stories 'bout Dick, or other mans if you likes.  We'll have no
+fightin' to do.  If there is, me take care of you.  Me can doos a littil
+in that way."
+
+March opened his eyes very wide at this, and stared at the pretty little
+vision in leather, but there was no smile or sly wrinkle on her
+countenance.  She was looking quite gravely and sedately into the iron
+pot, which she happened to be stirring at that moment.
+
+"Mary," he said, sitting down beside her, "Dick tells me you can read."
+
+"Yis, me can read littil.  But me only got one book."  She sighed
+slightly as she said this.
+
+"Would you like to have another book?"
+
+"Oh yis, very very much.  Have you got one?"
+
+"Ay, one; the only one I have in the world, Mary; an' you're the only
+person in the world I'd give it to.  But I'll give it to you, 'cause
+you've no chance of gettin' one like it here.  It's a Bible--the one my
+mother gave me when I left home."
+
+March pulled the little volume out of the breast of his coat as he
+spoke, and handed it to the girl, who received it eagerly, and looked at
+it with mingled feelings of awe and curiosity for some time before she
+ventured to open it.
+
+"The Bibil.  Dick have oftin speak to me 'bout it, an' try to 'member
+some of it.  But he no can 'member much.  He tell me it speak about the
+great good Spirit.  Injins call him Manitow."
+
+"So it does, Mary.  I'll leave it with you when I go away.  You say Dick
+couldn't remember much of it; neither can I, Mary.  More shame to me,
+for many an' many a time has my poor mother tried to make me learn it
+off by heart."
+
+"You mother?" repeated Mary earnestly.  "Is you mother livin'?"
+
+"That is she.  At least, I left her well an' hearty in Pine Point
+settlement not many weeks agone."
+
+"Me wish me had mother," said Mary with a sigh.
+
+March gazed at the sad face of his fair companion with a perplexed yet
+sympathetic look.  This was a new idea to him.  Never having been
+without a mother, it had never entered into his head to think of such a
+thing as wishing for one.
+
+"What you mother called?" said the girl, looking up quickly.
+
+"Her name is Mary."
+
+"Yis! that very strange.  Call same as me."
+
+"Not very strange, after all.  There are a good number of Marys in the
+world," replied March with a laugh.  "See, here is her name on the
+flyleaf of the Bible, written with her own hand, too: `To my dear March,
+from his loving mother, Mary Marston, Pine Point settlement.'  Isn't it
+a good round hand o' write?"
+
+"Very pritty," replied Mary.  But she had now begun to spell out the
+words of the book which had at last fallen into her hands, and March
+could not again draw her into general talk; so he was fain to sit down
+and help her to read the Bible.
+
+Leaving them thus occupied, we will now return to the trappers, three of
+whom, it will be remembered--Bounce, Redhand, and Gibault--had reached
+the Mountain Fort and given the alarm.  Soon afterwards the Indians
+arrived there; but finding everything in readiness to give them a warm
+reception, they retired at once, preferring to wait their opportunity
+rather than have a fair stand-up fight with the white men.  About an
+hour after they had retired, Big Waller, Hawkswing, and the artist, came
+tearing towards the fort, and were at once admitted.
+
+They had nothing new to tell.  They had met together by accident, as the
+others had done, on nearing the fort, and would have been in sooner, had
+not Big Waller been obliged to take charge of poor Bertram, who, owing
+to the suddenness and violence of all these recent events in savage
+life, had got into a muddled condition of mind that rendered him
+peculiarly helpless.  But they knew nothing of March Marston--they had
+expected to find him there before them.
+
+As March was well mounted, and known to be well qualified to take care
+of himself, his non-arrival threw his friends into a state of the utmost
+anxiety and suspense.  They waited a couple of hours, in order to give
+him a chance of coming in, hoping that he might have merely been
+detained by some trifling accident, such as having lost his way for a
+time.  But when, at the end of that period, there was still no sign of
+him, they gave up all hope of his arriving, and at once set out to sweep
+the whole country round in search of him, vowing in their hearts that
+they would never return to Pine Point settlement without him if he were
+alive.
+
+McLeod tried to persuade them to remain at the fort for a few days, but,
+feeling sympathy with them, he soon ceased to press the matter.  As for
+the wretched chief of the fort, Macgregor--the excitement of the recent
+transactions being over--he had returned to his bosom friend, and
+bitterest enemy, the bottle, and was at that time lying in a state of
+drivelling idiocy in his private chamber.
+
+A few days after quitting the fort, Bounce and Gibault, who chanced to
+be riding considerably in advance of their companions, halted on the top
+of a ridge and began to scan the country before them.  In the midst of
+their observations, Bounce broke the silence with a grunt.
+
+"Fat now?" inquired his companion.
+
+"What now?" replied Bounce contemptuously.  "Use yer eyes now; d'ye see
+nothin'?"
+
+"Non, no ting."
+
+"That comes o' the want of obsarvation, now," said Bounce in a grave,
+reproachful tone.  "Ye shouldn't ought to be so light-headed, lad.  If
+ye wos left to yer lone in them sort o' places, ye'd soon lose yer
+scalp.  It's _obsarvation_ as does it all, an' in yer partikler case
+it's the want o' that same as doesn't do it, d'ye see?"
+
+"Non, vraiment, me shockable blind dis day; mais, p'r'aps, git more
+cliver de morrow," replied the good-humoured Canadian with a grin.  "Fat
+you see?"
+
+"I see fut-prints," replied Bounce, dismounting; "an' as fut-prints
+implies feet, an' feet indicates critters, human or otherwise, it
+becomes men wot be lookin' for a lost comrade to examine 'em with more
+nor or'nary care."
+
+"Hah!" shouted Gibault with unwonted energy.  "Look! voila! behold!
+Bounce, you hab great want of `obsarvation.'  See!"
+
+Now it chanced that, while Bounce was on his knees, carefully turning
+over every leaf and blade of grass, his comrade, who remained on
+horseback, and kept gazing at the horizon, without any particular object
+in view, did suddenly behold an object coming towards them at full
+gallop.  Hence the sudden outburst, and the succeeding exclamation from
+Bounce--"It's a hoss!"
+
+"A hoss!" repeated Gibault.  "Him be one buffalo I see hims bump."
+
+"The bumps that ye see is neither more nor less than a man leanin'
+forard--it is."
+
+At this moment the rest of the party rode up, and Redhand confirmed
+Bounce's opinion.
+
+"There's only one, I guess, an' he's in a powerful hurry," observed Big
+Waller.  "But we may as well be ready to fix his flint if he means to
+cut up rough."
+
+He brought forward his gun as he spoke, and examined the priming.
+
+"I b'lieve he's an evil spirit, I do," said Bounce; "wot a pace!"
+
+"More like to de Wild Man of de Vest," observed Gibault.
+
+"Think you so?" whispered Bertram in an anxious tone, with an
+involuntary motion of his hand to the pouch in which lay that marvellous
+sketch-book of his.
+
+"Think it's him?" said Redhand to Hawkswing.
+
+The Indian gave a slight grunt of assent.
+
+But the strange horseman soon put all doubt on the point at rest by
+bearing down upon them like a whirlwind, his long hair and tags and
+scalp-locks streaming in the wind as usual.  Dick had a distinct purpose
+in thus acting.  He wished to terrify men, or, at least, to impress them
+with a wholesome dread of him, in order that he might simply be _let
+alone_!
+
+He did not check his slashing pace until within four or five bounds of
+the party.  Reining up so violently that he tore up the turf for a
+couple of yards under his horse's heels, he looked at the trappers with
+a grave, almost fierce expression, for a second or two.
+
+"You come from the Mountain Fort?" he said.
+
+"Yes," replied Redhand.
+
+"All right there?"
+
+"All right.  The redskins threatened an attack, but we were too quick
+for 'em."
+
+A gleam of satisfaction passed across Dick's face as he added, "You've
+lost a comrade, han't ye?"
+
+"We jist have," cried Big Waller in surprise.  "If you've seed him, I
+guess ye'd as well take us to his whereabouts."
+
+"See you yonder pine?" said Dick, pointing back in the direction whence
+he had come.  "One day's journey beyond that, as the crow flies, will
+bring you to a valley, level and well watered, with plenty o' beaver in
+it.  You'll find him there."
+
+Without waiting a reply Dick turned to ride away.
+
+"I say, stranger," cried Waller (Dick paused), "air you, or air you not,
+the Wild Man o' the West?"
+
+"Wild fools of the West call me so," replied Dick with a ferocious
+frown, that went far to corroborate the propriety of the cognomen in the
+opinion of the trappers.
+
+"Wall, I tell 'ee wot it is, stranger, Wild Man or not, I guess you'll
+ha' to take us to our comrade yourself, for I'm inclined to opine that
+you know more about him than's good for ye; so if ye try to ride off,
+I'll see whether a ball--sixteen to the pound--'ll not stop ye, for all
+yer bigness."
+
+A grim smile curled Dick's moustache as he replied, "If ye think that a
+trapper's word ain't to be trusted, or that committin' murder 'll do yer
+comrade a service, here's your chance--fire away!"
+
+Dick wheeled about and cantered coolly away into the thickest part of
+the forest, leaving the trappers gazing at each other in amazement.
+Bertram was the first to speak.
+
+"Oh, why did you not delay him a few seconds longer?  See, I have him
+here--all but the legs of his splendid charger."
+
+The others burst into a laugh.
+
+"If ye've got the body all c'rect, it's easy to calculate the legs by
+the rules o' proportion, d'ye see?" observed Bounce.
+
+"Come, lads, that's good news about March, anyhow," cried Redhand; "an'
+I'm of opinion that the Wild Man o' the West an't just so wild as people
+think.  I, for one, will trust him.  There's somethin' about the corner
+of a man's eye that tells pretty plain whether he's false or true.
+Depend on't we shall find March where he told us, so the sooner we set
+off the better."
+
+Without waiting for a reply, Redhand urged his horse into a gallop, and,
+followed by his comrades, made for the valley indicated by the Wild Man.
+
+Meanwhile, the Wild Man himself was already far ahead of them, keeping
+out of sight among the woods, and galloping nearly in the same
+direction--for his cave lay not more than four miles from the valley in
+question.  Being much better mounted than they, he soon left the
+trappers far behind him, and when night closed in he continued his
+journey, instead of halting to eat and take a few hours' rest as they
+did.  The consequence was that he reached his cave several hours before
+the trappers arrived at the valley, where they expected to find their
+missing comrade.
+
+Of course March was filled with surprise at this second unexpected
+return of Dick; but the latter relieved his mind by explaining, in an
+offhand way, that he had met a man who had told him the Mountain Fort
+was all safe, and that his comrades also were safe, and wandering about
+in that part of the country in search of him.  After a good deal of
+desultory conversation, Dick turned to his guest with a sad, serious
+air, and, fixing his large blue eyes on him, said--
+
+"March, lad, you an' me must part soon."
+
+"Part!" exclaimed the youth in surprise, glancing at Mary, who sat
+opposite to him, embroidering a pair of moccasins.
+
+"Ay, we must part.  You'll be well enough in a day or two to travel
+about with yer comrades.  Now, lad, I want ye to understand me.  I've
+lived here, off and on, for the last fourteen or fifteen years--it may
+be more, it may be less; I don't well remember--an' I've niver suffered
+men to interfere wi' me.  I don't want them, an' they don't want me."
+
+He paused.  There was a slight dash of bitterness in the tone in which
+the last words were uttered; but it was gone when he resumed, in his
+usual low and musical voice--
+
+"Now, although I chose to bring you to my cave, because I found ye
+a'most in a dyin' state, an' have let ye into one or two o' my secrets--
+because I couldn't help it, seein' that I couldn't stop up yer eyes--an'
+yer ears--yet I don't choose to let yer comrades know anything about me.
+They've no right to, an' _you_ have no right to tell 'em; so, when ye
+meet 'em again ye mustn't talk about me or my cave, d'ye see?"
+
+"Certainly," said March, who was both surprised and annoyed by his
+speech, "certainly you have a perfect right to command me to hold my
+tongue; and, seein' that you've bin so kind to me, Dick, I'm in duty
+bound to obey; but how can you ask me to put myself in such an awkward
+fix?  You don't suppose I can make my comrades believe I've bin livin'
+on air or grass for some days past, an' they'll see, easy enough, that
+I've not bin in a condition to help myself.  Besides, whatever your
+notions may be about truth, mine are of such a sort that they won't let
+me tell a parcel o' lies to please anybody."
+
+"Far be it from me, boy, to ask ye to tell lies.  You can tell yer
+comrades that you've bin took care of by a trapper as lives in a cave
+among the mountains; but you don't need to tell 'em where the cave is;
+an' if they worry ye to guide 'em to it, ye can refuse.  Moreover, jist
+speak o' me in an offhand, careless sort o' way, d'ye see? an' be
+particular not to tell what I'm like, 'cause it might make 'em take a
+fancy to hunt me up."
+
+There appeared to be a dash of vanity in the latter part of this remark,
+which surprised March not a little; for it seemed to him quite
+inconsistent with the stout hunter's wonted modesty of demeanour and
+speech.
+
+"Well, I'm bound to think only o' your wishes in this matter," replied
+March in a disappointed tone, "an' I'll do my best to prevent my
+comrades interfering with ye, tho', to say truth, I don't think you need
+be so cautious, for they ain't over-curious--none of 'em.  But--" here
+March paused and glanced at Mary, who, he observed, had dropped her head
+very much during the conversation, and from whose eye at that moment a
+bright tear fell, like a diamond, on the work with which she was
+engaged.
+
+"But--am I--the fact is, Dick, I feel a little sore that you should say
+ye had a likin' for me, an' then tell me I must be off, an' never look
+near ye again."
+
+"That's wot I never did say, boy," returned Dick, smiling.  "Ye may come
+_alone_ to see me as often as ye like while ye remain in these parts.
+An' if it please ye, yer at liberty to come an' live wi' me.  There's
+room in the mountains for both of us.  The cave can hold three if need
+be."
+
+March Marston's heart beat quick.  He was on the eve of forming a great
+resolve!  His bosom heaved, and his eye sparkled, as he was about to
+close hastily with this proposal, when, again, the memory of his mother
+crossed him, and a deep sigh burst from his lips as he shook his head,
+and said sorrowfully, "It can't be done, Dick.  I can't forsake my
+mother."
+
+"No more ye should, lad, no more ye should," said Dick, nodding
+approvingly; "but there's nothin' to prevent your spendin' the winter
+and spring here, an' returnin' to yer mother next summer."
+
+"Done!" cried March, springing up as well as his bruised muscles would
+permit him, and seizing his friend enthusiastically by the hand.  "I'll
+stop with you and send home word by my comrades that I'll be back in
+summer.  That's capital!"
+
+Mary seemed to be quite of the same opinion, for she looked quickly up
+with a beaming smile.
+
+"Well, so it is a good plan," said Dick somewhat gravely; "but don't act
+in haste, else ye may ha' to repent at leisure.  Go an' speak to yer
+comrades; see what they advise ye to do, an' come again an' let me know.
+And, now we're on that pint, I may tell ye that yer friends will be at
+the head of a valley not four miles from here this very night, an' they
+expect ye there."
+
+"How d'ye know that?" cried March, breathless with amazement.
+
+"Well, ye see, the Wild Man o' the West knows that you're in them parts;
+he has seed you, an' knows where ye are, an' he met yer comrades, the
+trappers, no later than yesterday, an' told 'em they'd find ye in the
+valley I spoke of just now; so we must be up an' away to meet 'em."
+
+Dick rose as he spoke and began to make preparation to depart.
+
+"But how came _you_ to know this?" inquired the astonished youth.
+
+"Why, the Wild Man an' me's oncommon intimate, d'ye see?  In fact, I may
+say we're jist inseparable companions, an' so I come to know it that
+way.  But make haste.  We've no time to lose."
+
+"Good-bye, Mary," cried March with a cheerful smile, as he hurried out
+of the cave after his eccentric companion.  "I'll be back before long,
+depend on't."
+
+Mary nodded, and the two men were soon mounted and out of sight.
+
+"I say, Dick," observed March as they rode along, "you _must_ get me to
+see the Wild Man of the West; if you're so intimate with him, you can
+easily bring him into the cave; now _won't_ you, Dick?"
+
+"Well, as I can't help doin' it, I s'pose I may say yes at once."
+
+"Can't help it, Dick!  What mean you?  I wish ye'd talk sense."
+
+"Hist!" exclaimed the hunter, pulling up suddenly under the shelter of a
+cliff.  "Yonder come yer friends, sooner than I expected.  I'll leave ye
+here.  They've not seed us yit, an' that wood 'll hide me till I git
+away.  Now, March," he added solemnly, "_remember yer promise_."
+
+In another moment the wild hunter was gone, and March rode forward to
+meet his comrades, who, having now caught sight of him, came up the
+valley at full speed, shouting and waving their caps joyfully as they
+approached.  In a shorter space of time than it takes to tell, March was
+surrounded, dragged off his horse, passed from one to another, to be
+handled roughly, in order to make sure that it was really himself, and,
+finally, was swallowed up by Bounce in a masculine embrace that might
+almost have passed for the hug of a grisly bear.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
+
+MARCH MARSTON IS PERPLEXED, SO ARE HIS FRIENDS--AN UNLOOKED-FOR
+MEETING--TERRIBLE NEWS--THE ATTACK--THE WILD MAN OF THE WEST ONCE AGAIN
+RENDERS SIGNAL SERVICE TO THE TRAPPERS--WILD DOINGS IN GENERAL, AND
+MARCH MARSTON'S CHAGRIN IN PARTICULAR.
+
+"March Marston," said Bounce--and Bounce was sitting beside the camp
+fire, smoking his pipe after supper when he said it--"you may think
+ye're a 'cute feller, you may, oncommon 'cute; but if you'll listen to
+wot an oldish hunter says, an' take his advice, you'll come to think, in
+a feelosophical way, d'ye see? that ye're not quite _so_ 'cute as ye
+suppose."
+
+Bounce delivered this oracularly, and followed it up with a succession
+of puffs, each of which was so solidly yellow as to suggest to the mind
+of Bertram, who chanced to be taking his portrait at that moment, that
+the next puff would burst out in pure flame.  Gibault and Big Waller
+nodded their heads in testimony of their approval of the general scope
+of the remark; the latter even went the length of "guessing that it was
+a fact," and Redhand smiled.  Hawkswing looked, if possible, graver than
+usual.
+
+"As," resumed Bounce after a considerable pause, during which March
+looked and felt very uncomfortable, "the nat'ral eyes of the old men
+becomes more dimmer, d'ye see? their mental eyes, so to speak, becomes
+sharper, so as that they can see through no end o' figurative
+millstones.  That bein' the case when there's no millstone to be seen
+through at all, but only a oncommon thin trans--trans--"
+
+"Ollification," suggested Waller modestly.
+
+"Not at all," retorted Bounce with much severity in his tone.  "I _wos_
+goin' to have said--transparientsy; but I'll not say that now, seein'
+it's too feelosophical for the likes o' you; but, as I wos sayin', that
+bein' the case, d'ye see? it's quite plain that--"
+
+Here Bounce, having got into depths unusually profound even for his
+speculative and philosophical turn of mind, sought refuge in a series of
+voluminous puffs, and wound up, finally, with an emphatic assertion that
+"there wos somethin' wrong, an' it wos o' no manner o' use to try to
+throw dust in _his_ eyes, seein' that his winkin' powers wos sich as to
+enable him to keep it out, no matter how thick or fast it should come."
+
+"Ah, that's yer sort!  I calc'late you're floored there, March," said
+Waller gravely.  "The fact is, boy, that it won't do; you've got
+somethin' in the background, that Mr Bertram talks sich a heap about.
+You ought to be fair an' above-board with comrades, ye ought."
+
+"Oui," added Gibault.  "Of course, you have lived somewhere, an'
+somehow, all dis time.  It am not posseeble for live nowhere on noting."
+
+"Well, I tell you I have lived with a hunter, who treated me very well,
+and told me I'd find you here; having learned that, as I understand,
+from the Wild Man o' the West himself."
+
+"Very true," said Bounce; "but where does the hunter live?"
+
+"In the mountains," replied March.
+
+"So does the Blackfeet, an' the Peigans, an' the Crows, an' the foxes,
+an' wolves, an' grisly bars," retorted Bounce dryly.
+
+"I'll tell ye what it is," cried the exasperated March, "the curiosity
+of you fellers beats the squaws out an' out.  Now, I'll be open with ye,
+an' then ye must hold your tongues.  This man that I've been stayin'
+with is a very fine fellow, an' a very wonderful fellow, an' his name's
+Dick--"
+
+"Dick what?" inquired Bounce.
+
+"Dick nothing," said March.
+
+"Ay! that's a odd name."
+
+"No, I mean he's only called Dick, an' he wouldn't tell me his other
+name, if he has one.  Well, he said to me I was not to tell where he
+lived, as he don't like company, an' so he made me promise, an' I did
+promise, d'ye see? so I mean to stick to my promise, and that's all
+about it.  I would like to tell ye about him, comrades, but you wouldn't
+have me break my word, would you?"
+
+"Cer'nly not, by no means," said Bounce.  "Does he live all by his
+lone?"
+
+"No--eh--ah!  Well, I fancy it's not breakin' my word to tell ye that--
+no, he's got a little gal, an adopted daughter, livin' with him."
+
+"Is she good-lookin'?" inquired Bounce quickly, with a sharp glance at
+the youth.
+
+March looked a little confused, and, in a hesitating manner, admitted
+that she was.
+
+"Ah!  I thought so," observed Bounce gravely, shaking his head and
+looking unutterably profound, while Gibault gave a low whistle and
+winked to Big Waller, who returned the mystic signal with the addition
+of a knowing nod, all of which movements were observed by poor March,
+who became very red in the face and felt very angry and remarkably
+uncomfortable, and quite unable to decide whether it were better to
+laugh or storm.  He was saved from all further perplexity on this point,
+however, by the sudden appearance of a horseman on the distant plain,
+who seemed to be approaching the valley in which they were encamped.  At
+first he looked like a black speck or a crow on the horizon, and, in the
+uncertain light of the rapidly closing day, it would have been difficult
+for any unaccustomed eye to make out what the object was.
+
+In a short time he drew near enough to be distinguished clearly, and the
+rapid patter of the horse's hoofs on the turf told that the rider was
+flying over the ground at an unusual speed.  Passing round a clump of
+low trees that stretched out from the mouth of the valley into the
+plain, he came dashing towards the camp--a wild-looking, dishevelled
+creature, seemingly in a state of reckless insanity.
+
+"The Wild Man again, surely," said Bounce, who, with his companions, had
+risen to await the coming up of the stranger.
+
+"D'you think so?" cried March Marston eagerly.
+
+"Ye--eh? why, I do b'lieve it's Mr Macgregor," cried the astonished
+Bounce as the reckless rider dashed up to the camp fire, and, springing
+from his horse with a yell that savoured more of a savage than a
+civilised spirit, cried--
+
+"Look out, lads; up with a pile o' rocks an' trees!  They'll be on us in
+a jiffy!  There's five hundred o' the red reptiles if there's one.  The
+Mountain Fort's burned to cinders--every man and woman dead and
+scalped--look alive!"
+
+These words were uttered hastily in broken exclamations, as Macgregor
+seized the logs that had been cut for firewood, and began violently to
+toss them together in a pile; while the trappers, although much amazed
+and horrified at the news, seized their hatchets and began to make
+instant preparation to resist an attack, without wasting time in useless
+questions.  They observed that the commander of the Mountain Fort was
+pale as death, that his eyes were bloodshot, his clothes torn, and his
+hands and face begrimed with powder and stained with blood.
+
+March Marston worked like a hero at the rude breastwork for some time,
+although the effort caused him so much pain that he could not help
+showing it on his countenance.
+
+"March," said Bounce, seizing him suddenly by the shoulder, "you're not
+fit to work, an' much less fit to fight.  I'll tell ye wot to do, lad.
+Jump on my horse, an' away to yer friend the trapper, an' bring him here
+to help us.  One stout arm 'll do us more good this night than ten
+battered bodies sich as yours, poor feller."
+
+March felt the truth of this, so without delay turned to obey.  Just as
+he was about to leave he heard a deep groan, and turning round, saw
+Macgregor fall to the ground.
+
+"You're ill," he cried, running to him and kneeling down.
+
+"No--not ill, just a scratch from an arrow," gasped the trader with an
+oath.  "I believe the head's stickin' in my back."
+
+"Away, March," cried Redhand, "we'll look to this.  Waller, out wi' the
+fire, man; ye used to be more spry when--ah! too late, there they are,
+they've seen us."
+
+"Into the fort, boys!" cried Bounce, alluding to the breastwork, "we
+don't need to care; with plenty o' powder and lead, we can keep five
+thousand redskins off."
+
+March heard no more.  Dashing up the glen at full speed, he disappeared
+from the spot, just as the distant yell of the savage host came floating
+upon the wings of the night air, apprising the trappers that their fire
+had been observed, and that they would have to fight manfully if they
+hoped to carry their scalps home with them.
+
+In a few minutes the Indians drew near, and scattering themselves round
+the little entrenchment, began to discharge clouds of arrows at it, but,
+fortunately, without doing any damage.  An inaccessible cliff protected
+their rear, and behind a projection of this the trappers' horses were
+secured.  The breastwork lay immediately in front.
+
+Again and again the savages let fly their shafts, but without drawing
+any reply from the trappers, who kept close under cover and reserved
+their fire.  This tempted their enemies to approach, and, when within
+short range, they seemed about to make a rush, supposing, no doubt, that
+the party concealed behind the breastwork must be Indians, since they
+did not use firearms.  Just then Redhand gave a preconcerted signal;
+three sheets of flame spouted from their guns, and three of the foremost
+Indians fell dead from their horses.
+
+With a terrible yell the others turned to fly, but before they had
+retreated a yard three more shots were fired with deadly effect.  They
+now took shelter behind trees and rocks, and attempted to dislodge the
+trappers by discharging arrows into the air at such an angle that they
+should drop into their fortress.  One or two endeavoured to ascend the
+steep cliff, but the instant an arm or a shoulder appeared, a ball from
+Redhand's deadly rifle struck it, so the attempt was abandoned.
+
+While this was going on, March Marston galloped to Dick's cave, and
+startled poor Mary not a little by the abruptness of his entrance.  But,
+to his mortification, Dick was not at home.  It so chanced that that
+wild individual had taken it into his head to remain concealed in the
+woods near the spot where he had parted from his late guest, and had not
+only witnessed the meeting of March with his friends, but had seen the
+arrival of Macgregor, the subsequent departure of March in the direction
+of the cave, and the attack made by the Indians.  When, therefore, the
+youth was speeding towards his cavern, the Wild Man (who was not sorry
+to see him go off on such an errand), was busily planning the best mode
+of attacking the enemy so as to render effectual aid to the trappers.
+
+Observing that the Indians had clustered together at the foot of a
+rugged cliff, apparently for the purpose of holding a council of war,
+Dick made his way quickly to the summit of the cliff, and, leaving his
+charger on an eminence that sloped down towards the entrance of the
+valley, quickly and noiselessly carried several huge stones to the edge
+of the precipice, intending to throw them down on the heads of his foes.
+Just as he was about to do so, he observed an overhanging mass of rock,
+many tons in weight, which the frosts of winter had detached from the
+precipice.  Placing his feet against this, and leaning his back against
+the solid rock, he exerted himself with all his might, like a second
+Samson.  No human power could have moved such a rock, had it not been
+almost overbalanced; but, being so, Dick's effort moved it.  Again he
+strained, until the great veins seemed about to burst through the skin
+of his neck and forehead.  Gradually the rock toppled and fell, and the
+Wild Man fell along with it.
+
+In the agony of that moment he uttered a cry so terrible that it might
+well have been supposed to have come from the throat of a supernatural
+being.  The Indians had not time to evade the danger.  The ponderous
+mass in its descent hit a projecting crag, and burst into smaller
+fragments, which fell in a rattling shower, killing two men, and
+wounding others.  Those of the group who escaped, as well as those who
+chanced to be beyond the danger, saw, by the dim moonlight, the Wild Man
+of the West descending, as it were, like a furious demon in the midst of
+the dire confusion of dust and rocks.  They knew him well.  It wanted
+but this to fill them to overflow with superstitious dread.  They turned
+and fled.  The trappers, although amazed beyond measure, and half
+suspecting who it was that had thus suddenly come to their aid, mounted
+their horses, and, leaping over their barricade, rushed down the valley
+in pursuit, firing a volley at starting, and loading as they rode at
+full speed.  In his descent Dick made what might well be termed a
+miraculous escape.  Near the foot of the cliff he went crashing through
+a thick bush, which broke his fall.  Still he retained impetus
+sufficient to have seriously injured if not killed him, had he not
+alighted in the midst of another bush, which saved him so completely
+that he was not even hurt.
+
+Dick could scarcely believe his own senses; but he was not a man given
+to indulge much wandering thought in times of action.  Giving himself
+one shake, to make sure of his being actually sound in wind and limb, he
+bounded away up the precipice by a path with which he was well
+acquainted, reached his horse, flew by a short cut to the mouth of the
+valley, and, wheeling suddenly round, met the horrified Indians in the
+very teeth!
+
+The roar with which he met them was compound in its nature, and
+altogether hideous!  His mind was in a mingled condition of amazement
+and satisfaction at his escape, triumph at the success of his plan, and
+indignation at the cowardly wickedness of the savages.  A rollicking
+species of mad pugnacity took possession of him, and the consequence
+was, that the sounds which issued from his leathern throat were
+positively inhuman.
+
+The rushing mass of terror-stricken men, thus caught, as it were,
+between two fires, divided, in order to escape him.  Dick was not sorry
+to observe this.  He felt that the day was gained without further
+bloodshed.  He knew that the superstitious dread in which he was held
+was a guarantee that the savages would not return; so, instead of
+turning with the trappers to join in the pursuit, he favoured them with
+a concluding and a peculiarly monstrous howl, and then rode quietly away
+by a circuitous route to his own cavern.
+
+Thus he avoided March Marston, who, on finding that his friend Dick was
+out, had returned at full speed to aid his comrades, and arrived just in
+time to meet them returning, triumphant and panting, from their pursuit
+of the foe!
+
+"Are they gone?" cried March in amazement.
+
+"Ay, right slick away into the middle o' nowhar," replied Big Waller,
+laughing heartily.  "Did ye iver hear such a roarer, comrades?"
+
+"Have you licked 'em out an' out?" continued the incredulous March, "Ay,
+out an' out, an' no mistake," replied Bounce, dismounting.
+
+"Well, that _is_ lucky," said March; "for my friend Dick I found was
+not--"
+
+"Ah! we not have need him," interrupted Gibault, wiping the perspiration
+from his forehead, "de Wild Man of de West hims come, an'--oh! you
+should see what hims have bin do!"
+
+"The Wild Man again!" exclaimed March in dismay--"an' me absent!"
+
+Gibault nodded and laughed.
+
+At that moment an exclamation from Redhand attracted the attention of
+the whole party.  He was kneeling beside Macgregor, who had dismounted
+and lain down.
+
+"I believe they've done for me," said the fur trader faintly.  "That
+arrow must have gone deeper than I thought."
+
+"You'd better let me see the wound, sir," said Redhand; "your shirt is
+covered with blood."
+
+"No, no," said the wounded man savagely; "let me rest--see, I'm better
+now.  You will find a flask in the bag at my saddle-bow.  Bring it
+here."
+
+"I know that Dick--the hunter--is a good hand at doctoring," said March.
+"What a pity he is not here!  We might carry you there, sir."
+
+"Carry me," laughed the fur trader fiercely; "no, I'll never be carried
+till I'm carried to my grave.  How far off is his place?  Where stays
+he?"
+
+"Four miles from this.  I'll take you if you can ride," said March.
+
+"Ay, that I can, bravely," cried the trader, who, having taken a deep
+draught of spirits, seemed to be imbued with new life.  "Come, young
+sir, mount."
+
+The trappers endeavoured to dissuade the violent man from the attempt,
+but he could not be controlled; so March, hastily observing that he
+would see him safe to the hunter's abode and return without delay,
+mounted his horse and rode away, followed by the wounded man.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
+
+THE WOUNDED FUR TRADER.
+
+When they reached the entrance to the cavern, March and his companion
+dismounted; but the latter was so weak from loss of blood that he
+stumbled at the foot of the track, and fell to the earth insensible.
+
+March ran hastily in for assistance, and was not a little surprised to
+find Dick sitting alone by the side of the fire, and so absorbed in the
+perusal of a little book that he had not noticed his entrance--a very
+singular and unaccountable piece of absence of mind in one so well
+trained in the watchful ways of the backwoods.
+
+"Ho!  Dick!" cried the youth.
+
+"What, March--March Marston!" exclaimed the Wild Man, springing up,
+seizing him by the shoulders, and gazing intently into his face, as if
+to assure himself that he was not dreaming.
+
+"Ay, no doubt I'm March Marston; though how you came to find out my name
+I don't know--"
+
+"Easy enough that, lad, when you leave your mother's Bible behind ye,"
+cried Dick with a wild laugh.  "She must be a good mother that o' yours.
+Is she alive yet, boy?"
+
+"That is she, an' well, I trust--"
+
+"An' your father," interrupted Dick; "how's he, lad, eh?"
+
+"I don't know," said March, frowning; "he forsook us fourteen years
+agone; but it's little good talking o' such matters now, when there's a
+poor fellow dyin' outside."
+
+"Dyin'?"
+
+"Ay, so it seems to me.  I've brought him to see if ye can stop the
+bleedin', but he's fainted, and I can't lift--"
+
+Dick waited for no more, but, hastening out, raised Macgregor in his
+arms, and carried him into the inner cave, where Mary was lying sound
+asleep on her lowly couch.
+
+"Come, Mary, lass, make way for this poor feller."
+
+The child leaped up, and, throwing a deerskin round her, stepped aside
+to allow the wounded man to be placed on her bed.  Her eye immediately
+fell on March, who stood in the entrance, and she ran to him in
+surprise.
+
+"What's de matter, March?"
+
+"Hush, Mary," said Dick in a low voice; "we'll have to speak soft.  Poor
+Macgregor won't be long for this world, I'm afear'd.  Fetch me the box
+o' things."
+
+"You know him, then?" whispered March, in surprise.
+
+"Ay, I've often bin to the Mountain Fort and seed him there.  See, he's
+comin' to.  Put that torch more behind me, lad.  It'll be better for him
+not to see me."
+
+As he spoke the wounded man sighed faintly.  Opening his eyes, he said,
+"Where am I?"
+
+"Speak to him," whispered Dick, looking over his shoulder at March, who
+advanced, and, kneeling at the side of the couch, said--
+
+"You're all right, Mr Macgregor.  I've brought you to the hunter's
+home.  He'll dress your wound and take care of you, so make your mind
+easy.  But you'll have to keep quiet.  You've lost much blood."
+
+The fur trader turned round and seemed to fall asleep, while Dick bound
+his wound, and then, leaving him to rest, he and March returned to the
+other cave.
+
+During that night Dick seemed in an unaccountably excited state.
+Sometimes he sat down by the fire and talked with March in an absent
+manner on all kinds of subjects--his adventures, his intentions, his
+home at Pine Point; but from his looks it seemed as if his thoughts were
+otherwise engaged, and occasionally he started up and paced the floor
+hurriedly, while his brows darkened and his broad chest heaved as though
+he were struggling with some powerful feeling or passion.
+
+"Could it be," thought March, "that there was some mysterious connection
+between Dick and the wounded fur trader?"  Not being able to find a
+satisfactory reply to the thought, he finally dismissed it, and turned
+his attentions altogether towards Mary, whose looks of surprise and
+concern showed that she too was puzzled by the behaviour of her adopted
+father.
+
+During that night and all the next day the wounded man grew rapidly
+worse, and March stayed with him, partly because he felt a strong
+interest in and pity for him, and partly because he did not like to
+leave to Mary the duty of watching a dying man.
+
+Dick went out during the day in the same excited state, and did not
+return till late in the evening.  During his absence, the dying man's
+mind wandered frequently, and, in order to check this as well as to
+comfort him, March read to him from his mother's Bible.  At times he
+seemed to listen intently to the words that fell from March's lips, but
+more frequently he lay in a state apparently of stupor.
+
+"Boy," said he, starting suddenly out of one of those heavy slumbers,
+"what's the use of reading the Bible to me?  I'm not a Christian, an'
+it's too late now--too late!"
+
+"The Bible tells me that `_now_' is God's time.  I forget where the
+words are, an' I can't find 'em," said March earnestly; "but I _know_
+they're in this book.  Besides, don't you remember the thief who was
+saved when he hung on the cross in a dyin' state?"
+
+The fur trader shook his head slowly, and still muttered, "Too late, too
+late."
+
+March now became deeply anxious about the dying man, who seemed to him
+like one sinking in the sea, yet refusing to grasp the rope that was
+flung to him.  He turned over the sacred pages hurriedly to find
+appropriate texts, and blamed himself again and again for not having
+made himself better acquainted with the Word of God.  He also repeated
+all he could think of from memory; but still the dying man shook his
+head and muttered, "Too late!"  Suddenly March bent over him and said--
+
+"Christ is able to save to the _uttermost_ all who come unto God through
+Him."
+
+The fur trader looked up in silence for a few seconds.  "Ay," said he,
+"many a time have I heard the old minister at Pine Point say that."
+
+"Pine Point!" exclaimed March in surprise.
+
+"Perhaps they're true, after all," continued Macgregor, not noticing the
+interruption.  "Oh!  Mary, Mary, surely I did the uttermost when I
+forsook ye.  Let me see the words, boy; are they there?"
+
+A strange suspicion flashed suddenly on the mind of March as he listened
+to these words, and he trembled violently as he handed him the book.
+
+"What--what's this?  Where got ye my wife's Bible?  You must," (he added
+between his teeth, in a sudden burst of anger) "have murdered my boy."
+
+"Father!" exclaimed March, seizing Macgregor's hand.
+
+The dying man started up with a countenance of ashy paleness, and,
+leaning on one elbow, gazed earnestly into the youth's face--"March! can
+it be my boy?" and fell back with a heavy groan.  The bandages had been
+loosened by the exertion, and blood was pouring freely from his wound.
+The case admitted of no delay.  March hurriedly attempted to stop the
+flow of the vital stream, assisted by Mary, who had been sitting at the
+foot of the couch bathed in tears during the foregoing scene.
+
+Just then Dick returned, and, seeing how matters stood, quickly
+staunched the wound; but his aid came too late.  Macgregor, or rather
+Obadiah Marston, opened his eyes but once after that, and seemed as if
+he wished to speak.  March bent down quickly and put his ear close to
+his mouth; there was a faint whisper, "God bless you, March, my son,"
+and then all was still!
+
+March gazed long and breathlessly at the dead countenance; then, looking
+slowly up in Dick's face, he said, pointing to the dead man, "My
+father!" and fell insensible on the couch beside him.
+
+We will pass over the first few days that succeeded the event just
+narrated, during which poor March Marston went about the wild region in
+the vicinity of the cave like one in a dream.  It may be imagined with
+what surprise the trappers learned from him the near relationship that
+existed between himself and the fur trader.  They felt and expressed the
+deepest sympathy with their young comrade, and offered to accompany him
+when he laid his father in the grave.  But Dick had firmly refused to
+allow the youth to bring the trappers near his abode, so they forbore to
+press him, and the last sad rites were performed by himself and Dick
+alone.  The grave was made in the centre of a little green vale which
+lay like an emerald in the heart of that rocky wilderness; and a little
+wooden cross, with the name and date cut thereon by March, was erected
+at the head of the low mound to mark the fur trader's last lonely
+resting-place.  March Marston had never known his father in early life,
+having been an infant when he deserted his family; and the little that
+he had seen of him at the Mountain Fort, and amid the wild scenes of the
+Rocky Mountains, had not made a favourable impression on him.  But, now
+that he was gone, the natural instinct of affection arose within his
+breast.  He called to remembrance the last few and sad hours which he
+had spent by his parent's dying bed.  He thought of their last few words
+on the momentous concerns of the soul, and of the eagerness with which,
+at times, the dying man listened to the life-giving Word of God; and the
+tear of sorrow that fell upon the grave, as he turned to quit that
+solitary spot, was mingled with a tear of joy and thankfulness that God
+had brought him there to pour words of comfort and hope into his dying
+father's ear.
+
+That night he spent in the cave with Dick; he felt indisposed to join
+his old comrades just then.  The grave tenderness of his eccentric
+friend, and the sympathy of little Mary, were more congenial to him.
+
+"March," said Dick in a low, sad tone, as they sat beside the fire,
+"that funeral reminds me o' my friend I told ye of once.  It's a
+lonesome grave his, with nought but a wooden cross to mark it."
+
+"Had you known him long, Dick?"
+
+"No, not long.  He left the settlement in a huff--bein', I b'lieve,
+crossed in love, as I told ye."
+
+Dick paused, and clasping both hands over his knee, gazed with a look of
+mingled sternness and sorrow at the glowing fire.
+
+"Did ye ever," he resumed abruptly, "hear o' a feller called Louis, who
+once lived at Pine Point--before ye was born, lad; did ye ever hear yer
+mother speak of him?"
+
+"Louis?  Yes--well, I believe I do think I've heard the name before.  Oh
+yes!  People used to say he was fond o' my mother when she was a girl;
+but I never heard her speak of him.  Now ye mention it, I remember the
+only time I ever asked her about it, she burst into tears, and told me
+never to speak of him again.  Thadwick was his name--Louis Thadwick; but
+he was better known as Louis the Trapper.  But he's almost forgotten at
+the settlement now; it's so long ago.  Every one thinks him dead.  Why
+d'ye ask?"
+
+"Think he's dead?" repeated Dick slowly.  "An' why not?  My poor friend
+that was killed when he left his native place swore he'd never go back,
+an' no more he did--no more he did; though he little thought that death
+would step in so soon to make him keep his word."
+
+"Was Louis your friend who died?" inquired March with much interest and
+not a little pity, for he observed that his companion was deeply
+affected.
+
+Dick did not reply.  His thoughts seemed to be wandering again, so March
+forbore to interrupt him, and, turning to Mary, said in a more cheerful
+tone--
+
+"Whether would ye like to go to Pine Point settlement and stay with my
+mother, or that I should come here and spend the winter with you and
+Dick?"
+
+Mary looked puzzled, and after some moments' consideration replied, "Me
+don't know."  Then, looking up quickly, she added, "Which _you_ like?"
+
+"Indeed, I must make the same reply, Mary--`I don't know.'  But, as I
+can't expect my friend Dick to give up his wild life, I suppose I must
+make up my mind to come here."
+
+"March," said Dick quickly, "I've changed my mind, lad.  It won't do.
+You'll have to spend next winter at home--anyhow ye can't spend it with
+me."
+
+Had a thunderbolt struck the earth between March and Mary, they would
+not have been filled with half so much consternation as they were on
+hearing these words.  It was plain that both had thoroughly made up
+their minds that they were to be together for many months to come.  Dick
+noted the effect of his remark, and a peculiar frown crossed his
+countenance for a moment, but it gave place to a smile, as he said--
+
+"I'm sorry to disappoint ye, lad, but the thing cannot be."
+
+"Cannot be!" repeated March in a tone of exasperation, for he felt that
+this was an unwarrantable piece of caprice on the part of his friend;
+"surely you don't claim to be chief of the Rocky Mountains!  If I choose
+to come an' spend the winter in this region, you have no right to
+prevent me.  And if I offer to bring you furs and venison, besides
+pretty good company, will ye be such a surly knave as to refuse me a
+corner of your cave?"
+
+"Nay, lad.  Right welcome would ye be, with or without furs or venison;
+but I mean to leave the cave--to quit this part of the country
+altogether.  The fact is, I'm tired of it, an' want a change."
+
+"Very good, all right, an' what's to hinder my going with you?  I'm fond
+o' change myself.  I'd as soon go one way as another."
+
+Dick shook his head.  "It's o' no use, March, I've my own reasons for
+desirin' to travel alone.  The thing cannot be."
+
+This was said in such a decided tone that March looked at Mary in
+dismay.  He gathered no consolation from her countenance, however.
+
+"March," said Dick firmly, "I'm sorry to grieve ye, lad, but it can't be
+helped.  All I can say is, that if ye choose to come back here next
+summer you'll be heartily welcome, and I'll engage that ye'll find me
+here; but I'm quite sartin' ye won't want to come."
+
+"Won't want to come!  I'll bet ye a hundred thousand million dollars
+I'll want to come, ay, and _will_ come," cried March.
+
+"Done!" said Dick, seizing the youth's hand, "an' Mary's a witness to
+the wager."
+
+It is needless to say that the conversation did not rest here.  The
+greater part of that night, and during great part of the week that March
+remained there, he continued to press the Wild Man of the West to alter
+his purpose, but without avail.  Each day he passed with his comrades,
+hunting and trapping, and each night he bade them adieu and returned to
+sup and sleep in the cave, and, of course, persecuted Dick all that
+time; but Dick was immovable.
+
+Of course, the trappers renewed their attempts to get March to show them
+Dick's abode, but he persistently refused, and they were too
+good-natured to annoy him, and too honest to follow his trail, which
+they might easily have done, had they been so disposed.
+
+At last the time arrived when it became necessary that the trappers
+should return to Pine Point settlement.  In the midst of all their
+alarms and fights they had found time to do, what Big Waller termed, a
+"pretty considerable stroke o' business."  That is to say, they had
+killed a large number of fur-bearing animals by means of trap, snare,
+and gun, so that they were in a position to return home with a heavy
+load of valuable skins.  The day of their departure was therefore
+arranged, and March, mounting his steed, galloped, for the last time,
+and with a heavy heart, towards the cave of his friend Dick.
+
+As he passed rapidly over the wild country, and entered the gloomy
+recesses that surrounded the Wild Man's home, he thought over the
+arguments and persuasive speeches with which he meant to make a last
+and, he still hoped, successful appeal.  But March might have spared
+himself the trouble of all this thought, for when he reached the cave
+Dick was absent.  This grieved, him deeply, because every preparation
+had been made by his companions for starting on their homeward journey
+that evening, so that he had no time to spare.
+
+Mary, was at home, however, so March felt a little consoled, and,
+seating himself in his wonted place beside the fire, he said--
+
+"When will Dick be home, Mary?"
+
+"Me no can know 'xactly.  To-morray hims say, perhaps."
+
+"Then it's all up," sighed March, leaning recklessly back against the
+wall; "all up!  I'm off to-night, so I'll not be able to spend the
+winter with you after all."
+
+Had Mary burst into tears on hearing this, March would have felt
+satisfied.  Had she groaned or sobbed, or even sighed, he would have
+experienced some degree of relief to his annoyed and disappointed
+spirit, but when Mary, instead of any such demonstration, hung down her
+head so that the heavy masses of her soft brown hair hid her pretty face
+and said in a tone which March fancied was not very genuine, "What a
+pity!" he became extremely exasperated, and deemed himself ill-used.
+
+During the half-hour that succeeded he endeavoured to converse in a
+pleasant tone of voice, but without success.  At last he rose to go.
+
+"Must you go 'way dis night?" said Mary with a look of concern.
+
+"Ay, Mary, an' it's not much matter, for ye don't seem to care."
+
+The girl looked at him reproachfully, "You is not please' with me,
+March--why?"
+
+The question puzzled the youth.  He certainly was displeased, but he
+could not make up his mind to say that he was so because Mary had not
+fallen into a state of violent grief at the prospect of a separation.
+But the anxious gaze of Mary's truthful blue eyes was too much for him--
+he suddenly grasped both her hands, and, kissing her forehead, said--
+
+"Mary dear, I'm not displeased.  I'm only sorry, and sad, and annoyed,
+and miserable--very miserable--I can scarcely tell why.  I suppose I'm
+not well, or I'm cross, or something or other.  But this I know, Mary,
+Dick has invited me to come back to see him next year, and I certainly
+shall come if life and limb hold out till then."
+
+Mary's eyes filled with tears, and as she smiled through them, March,
+being very near her face, beheld in each eye an excessively miniature
+portrait of himself gazing out at him lovingly.
+
+"Perhaps!" faltered Mary, "you no want for come when it be nixt year."
+
+Poor March was overwhelmed again, absolutely disgusted, that _she_ could
+entertain a doubt upon that point!
+
+"We shall see," he cried with a sudden impulse, pressing his lips again
+to her forehead.  "May the Great Spirit bless and keep you!  Good-bye,
+Mary--till next spring."
+
+March burst away from her, rushed out of the cave in a tumult of
+conflicting feelings and great resolves, and despite a little stiffness
+that still remained to remind him of his late accident, flung himself
+into the saddle with a bound that would have done credit to the Wild Man
+himself, and galloped down the rocky gorge at a pace that threatened a
+sudden and total smash to horse and man.  Had any of his old comrades or
+friends witnessed that burst, they would certainly have said that March
+Marston was mad--madder, perhaps, than the most obstreperous March hare
+that ever marched madly through the wild regions of insanity.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
+
+MARCH MARSTON AT HOME--HIS ASTONISHING BEHAVIOUR--NARRATION OF HIS
+EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES--WIDOW MARSTON'S BOWER--THE RENDEZVOUS OF THE
+TRAPPERS--A STRANGE INTERRUPTION TO MARCH'S NARRATIVE--A WILD SURPRISE
+AND RECOVERY OF A LOST LOVER--GREAT DESTRUCTION OF HOUSEHOLD GOODS--A
+DOUBLE WEDDING AND TREMENDOUS EXCITEMENT--THE WILD MAN OF THE WEST THE
+WISEST MAN IN PINE POINT SETTLEMENT.
+
+Three months passed away, and at the end of that period March Marston
+found himself back again in Pine Point settlement, sitting on a low
+stool at that fireside where the yelling and kicking days of his infancy
+had been spent, and looking up in the face of that buxom, blue-eyed
+mother, with whom he had been wont to hold philosophical converse in
+regard to fighting and other knotty--not to say naughty--questions, in
+those bright but stormy days of childhood when he stood exactly
+"two-foot-ten," and when he looked and felt as if he stood upwards of
+ten feet two!
+
+Three months passed away, and during the passage of that period March
+Marston's bosom became a theatre in which, unseen by the naked eye, were
+a legion of spirits, good, middling, and bad, among whom were hope,
+fear, despair, joy, fun, delight, interest, surprise, mischief,
+exasperation, and a military demon named General Jollity, who overbore
+and browbeat all the rest by turns.  These scampered through his brain
+and tore up his heart and tumbled about in his throat and lungs, and
+maintained a furious harlequinade, and in short behaved in a way that
+was quite disgraceful, and that caused the poor young man alternately to
+amuse, annoy, astonish, and stun his comrades, who beheld the exterior
+results of those private theatricals, but had no conception of the
+terrific combats that took place so frequently on the stage within.
+
+During those three months, March saw many things.  He saw his old
+friends the prairie dogs, and the prong-horned antelopes, and the grisly
+bears, and the wolves; more than that, he chased, and shot, and ate many
+of them.  He also saw clouds of locusts flying high in the air, so thick
+that they sometimes darkened the very sky, and herds of buffaloes so
+large that they often darkened the whole plain.
+
+During those three months March learned a good deal.  He learned that
+there was much more of every sort of thing in this world than he had had
+any idea of--that there was much, very much, to be thankful for--that
+there were many, very many, things to be grieved for, and many also to
+be glad about--that the fields of knowledge were inimitably large, and
+that his own individual acquirements were preposterously, humblingly
+small!
+
+He thought much, too.  He thought of the past, present, and future in
+quite a surprising way.  He thought of his mother and her loneliness, of
+Dick and his obstinacy, of Mary and her sweetness, of the Wild Man of
+the West and his invisibility.  When this latter thought arose, it had
+the effect invariably of rousing within him demon Despair; also General
+Jollity, for the general had a particular spite against that demon, and,
+whenever he showed symptoms of vitality, attacked him with a species of
+frenzy that was quite dreadful to feel, and the outward manifestations
+of which were such as to cause the trappers to fear seriously that the
+poor youth had "gone out of his mind," as they expressed it.  But they
+were wrong--quite wrong--it was only the natural consequence of those
+demons and sprites having gone into his mind, where they were behaving
+themselves--as Bounce, when March made him his confidant, said--with
+"horrible obstropolosity."
+
+Well, as we have said, March was seated on a low stool, looking up in
+his mother's face.  He had already been three days at home, and, during
+every spare minute he had he sat himself down on the same stool, and
+went on with his interminable narrations of the extraordinary adventures
+through which he had passed while among the Rocky Mountains and out upon
+the great prairies.
+
+Widow Marston--for she knew that she was a widow now, though the
+knowledge added but little to the feeling of widowhood to which she had
+been doomed for so many years--widow Marston, we say, listened to this
+interminable narration with untiring patience and unmitigated pleasure.
+There was as yet no symptom of the narrative drawing to a close, neither
+was there the slightest evidence of the widow Marston becoming wearied.
+We have seen a cat worried and pulled and poked by its kitten almost
+beyond endurance, and we have observed that the cat endured it meekly--
+nay, evidently rejoiced in the annoyance: it was pleasurable pain.  As
+it is with feline, so is it with human mothers.  Their love overbears
+and outweighs _everything_.  Ah! good cause have the rugged males of
+this world to rejoice that such is the fact; and although they know it
+well, we hold that it is calculated to improve the health and refresh
+the spirit of men to have that fact brought prominently and pointedly to
+their remembrance!
+
+Had March Marston talked the most unutterable balderdash, widow Marston
+would have listened with unwearied delight as long, we believe, as her
+eyes and ears could do their duty.  But March did _not_ talk balderdash.
+For a madman, he spoke a great deal of common, besides a considerable
+amount of uncommon sense, and his mother listened with intelligent
+interest: commenting on what he said in her quiet way, as she found
+opportunity--we say this advisedly, for opportunities were not so
+frequent as one might suppose.  March had always been possessed of a
+glib tongue, and he seemed, as Bounce remarked, to have oiled the hinges
+since his return to Pine Point settlement.
+
+"Mother," said March, after a short pause that had succeeded an
+unusually long burst, "do you know it's only a few months since I left
+you to go to this trip to the mountains?"
+
+"I know it well, my son," replied the widow, smiling at the question.
+
+"And do you know," he continued, "that it seems to me more like five
+years?  When I think of all that I've heard and all that I've done, and
+all that I've seen, it seems to me as if it had took--as if it _must_
+have took--five years to have heard and done and seen it all in?"
+
+"And yet," said the widow musingly, "you failed to see the Wild Man o'
+the West after all."
+
+"Mother, I'll be angry with you if you say that again."
+
+"Well, I won't," she replied, taking his hand in hers and stroking it.
+"Tell me again, March, about Dick of the Cave and his little girl.  I
+like to hear about them; they were so kind to you, and that Dick, from
+your account, seems to be such a fine fellow: tell me all about them
+over again."
+
+"I will, mother," said March, clearing his throat, and commencing in a
+tone that showed clearly his intention of going on indefinitely.
+
+Widow Marston's cottage had a pretty, comfortable-looking flower garden
+behind it.  In front the windows looked out upon a portion of the native
+woods which had been left standing when the spot for the settlement was
+cleared.  In the back garden there was a bower which the widow's
+brother, the blacksmith, had erected, and the creepers on which had been
+planted by the widow's own hand when she was Mary West, the belle of the
+settlement.  In this bower, which was a capacious one, sat a number of
+sedate, quiet, jolly, conversable fellows, nearly all of whom smoked,
+and one of whom sketched.  They were our friends Redhand, Bounce, Big
+Waller, Gibault, Hawkswing, and Bertram.
+
+It is observable among men who travel long in company together in a wild
+country, that, when they return again to civilised, or to semi-civilised
+life, they feel a strong inclination to draw closer together, either
+from the force of habit, or sympathy, or both.  On reaching Pine Point
+the trappers, after visiting their friends and old chums, drew together
+again as if by a species of electrical attraction.  In whatever manner
+they chanced to spend their days, they--for the first week at least--
+found themselves trending gradually each evening a little before sunset
+to a common centre.
+
+Widow Marston was always at home.  March Marston was always with his
+mother--deep in his long-winded yarns.  The bower was always invitingly
+open in the back garden; hence the bower was the regular rendezvous of
+the trappers.  It was a splendid evening that on which we now see them
+assembled there.  The sun was just about to set in a flood of golden
+clouds.  Birds, wildfowl, and frogs held an uproarious concert in wood
+and swamp, and the autumnal foliage glowed richly in the slanting beams
+as it hung motionless in the still atmosphere.
+
+"D'ye know," said Redhand, removing his pipe for a few minutes and
+blowing aside the heavy wreaths of tobacco smoke that seemed unwilling
+to ascend and dissipate themselves--"d'ye know, now that this trip's
+over, I'm inclined to think it's about the roughest one I've had for
+many a year?  An' it's a cur'ous fact, that the rougher a trip is the
+more I like it."
+
+Bertram, who was (as a matter of course) sketching, turned over a few
+leaves and made a note of the observation.
+
+"I guess it was pretty much of a meddlin' jolly one," said Big Waller,
+smoking enthusiastically, and with an expression of intense satisfaction
+on his weather-beaten countenance.
+
+"An' profitable," observed Bounce gravely.
+
+"Ah! oui, ver' prof'table," echoed Gibault.  "Dat is de main ting.  We
+have git plenty skins, an' have bring hom' our own skins, w'ich I was
+not moche sure of one or two times."
+
+"True," said Bounce; "that's wot we've got for to be thankful for.
+Skins is skins; but the skin of a human ain't to be put in the balance
+wi' the skin o' a beaver, d'ye see?"
+
+Bounce glanced at Hawkswing as he spoke, but the Indian only looked
+stolid and smoked solemnly.
+
+"Yes," he continued, "a whole skin's better nor a broken one, an' it's
+well to bring back a whole one, though I'm not a-goin' for to deny that
+there's some advantage in bringing back other sorts o' skins too, d'ye
+see? w'ich goes for to prove the true feelosophy of the fact, d'ye
+see?--"
+
+Bounce paused, in the midst of his mental energy, to take a parenthetic
+whiff.  His thoughts, however, seemed too deep for utterance, for he
+subsided quietly into a state of silent fumigation.
+
+"What a splendidly picturesque scene!" exclaimed Bertram, pushing back
+his brigandish hat in order the better to get a view, at arm's length,
+of his sketch and compare it with the original.
+
+"Wot's the meanin' o' pikter-esk?" inquired Bounce.  Theodore Bertram
+looked and felt puzzled.  He was not the first man who thought that he
+knew the signification of terms well, and found himself much perplexed
+on being suddenly called upon to give a correct definition of a
+well-known word.  While he is labouring to enlighten his friend, we
+shall leave the bower and return to the hall, or kitchen, or reception
+room--for it might be appropriately designated by any of these terms--
+where March is, as usual, engaged in expounding backwoods life to his
+mother.  We have only to pass through the open door and are with them at
+once.  Cottages in Pine Point settlement were of simple construction;
+the front door opened out of one side of the hall, the back door out of
+the other.  As the weather was mild, both were wide open.
+
+March had just reached an intensely interesting point in his narrative,
+and was describing, with flashing eyes and heightened colour, his first
+interview with the "Vision in Leather," when his attention was attracted
+by the sound of horses' hoofs coming at a rapid pace along the road that
+led to the cottage.  The wood above referred to hid any object
+approaching by the road until within fifty yards or so of the front
+door.
+
+"They seem in a hurry, whoever they be," said March, as he and his
+mother rose and hastened to the door, "an' there's more than one rider,
+if I've not forgot how to judge by sounds.  I should say that there's--
+Hallo!"
+
+The exclamation was not unnatural by any means, for at that moment a
+very remarkable horseman dashed round the point of the wood and galloped
+towards the cottage.  Both man and horse were gigantic.  The former wore
+no cap, and his voluminous brown locks floated wildly behind him.  On
+they came with a heavy, thunderous tread, stones, sticks, and dust
+flying from the charger's heels.  There was a rude paling in front of
+the cottage.  The noble horse put its ears forward as it came up, took
+two or three short strides, and went over with the light bound of a
+deer, showing that the strength of bone, muscle, and sinew was in
+proportion to the colossal size of the animal.  The gravel inside the
+paling flew like splashing water as they alighted with a crash, and
+widow Marston, uttering a faint cry, shrank within the doorway as the
+wild horseman seemed about to launch himself, with Quixotic
+recklessness, against the cottage.
+
+"_Dick_!" shouted March, who stared like one thunderstruck as the rider
+leaped from the saddle to the ground, sprang with a single bound to the
+widow's side, seized her right hand in both of his, and, stooping down,
+gazed intently into her alarmed countenance.  Suddenly the blood rushed
+violently to her temples, as the man pronounced her name in a low, deep
+tone, and with a look of wild surprise mingled with terror, she
+exclaimed,--"Louis!"
+
+The colour fled from her cheeks, and uttering a piercing cry, she fell
+forward on the breast of her long-lost lover.
+
+March Marston stood for some time helpless; but he found his voice just
+as Redhand and the other trappers, rushing through the house, burst upon
+the scene--"_Dick_!" shouted March again, in the highest pitch of
+amazement.
+
+"The Wild Man o' the West!" roared Bounce, with the expression of one
+who believes he gazes on a ghost.
+
+"Fetch a drop o' water, one o' you fellers," said the Wild Man, looking
+anxiously at the pale-face that rested on his arm.
+
+Every one darted off to obey, excepting Bertram, who, with eyes almost
+starting out of their sockets, was already seated on the paling,
+sketching the scene; for he entertained an irresistible belief that the
+Wild Man of the West would, as he had already done more than once,
+vanish from the spot before he could get him transferred to the pages of
+his immortal book.
+
+Trappers are undoubtedly men who can act with vigorous promptitude in
+their own peculiar sphere; but when out of that sphere, they are rather
+clumsy and awkward.  Had they been in the forest, each man would have
+fetched a draught of clear water from the nearest spring with the utmost
+celerity; but, being in a settlement, they knew not where to turn.  Big
+Waller dashed towards a very small pond which lay near the cottage, and
+dipping his cap into it, brought up a compound of diluted mud and
+chickweed.  Gibault made an attempt on a tiny rivulet with the like
+success, which was not surprising, seeing that its fountain-head lay at
+the bottom of the said pond.  Bounce and Hawkswing bolted into the
+cottage in search of the needful fluid; but, being unused to furniture,
+they upset three chairs and a small table in their haste, and scattered
+on the floor a mass of crockery, with a crash that made them feel as if
+they had been the means of causing some dire domestic calamity, and
+which almost terrified the household kitten into fits.
+
+Then Bounce made a hopeful grasp at a teapot, which, having happily been
+placed on a side table, had survived the wreck of its contemporary cups
+and saucers, and the Indian made an insane effort to wrench the top off
+a butter-churn, in the belief that it contained a well-spring of water.
+
+Of all the party old Redhand alone stood still, with his bald head
+glistening in the last rays of the sinking sun, and his kindly face
+wrinkled all over with a sympathetic smile.  He knew well that the young
+widow would soon recover, with or without the aid of water; so he smoked
+his pipe complacently, leaned against the doorpost, and looked on.
+
+He was right.  In a few minutes Mrs Marston recovered, and was tenderly
+led into the cottage by her old lover, Louis Thadwick, or, as we still
+prefer to call him, the Wild Man of the West.  There, seated by her
+side, in the midst of the wreck and debris of her household goods, the
+Wild Man, quite regardless of appearances, began boldly to tell the same
+old tale, and commit the same offence, that he told and committed
+upwards of sixteen years before, when _he_ was Louis the Trapper and
+_she_ was Mary West.
+
+Seeing what was going forward, the judicious trappers and the
+enthusiastic artist considerately retired to the bower behind the house.
+What transpired at that strange interview no one can tell, for no one
+was present except the kitten.  That creature, having recovered from its
+consternation, discovered, to its inexpressible joy, that, an enormous
+jug having been smashed by Bounce along with the other things, the floor
+was covered in part with a lakelet of rich cream.  With almost closed
+eyes, intermittent purring, quick-lapping tongue, and occasional
+indications of a tendency to choke, that fortunate animal revelled in
+this unexpected flood of delectation, and listened to the conversation;
+but, not being gifted with the power of speech, it never divulged what
+was said--at least, to human ears, though we are by no means sure that
+it did not create a considerable amount of talk among the cat population
+of the settlement.
+
+Be this as it may, when the Wild Man at length opened the door, and
+cried, "Come in, lads; it's all right!" they found the widow Marston
+with confusion and happiness beaming on her countenance, and the Wild
+Man himself in a condition that fully justified Bounce's suggestion that
+they had better send for a strait-waistcoat or a pair of handcuffs.  As
+for March, he had all along been, and still was, speechless.  That the
+Wild Man of the West was Dick, and Dick the Wild Man of the West, and
+that both should come home at the same time in one body, and propose to
+marry his mother, was past belief--so of course he didn't believe it.
+
+"Hallo! wait a bit; I do b'lieve I was forgettin'," cried the Wild Man,
+springing up in his own violent, impulsive way, upsetting his chair (as
+a matter of course, being unused to such delicacies), dashing through
+the lake of cream to the all but annihilation of the kitten, opening the
+door, and giving vent to a shrill whistle.
+
+All rushed out to witness the result.  They were prepared for anything
+now--from a mad bison to a red warrior's ghost, and would have been
+rather disappointed had anything feebler appeared.
+
+Immediately there was a clatter of hoofs; a beautiful white pony
+galloped round the corner of the wood, and made straight for the
+cottage.  Seated thereon was the vision in leather--not seated as a
+woman sits, but after the fashion of her own adopted father, and having
+on her leathern dress with a pair of long leggings highly ornamented
+with porcupine quills and bead work.  The vision leaped the fence like
+her father, bounded from her pony as he had done, and rushed into the
+Wild Man's arms, exclaiming, "Be she here, an' well, dear fader?"
+
+"Ay, all right," he replied; but he had no time to say more, for at that
+moment March Marston darted at the vision, seized one of her hands, put
+his arm round her waist, and swung her, rather than led her, into his
+mother's presence.
+
+"Here's Mary, mother!" cried March with a very howl of delight.
+
+The widow had already guessed it.  She rose and extended her arms.  Mary
+gazed for one moment eagerly at her and then rushed into them.  Turning
+sharp round, March threw his arms round Bounce's neck and embraced him
+for want of a better subject; then hurling him aside he gave another
+shout, and began to dance a violent hornpipe on the floor, to the still
+further horrification of the kitten (which was now a feline maniac), and
+the general scatteration of the mingled mass of crockery and cream.
+Seeing this, Bounce uttered a hysterical cheer.  Hawkswing, being
+excited beyond even savage endurance, drew his scalping-knife, yelled
+the war-cry and burst into the war-dance of the Seneca Indians.  In
+short, the widow's cottage became the theatre of a scene that would have
+done credit to the violent wards of a lunatic asylum--a scene, which is
+utterly beyond the delineative powers of pen or pencil--a scene which
+defies description, repudiates adequate conception, and will dwell for
+ever on the memories of those who took part in it like the wild
+phantasmagoria of a tremendous dream!
+
+Of course, a wild man could not be induced, like an ordinary mortal, to
+wait a reasonable time in order to give his bride an opportunity of
+preparing her trousseau.  He was a self-willed man, and a man of a
+strong mind.  He insisted upon being married "out of hand, and have done
+with it."  So he _was_ married--whether "out of hand" or not we cannot
+tell--by the excellent clergyman of Pine Point settlement.  On the same
+day, and the same hour, March Marston was married--"out of hand," also,
+no doubt--to the vision in leather!
+
+There was something rather precipitate in these proceedings,
+unquestionably; but those who feel disposed to object to them must bear
+in mind, first, that backwoodsmen are addicted to precipitancy at times;
+and, secondly, that facts cannot be altered in order to please the
+fastidious taste of the so-called civilised world.
+
+Public opinion in the settlement was strongly in favour of the doings of
+the Wild Man of the West.  Delay was deemed by all to be unnecessary,
+and all the more so that the double wedding-day was to be celebrated as
+a species of public event.
+
+The romance connected with the previous life of Dick, and especially his
+singular and unexpected return to his first love, created quite a
+sensation, even in a region in which wild deeds and wonderful events
+were so common that it required a man to be a real hero to enable him to
+rise conspicuous above his fellows.  Many trappers came in from a
+considerable distance to take part in the rejoicings of that day, and
+from the dance which followed the ceremony there was not absent a living
+creature belonging to the settlement.
+
+Every dog was there, of course, adding its vocal melody to the dulcet
+tones of the blacksmith's violin.  Even the cats of the settlement were
+present, including that celebrated kitten which had been reduced to a
+state of drivelling imbecility by the furious advent of the Wild Man.
+Owls and other sagacious birds also came from afar to see the fun,
+attracted by the light of the fire; for the ballroom was the green sward
+of the forest, which was illuminated for the occasion by a bonfire that
+would have roasted a megatherium whole, and also would have furnished
+accommodation for a pot large enough to boil an elephant.  Don't think,
+reader, in the vanity of your heart, that you have conceived that fire!
+You have not, as a Yankee would say, the most distant conception of the
+small end of a notion of what it was!  A hundred brawny arms, accustomed
+to wield the broad axe, had lent their aid to rear the mighty pile and
+feed the ravening flame.
+
+It was kindled on a wide level plot in the outskirts of the settlement,
+around which the trees spread their sheltering arms.  On a plank raised
+on two casks sat the blacksmith with his fiddle.  The carpenter sat
+beside him with a kettledrum, more literally a kettledrum even than the
+real thing, for that drum _was_ a kettle!  On a little mound that rose
+in the centre of the plot sat, in state, Dick and Mary, March and the
+vision in leather, their respective thrones being empty flour-casks.
+Around them danced the youth and beauty of the settlement.  These were
+enclosed by a dense circle, composed of patriarchal, middle-aged, and
+extremely juvenile admirers.  The background of the picture was filled
+up with the monstrous fire which saturated that spot in the forest with
+light--bright as the broadest day.  The extreme foreground was composed
+of the trunk of a fallen tree, on which sat our friend the artist,
+delineating the whole with the eagerness of an enthusiast who had _at
+last_ fallen upon a scene truly worthy of his genius.
+
+How Bounce did dance, to be sure!  How the young trappers and the
+blooming backwoods maidens did whirl and bound, on heel and toe, and, to
+a large extent, on the whole sole of the foot!  Yes, their souls were in
+the work, and their spirits too; and that although there was not a drop
+of spirits in the settlement.  Happily, owing to the unaccountable delay
+of a provision boat, there was not a glass of "fire-water" in the place
+at that time.  The whole affair was got up, carried on, and concluded on
+tea.  It was a great teetotal gathering, which would have drawn tears of
+joy from the heart of Father Mathew and all his successors, whether
+Romanist or Protestant, had they witnessed it.
+
+Yet the excitement was tremendous.  The Wild Man of the West, strange to
+say, and, owing to some peculiar contradictoriness of character which
+was unaccountable, was almost the only sane man of the whole party.  He
+flung himself on the ground beside his wife, and locking his arm round
+the tough root of a pine tree refused to budge from the spot.  As the
+united efforts of all the men who could lay hold of him at one time
+failed to root him up, he was suffered to lie there and amuse himself by
+watching the dancers, looking up occasionally at Mary's blue eyes, and
+playing with such of the juveniles as he could attract within the reach
+of his long arm.
+
+As for March Marston, he was mad now if ever he had been so in his life!
+He danced with all the girls, and wrestled with all the men, and played
+hide-and-seek with all the boys, and fraternised with all the old
+people, and chased all the dogs, and astonished, not to say horrified,
+all the cats.  Yet, although he did all this, he did not neglect the
+vision in leather, by no manner of means.
+
+Long before the dawn of early morning that jovial party drank a parting
+cup of cold tea, and, dispersing to their several homes, left the field
+in possession of the village curs.
+
+Now, dear reader--with a feeling of sadness we write it--all things must
+have an end!  We make this unquestionable assertion in order to break to
+you, as gently as may be, the news that our tale has reached its close.
+Had we taken in hand to write the life and adventures of our hero and
+his friends from first to last, we should have had to prepare pens, ink,
+and paper, for a work equal in size to the "Encyclopaedia Britannica."
+We have only detailed one or two episodes in their wild career.  What
+they did and said and saw in after years must be left to future
+historians, or to the imagination of romantic readers.  This only will
+we say in conclusion, that of all the men who dwelt in Pine Point
+settlement, for many years after the events narrated in these pages, the
+kindest, the wisest, the gentlest, the heartiest, the wildest, and the
+most courageous was--the Wild Man of the West.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Wild Man of the West, by R.M. Ballantyne
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