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diff --git a/old/55093-0.txt b/old/55093-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a550b5f..0000000 --- a/old/55093-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8215 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Life in the Far West, by George Frederick -Augustus Ruxton - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Life in the Far West - - -Author: George Frederick Augustus Ruxton - - - -Release Date: July 11, 2017 [eBook #55093] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE IN THE FAR WEST*** - - -E-text prepared by Larry B. Harrison, Christian Boissonnas, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images -scanned by the Google Books Library Project (https://books.google.com) -generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/lifeinfarwest01ruxtgoog - - -Transcriber's note: - - Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). - - - - - -LIFE IN THE FAR WEST - -by - -GEORGE FREDERICK RUXTON - -Author of “Travels in Mexico,” &c. - - - - - - -William Blackwood and Sons -Edinburgh and London. -M.DCCC.XLIX. - -Originally Published in Blackwood's Magazine. - -John Hughes, Printer, Edinburgh. - - - - -THE LATE - -GEORGE FREDERICK RUXTON. - - -The London newspapers of October 1848 contained the mournful tidings -of the death, at St Louis on the Mississippi, and at the early age of -twenty-eight, of Lieutenant George Frederick Ruxton, formerly of her -Majesty's 89th regiment, the author of the following sketches. - -Many men, even in the most enterprising periods of our history, have -been made the subjects of elaborate biography, with far less title to -the honour than this lamented young officer. Time was not granted him -to embody in a permanent shape a tithe of his personal experiences -and strange adventures in three quarters of the globe. Considering, -indeed, the amount of physical labour he underwent, and the extent of -the fields over which his wanderings spread, it is almost surprising -he found leisure to write so much. At the early age of seventeen, Mr -Ruxton quitted Sandhurst, to learn the practical part of a soldier's -profession in the civil wars of Spain. He obtained a commission in a -squadron of lancers then attached to the division of General Diego -Leon, and was actively engaged in several of the most important -combats of the campaign. For his marked gallantry on these occasions, -he received from Queen Isabella II., the cross of the first class of -the order of St Fernando, an honour which has seldom been awarded to -one so young. On his return from Spain he found himself gazetted to a -commission in the 89th regiment; and it was whilst serving with that -distinguished corps in Canada that he first became acquainted with -the stirring scenes of Indian life, which he has since so graphically -portrayed. His eager and enthusiastic spirit soon became wearied with -the monotony of the barrack-room; and, yielding to that impulse which -in him was irresistibly developed, he resigned his commission, and -directed his steps towards the stupendous wilds, tenanted only by the -red Indian, or by the solitary American trapper. - -Those familiar with Mr Ruxton's writings cannot fail to have remarked -the singular delight with which he dwells upon the recollections of -this portion of his career, and the longing which he carried with him, -to the hour of his death, for a return to those scenes of primitive -freedom. “Although liable to an accusation of barbarism,” he writes, -“I must confess that the very happiest moments of my life have been -spent in the wilderness of the Far West; and I never recall, but with -pleasure, the remembrance of my solitary camp in the Bayou Salade, -with no friend near me more faithful than my rifle, and no companions -more sociable than my good horse and mules, or the attendant cayute -which nightly serenaded us. With a plentiful supply of dry pine-logs -on the fire, and its cheerful blaze streaming far up into the sky, -illuminating the valley far and near, and exhibiting the animals, -with well-filled bellies, standing contentedly at rest over their -picket-fire, I would sit cross-legged, enjoying the genial warmth, -and, pipe in mouth, watch the blue smoke as it curled upwards, -building castles in its vapoury wreaths, and, in the fantastic shapes -it assumed, peopling the solitude with figures of those far away. -Scarcely, however, did I ever wish to change such hours of freedom for -all the luxuries of civilised life; and, unnatural and extraordinary -as it may appear, yet such is the fascination of the life of the -mountain hunter, that I believe not one instance could be adduced of -even the most polished and civilised of men, who had once tasted the -sweets of its attendant liberty, and freedom from every worldly care, -not regretting the moment when he exchanged it for the monotonous life -of the settlements, nor sighing and sighing again once more to partake -of its pleasures and allurements.” - -On his return to Europe from the Far West, Mr Ruxton, animated with -a spirit as enterprising and fearless as that of Raleigh, planned -a scheme for the exploration of Central Africa, which was thus -characterised by the president of the Royal Geographical Society, in -his anniversary address for 1845:—“To my great surprise, I recently -conversed with an ardent and accomplished youth, Lieutenant Ruxton, -late of the 89th regiment, who had formed the daring project of -traversing Africa in the parallel of the southern tropic, and has -actually started for this purpose. Preparing himself by previous -excursions on foot, in North Africa and Algeria, he sailed from -Liverpool early in December last, in the Royalist, for Ichaboe. From -that spot he was to repair to Walvish Bay, where we have already -mercantile establishments. The intrepid traveller had received from -the agents of these establishments such favourable accounts of the -nations towards the interior, as also of the nature of the climate, -that he has the most sanguine hopes of being able to penetrate to the -central region, if not of traversing it to the Portuguese colonies -of Mozambique. If this be accomplished, then indeed will Lieutenant -Ruxton have acquired for himself a permanent name among British -travellers, by making us acquainted with the nature of the axis of the -great continent of which we possess the southern extremity.” - -In pursuance of this hazardous scheme, Ruxton, with a single -companion, landed on the coast of Africa, a little to the south of -Ichaboe, and commenced his journey of exploration. But it seemed as -if both nature and man had combined to baffle the execution of his -design. The course of their travel lay along a desert of moving sand, -where no water was to be found, and little herbage, save a coarse -tufted grass, and twigs of the resinous myrrh. The immediate place -of their destination was Angra Peguena, on the coast, described as -a frequented station, but which in reality was deserted. One ship -only was in the offing when the travellers arrived, and, to their -inexpressible mortification, they discovered that she was outward -bound. No trace was visible of the river or streams laid down in -the maps as falling into the sea at this point, and no resource was -left to the travellers save that of retracing their steps—a labour -for which their strength was hardly adequate. But for the opportune -assistance of a body of natives, who encountered them at the very -moment when they were sinking from fatigue and thirst, Ruxton and his -companion would have been added to the long catalogue of those whose -lives have been sacrificed in the attempt to explore the interior of -that fatal country. - -The jealousy of the traders, and of the missionaries settled on the -African coast, who constantly withheld or perverted that information -which was absolutely necessary for the successful prosecution of the -journey, induced Ruxton to abandon the attempt for the present. He -made, however, several interesting excursions towards the interior, -and more especially in the country of the Bosjesmans. - -Finding his own resources inadequate for the accomplishment of -his favourite project, Mr Ruxton, on his return to England, made -application for Government assistance. But though this demand was -not altogether refused, it having been referred to the Council of -the Royal Geographical Society, and favourably reported upon by that -body, so many delays interposed that Ruxton, in disgust, resolved -to withdraw from the scheme, and to abandon that field of African -research which he had already contemplated from its borders. He next -bent his steps to Mexico; and, fortunately, has presented to the world -his reminiscences of that country, in one of the most fascinating -volumes which, of late years, has issued from the press. It would, -however, appear that the African scheme, the darling project of his -life, had again recurred to him at a later period; for, in the course -of the present spring, before setting out on that journey which was -destined to be his last, the following expressions occur in one of his -letters:— - - “My movements are uncertain, for I am trying to get up a yacht - voyage to Borneo and the Indian Archipelago; have volunteered - to Government to explore Central Africa; and the Aborigines - Protection Society wish me to go out to Canada to organise the - Indian tribes; whilst, for my own part and inclination, I wish to - go to all parts of the world at once.” - -As regards the volume to which this notice serves as Preface, the -editor does not hesitate to express a very high opinion of its merits. -Written by a man untrained to literature, and whose life, from -boy-hood upwards, was passed in the field and on the road, in military -adventure and travel, its style is yet often as remarkable for graphic -terseness and vigour, as its substance every where is for great -novelty and originality. The narrative of “Life in the Far West” was -first offered for insertion in _Blackwood's Magazine_ in the spring -of 1848, when the greater portion of the manuscript was sent, and the -remainder shortly followed. During its publication in that periodical, -the wildness of the adventures related excited suspicions in certain -quarters as to their actual truth and fidelity. It may interest the -reader to know that the scenes described are pictures from life, -the results of the author's personal experience. The following are -extracts from letters addressed by him, in the course of last summer, -to the conductors of the Magazine above named:— - - “I have brought out a few more softening traits in the characters - of the mountaineers—but not at the sacrifice of truth—for some of - them have their good points; which, as they are rarely allowed - to rise to the surface, must be laid hold of at once before they - sink again. Killbuck—that 'old hos' _par exemple_, was really - pretty much of a gentleman, as was La Bonté. Bill Williams, - another 'hard case,' and Rube Herring, were 'some' too. - - “The scene where La Bonté joins the Chase family is so far true, - that he did make a sudden appearance; but, in reality, a day - before the Indian attack. The Chases (and I wish I had not given - the proper name[1]) did start for the Platte alone, and were - stampedoed upon the waters of the Platte. - - “The Mexican fandango _is true to the letter_. It does seem - difficult to understand how they contrived to keep their - knives out of the hump-ribs of the mountaineers; but how - can you account for the fact, that, the other day, 4000 Mexicans, - with 13 pieces of artillery, behind strong entrenchments and - two lines of parapets, were routed by 900 raw Missourians; 300 - killed, as many more wounded, all their artillery captured, as - well as several hundred prisoners; and that not one American was - killed in the affair? _This is positive fact._ - - “I myself, with three trappers, cleared a fandango at Taos, armed - only with bowie-knives—some score Mexicans, at least, being in - the room. - - “With regard to the incidents of Indian attacks, starvation, - cannibalism, &c., I have invented not one out of my own head. - They are all matters of history in the mountains; but I have, no - doubt, jumbled the _dramatis personæ_ one with another, and may - have committed anachronisms in the order of their occurrence.” - -Again he wrote as follows:— - - “I think it would be as well to correct a misapprehension as to - the truth or fiction of the paper. It is no _fiction_. There is - no incident in it which has not actually occurred, nor one - character who is not well known in the Rocky Mountains, with - the exception of two whose names are changed—the originals of - these being, however, equally well known with the others.” - -His last letter, written just before his departure from England, a few -weeks previously to his death, will hardly be read by any one who ever -knew the writer, without a tear of sympathy for the sad fate of this -fine young man, dying miserably in a strange land, before he had well -commenced the hazardous journey whose excitement and dangers he so -joyously anticipated:— - - “As you say, human nature can't go on feeding on civilised - fixings in this 'big village;' and this child has felt like - going West for many a month, being half froze for buffler meat - and mountain doins. My route takes me _viâ_ New York, the Lakes, - and St Louis, to Fort Leavenworth, or Independence on the Indian - frontier. Thence packing my 'possibles' on a mule, and mounting a - buffalo horse (Panchito, if he is alive), I strike the - Santa Fé trail to the Arkansa, away up that river to the - mountains, winter in the Bayou Salade, where Killbuck and La - Bonté joined the Yutes, cross the mountains next spring to - Great Salt Lake—and that's far enough to look forward to—always - supposing my hair is not lifted by Comanche or Pawnee on the - scalping route of the Coon Creeks and Pawnee Fork.” - -Poor fellow! he spoke lightly, in the buoyancy of youth and a -confident spirit, of the fate he little thought to meet, but which -too surely overtook him—not indeed by Indian blade, but by the no -less deadly stroke of disease. Another motive, besides that love of -rambling and adventure, which, once conceived and indulged, is so -difficult to eradicate, impelled him across the Atlantic. He had for -some time been out of health at intervals, and he thought the air -of his beloved prairies would be efficacious to work a cure. In a -letter to a friend, in the month of May last, he thus referred to the -probable origin of the evil:— - - “I have been confined to my room for many days, from the - effects of an accident I met with in - the Rocky Mountains, having been spilt from the bare back of a - mule, and falling on the sharp picket of an Indian lodge on the - small of my back. I fear I injured my spine, for I have never - felt altogether the thing since, and shortly after I saw you, - the symptoms became rather ugly. However, I am now getting round - again.” - -His medical advisers shared his opinion that he had sustained internal -injury from this ugly fall; and it is not improbable that it was -the remote, but real cause of his dissolution. From whatsoever this -ensued, it will be a source of deep and lasting regret to all who -ever enjoyed opportunities of appreciating the high and sterling -qualities of George Frederick Ruxton. Few men, so prepossessing on -first acquaintance, gained so much by being better known. With great -natural abilities and the most dauntless bravery, he united a modesty -and gentleness peculiarly pleasing. Had he lived, and resisted his -friends' repeated solicitations to abandon a roving life, and settle -down in England, there can be little doubt that he would have made -his name eminent on the list of those daring and persevering men, -whose travels in distant and dangerous lands have accumulated for -England, and for the world, so rich a store of scientific and general -information. And, although the few words it has been thought right -and becoming here to devote to his memory, will doubtless be more -particularly welcome to his personal friends, we are persuaded that -none will peruse without interest this brief tribute to the merits of -a gallant soldier, and accomplished English gentleman. - - - - -LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - - -Away to the head waters of the Platte, where several small streams -run into the south fork of that river, and head in the broken ridges -of the “Divide” which separates the valleys of the Platte and -Arkansa, were camped a band of trappers on a creek called Bijou. It -was the month of October, when the early frosts of the coming winter -had crisped and dyed with sober brown the leaves of the cherry and -quaking ash belting the brooks; and the ridges and peaks of the Rocky -Mountains were already covered with a glittering mantle of snow, -sparkling in the still powerful rays of the autumn sun. - -The camp had all the appearance of permanency; for not only did it -comprise one or two unusually comfortable shanties, but the numerous -stages on which huge stripes of buffalo meat were hanging in process -of cure, showed that the party had settled themselves here in order to -lay in a store of provisions, or, as it is termed in the language of -the mountains, “to make meat.” Round the camp fed twelve or fifteen -mules and horses, their fore-legs confined by hobbles of raw hide; -and, guarding these animals, two men paced backwards and forwards, -driving in the stragglers, ascending ever and anon the bluffs which -overhung the river, and leaning on their long rifles, whilst they -swept with their eyes the surrounding prairie. Three or four fires -burned in the encampment, at some of which Indian women carefully -tended sundry steaming pots; whilst round one, which was in the -centre of it, four or five stalwart hunters, clad in buckskin, sat -cross-legged, pipe in mouth. - -They were a trapping party from the north fork of Platte, on their -way to wintering-ground in the more southern valley of the Arkansa; -some, indeed, meditating a more extended trip, even to the distant -settlements of New Mexico, the paradise of mountaineers. The elder of -the company was a tall gaunt man, with a face browned by twenty years' -exposure to the extreme climate of the mountains; his long black hair, -as yet scarcely tinged with grey, hanging almost to his shoulders, but -his cheeks and chin clean shaven, after the fashion of the mountain -men. His dress was the usual hunting-frock of buckskin, with long -fringes down the seams, with pantaloons similarly ornamented, and -moccasins of Indian make. Whilst his companions puffed their pipes in -silence, he narrated a few of his former experiences of western life; -and whilst the buffalo “hump-ribs” and “tender loin” are singing away -in the pot, preparing for the hunters' supper, we will note down the -yarn as it spins from his lips, giving it in the language spoken in -the “far west:”— - -“'Twas about 'calf-time,' maybe a little later, and not a hunderd year -ago, by a long chalk, that the biggest kind of rendezvous was held -'to' Independence, a mighty handsome little location away up on old -Missoura. A pretty smart lot of boys was camp'd thar, about a quarter -from the town, and the way the whisky flowed that time was 'some' -now, _I_ can tell you. Thar was old Sam Owins—him as got 'rubbed -out'[2] by the Spaniards at Sacramenty, or Chihuahuy, this hos doesn't -know which, but he 'went under'[3] any how. Well, Sam had his train -along, ready to hitch up for the Mexican country—twenty thunderin big -Pittsburg waggons; and the way _his_ Santa Fé boys took in the liquor -beat all—eh, Bill?” - -“_Well_, it did.” - -“Bill Bent—his boys camped the other side the trail, and they was all -mountain men, wagh!—and Bill Williams, and Bill Tharpe (the Pawnees -took his hair on Pawnee Fork last spring): three Bills, and them -three's all 'gone under.' Surely Hatcher went out that time; and -wasn't Bill Garey along, too? Didn't him and Chabonard sit in camp for -twenty hours at a deck of Euker? Them was Bent's Indian traders up on -Arkansa. Poor Bill Bent! them Spaniards made meat of him. He lost his -topknot to Taos. A 'clever' man was Bill Bent as _I_ ever know'd trade -a robe or 'throw' a bufler in his tracks. Old St Vrain could knock the -hind-sight off him though, when it came to shootin, and old silver -heels spoke true, she did: 'plum-center' she was, eh?” - -“_Well_, she wasn't nothin else.” - -“The Greasers[4] payed for Bent's scalp, they tell me. Old St Vrain -went out of Santa Fé with a company of mountain men, and the way they -made 'em sing out was 'slick as shootin'. He 'counted a coup,' did -St Vrain. He throwed a Pueblo as had on poor Bent's shirt. I guess -he tickled that niggur's hump-ribs. Fort William[5] aint the lodge -it was, an' never will be agin, now he's gone under; but St Vrain's -'pretty much of a gentleman,' too; if he aint, I'll be dog-gone, eh, -Bill?” - -“He is _so-o_.” - -“Chavez had his waggons along. He was only a Spaniard any how, and -some of his teamsters put a ball into him his next trip, and made a -raise of _his_ dollars, wagh! Uncle Sam hung 'em for it, I heard, but -can't b'lieve it, nohow. If them Spaniards wasn't born for shootin', -why was beaver made? You was with us that spree, Jemmy?” - -“No _sirre-e_; I went out when Spiers lost his animals on Cimmaron: a -hunderd and forty mules and oxen was froze that night, wagh!” - -“Surely Black Harris was thar; and the darndest liar was Black -Harris—for lies tumbled out of his mouth like boudins out of a -bufler's stomach. He was the child as saw the putrefied forest in the -Black Hills. Black Harris come in from Laramie; he'd been trapping -three year an' more on Platte and the 'other side;' and, when he got -into Liberty, he fixed himself right off like a Saint Louiy dandy. -Well, he sat to dinner one day in the tavern, and a lady says to him:— - -“'Well, Mister Harris, I hear you're a great travler.' - -“'Travler, marm,' says Black Harris, 'this niggur's no travler; I ar' -a trapper, marm, a mountain-man, wagh!' - -“'Well, Mister Harris, trappers are great travlers, and you goes over -a sight of ground in your perishinations, I'll be bound to say.' - -“'A sight, marm, this coon's gone over, if that's the way your 'stick -floats.'[6] I've trapped beaver on Platte and Arkansa, and away up on -Missoura and Yaller Stone; I've trapped on Columbia, on Lewis Fork, -and Green River; I've trapped, marm, on Grand River and the Heely -(Gila). I've fout the 'Blackfoot' (and d——d bad Injuns they ar); I've -'raised the hair'[7] of more _than one_ Apach, and made a Rapaho -'come' afore now; I've trapped in heav'n, in airth, and h—; and scalp -my old head, marm, but I've seen a putrefied forest.' - -“'La, Mister Harris, a what?' - -“'A putrefied forest, marm, as sure as my rifle's got hind-sights, -and _she_ shoots center. I was out on the Black Hills, Bill Sublette -knows the time—the year it rained fire—and every body knows when that -was. If thar wasn't cold doins about that time, this child wouldn't -say so. The snow was about fifty foot deep, and the bufler lay dead -on the ground like bees after a beein'; not whar we was tho', for -_thar_ was no bufler, and no meat, and me and my band had been livin' -on our mocassins (leastwise the parflesh[8]), for six weeks; and poor -doins that feedin' is, marm, as you'll never know. One day we crossed -a 'cañon' and over a 'divide,' and got into a peraira, whar was green -grass, and green trees, and green leaves on the trees, and birds -singing in the green leaves, and this in Febrary, wagh! Our animals -was like to die when they see the green grass, and we all sung out, -'hurraw for summer doins.' - -“'Hyar goes for meat,' says I, and I jest ups old Ginger at one of -them singing birds, and down come the crittur elegant; its darned head -spinning away from the body, but never stops singing, and when I takes -up the meat, I finds it stone, wagh! 'Hyar's damp powder and no fire -to dry it,' I says, quite skeared. - -“'Fire be dogged,' says old Rube. 'Hyar's a hos as 'll make fire -come;' and with that he takes his axe and lets drive at a cotton -wood. Schr-u-k—goes the axe agin the tree, and out comes a bit of the -blade as big as my hand. We looks at the animals, and thar they stood -shaking over the grass, which I'm dog-gone if it wasn't stone, too. -Young Sublette comes up, and he'd been clerking down to the fort on -Platte, so he know'd something. He looks and looks, and scrapes the -trees with his butcher knife, and snaps the grass like pipe stems, and -breaks the leaves a-snappin' like Californy shells.' - -“'What's all this, boy?' I asks. - -“'Putrefactions,' says he, looking smart, 'putrefactions, or I'm a -niggur.' - -“'La, Mister Harris,' says the lady, 'putrefactions! why, did the -leaves, and the trees, and the grass smell badly?' - -“'Smell badly, marm!' says Black Harris, 'would a skunk stink if he -was froze to stone? No, marm, this child didn't know what putrefaction -was, and young Sublette's varsion wouldn't 'shine' nohow, so I chips -a piece out of a tree and puts it in my trap-sack, and carries it in -safe to Laramie. Well, old Captain Stewart, (a clever man was that, -though he was an Englishman), he comes along next spring, and a Dutch -doctor chap was along too. I shows him the piece I chipped out of -the tree, and he called it a putrefaction too; and so, marm, if that -wasn't a putrefied peraira, what was it? For this hos doesn't know, -and _he_ knows 'fat cow' from 'poor bull,' anyhow.' - -“Well, old Black Harris is gone under too, I believe. He went to the -'Parks' trapping with a Vide Poche Frenchman, who shot him for his -bacca and traps. Darn them Frenchmen, they're no account any way you -lays your sight. (Any bacca in your bag, Bill? this beaver feels like -chawing.) - -“Well, any how, thar was the camp, and they was goin to put out the -next morning; and the last as come out of Independence was that ar -Englishman. He'd a nor-west[9] capote on, and a two-shoot gun rifled. -Well, them English are darned fools; they can't fix a rifle any -ways; but that one did shoot 'some;' leastwise _he_ made it throw -plum-center. He made the bufler 'come,' _he_ did, and fout well at -Pawnee Fork too. What was his name? All the boys called him Cap'en, -and he got his fixings from old Choteau; but what he wanted out thar -in the mountains, I never jest rightly know'd. He was no trader, nor -a trapper, and flung about his dollars right smart. Thar was old grit -in him, too, and a hair of the black b'ar at that.[10] They say he -took the bark off the Shians when he cleared out of the village with -old Beaver Tail's squaw. He'd been on Yaller Stone afore that: Leclerc -know'd him in the Blackfoot, and up in the Chippeway country; and -he had the best powder as ever I flashed through life, and his gun -was handsome, that's a fact. Them thar locks was grand; and old Jake -Hawken's nephey, (him as trapped on Heeley that time), told me, the -other day, as he saw an English gun on Arkansa last winter as beat all -off hand. - -“Nigh upon two hundred dollars I had in my possibles, when I went to -that camp to see the boys afore they put out; and you know, Bill, as I -sat to 'Euker' and 'seven up'[11] till every cent was gone. - -“'Take back twenty, old coon,' says Big John. - -“'H—'s full of such takes back,' says I; and I puts back to town and -fetches the rifle and the old mule, puts my traps into the sack, gets -credit for a couple of pounds of powder at Owin's store, and hyar I -ar on Bijou, with half a pack of beaver, and running meat yet, old -hos: so put a log on, and let's have a smoke. - -“Hurraw, Jake, old coon, bear a hand, and let the squaw put them tails -in the pot; for sun's down, and we'll have to put out pretty early to -reach 'Black Tail' by this time to-morrow. Who's fust guard, boys? -them cussed 'Rapahos' will be after the animals to-night, or I'm no -judge of Injun sign. How many did you see, Maurice?” - -“Enfant de Gârce, me see bout honderd, when I pass Squirrel Creek, one -dam war-party, parceque, they no hosses, and have de lariats for steal -des animaux. May be de Yutas in Bayou Salade.” - -“We'll be having trouble to-night, I'm thinking, if the devils are -about. Whose band was it, Maurice?” - -“Slim-Face—I see him ver close—is out; mais I think it White Wolf's.” - -“White Wolf, maybe, will lose his hair if he and his band knock round -here too often. That Injun put me afoot when we was out on 'Sandy' -that fall. This niggur owes him one, any how.” - -“H—'s full of White Wolves: go ahead, and roll out some of your doins -across the plains that time.” - -“You seed sights that spree, eh, boy?” - -“_Well_, we did. Some of em got their flints fixed this side of Pawnee -Fork, and a heap of mule-meat went wolfing. Just by Little Arkansa -we saw the first Injun. Me and young Somes was ahead for meat, and I -had hobbled the old mule and was 'approaching' some goats,[12] when -I see the critturs turn back their heads and jump right away for me. -'Hurraw, Dick!' I shouts, 'hyars brown-skin acomin,' and off I makes -for the mule. The young greenhorn sees the goats runnin up to him, and -not being up to Injun ways, blazes at the first and knocks him over. -Jest then seven darned red heads top the bluff, and seven Pawnees come -a-screechin upon us. I cuts the hobbles and jumps on the mule, and, -when I looks back, there was Dick Somes ramming a ball down his gun -like mad, and the Injuns flinging their arrows at him pretty smart, -I tell you. 'Hurraw, Dick, mind your hair,' and I ups old Greaser -and let one Injun 'have it,' as was going plum into the boy with his -lance. _He_ turned on his back handsome, and Dick gets the ball down -at last, blazes away, and drops another. Then we charged on em, and -they clears off like runnin cows; and I takes the hair off the heads -of the two we made meat of; and I do b'lieve thar's some of them -scalps on my old leggings yet. - -“Well, Dick was as full of arrows as a porky-pine: one was sticking -right through his cheek, one in his meat-bag, and two more 'bout his -hump-ribs. I tuk 'em all out slick, and away we go to camp, (for they -was jost a-campin' when we went ahead) and carryin' the goat too. -Thar' was a hurroo when we rode in with the scalps at the end of our -guns. 'Injuns! Injuns!' was the cry from the greenhorns; 'we'll be -'tacked to-night, that's certain.' - -“'Tacked be ——' says old Bill; 'aint we men too, and white at that? -Look to your guns, boys; send out a strong hos'-guard with the -animals, and keep your eyes skinned.' - -“Well, as soon as the animals were unhitched from the waggons, the -guvner sends out a strong guard, seven boys, and old hands at that. It -was pretty nigh upon sundown, and Bill had just sung out to 'corral.' -The boys were drivin' in the animals, and we were all standin' round -to get 'em in slick, when, 'howgh-owgh-owgh-owgh,' we hears right -behind the bluff, and 'bout a minute and a perfect crowd of Injuns -gallops down upon the animals. Wagh! war'nt thar hoopin'! We jump -for the guns, but before we get to the fires, the Injuns were among -the cavayard. I saw Ned Collyer and his brother, who were in the -hos'-guard, let drive at 'em; but twenty Pawnees were round 'em before -the smoke cleared from their rifles, and when the crowd broke the two -boys were on the ground, and their hair gone. Well, that ar Englishman -just saved the cavayard. He had his horse, a regular buffalo-runner, -picketed round the fire quite handy, and as soon as he sees the fix, -he jumps upon her and rides right into the thick of the mules, and -passes through 'em, firing his two-shoot gun at the Injuns, and, by -Gor, he made two come. The mules, which was a snortin' with funk and -running before the Injuns, as soon as they see the Englisman's mare -(mules 'ill go to h— after a horse, you all know), followed her right -into the corral, and thar they was safe. Fifty Pawnees come screechin' -after 'em, but we was ready that time, and the way we throw'd 'em -was something handsome, I tell you. But three of the hos'-guard got -skeared—leastwise their mules did, and carried 'em off into the -peraira, and the Injuns having enough of _us_, dashed after 'em right -away. Them poor devils looked back miserable now, with about a hundred -red varmints tearin' after their hair, and whooping like mad. Young -Jem Bulcher was the last; and when he seed it was no use, and his time -was nigh, he throw'd himself off the mule, and standing as upright -as a hickory wiping stick, he waves his hand to us, and blazes away -at the first Injun as come up, and dropped him slick; but the moment -after, you may guess, _he_ died. - -“We could do nothin', for, before our guns were loaded, all three -were dead and their scalps gone. Five of our boys got rubbed out that -time, and seven Injuns lay wolf's meat, while a many more went away -gut-shot, I'll lay. How'sever, five of us went under, and the Pawnees -made a raise of a dozen mules, wagh!” - -Thus far, in his own words, we have accompanied the old hunter in -his tale; and probably he would have taken us, by the time that the -Squaw Chilipat had pronounced the beaver tails cooked, safely across -the grand prairies—fording Cotton Wood, Turkey Creek, Little Arkansa, -Walnut Creek, and Pawnee Fork—passed the fireless route of the Coon -Creeks, through a sea of fat buffalo meat, without fuel to cook it; -have struck the big river, and, leaving at the “Crossing” the waggons -destined for Santa Fé, have trailed us up the Arkansa to Bent's Fort; -thence up Boiling Spring, across the divide over to the southern fork -of the Platte, away up to the Black Hills, and finally camped us, with -hair still preserved, in the beaver-abounding valleys of the Sweet -Water, and Câche la Poudre, under the rugged shadow of the Wind River -mountains; if it had not so happened, at this juncture, as all our -mountaineers sat cross-legged round the fire, pipe in mouth, and with -Indian gravity listened to the yarn of the old trapper, interrupting -him only with an occasional wagh! or with the exclamations of some -participator in the events then under narration, who would every now -and then put in a corroborative,—“This child remembers that fix,” or, -“hyar's a niggur lifted hair that spree,” &c.—that a whizzing noise -was heard in the air, followed by a sharp but suppressed cry from one -of the hunters. - -In an instant the mountaineers had sprung from their seats, and, -seizing the ever-ready rifle, each one had thrown himself on the -ground a few paces beyond the light of the fire (for it was now -night-fall;) but not a word escaped them, as, lying close, with -their keen eyes directed towards the gloom of the thicket, near -which the camp was placed, with rifles cocked, they waited a renewal -of the attack. Presently the leader of the band, no other than -Killbuck, who had so lately been recounting some of his experiences -across the plains, and than whom no more crafty woodsman or more -expert trapper ever tracked a deer or grained a beaverskin, raised -his tall, leather-clad form, and, placing his hand over his mouth, -made the prairie ring with the wild protracted note of an Indian -war-whoop. This was instantly repeated from the direction where the -animals belonging to the camp were grazing, under the charge of -the horse-guard. Three shrill whoops answered the warning of the -leader, and showed that the guard was on the alert, and understood -the signal. However, with the manifestation of their presence, the -Indians appeared to be satisfied; or, what is more probable, the -act of aggression had been committed by some daring young warrior, -who, being out on his first expedition, desired to strike the first -_coup_, and thus signalise himself at the outset of the campaign. -After waiting some few minutes, expecting a renewal of the attack, -the mountaineers in a body rose from the ground and made towards the -animals, with which they presently returned to the camp; and, after -carefully hobbling and securing them to pickets firmly driven into the -ground, mounting an additional guard, and examining the neighbouring -thicket, they once more assembled round the fire, relit their pipes, -and puffed away the cheering weed as composedly as if no such being as -a Redskin, thirsting for their lives, was within a thousand miles of -their perilous encampment. - -“If ever thar was bad Injuns on these plains,” at last growled -Killbuck, biting hard the pipe-stem between his teeth, “it's these -Rapahos, and the meanest kind at that.” - -“Can't beat the Blackfeet, any how,” chimed in one La Bonté, from -the Yellow Stone country, a fine handsome specimen of a mountaineer. -“However, one of you quit this arrow out of my hump,” he continued, -bending forwards to the fire, and exhibiting an arrow sticking out -under his right shoulder-blade, and a stream of blood trickling down -his buckskin coat from the wound. - -This his nearest neighbour essayed to do; but finding, after a tug, -that it “would not come,” expressed his opinion that the offending -weapon would have to be “butchered” out. This was accordingly effected -with the ready blade of a scalp-knife; and a handful of beaver-fur -being placed on the wound, and secured by a strap of buckskin round -the body, the wounded man donned his hunting-shirt once more, and -coolly set about lighting his pipe, his rifle lying across his lap, -cocked and ready for use. - -It was now near midnight—dark and misty; and the clouds, rolling away -to the eastward from the lofty ridges of the Rocky Mountains, were -gradually obscuring the dim starlight. As the lighter vapours faded -from the mountains, a thick black cloud succeeded them, and settled -over the loftier peaks of the chain, faintly visible through the gloom -of night, whilst a mass of fleecy scud soon overspread the whole -sky. A hollow moaning sound crept through the valley, and the upper -branches of the cotton woods, with their withered leaves, began to -rustle with the first breath of the coming storm. Huge drops of rain -fell at intervals, hissing as they dropped into the blazing fires, and -pattering on the skins with which the hunters hurriedly covered the -exposed baggage. The mules near the camp cropped the grass with quick -and greedy bites round the circuit of their pickets, as if conscious -that the storm would soon prevent their feeding, and already humped -their backs as the chilling rain fell upon their flanks. The prairie -wolves crept closer to the camp, and in the confusion that ensued from -the hurry of the trappers to cover the perishable portions of their -equipment, contrived more than once to dart off with a piece of meat, -when their peculiar and mournful chiding would be heard as they fought -for the possession of the ravished morsel. - -When every thing was duly protected, the men set to work to spread -their beds, those who had not troubled themselves to erect a shelter -getting under the lee of the piles of packs and saddles; whilst -Killbuck, disdaining even such care of his carcass, threw his buffalo -robe on the bare ground, declaring his intention to “take” what was -coming at all hazards, and “any how.” Selecting a high spot, he drew -his knife and proceeded to cut drains round it, to prevent the water -running into him as he lay; then taking a single robe he carefully -spread it, placing under the end farthest from the fire a large stone -brought from the creek. Having satisfactorily adjusted this pillow, -he added another robe to the one already laid, and placed over all a -Navajo blanket, supposed to be impervious to rain. Then he divested -himself of his pouch and powder-horn, which, with his rifle, he placed -inside his bed, and quickly covered up lest the wet should reach them. -Having performed these operations to his satisfaction, he lighted -his pipe by the hissing embers of the half-extinguished fire (for by -this time the rain poured in torrents), and went the rounds of the -picketed animals, cautioning the guard round the camp to keep their -“eyes skinned, for there would be 'powder burned' before morning.” -Then returning to the fire, and kicking with his mocassined foot the -slumbering ashes, he squatted down before it, and thus soliloquised:— - -“Thirty year have I been knocking about these mountains from -Missoura's head as far sothe as the starving Gila. I've trapped a -'heap,'[13] and many a hundred pack of beaver I've traded in my time, -wagh! What has come of it, and whar's the dollars as ought to be in -my possibles? Whar's the ind of this, I say? Is a man to be hunted by -Injuns all his days? Many's the time I've said I'd strike for Taos, -and trap a squaw, for this child's getting old, and feels like wanting -a woman's face about his lodge for the balance of his days; but when -it comes to caching of the old traps, I've the smallest kind of heart, -I have. Certain, the old-state comes across my mind now and again, -but who's thar to remember my old body? But them diggings gets too -over crowded now-a-days, and its hard to fetch breath amongst them -big bands of corncrackers to Missoura. Beside, it goes against natur -to leave bufler meat and feed on hog; and them white gals are too -much like picturs, and a deal too 'fofarraw' (fanfaron). No; darn the -settlements, I say. It won't shine, and whar's the dollars? Howsever, -beaver's 'bound to rise;' human natur can't go on selling beaver a -dollar a pound; no, no, that arn't a going to shine much longer, I -know. Them was the times when this child first went to the mountains: -six dollars the plew—old 'un or kitten. Wagh! but its bound to rise, -I says agin; and hyar's a coon knows whar to lay his hand on a dozen -pack right handy, and then he'll take the Taos trail, wagh!” - -Thus soliloquising, Killbuck knocked the ashes from his pipe, and -placed it in the gaily ornamented case that hung round his neck, -drew his knife-belt a couple of holes tighter, resumed his pouch and -powder-horn, took his rifle, which he carefully covered with the folds -of his Navajo blanket, and striding into the darkness, cautiously -reconnoitred the vicinity of the camp. When he returned to the fire he -sat himself down as before, but this time with his rifle across his -lap; and at intervals his keen gray eye glanced piercingly around, -particularly towards an old, weather-beaten, and grizzled mule, who -now, old stager as she was, having filled her belly, stood lazily over -her picket pin, with her head bent down and her long ears flapping -over her face, her limbs gathered under her, and her back arched to -throw off the rain, tottering from side to side as she rested and -slept. - -“Yep, old gal!” cried Killbuck to the animal, at the same time picking -a piece of burnt wood from the fire and throwing it at her, at which -the mule gathered itself up and cocked her ears as she recognised her -master's voice. “Yep, old gal! and keep your nose open; thar's brown -skin about, I'm thinkin', and maybe you'll get 'roped' (lasso'd) by -a Rapaho afore mornin.” Again the old trapper settled himself before -the fire; and soon his head began to nod, as drowsiness stole over -him. Already he was in the land of dreams; revelling amongst bands of -“fat cow,” or hunting along a stream well peopled with beaver; with -no Indian “sign” to disturb him, and the merry rendezvous in close -perspective, and his peltry selling briskly at six dollars the plew, -and galore of alcohol to ratify the trade. Or, perhaps, threading -the back trail of his memory, he passed rapidly through the perilous -vicissitudes of his hard, hard life—starving one day, revelling in -abundance the next; now beset by whooping savages thirsting for -his blood, baying his enemies like the hunted deer, but with the -unflinching courage of a man; now, all care thrown aside, secure and -forgetful of the past, a welcome guest in the hospitable trading fort; -or back, as the trail gets fainter, to his childhood's home in the -brown forests of old Kentuck, tended and cared for—his only thought to -enjoy the homminy and johnny cakes of his thrifty mother. Once more, -in warm and well remembered homespun, he sits on the snake fence round -the old clearing, and munching his hoe-cake at set of sun, listens to -the mournful note of the whip-poor-will, or the harsh cry of the noisy -catbird, or watches the agile gambols of the squirrels as they chase -each other, chattering the while, from branch to branch of the lofty -tamarisks, wondering how long it will be before he will be able to -lift his father's heavy rifle, and use it against the tempting game. -Sleep, however, sat lightly on the eyes of the wary mountaineer, and -a snort from the old mule in an instant stretched his every nerve. -Without a movement of his body, his keen eye fixed itself upon the -mule, which now stood with head bent round, and eyes and ears pointed -in one direction, snuffing the night air and snorting with apparent -fear. A low sound from the wakeful hunter roused the others from their -sleep; and raising their bodies from their well-soaked beds, a single -word apprised them of their danger. - -“Injuns!” - -Scarcely was the word out of Killbuck's lips, when, above the howling -of the furious wind, and the pattering of the rain, a hundred savage -yells broke suddenly upon their ears from all directions round the -camp; a score of rifle-shots rattled from the thicket, and a cloud of -arrows whistled through the air, whilst a crowd of Indians charged -upon the picketed animals. “Owgh, owgh—owgh—owgh—g-h-h.” “A foot, by -gor!” shouted Killbuck, “and the old mule gone at that. On 'em, boys, -for old Kentuck!” And he rushed towards his mule, which jumped and -snorted mad with fright, as a naked Indian strove to fasten a lariat -round her nose, having already cut the rope which fastened her to the -picket-pin. - -“Quit that, you cussed devil!” roared the trapper, as he jumped upon -the savage, and without raising his rifle to his shoulder, made a -deliberate thrust with the muzzle at his naked breast, striking him -full, and at the same time pulling the trigger, actually driving the -Indian two paces backwards with the shock, when he fell in a heap, and -dead. But at the same moment, an Indian, sweeping his club round his -head, brought it with fatal force down upon Killbuck; for a moment the -hunter staggered, threw out his arms wildly into the air, and fell -headlong to the ground. - -“Owgh! owgh, owgh-h-h!” cried the Rapaho, and, striding over the -prostrate body, he seized with his left hand the middle lock of the -trapper's long hair, and drew his knife round the head to separate the -scalp from the skull. As he bent over to his work, the trapper named -La Bonté saw his companion's peril, rushed quick as thought at the -Indian, and buried his knife to the hilt between his shoulders. With -a gasping shudder the Rapaho fell dead upon the prostrate body of his -foe. - -The attack, however, lasted but a few seconds. The dash at the animals -had been entirely successful, and, driving them before them, with -loud cries, the Indians disappeared quickly in the darkness. Without -waiting for daylight, two of the three trappers who alone were to be -seen, and who had been within the shanties at the time of attack, -without a moment's delay commenced packing two horses, which having -been fastened to the shanties had escaped the Indians, and placing -their squaws upon them, showering curses and imprecations on their -enemies, left the camp, fearful of another onset, and resolved to -retreat and câche themselves until the danger was over. Not so La -Bonté, who, stout and true, had done his best in the fight, and now -sought the body of his old comrade, from which, before he could -examine the wounds, he had first to remove the corpse of the Indian he -had slain. Killbuck still breathed. He had been stunned; but, revived -by the cold rain beating upon his face, he soon opened his eyes, and -recognised his trusty friend, who, sitting down, lifted his head into -his lap, and wiped away the blood that streamed from the wounded scalp. - -“Is the top-knot gone, boy?” asked Killbuck; “for my head feels -queersome, I tell you.” - -“Thar's the Injun as felt like lifting it,” answered the other, -kicking the dead body with his foot. - -“Wagh! boy, you've struck a coup; so scalp the nigger right off, and -then fetch me a drink.” - -The morning broke clear and cold. With the exception of a light cloud -which hung over Pike's Peak, the sky was spotless; and a perfect calm -had succeeded the boisterous storm of the previous night. The creek -was swollen and turbid with the rains; and as La Bonté proceeded a -little distance down the bank to find a passage to the water, he -suddenly stopped short, and an involuntary cry escaped him. Within a -few feet of the bank lay the body of one of his companions, who had -formed the guard at the time of the Indians' attack. It was lying on -the face, pierced through the chest with an arrow which was buried -to the very feathers, and the scalp torn from the bloody skull. -Beyond, but all within a hundred yards, lay the three others, dead, -and similarly mutilated. So certain had been the aim, and so close the -enemy, that each had died without a struggle, and consequently had -been unable to alarm the camp. La Bonté, with a glance at the bank, -saw at once that the wily Indians had crept along the creek, the noise -of the storm facilitating their approach undiscovered, and crawling up -the bank, had watched their opportunity to shoot simultaneously the -four hunters on guard. - -Returning to Killbuck, he apprised him of the melancholy fate of their -companions, and held a council of war as to their proceedings. The old -hunter's mind was soon made up. “First,” said he, “I get back my old -mule; she's carried me and my traps these twelve years, and I aint -a goin' to lose her yet. Second, I feel like taking hair, and some -Rapahos has to 'go under' for this night's work. Third, We have got to -câche the beaver. Fourth, We take the Injun trail, wharever it leads.” - -No more daring mountaineer than La Bonté ever trapped a beaver, and no -counsel could have more exactly tallied with his own inclination than -the law laid down by old Killbuck. - -“Agreed,” was his answer, and forthwith he set about forming a câche. -In this instance they had not sufficient time to construct a regular -one, so they contented themselves with securing their packs of beaver -in buffalo robes, and tying them in the forks of several cotton-woods, -under which the camp had been made. This done, they lit a fire, and -cooked some buffalo meat; and, whilst smoking a pipe, carefully -cleaned their rifles, and filled their horns and pouches with good -store of ammunition. - -A prominent feature in the character of the hunters of the far west is -their quick determination and resolve in cases of extreme difficulty -and peril, and their fixedness of purpose, when any plan of operations -has been laid requiring bold and instant action in carrying out. It is -here that they so infinitely surpass the savage Indian, in bringing -to a successful issue their numerous hostile expeditions against -the natural foe of the white man in the wild and barbarous regions -of the west. Ready to resolve as they are prompt to execute, and -combining far greater dash and daring with equal subtlety and caution, -they possess great advantage over the vacillating Indian, whose -superstitious mind in a great degree paralyses the physical energy of -his active body; and who, by waiting for propitious signs and seasons -before he undertakes an enterprise, often loses the opportunity by -which his white and more civilised enemy knows so well how to profit. - -Killbuck and La Bonté were no exceptions to this characteristic rule; -and before the sun was a hand's-breadth above the eastern horizon, -the two hunters were running on the trail of the victorious Indians. -Striking from the creek where the night attack was made, they crossed -to another known as Kioway, running parallel to Bijou, a few hours' -journey westward, and likewise heading in the “divide.” Following this -to its forks, they struck into the upland prairies lying at the foot -of the mountains; and crossing to the numerous water-courses which -feed the creek called “Vermilion” or “Cherry,” they pursued the trail -over the mountain-spurs until it reached a fork of the Boiling Spring. -Here the war-party had halted and held a consultation, for from this -point the trail turned at a tangent to the westward, and entered the -rugged gorges of the mountains. It was now evident to the two trappers -that their destination was the Bayou Salade,—a mountain valley which -is a favourite resort of the buffalo in the winter season, and which, -and for this reason, is often frequented by the Yuta Indians as -their wintering ground. That the Rapahos were on a war expedition -against the Yutas, there was little doubt; and Killbuck, who knew -every inch of the ground, saw at once, by the direction the trail had -taken, that they were making for the Bayou in order to surprise their -enemies, and, therefore, were not following the usual Indian trail -up the cañon of the Boiling Spring River. Having made up his mind to -this, he at once struck across the broken ground lying at the foot of -the mountains, steering a course a little to the eastward of north, -or almost in the direction whence he had come: and then, pointing -westward, about noon he crossed a mountain chain, and descending into -a ravine through which a little rivulet tumbled over its rocky bed, -he at once proved the correctness of his judgment by striking the -Indian trail, now quite fresh, as it wound through the cañon along -the bank of the stream. The route he had followed, impracticable to -pack-animals, had saved at least half-a-day's journey, and brought -them within a short distance of the object of their pursuit; for, at -the head of the gorge, a lofty bluff presenting itself, the hunters -ascended to the summit, and, looking down, descried at their very feet -the Indian camp, with their own stolen cavallada feeding quietly round. - -“Wagh!” exclaimed both the hunters in a breath. “And thar's the old -ga'l at that,” chuckled Killbuck, as he recognised his old grizzled -mule making good play at the rich buffalo grass with which these -mountain valleys abound. - -“If we don't make 'a raise' afore long, I wouldn't say so. Thar plans -is plain to this child as beaver sign. They're after Yuta hair, as -certain as this gun has got hind-sights; but they ar'nt agoin' to pack -them animals after 'em, and have crawled like 'rattlers' along this -bottom to câche 'em till they come back from the Bayou,—and maybe -they'll leave half a dozen 'soldiers'[14] with 'em.” - -How right the wily trapper was in his conjectures will be shortly -proved. Meanwhile, with his companion, he descended the bluff, and -pushing his way into a thicket of dwarf pine and cedar, sat down on a -log, and drew from an end of the blanket, strapped on his shoulder, a -portion of a buffalo's liver, which they both discussed, _raw_, with -infinite relish; eating in lieu of bread (an unknown luxury in these -parts) sundry strips of dried fat. To have kindled a fire would have -been dangerous, since it was not impossible that some of the Indians -might leave their camp to hunt, when the smoke would at once have -betrayed the presence of enemies. A light was struck, however for -their pipes, and after enjoying this true consolation for some time, -they laid a blanket on the ground, and, side by side, soon fell asleep. - -If Killbuck had been a prophet, or the most prescient of “medicine -men,” he could not have more exactly predicted the movements in the -Indian camp. About three hours before “sundown,” he rose and shook -himself, which movement was sufficient to awaken his companion. -Telling La Bonté to lie down again and rest, he gave him to understand -that he was about to reconnoitre the enemy's camp; and after carefully -examining his rifle, and drawing his knife-belt a hole or two tighter, -he proceeded on his dangerous errand. Ascending the same bluff whence -he had first discovered the Indian camp, he glanced rapidly around, -and made himself master of the features of the ground—choosing -a ravine by which he might approach the camp more closely, and -without danger of being discovered. This was soon effected; and -in half an hour the trapper was lying on his belly on the summit -of a pine-covered bluff, which overlooked the Indians within easy -rifle-shot, and so perfectly concealed by the low spreading branches -of the cedar and arbor-vitæ, that not a particle of his person could -be detected; unless, indeed, his sharp twinkling gray eye contrasted -too strongly with the green boughs that covered the rest of his face. -Moreover, there was no danger of their hitting upon his trail, for -he had been careful to pick his steps on the rock-covered ground, so -that not a track of his moccasin was visible. Here he lay, still as -a carcagien in wait for a deer, only now and then shaking the boughs -as his body quivered with a suppressed chuckle, when any movement in -the Indian camp caused him to laugh inwardly at his (if they had known -it) unwelcome propinquity. He was not a little surprised, however, -to discover that the party was much smaller than he had imagined, -counting only forty warriors; and this assured him that the band had -divided, one half taking the Yuta trail by the Boiling Spring, the -other (the one before him) taking a longer circuit in order to reach -the Bayou, and make the attack on the Yutas in a different direction. - -At this moment the Indians were in deliberation. Seated in a large -circle round a very small fire,[15] the smoke from which ascended -in a thin straight column, they each in turn puffed a huge cloud of -smoke from three or four long cherry-stemmed pipes, which went the -round of the party; each warrior touching the ground with the heel -of the pipe-bowl, and turning the stem upwards and away from him as -“medicine” to the Great Spirit, before he himself inhaled the fragrant -kinnik-kinnik. The council, however, was not general, for only fifteen -of the older warriors took part in it, the others sitting outside and -at some little distance from the circle. Behind each were his arms—bow -and quiver, and shield hanging from a spear stuck in the ground, and -a few guns in ornamented covers of buckskin were added to some of the -equipments. - -Near the fire, and in the centre of the inner circle, a spear was -fixed upright in the ground, and on this dangled the four scalps of -the trappers killed the preceding night; and underneath them, affixed -to the same spear, was the mystic “medicine bag,” by which Killbuck -knew that the band before him was under the command of the chief of -the tribe. - -Towards the grim trophies on the spear, the warriors, who in turn -addressed the council, frequently pointed—more than one, as he did -so, making the gyratory motion of the right hand and arm, which the -Indians use in describing that they have gained an advantage by skill -or cunning. Then pointing westward, the speaker would thrust out his -arm, extending his fingers at the same time, and closing and reopening -them repeatedly, meaning, that although four scalps already ornamented -the “medicine” pole, they were as nothing compared to the numerous -trophies they would bring from the Salt Valley, where they expected to -find their hereditary enemies the Yutas. “That now was not the time -to count their coups,” (for at this moment one of the warriors rose -from his seat, and, swelling with pride, advanced towards the spear, -pointing to one of the scalps, and then striking his open hand on -his naked breast, jumped into the air, as if about to go through the -ceremony). “That before many suns all their spears together would not -hold the scalps they had taken, and that they would return to their -village and spend a moon relating their achievements, and counting -coups.” - -All this Killbuck learned: thanks to his knowledge of the language -of signs—a master of which, if even he have no ears or tongue, never -fails to understand, and be understood by, any of the hundred tribes -whose languages are perfectly distinct and different. He learned, -moreover, that at sundown the greater part of the band would resume -the trail, in order to reach the Bayou by the earliest dawn; and also, -that no more than four or five of the younger warriors would remain -with the captured animals. Still the hunter remained in his position -until the sun had disappeared behind the ridge; when, taking up their -arms, and throwing their buffalo robes on their shoulders, the war -party of Rapahos, one behind the other, with noiseless step, and -silent as the dumb, moved away from the camp. When the last dusky form -had disappeared behind a point of rocks which shut in the northern end -of the little valley or ravine, Killbuck withdrew his head from its -screen, crawled backwards on his stomach from the edge of the bluff, -and, rising from the ground, shook and stretched himself; then gave -one cautious look around, and immediately proceeded to rejoin his -companion. - -“_Lave_ (get up), boy,” said Killbuck, as soon as he reached him. -“Hyar's grainin' to do afore long—and sun's about down, I'm thinking.” - -“Ready, old hos,” answered La Bonté, giving himself a shake. “What's -the sign like, and how many's the lodge?” - -“Fresh, and five, boy. How do you feel?” - -“_Half froze for hair._ Wagh!” - -“We'll have moon to-night, and as soon as _she_ gets up, we'll make -'em 'come.'” - -Killbuck then described to his companion what he had seen, and -detailed his plan. This was simply to wait until the moon afforded -sufficient light, then to approach the Indian camp and charge into -it, “lift” as much “hair” as they could, recover their animals, and -start at once to the Bayou and join the friendly Yutas, warning them -of the coming danger. The risk of falling in with either of the Rapaho -bands was hardly considered; to avoid this, they trusted to their own -foresight, and the legs of their mules, should they encounter them. - -Between sundown and the rising of the moon, they had leisure to eat -their supper, which, as before, consisted of raw buffalo-liver; after -discussing which, Killbuck pronounced himself “a 'heap' better,” and -ready for “huggin.” - -In the short interval of almost perfect darkness which preceded the -moonlight, and taking advantage of one of the frequent squalls of -wind which howl down the narrow gorges of the mountains, these two -determined men, with footsteps noiseless as the panther's, crawled -to the edge of the little plateau of some hundred yards' square, -where the five Indians in charge of the animals were seated round -the fire, perfectly unconscious of the vicinity of danger. Several -clumps of cedar bushes dotted the small prairie, and amongst these the -well-hobbled mules and horses were feeding. These animals, accustomed -to the presence of whites, would not notice the two hunters as they -crept from clump to clump nearer to the fire, and also served, even if -the Indians should be on the watch, to conceal their movements from -them. - -This the two men at once perceived; but old Killbuck knew that if -he passed within sight or smell of his mule, he would be received -with a hinny of recognition, which would at once alarm the enemy. -He therefore first ascertained where his own animal was feeding, -which luckily was at the farther side of the prairie, and would not -interfere with his proceedings. - -Threading their way amongst the feeding mules, they approached a -clump of bushes about forty yards from the spot where the unconscious -savages were seated smoking round the fire; and here they awaited, -scarcely drawing breath the while, the moment when the moon rose above -the mountain into the clear cold sky, and gave them light sufficient -to make sure their work of bloody retribution. Not a pulsation in the -hearts of these stern determined men beat higher than its wont; not -the tremour of a nerve disturbed their frame. They stood with lips -compressed and rifles ready, their pistols loosened in their belts, -their scalp-knives handy to their gripe. The lurid glow of the coming -moon already shot into the sky above the ridge, which stood out in -bold relief against the light; and the luminary herself just peered -over the mountain, illuminating its pine-clad summit, and throwing her -beams on an opposite peak, when Killbuck touched his companion's arm, -and whispered, “Wait for the full light, boy.” - -At this moment, however, unseen by the trapper, the old grizzled mule -had gradually approached, as she fed along the plateau; and, when -within a few paces of their retreat, a gleam of moonshine revealed to -the animal the erect forms of the two whites. Suddenly she stood still -and pricked her ears, and stretching out her neck and nose, snuffed -the air. Well she knew her old master. - -Killbuck, with eyes fixed upon the Indians, was on the point of giving -the signal of attack to his comrade, when the shrill hinny of his mule -reverberated through the gorge. The Indians jumped to their feet and -seized their arms, when Killbuck, with a loud shout of “At 'em boy; -give the niggurs h—!” rushed from his concealment, and with La Bonté -by his side, yelling a fierce war-whoop, sprung upon the startled -savages. - -Panic-struck with the suddenness of the attack, the Indians scarcely -knew where to run, and for a moment stood huddled together like -sheep. Down dropped Killbuck on his knee, and stretching out his -wiping-stick, planted it on the ground at the extreme length of his -arm. As methodically and as coolly as if about to aim at a deer, he -raised his rifle to this rest and pulled the trigger. At the report -an Indian fell forward on his face, at the same moment that La Bonté, -with equal certainty of aim and like effect, discharged his own rifle. - -The three surviving Indians, seeing that their assailants were but -two, and knowing that their guns were empty, came on with loud yells. -With the left hand grasping a bunch of arrows, and holding the bow -already bent and arrow fixed, they steadily advanced, bending low to -the ground to get their objects between them and the light, and thus -render their aim more certain. The trappers, however, did not care -to wait for them. Drawing their pistols, they charged at once; and -although the bows twanged, and the three arrows struck their mark, on -they rushed, discharging their pistols at close quarters. La Bonté -threw his empty one at the head of an Indian who was pulling his -second arrow to its head at a yard's distance, drew his knife at the -same moment, and made at him. - -But the Indian broke and ran, followed by his surviving companion; and -as soon as Killbuck could ram home another ball, he sent a shot flying -after them as they scrambled up the mountain side, leaving in their -fright and hurry their bows and shields on the ground. - -The fight was over, and the two trappers confronted each other:—“We've -given 'em h—!” laughed Killbuck. - -“_Well_, we have,” answered the other, pulling an arrow out of his -arm.—“Wagh!” - -“We'll lift the hair, any how,” continued the first, “afore the -scalp's cold.” - -Taking his whetstone from the little sheath on his knife-belt, the -trapper proceeded to “edge” his knife, and then stepping to the -first prostrate body, he turned it over to examine if any symptom of -vitality remained. “Thrown cold!” he exclaimed, as he dropped the -lifeless arm he had lifted. “I sighted him about the long ribs, but -the light was bad, and I couldn't get a 'bead' 'off hand' any how.” - -Seizing with his left hand the long and braided lock on the centre of -the Indian's head, he passed the point edge of his keen butcher-knife -round the parting, turning it at the same time under the skin to -separate the scalp from the skull; then, with a quick and sudden -jerk of his hand, he removed it entirely from the head, and giving -the reeking trophy a wring upon the grass to free it from the blood, -he coolly hitched it under his belt, and proceeded to the next; but -seeing La Bonté operating upon this, he sought the third, who lay -some little distance from the others. This one was still alive, a -pistol-ball having passed through his body, without touching a vital -spot. - -“Gut-shot is this niggur,” exclaimed the trapper; “them pistols never -throws 'em in their tracks;” and thrusting his knife, for mercy's -sake, into the bosom of the Indian, he likewise tore the scalp-lock -from his head, and placed it with the other. - -La Bonté had received two trivial wounds, and Killbuck till now had -been walking about with an arrow sticking through the fleshy part of -his thigh, the point being perceptible near the surface of the other -side. To free his leg from the painful encumbrance, he thrust the -weapon completely through, and then, cutting off the arrow-head below -the barb, he drew it out, the blood flowing freely from the wound. A -tourniquet of buckskin soon stopped this, and, heedless of the pain, -the hardy mountaineer sought for his old mule, and quickly brought it -to the fire (which La Bonté had rekindled), lavishing many a caress, -and most comical terms of endearment, upon the faithful companion of -his wanderings. They found all the animals safe and well; and after -eating heartily of some venison which the Indians had been cooking at -the moment of the attack, made instant preparations to quit the scene -of their exploit, not wishing to trust to the chance of the Rapahos -being too frightened to again molest them. - -Having no saddles, they secured buffalo robes on the backs of two -mules—Killbuck, of course, riding his own—and lost no time in -proceeding on their way. They followed the course of the Indians -up the stream, and found that it kept the cañons and gorges of the -mountains, where the road was better; but it was with no little -difficulty that they made their way, the ground being much broken, -and covered with rocks. Killbuck's wound became very painful, and -his leg stiffened and swelled distressingly, but he still pushed on -all night, and, at daybreak, recognising their position, he left the -Indian trail, and followed a little creek which rose in a mountain -chain of moderate elevation, and above which, and to the south, Pike's -Peak towered high into the clouds. With great difficulty they crossed -this ridge, and ascending and descending several smaller ones, which -gradually smoothed away as they met the valley, about three hours -after sunrise they found themselves in the south-east corner of the -Bayou Salade. - -The Bayou Salade, or Salt Valley, is the most southern of three very -extensive valleys, forming a series of table-lands in the very centre -of the main chain of the Rocky Mountains, known to the trappers by the -name of the “Parks.” The numerous streams by which they are watered -abound in the valuable fur-bearing beaver, whilst every species of -game common to the west is found here in great abundance. The Bayou -Salade especially, owing to the salitrose nature of the soil and -springs, is the favourite resort of all the larger animals common -to the mountains; and, in the sheltered prairies of the Bayou, the -buffalo, forsaking the barren and inclement regions of the exposed -plains, frequent these upland valleys, in the winter months; and -feeding upon the rich and nutritious buffalo grass which, on the -bare prairies, at that season, is either dry and rotten, or entirely -exhausted, not only sustain life, but retain a great portion of the -“condition” that the abundant fall and summer pasture of the lowlands -has laid upon their bones. Therefore is this valley sought by the -Indians as a wintering ground. Its occupancy has been disputed by most -of the mountain tribes, and long and bloody wars have been waged to -make good the claims set forth by Yuta, Rapaho, Sioux, and Shians. -However, to the first of these it may be said now to belong, since -their “big village” has wintered there for many successive years; -whilst the Rapahos seldom visit it unless on war expeditions against -the Yutas. - -Judging, from the direction the Rapahos were taking, that the friendly -tribe of Yutas were there already, the trappers had resolved to join -them as soon as possible; and therefore, without resting, pushed on -through the uplands, and, towards the middle of the day, had the -satisfaction of descrying the conical lodges of the village, situated -on a large level plateau, through which ran a mountain stream. A -numerous band of mules and horses were scattered over the pasture, -and round them several mounted Indians kept guard. As the trappers -descended the bluffs into the plain, some straggling Indians caught -sight of them; and instantly one of them, lassoing a horse from the -herd, mounted it, bare-backed, and flew like wind to the village to -spread the news. Soon the lodges disgorged their inmates; first the -women and children rushed to the side of the strangers' approach; then -the younger Indians, unable to restrain their curiosity, mounted their -horses, and galloped forth to meet them. The old chiefs, enveloped in -buffalo robes (softly and delicately dressed as the Yutas alone know -how), and with tomahawk held in one hand and resting in the hollow of -the other arm, sallied last of all from their lodges, and, squatting -in a row on a sunny bank outside the village, awaited, with dignified -composure, the arrival of the whites. Killbuck was well known to most -of them, having trapped in their country and traded with them years -before at Roubideau's fort at the head waters of the Rio Grande. After -shaking hands with all who presented themselves, he at once gave them -to understand that their enemies, the Rapahos, were at hand, with a -hundred warriors at least, elated by the coup they had just struck -against the whites, bringing, moreover, four white scalps to incite -them to brave deeds. - -At this news the whole village was speedily in commotion: the -war-shout was taken up from lodge to lodge; the squaws began to lament -and tear their hair; the warriors to paint and arm themselves. The -elder chiefs immediately met in council, and, over the medicine-pipe, -debated as to the best course to pursue,—whether to wait the attack, -or sally out and meet the enemy. In the mean time, the braves were -collected together by the chiefs of their respective bands, and -scouts, mounted on the fastest horses, despatched in every direction -to procure intelligence of the enemy. - -The two whites, after watering their mules and picketing them in some -good grass near the village, drew near the council fire, without, -however, joining in the “talk,” until they were invited to take their -seats by the eldest chief. Then Killbuck was called upon to give -his opinion as to the direction in which he judged the Rapahos to be -approaching, which he delivered in their own language, with which -he was well acquainted. In a short time the council broke up, and, -without noise or confusion, a band of one hundred chosen warriors -left the village, immediately after one of the scouts had galloped -in and communicated some intelligence to the chiefs. Killbuck and La -Bonté volunteered to accompany the war-party, weak and exhausted as -they were; but this was negatived by the chiefs, who left their white -brothers to the care of the women, who tended their wounds, now stiff -and painful: and spreading their buffalo robes in a warm and roomy -lodge, left them to the repose they so much needed. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - - -The next morning, Killbuck's leg was greatly inflamed, and he was -unable to leave the lodge; but he made his companion bring the old -mule to the door, that he might give her a couple of ears of Indian -corn, the last remains of the slender store brought by the Indians -from the Navajo country. The day passed, and sundown brought no -tidings of the war-party. This caused no little wailing on the part of -the squaws, but was interpreted by the whites as a favourable augury. -A little after sunrise, on the second morning, the long line of the -returning warriors was discerned winding over the prairie, and a scout -having galloped in to bring the news of a great victory, the whole -village was soon in a ferment of paint and drumming. A short distance -from the lodges, the warriors halted to await the approach of the -people. Old men, children, and squaws sitting astride their horses, -sallied out to escort the victorious party in triumph to the village. -With loud shouts and songs, and drums beating the monotonous Indian -time, they advanced and encircled the returning braves, one of whom, -his face covered with black paint, carried a pole on which dangled -thirteen scalps, the trophies of the expedition. As he lifted these on -high, they were saluted with deafening whoops and cries of exultation -and savage joy. In this manner they entered the village, almost before -the friends of those fallen in the fight had ascertained their losses. -Then the shouts of delight were converted into yells of grief; the -mothers and wives of those braves who had been killed (and seven had -“gone under”) presently returned with their faces, necks, and hands -blackened, and danced and howled round the scalp-pole, which had been -deposited in the centre of the village, in front of the lodge of the -great chief. - -Killbuck now learned that a scout having brought intelligence that -the two bands of Rapahos were hastening to form a junction, as soon -as they learned that their approach was discovered, the Yutas had -successfully prevented it; and attacking one party, had entirely -defeated it, killing thirteen of the Rapaho braves. The other party -had fled on seeing the issue of the fight, and a few of the Yuta -warriors were now pursuing them. - -To celebrate so signal a victory, great preparations sounded their -notes through the village. Paints,—vermilion and ochres—red and -yellow,—were in great request; whilst the scrapings of charred wood, -mixed with gunpowder, were used as substitute for black, the medicine -colour. - -The lodges of the village, numbering some two hundred or more, were -erected in parallel lines, and covered a large space of the level -prairie in shape of a parallelogram. In the centre, however, the -space which half a dozen lodges in length would have taken up was -left unoccupied, save by one large one, of red-painted buffalo skins, -tatooed with the mystic totems of the “medicine” peculiar to the -nation. In front of this stood the grim scalp-pole, like a decayed -tree trunk, its bloody fruit tossing in the wind; and on another -pole, at a few feet distance, was hung the “bag” with its mysterious -contents. Before each lodge a tripod of spears supported the arms and -shields of the Yuta chivalry, and on many of them, smoke-dried scalps -rattled in the wind, former trophies of the dusky knights who were -arming themselves within. Heraldic devices were not wanting,—not, -however, graved upon the shield, but hanging from the spear-head, -the actual “totem” of the warrior it distinguished. The rattlesnake, -the otter, the carcagien, the mountain badger, the war-eagle, the -kon-qua-kish, the porcupine, the fox, &c., dangled their well-stuffed -skins, displaying the guardian “medicine” of the warriors they -pertained to, and representing the mental and corporeal qualities -which were supposed to characterise the braves to whom they belonged. - -From the centre lodge, two or three “medicine men,” fantastically -attired in the skins of wolves and bears, and bearing long peeled -wands of cherry in their hands, occasionally emerged to tend a -very small fire which they had kindled in the centre of the open -space; and, when a thin column of smoke arose, one of them planted -the scalp-pole obliquely across the fire. Squaws in robes of white -dressed buckskin, garnished with beads and porcupines' quills, and -their faces painted bright red and black, then appeared. These ranged -themselves round the outside of the square, the boys and children of -all ages, mounted on bare-backed horses, galloping round and round, -and screaming with eagerness, excitement, and curiosity. - -Presently the braves and warriors made their appearance, and squatted -round the fire in two circles, those who had been engaged on the -expedition being in the first or smaller one. One medicine man sat -under the scalp-pole, having a drum between his knees, which he tapped -at intervals with his hand, eliciting from the instrument a hollow -monotonous sound. A bevy of women, shoulder to shoulder, then advanced -from the four sides of the square, and some, shaking a rattle-drum in -time with their steps, commenced a jumping jerking dance, now lifting -one foot from the ground, and now rising with both, accompanying the -dance with a chant, which swelled from a low whisper to the utmost -extent of their voices—now dying away, and again bursting into -vociferous measure. Thus they advanced to the centre and retreated -to their former positions; when six squaws, with their faces painted -a dead black, made their appearance from the crowd, chanting, in -soft and sweet measure, a lament for the braves the nation had lost -in the late battle: but soon as they drew near the scalp-pole, their -melancholy note changed to the music (to them) of gratified revenge. -In a succession of jumps, raising the feet alternately but a little -distance from the ground, they made their way, through an interval -left in the circle of warriors, to the grim pole, and encircling -it, danced in perfect silence round it for a few moments. Then they -burst forth with an extempore song, laudatory of the achievements of -their victorious braves. They addressed the scalps as “sisters” (to -be called a squaw is the greatest insult that can be offered to an -Indian), and, spitting at them, upbraided them with their rashness -in leaving their lodges to seek for Yuta husbands; “that the Yuta -warriors and young men despised them, and chastised them for their -forwardness and presumption, bringing back their scalps to their own -women.” - -After sufficiently proving that they had any thing but lost the use -of their tongues, but possessed, on the contrary, as fair a length -of that formidable weapon as any of their sex, they withdrew, and -left the field in undisputed possession of the men: who, accompanied -by tap of drum, and by the noise of many rattles, broke out into -a war-song, in which their own valour was by no means hidden in a -bushel, or modestly refused the light of day. After this came the -more interesting ceremony of a warrior “counting his coups.” - -A young brave, with his face painted black, mounted on a white horse -mysteriously marked with red clay, and naked to the breech-clout, -holding in his hand a long taper lance, rode into the circle, and -paced slowly round it; then, flourishing his spear on high, he darted -to the scalp-pole, round which the warriors were now seated in a -semicircle; and in a loud voice, and with furious gesticulations, -related his exploits, the drums tapping at the conclusion of each. -On his spear hung seven scalps, and holding it vertically above his -head, and commencing with the top one, he told the feats in which he -had raised the trophy hair. When he had run through these, the drums -tapped loudly, and several of the old chiefs shook their rattles, in -corroboration of the truth of his achievements. The brave, swelling -with pride, then pointed to the fresh and bloody scalps hanging on the -pole. Two of these had been torn from the heads of Rapahos struck by -his own hand, and this feat, _the_ exploit of the day, had entitled -him to the honour of counting his coups. Then, sticking his spear -into the ground by the side of the pole, he struck his hand twice on -his brawny and naked chest, turned short round, and, swift as the -antelope, galloped into the plain: as if overcome by the shock his -modesty had received in being obliged to recount his own high-sounding -deeds. - -“Wagh!” exclaimed old Killbuck, as he left the circle, pointing his -pipe-stem towards the fast-fading figure of the brave, “that Injun's -heart's about as big as ever it will be, I'm thinking.” - -With the Yutas, Killbuck and La Bonté remained during the winter; -and when the spring sun had opened the ice-bound creeks, and melted -the snow on the mountains, and its genial warmth had expanded the -earth and permitted the roots of the grass to “live” once more, and -throw out green and tender shoots, the two trappers bade adieu to the -hospitable Indians, who broke up their village in order to start for -the valleys of the Del Norte. As they followed the trail from the -bayou, at sundown, just as they thought of camping, they observed -ahead of them a solitary horseman riding along, followed by three -mules. His hunting-frock of fringed buckskin, and the rifle resting -across the horn of his saddle, at once proclaimed him white; but as he -saw the mountaineers winding through the cañon, driving before them -half a dozen horses, _he_ judged they might possibly be Indians and -enemies, the more so as their dress was not the usual costume of the -whites. The trappers, therefore, saw the stranger raise the rifle in -the hollow of his arm, and, gathering up his horse, ride steadily to -meet them, as soon as he observed they were but two; two to one in -mountain calculation being scarcely considered odds, if red skin to -white. - -However, on nearing them, the stranger discovered his mistake; and, -throwing his rifle across the saddle once more, reined in his horse -and waited their approach; for the spot where he then stood presented -an excellent camping-ground, with abundance of dry wood and convenient -water. - -“Where from, stranger?” - -“The divide, and to the bayou for meat; and you are from there, I see. -Any buffalo come in yet?” - -“Heap, and seal-fat at that. What's the sign out on the plains?” - -“War-party of Rapahos passed Squirrel at sundown yesterday, and nearly -raised my animals. Sign, too, of more on left fork of Boiling Spring. -No buffalo between this and Bijou. Do you feel like camping?” - -“_Well_, we do. But whar's your companyeros?” - -“I'm alone.” - -“Alone! Wagh! how do you get your animals along?” - -“I go ahead, and they follow the horse.” - -“Well, that beats all! That's a smart-looking hos now; and runs some, -I'm thinking.” - -“Well, it does.” - -“Whar's them mules from? They look like Californy.” - -“Mexican country—away down south.” - -“H—! Whar's yourself from?” - -“There away, too.” - -“What's beaver worth in Taos?” - -“Dollar.” - -“In Saint Louiy?” - -“Same.” - -“H—! Any call for buckskin?” - -“A heap! The soldiers in Santa Fé are half froze for leather; and -moccasins fetch two dollars, easy.” - -“Wagh! How's trade on Arkansa, and what's doin to the Fort?” - -“Shians at Big Timber, and Bent's people trading smart. On North Fork, -Jim Waters got a hundred pack right off, and Sioux making more.” - -“Whar's Bill Williams?” - -“Gone under, they say: the Diggers took his hair.” - -“How's powder goin?” - -“Two dollars a pint.” - -“Bacca?” - -“A plew a plug.” - -“Got any about you?” - -“Have _so_.” - -“Give us a chaw; and now let's camp.” - -Whilst unpacking their own animals, the two trappers could not refrain -from glancing, every now and then, with no little astonishment, at the -solitary stranger they had so unexpectedly encountered. If truth be -told, his appearance not a little perplexed them. His hunting-frock -of buckskin, shining with grease, and fringed pantaloons, over which -the well-greased butcher-knife had evidently been often wiped after -cutting his food, or butchering the carcass of deer and buffalo, -were of genuine mountain make. His face, clean shaved, exhibited in -its well-tanned and weather-beaten complexion, the effects of such -natural cosmetics as sun and wind; and under the mountain hat of felt -which covered his head, long uncut hair hung in Indian fashion on his -shoulders. All this would have passed muster, had it not been for the -most extraordinary equipment of a double-barrelled rifle; which, when -it had attracted the eyes of the mountaineers, elicited no little -astonishment, not to say derision. But, perhaps, nothing excited their -admiration so much as the perfect docility of the stranger's animals; -which, almost like dogs, obeyed his voice and call; and albeit that -one, in a small sharp head and pointed ears, expanded nostrils, and -eye twinkling and malicious, exhibited the personification of a -“lurking devil,” yet they could not but admire the perfect ease with -which even this one, in common with the rest, permitted herself to be -handled. - -Dismounting, and unhitching from the horn of his saddle the coil of -skin rope, one end of which was secured round the neck of the horse, -he proceeded to unsaddle; and whilst so engaged, the three mules, two -of which were packed, one with the unbutchered carcass of a deer, the -other with a pack of skins, &c., followed leisurely into the space -chosen for the camp, and, cropping the grass at their ease, waited -until a whistle called them to be unpacked. - -The horse was a strong square-built bay; and, although the severities -of a prolonged winter, with scanty pasture and long and trying travel, -had robbed his bones of fat and flesh, tucked up his flank, and -“ewed” his neck; still his clean and well-set legs, oblique shoulder, -and withers fine as a deer's, in spite of his gaunt half-starved -appearance, bore ample testimony as to what he _had_ been; while his -clear cheerful eye, and the hearty appetite with which he fell to work -on the coarse grass of the bottom, proved that he had something in him -still, and was game as ever. His tail, gnawed by the mules in days of -strait, attracted the observant mountaineers. - -“Hard doins when it come to that,” remarked La Bonté. - -Between the horse and two of the mules a mutual and great affection -appeared to subsist, which was no more than natural, when their master -observed to his companions that they had travelled together upwards of -two thousand miles. - -One of these mules was a short, thick-set, stumpy animal, with an -enormous head surmounted by proportionable ears, and a pair of -unusually large eyes, beaming the most perfect good temper and -docility (most uncommon qualities in a mule.) Her neck was thick, -and rendered more so in appearance by reason of her mane not being -roached, (or, in English, hogged), which privilege she alone enjoyed -of the trio; and her short, strong legs, ending in small, round, -cat-like hoofs, were feathered with a profusion of dark brown hair. - -As she stood stock-still, whilst the stranger removed the awkwardly -packed deer from her back, she flapped her huge ears backward and -forward, occasionally turning her head, and laying her cold nose -against her master's cheek. When the pack was removed, he advanced -to her head, and resting it on his shoulder, rubbed her broad and -grizzled cheeks with both his hands for several minutes, the old -mule laying her ears, like a rabbit, back upon her neck, and with -half-closed eyes enjoyed mightily the manipulation. Then, giving her a -smack upon the haunch, and a “hep-a” well known to the mule kind, the -old favourite threw up her heels and cantered off to the horse, who -was busily cropping the buffalo grass on the bluff above the stream. - -Great was the contrast between the one just described and the next -which came up to be divested of her pack. She, a tall beautifully -shaped Mexican mule, of a light mouse colour, with a head like a -deer's, and long springy legs, trotted up obedient to the call, but -with ears bent back and curled up nose, and tail compressed between -her legs. As her pack was being removed, she groaned and whined like a -dog, as a thong or loosened strap touched her ticklish body, lifting -her hind-quarters in a succession of jumps or preparatory kicks, and -looking wicked as a panther. When nothing but the fore pack-saddle -remained, she had worked herself into the last stage; and as the -stranger cast loose the girth of buffalo hide, and was about to lift -the saddle and draw the crupper from the tail, she drew her hind legs -under her, more tightly compressed her tail, and almost shrieked with -rage. - -“Stand clear,” he roared (knowing what was coming), and raised the -saddle, when out went her hind legs, up went the pack into the -air, and, with it dangling at her heels, away she tore, kicking -the offending saddle as she ran. Her master, however, took this as -matter of course, followed her and brought back the saddle, which he -piled on the others to windward of the fire one of the trappers was -kindling. Fire-making is a simple process with the mountaineers. Their -bullet-pouches always contain a flint and steel, and sundry pieces of -“punk”[16] or tinder; and pulling a handful of dry grass, which they -screw into a nest, they place the lighted punk in this, and, closing -the grass over it, wave it in the air, when it soon ignites, and -readily kindles the dry sticks forming the foundation of the fire. - -The tit-bits of the deer the stranger had brought in were soon -roasting over the fire; whilst, as soon as the burning logs had -deposited a sufficiency of ashes, a hole was raked in them, and the -head of the deer, skin, hair, and all, placed in this primitive oven, -and carefully covered with the hot ashes. - -A “heap” of “fat meat” in perspective, our mountaineers enjoyed their -ante-prandial pipes, recounting the news of the respective regions -whence they came; and so well did they like each other's company, so -sweet was the “honey-dew” tobacco of which the strange hunter had -good store, so plentiful the game about the creek, and so abundant -the pasture for their winter-starved animals, that before the carcass -of the “two-year” buck had been more than four-fifths consumed; -and, although rib after rib had been picked and chucked over their -shoulders to the wolves, and one fore leg and _the_ “bit” of all, -the head, were still cooked before them,—the three had come to the -resolution to join company, and hunt in their present locality for a -few days at least—the owner of the “two-shoot” gun volunteering to -fill their horns with powder, and find tobacco for their pipes. - -Here, on plenty of meat, of venison, bear, and antelope, they merrily -luxuriated; returning after their daily hunts to the brightly burning -camp-fire, where one always remained to guard the animals, and -unloading their packs of meat, (all choicest portions), ate late into -the night, and, smoking, wiled away the time in narrating scenes in -their hard-spent lives, and fighting their battles o'er again. - -The younger of the trappers, he who has figured under the name of La -Bonté, had excited, by scraps and patches from his history, no little -curiosity in the stranger's mind to learn the ups and downs of his -career; and one night, when they assembled earlier than usual at the -fire, he prevailed upon the modest trapper to “unpack” some passages -in his wild adventurous life. - -“Maybe,” commenced the mountaineer, “you both remember when old Ashley -went out with the biggest kind of band to trap the Columbia, and -head-waters of Missoura and Yellow Stone. Well, that was the time this -niggur first felt like taking to the mountains.” - -This brings us back to the year of our Lord 1825; and perhaps it -will be as well, in order to render La Bonté's mountain language -intelligible, to translate it at once into tolerable English, and to -tell in the third person, but from his own lips, the scrapes which -befell him in a sojourn of more than twenty years in the Far West, and -the causes that impelled him to quit the comfort and civilisation of -his home, to seek the perilous but engaging life of a trapper of the -Rocky Mountains. - -La Bonté was raised in the state of Mississippi, not far from Memphis, -on the left bank of that huge and snag-filled river. His father was a -Saint Louis Frenchman, his mother a native of Tennessee. When a boy, -our trapper was “some,” he said, with the rifle, and always had a -hankering for the west; particularly when, on accompanying his father -to Saint Louis every spring, he saw the different bands of traders -and hunters start upon their annual expeditions to the mountains. -Greatly did he envy the independent, _insouciant_ trappers, as, in all -the glory of beads and buckskin, they shouldered their rifles at Jake -Hawkin's door (the rifle-maker of St Louis), and bade adieu to the -cares and trammels of civilised life. - -However, like a thoughtless beaver-kitten, he put his foot into a trap -one fine day, set by Mary Brand, a neighbour's daughter, and esteemed -“some punkins,” or in other words toasted as the beauty of Memphis -County, by the susceptible Mississippians. From that moment he was -“gone beaver;” “he felt queer,” he said, “all over, like a buffalo -shot in the lights; he had no relish for mush and molasses; homminy -and johnny cakes failed to excite his appetite. Deer and turkeys ran -by him unscathed; he didn't know, he said, whether his rifle had -hind-sights or not. He felt bad, that was a fact; but what ailed him -he didn't know.” - -Mary Brand—Mary Brand—Mary Brand! the old Dutch clock ticked it. Mary -Brand! his head throbbed it when he lay down to sleep. Mary Brand! -his rifle-lock spoke it plainly when he cocked it, to raise a shaking -sight at a deer. Mary Brand, Mary Brand! the whip-poor-will sung it, -instead of her own well-known note; the bull-frogs croaked it in the -swamp, and mosquitoes droned it in his ear as he tossed about his bed -at night, wakeful, and striving to think what ailed him. - -Who could that strapping young fellow, who passed the door just now, -be going to see? Mary Brand: Mary Brand. And who can Big Pete Herring -be dressing that silver fox-skin so carefully for? For whom but Mary -Brand? And who is it that jokes, and laughs, and dances, with all the -“boys” but him; and why? - -Who but Mary Brand: and because the love-sick booby carefully avoids -her. - -“And Mary Brand herself—what is she like?” - -“She's 'some' now; that _is_ a fact, and the biggest kind of punkin -at that,” would have been the answer from any man, woman, or child in -Memphis County, and truly spoken, too; always understanding that the -pumpkin is the fruit by which the _ne-plus-ultra_ of female perfection -is expressed amongst the figuratively-speaking westerns. - -Being an American woman, of course she was tall, and straight and -slim as a hickory sapling, well formed withal, with rounded bust, and -neck white and slender as the swan's. Her features were small, but -finely chiselled; and in this, it may be remarked, the lower orders -of the American women differ from, and far surpass the same class in -England, or elsewhere, where the features, although far prettier, are -more vulgar and commonplace. Mary Brand had the bright blue eye, thin -nose, and small but sweetly-formed mouth, the too fair complexion and -dark brown hair, which characterise the beauty of the Anglo-American, -the heavy masses (hardly curls), that fell over her face and neck, -contrasting with their polished whiteness. Such was Mary Brand: and -when to her good looks are added a sweet disposition, and all the best -qualities of a thrifty housewife, it must be allowed that she fully -justified the eulogiums of the good people of Memphis. - -Well, to cut a love-story short, in doing which not a little moral -courage is shown, young La Bonté fell desperately in love with the -pretty Mary, and she with him; and small blame to her, for he was a -proper lad of twenty—six feet in his moccasins—the best hunter and -rifle-shot in the country, with many other advantages too numerous to -mention. But when did the course, &c. e'er run smooth? When the affair -had become a recognised “courting” (and Americans alone know the -horrors of such prolonged purgatory), they became, to use La Bonté's -words, “awful fond,” and consequently about once a-week had their -tiffs and makes-up. - -However, on one occasion, at a “husking,” and during one of these -tiffs, Mary, every inch a woman, to gratify some indescribable -feeling, brought to her aid jealousy—that old serpent who has caused -such mischief in this world; and by a flirtation over the corn-cobs -with Big Pete, La Bonté's former and only rival, struck so hard a blow -at the latter's heart, that on the moment his brain caught fire, -blood danced before his eyes, and he became like one possessed. Pete -observed and enjoyed his struggling emotion—better for him had he -minded his corn-shelling alone;—and the more to annoy his rival, paid -the most sedulous attention to pretty Mary. - -Young La Bonté stood it as long as human nature, at boiling heat, -could endure; but when Pete, in the exultation of his apparent -triumph, crowned his success by encircling the slender waist of the -girl with his arm, and snatching a sudden kiss, he jumped upright from -his seat, and seizing a small whisky-keg which stood in the centre -of the corn-shellers, he hurled it at his rival, and crying to him, -hoarse with passion, “to follow if he was a man,” he left the house. - -At that time, and even now, in the remoter states of the western -country, rifles settled even the most trivial differences between the -hot-blooded youths; and of such frequent occurrence and invariably -bloody termination did these encounters become, that they scarcely -produced sufficient excitement to draw together half-a-dozen -spectators. - -In the present case, however, so public was the quarrel, and so -well known the parties concerned, that not only the people who had -witnessed the affair, but all the neighbourhood, thronged to the -scene of action, in a large field in front of the house, where the -preliminaries of a duel between Pete and La Bonté were being arranged -by their respective friends. - -Mary, when she discovered the mischief her thoughtlessness was likely -to occasion, was almost beside herself with grief, but she knew how -vain it would be to attempt to interfere. The poor girl, who was most -ardently attached to La Bonté, was carried, swooning, into the house, -where all the women congregated, and were locked in by old Brand, who, -himself an old pioneer, thought but little of bloodshed, but refused -to let the “women folk” witness the affray. - -Preliminaries arranged, the combatants took up their respective -positions at either end of a space marked for the purpose, at forty -paces from each other. They were both armed with heavy rifles, and -had the usual hunting-pouches, containing ammunition, hanging over -the shoulder. Standing with the butts of their rifles on the ground, -they confronted each other, and the crowd drawing away a few paces -only on each side, left one man to give the word. This was the single -word “fire;” and, after this signal was given, the combatants were at -liberty to fire away until one or the other dropped. - -At the word, both the men quickly raised their rifles to the shoulder, -and, whilst the sharp cracks instantaneously rang, they were seen to -flinch, as either felt the pinging sensation of a bullet entering his -flesh. Regarding each other steadily for a few moments, the blood -running down La Bonté's neck from a wound under the left jaw, whilst -his opponent was seen to place his hand once to his right breast, as -if to feel the position of his wound, they commenced reloading their -rifles. But, as Pete was in the act of forcing down the ball with his -long hickory wiping-stick, he suddenly dropped his right arm—the rifle -slipped from his grasp—and, reeling for a moment like a drunken man—he -fell dead to the ground. - -Even here, however, there was law of some kind or another, and the -consequences of the duel were, that the constables were soon on the -trail of La Bonté to arrest him. He easily avoided them, and taking to -the woods, lived for several days in as wild a state as the beasts he -hunted and killed for his support. - -Tired of this, he at last resolved to quit the country, and betake -himself to the mountains, for which life he had ever felt an -inclination. - -When, therefore, he thought the officers of justice had grown slack in -their search of him, and that the coast was comparatively clear, he -determined to start on his distant expedition to the Far West. - -Once more, before he carried his project into execution, he sought and -obtained a last interview with Mary Brand. - -“Mary,” said he, “I'm about to break. They're hunting me like a fall -buck, and I'm bound to quit. Don't think any more about me, for I -shall never come back.” - -Poor Mary burst into tears, and bent her head on the table near which -she sat. When she again raised it, she saw La Bonté, his long rifle -upon his shoulder, striding with rapid steps from the house. Year -after year rolled on, and he did not return. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - - -A few days after his departure, La Bonté found himself at St Louis, -the emporium of the fur trade, and the fast-rising metropolis of the -precocious settlements of the west. Here, a prey to the agony of mind -which jealousy, remorse, and blighted love mix into a very puchero of -misery, he got into the company of certain “rowdies,” a class that -every western city particularly abounds in; and, anxious to drown his -sorrows in any way, and quite unscrupulous as to the means, he plunged -into all the vicious excitements of drinking, gambling, and fighting, -which form the every-day amusements of the rising generation of St -Louis. - -Perhaps in no other part of the United States, where indeed humanity -is frequently to be seen in many curious and unusual phases, is there -a population so marked in its general character, and at the same -time divided into such distinct classes, as in the above-named city. -Dating, as it does, its foundation from yesterday—for what are thirty -years in the growth of a metropolis?—its founders are now scarcely -passed middle life, regarding with astonishment the growing works of -their hands; and whilst gazing upon its busy quays, piled with grain -and other produce of the west, its fleets of huge steamboats lying -tier upon tier alongside the wharves, its well-stored warehouses, -and all the bustling concomitants of a great commercial depôt, -they can scarcely realise the memory of a few short years, when on -the same spot nothing was to be seen but the miserable hovels of a -French village—the only sign of commerce being the unwieldy bateaux -of the Indian traders, laden with peltries from the distant regions -of the Platte and Upper Missouri. Where now intelligent and wealthy -merchants walk erect, in conscious substantiality of purse and credit, -and direct the commerce of a vast and well-peopled region, there -stalked but the other day, in dress of buckskin, the Indian trader -of the west; and all the evidences of life, mayhap, consisted of -the eccentric vagaries of the different bands of trappers and hardy -mountaineers, who accompanied, some for pleasure and some as escort, -the periodically arriving bateaux, laden with the beaver skins and -buffalo robes collected during the season at the different trading -posts in the Far West. - -These, nevertheless, were the men whose hardy enterprise opened to -commerce and the plough the vast and fertile regions of the West. -Rough and savage though they were, they were the true pioneers -of that extraordinary tide of civilisation which has poured its -resistless current through tracts large enough for kings to govern, -over a country now teeming with cultivation, where, a few short -years ago, countless herds of buffalo roamed unmolested, where the -bear and deer abounded, and the savage Indian skulked through the -woods and prairies, lord of the unappreciated soil that now yields -its prolific treasures to the spade and plough of civilised man. To -the wild and half-savage trapper, who may be said to exemplify the -energy, enterprise, and hardihood characteristic of the American -people, divested of all the false and vicious glare with which a -high state of civilisation, too rapidly attained, has obscured their -real and genuine character, in which the above traits are eminently -prominent—to these men alone is due the empire of the West—destined in -a few short years to become the most important of those confederate -states composing the mighty union of North America. - -Sprung, then, out of the wild and adventurous fur trade, St Louis, -still the emporium of that species of commerce, preserves even now, -in the character of its population, many of the marked peculiarities -distinguishing its early founders, who were identified with the -primitive Indian in hardihood and instinctive wisdom. Whilst the -French portion of the population retain the thoughtless levity and -frivolous disposition of their original source, the Americans of St -Louis, who may lay claim to be native, as it were, are as strongly -distinguished for determination and energy of character as they are -for physical strength and animal courage; and are remarkable, at -the same time, for a singular aptitude in carrying out commercial -enterprises to successful terminations, apparently incompatible with -the thirst of adventure and excitement which forms so prominent a -feature in their character. In St Louis and with her merchants have -originated many commercial enterprises of gigantic speculation, not -confined to the immediate locality or to the distant Indian fur trade, -but embracing all parts of the continent, and even a portion of the -Old World. And here it must be remembered that St Louis is situated -inland, at a distance of upwards of one thousand miles from the sea, -and three thousand from the capital of the United States. - -Besides her merchants and upper class, who form a little aristocracy -even here, a large portion of her population, still connected with the -Indian and fur trade, preserve all their original characteristics, -unacted upon by the influence of advancing civilisation. There is, -moreover, a large floating population of foreigners of all nations, -who must possess no little amount of enterprise to be tempted to -this spot, whence they spread over the remote western tracts, still -infested by the savage; so that, if any of their blood is infused into -the native population, the characteristic energy and enterprise is -increased, and not tempered down by the foreign cross. - -But perhaps the most singular of the casual population are the -mountaineers, who, after several seasons spent in trapping, and with -good store of dollars, arrive from the scene of their adventures, -wild as savages, determined to enjoy themselves, for a time, in all -the gaiety and dissipation of the western city. In one of the back -streets of the town is a tavern well known as the “Rocky-Mountain -House,” and hither the trappers resort, drinking and fighting as long -as their money lasts, which, as they are generous and lavish as Jack -Tars, is for a few days only. Such scenes, both tragic and comic, as -are enacted in the Rocky-Mountain House, are beyond the powers of pen -to describe; and when a fandango is in progress, to which congregate -the coquettish belles from “Vide Poche,” as the French portion of -the suburb is nicknamed,—the grotesque endeavours of the bear-like -mountaineers to sport a figure on the light fantastic toe, and their -insertions into the dance of the mystic jumps of Terpsichorean Indians -when engaged in the “medicine” dances in honour of bear, of buffalo, -or ravished scalp,—are such startling innovations on the choreographic -art as would make the shade of Gallini quake and gibber in his pumps. - -Passing the open doors and windows of the Mountain House, the -stranger stops short as the sounds of violin and banjo twang upon his -ears, accompanied by extraordinary noises—sounding unearthly to the -greenhorn listener, but recognised by the initiated as an Indian song -roared out of the stentorian lungs of a mountaineer, who patting his -stomach with open hands, to improve the necessary shake, choruses the -well-known Indian chant:— - - Hi—Hi—Hi—Hi, - Hi-i—Hi-i—Hi-i—Hi-i - Hi-ya—hi-ya—hi-ya—hi-ya - Hi-ya—hi-ya—hi-ya—hi-ya - Hi-ya—hi-ya—hi—hi, - &c. &c. &c. - -and polishes off the high notes with a whoop which makes the old -wooden houses shake again, as it rattles and echoes down the street. - -Here, over fiery “monaghahela,” Jean Batiste, the sallow half-breed -voyageur from the north—and who, deserting the service of the “North -West” (the Hudson's Bay Company), has come down the Mississippi, from -the “Falls,” to try the sweets and liberty of “free” trapping—hobnobs -with a stalwart leather-clad “boy,” just returned from trapping on -the waters of Grand River, on the western side the mountains, who -interlards his mountain jargon with Spanish words picked up in Taos -and California. In one corner a trapper, lean and gaunt from the -starving regions of the Yellow Stone, has just recognised an old -companyero, with whom he hunted years before in the perilous country -of the Blackfeet. - -“Why, John, old hos, how do you come on?” - -“What! Meek, old 'coon! I thought you were under?” - -One from Arkansa stalks into the centre of the room, with a pack of -cards in his hand, and a handful of dollars in his hat. Squatting -cross-legged on a buffalo robe, he smacks down the money, and cries -out—“Ho, boys, hyar's a deck, and hyar's the beaver (rattling the -coin), who dar set his hos? Wagh!” - -Tough are the yarns of wondrous hunts and Indian perils, of -hairbreadth 'scapes and curious “fixes.” Transcendant are the -qualities of sundry rifles, which call these hunters masters; “plum” -is the “centre” each vaunted barrel shoots; sufficing for a hundred -wigs is the “hair” each hunter has “lifted” from Indians' scalps; -multitudinous the “coups” he has “struck.” As they drink so do they -brag, first of their guns, their horses, and their squaws, and lastly -of themselves:—and when it comes to that, “ware steel.” - -La Bonté, on his arrival at St Louis, found himself one day in no less -a place than this; and here he made acquaintance with an old trapper -about to start for the mountains in a few days, to hunt on the head -waters of Platte and Green River. With this man he resolved to start, -and, having still some hundred dollars in cash, he immediately set -about equipping himself for the expedition. To effect this, he first -of all visited the gun-store of Hawken, whose rifles are renowned -in the mountains, and exchanged his own piece, which was of very -small bore, for a regular mountain rifle. This was of very heavy -metal, carrying about thirty-two balls to the pound, stocked to the -muzzle, and mounted with brass, its only ornament being a buffalo -bull, looking exceedingly ferocious, which was not very artistically -engraved upon the trap in the stock. Here, too, he laid in a few -pounds of powder and lead, and all the necessaries for a long hunt. - -His next visit was to a smith's store, which smith was black by trade -and black by nature, for he was a nigger, and, moreover, celebrated -as being the best maker of beaver-traps in St Louis, and of him he -purchased six new traps, paying for the same twenty dollars—procuring, -at the same time, an old trap-sack, made of stout buffalo skin, in -which to carry them. - -We next find La Bonté and his companion—one Luke, better known as -Grey-Eye, one of his eyes having been “gouged” in a mountain fray—at -Independence, a little town situated on the Missouri, several hundred -miles above St Louis, and within a short distance of the Indian -frontier. - -Independence may be termed the “prairie port” of the western country. -Here the caravans destined for Santa Fé, and the interior of Mexico, -assemble to complete their necessary equipment. Mules and oxen are -purchased, teamsters hired, and all stores and outfit laid in here -for the long journey over the wide expanse of prairie ocean. Here, -too, the Indian traders and the Rocky-Mountain trappers rendezvous, -collecting in sufficient force to ensure their safe passage through -the Indian country. At the seasons of departure and arrival of -these bands, the little town presents a lively scene of bustle and -confusion. The wild and dissipated mountaineers get rid of their last -dollars in furious orgies, treating all comers to galore of drink, -and pledging each other, in horns of potent whisky, to successful -hunts and “heaps of beaver.” When every cent has disappeared from -their pouches, the free trapper often makes away with rifle, traps, -and animals, to gratify his “dry” (for your mountaineer is never -“thirsty”); and then, “hos and beaver” gone, is necessitated to hire -himself to one of the leaders of big bands, and hypothecate his -services for an equipment of traps and animals. Thus La Bonté picked -up three excellent mules for a mere song, with their accompanying -pack-saddles, _apishamores_,[17] and lariats, and the next day, with -Luke, “put out” for Platte. - -As they passed through the rendezvous, which was encamped on a little -stream beyond the town, even our young Mississippian was struck with -the novelty of the scene. Upwards of forty huge waggons, of Conostoga -and Pittsburg build, and covered with snow-white tilts, were ranged in -a semicircle, or rather a horse-shoe form, on the flat open prairie, -their long “tongues” (poles) pointing outwards; with the necessary -harness for four pairs of mules, or eight yoke of oxen, lying on the -ground beside them, spread in ready order for “hitching up.” Round -the waggons groups of teamsters, tall stalwart young Missourians, -were engaged in busy preparation for the start, greasing the wheels, -fitting or repairing harness, smoothing ox-bows, or overhauling their -own moderate kits or “possibles.” They were all dressed in the same -fashion: a pair of “homespun” pantaloons, tucked into thick boots -reaching nearly to the knee, and confined round the waist by a broad -leathern belt, which supported a strong butcher-knife in a sheath. A -coarse checked shirt was their only other covering, with a fur cap on -the head. - -Numerous camp-fires surrounded the waggons, and near them lounged -wild-looking mountaineers, easily distinguished from the “greenhorn” -teamsters by their dresses of buckskin, and their weather-beaten -faces. Without an exception, these were under the influence of the -rosy god; and one, who sat, the picture of misery, at a fire by -himself—staring into the blaze with vacant countenance, his long -matted hair hanging in unkempt masses over his face, begrimed with -the dirt of a week, and pallid with the effects of ardent drink—was -suffering from the usual consequences of having “kept it up” beyond -the usual point, paying the penalty in a fit of “horrors”—as _delirium -tremens_ is most aptly termed by sailors and the unprofessional. - -In another part, the merchants of the caravan and the Indian traders -superintended the lading of the waggons, or mule packs. They were -dressed in civilised attire, and some were even bedizened in St Louis -or Eastern City dandyism, to the infinite disgust of the mountain men, -who look upon a bourge-way (bourgeois) with most undisguised contempt, -despising the very simplest forms of civilisation. The picturesque -appearance of the encampment was not a little heightened by the -addition of several Indians from the neighbouring Shawnee settlement, -who, mounted on their small active horses, on which they reclined, -rather than sat, in negligent attitudes, quietly looked on at the -novel scene, indifferent to the “chaff” in which the thoughtless -teamsters indulged at their expense. Numbers of mules and horses were -picketed at hand, whilst a large herd of noble oxen were being driven -towards the camp—the wo-ha of the teamsters sounding far and near, as -they collected the scattered beasts in order to yoke up. - -As most of the mountain men were utterly unable to move from camp, -Luke and La Bonté, with three or four of the most sober, started in -company, intending to wait on “Blue,” a stream which runs into the Caw -or Kanzas River, until the “balance” of the band came up. Mounting -their mules, and leading the loose animals, they struck at once into -the park-like prairie, and were speedily out of sight of civilisation. - -It was the latter end of May, towards the close of the season of -heavy rains, which in early spring render the climate of this country -almost intolerable, at the same time that they fertilise and thaw the -soil, so long bound up by the winter's frosts. The grass was every -where luxuriantly green, and gaudy flowers dotted the surface of the -prairie. This term, however, should hardly be applied to the beautiful -undulating scenery of this park-like country. Unlike the flat monotony -of the Grand Plains, here well wooded uplands, clothed with forest -trees of every species, and picturesque dells, through which run -clear bubbling streams belted with gay-blossomed shrubs, every where -present themselves; whilst on the level meadow-land, topes of trees -with spreading foliage afford a shelter to the game and cattle, and -well-timbered knolls rise at intervals from the plain. - -Many clear streams dashing over their pebbly beds intersect the -country, from which, in the noon-day's heat, the red-deer jump, -shaking their wet sides, as the noise of approaching man disturbs -them; and booming grouse rise from the tall luxuriant herbage at -every step. Where the deep escarpments of the river banks exhibit the -section of the earth, a rich alluvial soil of surpassing depth courts -the cultivation of civilised man; and in every feature it is evident -that here nature has worked with kindliest and most bountiful hand. - -For hundreds of miles along the western or right bank of the -Missouri does a country extend, with which, for fertility and natural -resources, no part of Europe can stand comparison. Sufficiently large -to contain an enormous population, it has, besides, every advantage -of position, and all the natural capabilities which should make it -the happy abode of civilised man. Through this unpeopled country the -United States pours her greedy thousands, to seize upon the barren -territories of her feeble neighbour. - -Camping the first night on “Black Jack,” our mountaineers here cut -each man a spare hickory wiping-stick for his rifle; and La Bonté, who -was the only greenhorn of the party, witnessed a savage ebullition -of rage on the part of one of his companions, exhibiting the perfect -unrestraint which these men impose upon their passions, and the -barbarous anger which the slightest opposition to their will excites. -One of the trappers, on arriving at the camping-place, dismounted from -his horse, and, after divesting it of the saddle, endeavoured to lead -his mule by the rope up to the spot where he wished to deposit his -pack. Mule-like, however, the more he pulled the more stubbornly she -remained in her tracks, planting her fore-legs firmly, and stretching -out her neck with provoking obstinacy. Truth to tell, it does require -the temper of a thousand Jobs to manage a mule; and in no case does -the wilful mulishness of the animal stir up one's choler more than -in the very trick this one played, and which is a daily occurrence. -After tugging ineffectually for several minutes, winding the rope -round his body, and throwing himself suddenly forward with all his -strength, the trapper actually foamed with passion; and although he -might have subdued the animal at once by fastening the rope with a -half-hitch round its nose, this, with an obstinacy equal to that of -the mule itself, he refused to attempt, preferring to vanquish her by -main strength. Failing so to do, the mountaineer, with a volley of -blasphemous imprecations, suddenly seized his rifle, and levelling it -at the mule's head, shot her dead. - -Passing the Wa-ka-rasha, a well-timbered stream, they met a band of -Osages going “to buffalo.” These Indians, in common with some tribes -of the Pawnees, shave the head, with the exception of a ridge from -the forehead to the centre of the scalp, which is “roached” or hogged -like the mane of a mule, and stands erect, plastered with unguents, -and ornamented with feathers of the hawk and turkey. The naked scalp -is often painted in mosaic with black and red, the face with shining -vermilion. This band were all naked to the breech-clout, the warmth -of the sun having made them throw their dirty blankets from their -shoulders. These Indians not unfrequently levy contributions on the -strangers they accidentally meet; but they easily distinguish the -determined mountaineer from the incautious greenhorn, and think it -better to let the former alone. - -Crossing Vermilion, the trappers arrived on the fifth day at “Blue,” -where they encamped in the broad timber belting the creek, and there -awaited the arrival of the remainder of the party. - -It was two days before they came up; but the following day they -started for the mountains, fourteen in number, striking a trail which -follows the “Big Blue” in its course through the prairies, which, as -they advanced to the westward, gradually smoothed away into a vast -unbroken expanse of rolling plain. Herds of antelope began to show -themselves, and some of the hunters, leaving the trail, soon returned -with plenty of their tender meat. The luxuriant but coarse grass they -had hitherto seen now changed into the nutritious and curly buffalo -grass, and their animals soon improved in appearance on the excellent -pasture. In a few days, without any adventure, they struck the Platte -River, its shallow waters (from which it derives its name) spreading -over a wide and sandy bed, numerous sand bars obstructing the sluggish -current, nowhere sufficiently deep to wet the forder's knee. - -By this time, but few antelope having been seen, the party ran -entirely out of meat; and, one whole day and part of another having -passed without so much as a stray rabbit presenting itself, not a few -objurgations on the buffalo grumbled from the lips of the hunters, who -expected ere this to have reached the land of plenty. La Bonté killed -a fine deer, however, in the river bottom, after they had encamped, -not one particle of which remained after supper that night, but -which hardly took the rough edge off their keen appetites. Although -already in the buffalo range, no traces of these animals had yet been -seen; and as the country afforded but little game, and the party did -not care to halt and lose time in hunting for it, they moved along -hungry and sulky, the theme of conversation being the well remembered -merits of good buffalo meat,—of “fat fleece,” “hump rib,” and “tender -loin;” of delicious “boudins,” and marrow bones too good to think -of. La Bonté had never seen the lordly animal, and consequently but -half believed the accounts of the mountaineers, who described their -countless bands as covering the prairie far as the eye could reach, -and requiring days of travel to pass through; but the visions of -such dainty and abundant feeding as they descanted on set his mouth -watering, and danced before his eyes as he slept supperless, night -after night, on the banks of the hungry Platte. - -One morning he had packed his animals before the rest, and was riding -a mile in advance of the party, when he saw on one side the trail, -looming in the refracted glare which mirages the plains, three large -dark objects without shape or form, which rose and fell in the -exaggerated light like ships at sea. Doubting what it could be, he -approached the strange objects; and as the refraction disappeared -before him, the dark masses assumed a more distinct form, and clearly -moved with life. A little nearer, and he made them out—they were -buffalo. Thinking to distinguish himself, the greenhorn dismounted -from his mule, and quickly hobbled her, throwing his lasso on the -ground to trail behind when he wished to catch her. Then, rifle in -hand, he approached the huge animals, and, being a good hunter, knew -well to take advantage of the inequalities of the ground and face the -wind; by which means he crawled at length to within forty yards of -the buffalo, which quietly cropped the grass, unconscious of danger. -Now, for the first time, he gazed upon the noble beast he had so often -heard of, and longed to see. With coal-black beard sweeping the ground -as he fed, an enormous bull was in advance of the others, his wild -brilliant eyes peering from an immense mass of shaggy hair, which -covered his neck and shoulder. From this point his skin was smooth as -one's hand, a sleek and shining dun, and his ribs were well covered -with shaking flesh. Whilst leisurely cropping the short curly grass -he occasionally lifted his tail into the air, and stamped his foot as -a fly or musquito annoyed him—flapping the intruder with his tail, or -snatching at the itching part with his ponderous head. - -When La Bonté had sufficiently admired the buffalo, he lifted his -rifle, and, taking steady aim, and certain of his mark, pulled the -trigger, expecting to see the huge beast fall over at the report. What -was his surprise and consternation, however, to see the animal only -flinch when the ball struck him, and then gallop off, followed by the -others, apparently unhurt. As is generally the case with greenhorns, -he had fired too high, ignorant that the only certain spot to strike a -buffalo is but a few inches above the brisket, and that a higher shot -is rarely fatal. When he rose from the ground, he saw all the party -halting in full view of his discomfiture; and when he joined them, -loud were the laughs, and deep the regrets of the hungry at his first -attempt. - -However, they now knew that they were in the country of meat; and a -few miles farther, another band of stragglers presenting themselves, -three of the hunters went in pursuit, La Bonté taking a mule to pack -in the meat. He soon saw them crawling towards the band, and shortly -two puffs of smoke, and the sharp cracks of their rifles, showed that -they had got within shot; and when he rode up, two fine buffaloes were -stretched upon the ground. Now, for the first time, he was initiated -in the mysteries of “butchering.” He watched the hunters as they -turned the carcass on the belly, stretching out the legs to support it -on each side. A transverse cut was then made at the nape of the neck, -and, gathering the long hair of the boss in one hand, the skin was -separated from the shoulder. It was then laid open from this point to -the tail, along the spine, and then, freed from the sides and pulled -down to the brisket, but still attached to it, was stretched upon -the ground to receive the dissected portions. Then the shoulder was -severed, the fleece removed from along the backbone, and the hump-ribs -cut off with a tomahawk. All this was placed upon the skin; and after -the “boudins” had been withdrawn from the stomach, and the tongue—a -great dainty—taken from the head, the meat was packed upon the mule, -and the whole party hurried to camp rejoicing. - -There was merry-making in the camp that night, and the way they -indulged their appetites—or, in their own language, “throw'd” the -meat “cold”—would have made the heart of a dyspeptic leap for joy or -burst with envy. Far into the “still watches of the tranquil night” -the fat-clad “depouille” saw its fleshy mass grow small by degrees -and beautifully less, before the trenchant blades of the hungry -mountaineers; appetising yards of well-browned “boudin” slipped glibly -down their throats; rib after rib of tender hump was picked and flung -to the wolves; and when human nature, with helpless gratitude, and -confident that nothing of superexcellent comestibility remained, was -lazily wiping the greasy knife that had done such good service,—a -skilful hunter was seen to chuckle to himself as he raked the deep -ashes of the fire, and drew therefrom a pair of tongues so admirably -baked, so soft, so sweet, and of such exquisite flavour, that a veil -is considerately drawn over the effects their discussion produced in -the mind of our greenhorn La Bonté, and the raptures they excited in -the bosom of that, as yet, most ignorant mountaineer. Still, as he -ate he wondered, and wondering admired, that nature, in giving him -such profound gastronomic powers, and such transcendant capabilities -of digestion, had yet bountifully provided an edible so peculiarly -adapted to his ostrich-like appetite, that after consuming nearly his -own weight in rich and fat buffalo meat, he felt as easy and as little -incommoded as if he had lightly supped on strawberries and cream. - -Sweet was the digestive pipe after such a feast; soft was the sleep -and deep, which sealed the eyes of the contented trappers that night. -It felt like the old thing, they said, to be once more amongst the -“meat;” and, as they were drawing near the dangerous portion of the -trail, they felt at home; although they now could never be confident, -when they lay down at night upon their buffalo robes, of awaking again -in this life, knowing, as they did, full well, that savage men lurked -near, thirsting for their blood. - -However, no enemies showed themselves as yet, and they proceeded -quietly up the river, vast herds of buffaloes darkening the plains -around them, affording them more than abundance of the choicest -meat; but, to their credit be it spoken, no more was killed than was -absolutely required,—unlike the cruel slaughter made by most of the -white travellers across the plains, who wantonly destroy these noble -animals, not even for the excitement of sport, but in cold-blooded -and insane butchery. La Bonté had practice enough to perfect him in -the art, and, before the buffalo range was passed, he was ranked as -a first-rate hunter. One evening he had left the camp for meat, and -was approaching a band of cows for that purpose, crawling towards -them along the bed of a dry hollow in the prairie, when he observed -them suddenly jump towards him, and immediately afterwards a score of -mounted Indians appeared, whom, by their dress, he at once knew to be -Pawnees and enemies. Thinking they might not discover him, he crouched -down in the ravine; but a noise behind caused him to turn his head, -and he saw some five or six advancing up the bed of the dry creek, -whilst several more were riding on the bluffs. The cunning savages had -cut off his retreat to his mule, which he saw in the possession of -one of them. His presence of mind, however, did not desert him; and -seeing at once that to remain where he was would be like being caught -in a trap (as the Indians could advance to the edge of the bluff and -shoot him from above), he made for the open prairie, determined at -least to sell his scalp dearly, and make “a good fight.” With a yell -the Indians charged, but halted when they saw the sturdy trapper -deliberately kneel, and, resting his rifle on the wiping-stick, take -a steady aim as they advanced. Full well the Pawnees know, to their -cost, that a mountaineer seldom pulls his trigger without sending a -bullet to the mark; and, certain that one at least must fall, they -hesitated to make the onslaught. Steadily the white retreated with -his face to the foe, bringing the rifle to his shoulder the instant -that one advanced within shot, the Indians galloping round, firing the -few guns they had amongst them at long distances, but without effect. -One young “brave,” more daring than the rest, rode out of the crowd, -and dashed at the hunter, throwing himself, as he passed within a few -yards, from the saddle, and hanging over the opposite side of his -horse, thus presenting no other mark than his left foot. As he crossed -La Bonté, he discharged his bow from under his horse's neck, and with -such good aim, that the arrow, whizzing through the air, struck the -stock of the hunter's rifle, which was at his shoulder, and, glancing -off, pierced his arm, inflicting, luckily, but a slight wound. Again -the Indian turned in his course, the others encouraging him with loud -war-whoops, and, once more passing at still less distance, he drew -his arrow to the head. This time, however, the eagle eye of the white -detected the action, and suddenly rising from his knee as the Indian -approached (hanging by his foot alone over the opposite side of the -horse), he jumped towards the animal with outstretched arms and a loud -yell, causing it to start suddenly, and swerve from its course. The -Indian lost his foot-hold, and, after a fruitless struggle to regain -his position, fell to the ground; but instantly rose upon his feet -and gallantly confronted the mountaineer, striking his hand upon his -brawny chest and shouting a loud whoop of defiance. In another instant -the rifle of La Bonté had poured forth its contents; and the brave -savage, springing into the air, fell dead to the ground, just as the -other trappers, who had heard the firing, galloped up to the spot. -At sight of them the Pawnees, with yells of disappointed vengeance, -hastily retreated. - -That night La Bonté first lifted hair! - -A few days later the mountaineers reached the point where the Platte -divides into two great forks: the northern one, stretching to the -north-west, skirts the eastern base of the Black Hills, and sweeping -round to the south rises in the vicinity of the mountain valley called -the New Park, receiving the Laramie, Medicine Bow, and Sweet-Water -creeks. The other, or “South Fork,” strikes towards the mountains -in a south-westerly direction, hugging the base of the main chain -of the Rocky Mountains; and, fed by several small creeks, rises in -the uplands of the Bayou Salade, near which is also the source of -the Arkansa. To the forks of the Platte the valley of that river -extends from three to five miles on each side, enclosed by steep sandy -bluffs, from the summits of which the prairies stretch away in broad -undulating expanse to the north and south. The “bottom,” as it is -termed, is but thinly covered with timber, the cotton-woods being -scattered only here and there; but some of the islands in the broad -bed of the stream are well wooded, leading to the inference that the -trees on the banks have been felled by Indians who formerly frequented -the neighbourhood of this river as a chosen hunting-ground. As, during -the long winters, the pasture in the vicinity is scarce and withered, -the Indians feed their horses on the bark of the sweet cotton-wood, -upon which they subsist, and even fatten. Thus, wherever a village -has encamped, the trunks of these trees strew the ground, their upper -limbs and smaller branches peeled of their bark, and looking as white -and smooth as if scraped with a knife. - -On the forks, however, the timber is heavier and of greater variety, -some of the creeks being well wooded with ash and cherry, which break -the monotony of the everlasting cotton-wood. - -Dense masses of buffalo still continued to darken the plains, and -numerous bands of wolves hovered round the outskirts of the vast -herds, singling out the sick and wounded animals, and preying upon -such calves as the rifles and arrows of the hunters had bereaved of -their mothers. The white wolf is the invariable attendant upon the -buffalo; and when one of these persevering animals is seen, it is -certain sign that buffalo are not far distant. Besides the buffalo -wolf, there are four distinct varieties common to the plains, and -all more or less attendant upon the buffalo. These are, the black, -the gray, the brown, and last and least the _coyote_, or _cayeute_ -of the mountaineers, the “_wach-unka-mănet_,” or “medicine wolf” of -the Indians, who hold the latter animal in reverential awe. This -little wolf, whose fur is of great thickness and beauty, is of -diminutive size, but wonderfully sagacious, making up by cunning -what it wants in physical strength. In bands of from three to thirty -they not unfrequently station themselves along the “runs” of the -deer and the antelope, extending their line for many miles—and the -quarry being started, each wolf follows in pursuit until tired, when -it relinquishes the chase to another relay, following slowly after -until the animal is fairly run down, when all hurry to the spot and -speedily consume the carcass. The cayeute, however, is often made a -tool of by his larger brethren, unless, indeed, he acts from motives -of spontaneous charity. When a hunter has slaughtered game, and is in -the act of butchering it, these little wolves sit patiently at a short -distance from the scene of operations, while at a more respectful one -the larger wolves (the white or gray) lope hungrily around, licking -their chops in hungry expectation. Not unfrequently the hunter throws -a piece of meat towards the smaller one, who seizes it immediately, -and runs off with the morsel in his mouth. Before he gets many yards -with his prize, the large wolf pounces with a growl upon him, and the -cayeute, dropping the meat, returns to his former position, and will -continue his charitable act as long as the hunter pleases to supply -him. - -Wolves are so common on the plains and in the mountains, that the -hunter never cares to throw away a charge of ammunition upon them, -although the ravenous animals are a constant source of annoyance to -him, creeping to the camp-fire at night, and gnawing his saddles and -_apishamores_, eating the skin ropes which secure the horses and mules -to their pickets, and even their very hobbles, and not unfrequently -killing or entirely disabling the animals themselves. - -Round the camp, during the night, the cayeute keeps unremitting watch, -and the traveller not unfrequently starts from his bed with affright, -as the mournful and unearthly chiding of the wolf breaks suddenly upon -his ear: the long-drawn howl being taken up by others of the band, -until it dies away in the distance, or some straggler passing within -hearing answers to the note, and howls as he lopes away. - -Our party crossed the south fork about ten miles from its juncture -with the main stream, and then, passing the prairie, struck the north -fork a day's travel from the other. At the mouth of an ash-timbered -creek they came upon Indian “sign,” and, as now they were in the -vicinity of the treacherous Sioux, they moved along with additional -caution, Frapp and Gonneville, two experienced mountaineers, always -heading the advance. - -About noon they had crossed over to the left bank of the fork, -intending to camp on a large creek where some fresh beaver “sign” had -attracted the attention of some of the trappers; and as, on further -examination, it appeared that two or three lodges of that animal were -not far distant, it was determined to remain here a day or two, and -set their traps. - -Gonneville, old Luke, and La Bonté, had started up the creek, and were -carefully examining the banks for “sign,” when the former, who was in -front, suddenly paused, and looking intently up the stream, held up -his hand to his companions to signal them to stop. - -Luke and La Bonté both followed the direction of the trapper's intent -and fixed gaze. The former uttered in a suppressed tone the expressive -exclamation, Wagh!—the latter saw nothing but a wood-duck swimming -swiftly down the stream, followed by her downy progeny. - -Gonneville turned his head, and extending his arm twice with a forward -motion up the creek, whispered—“Les sauvages.” - -“Injuns, sure, and Sioux at that,” answered Luke. - -Still La Bonté looked, but nothing met his view but the duck with her -brood, now rapidly approaching; and as he gazed, the bird suddenly -took wing, and, flapping on the water, flew a short distance down the -stream and once more settled on it. - -“Injuns?” he asked; “where are they?” - -“Whar?” repeated old Luke, striking the flint of his rifle, and -opening the pan to examine the priming. “What brings a duck a-streakin -it down stream, if humans aint behint her? and who's thar in these -diggins but Injuns, and the worst kind? and we'd better push to camp, -I'm thinking, if we mean to save our hair.” - -“Sign” sufficient, indeed, it was to all the trappers, who, on being -apprised of it, instantly drove in their animals, and picketed -them; and hardly had they done so when a band of Indians made their -appearance on the banks of the creek, from whence they galloped to the -bluff which overlooked the camp at the distance of about six hundred -yards; and crowning this, in number some forty or more, commenced -brandishing their spears and guns, and whooping loud yells of -defiance. The trappers had formed a little breast-work of their packs, -forming a semicircle, the chord of which was made by the animals -standing in a line, side by side, closely picketed and hobbled. Behind -this defence stood the mountaineers, rifle in hand, and silent and -determined. The Indians presently descended the bluff on foot, leaving -their animals in charge of a few of the party, and, scattering, -advanced under cover of the sage bushes which dotted the bottom, to -about two hundred yards of the whites. Then a chief advanced before -the rest, and made the sign for a talk with the Long-knives, which -led to a consultation amongst the latter, as to the policy of acceding -to it. They were in doubts as to the nation these Indians belonged to, -some bands of the Sioux being friendly, and others bitterly hostile to -the whites. - -Gonneville, who spoke the Sioux language, and was well acquainted with -the nation, affirmed they belonged to a band called the Yanka-taus, -well known to be the most evil-disposed of that treacherous nation; -another of the party maintained they were Brulés, and that the chief -advancing towards them was the well-known Tah-sha-tunga or Bull Tail, -a most friendly chief of that tribe. The majority, however, trusted -to Gonneville, and he volunteered to go out to meet the Indian, -and hear what he had to say. Divesting himself of all arms save -his butcher-knife, he advanced towards the savage, who awaited his -approach, enveloped in the folds of his blanket. At a glance he knew -him to be a Yanka-tau, from the peculiar make of his moccasins, and -the way in which his face was daubed with paint. - -“Howgh!” exclaimed both as they met; and, after a silence of a few -moments, the Indian spoke, asking—“Why the Long-knives hid behind -their packs, when his band approached? Were they afraid, or were they -preparing a dog-feast to entertain their friends?” The whites were -passing through his country, burning his wood, drinking his water, -and killing his game; but he knew they had now come to pay for the -mischief they had done, and that the mules and horses they had brought -with them were intended as a present to their red friends. - -“He was Mah-to-ga-shane,” he said, “the Brave Bear: his tongue was -short, but his arm long; and he loved rather to speak with his bow -and his lance than with the weapon of a squaw. He had said it: the -Long-knives had horses with them and mules; and these were for him, he -knew, and for his 'braves.' Let the White-face go back to his people -and return with the animals, or he, the 'Brave Bear,' would have to -come and take them; and his young men would get mad and would feel -blood in their eyes; and then he would have no power over them; and -the whites would have to 'go under.'” - -The trapper answered shortly.—“The Long-knives,” he said, “had brought -the horses for themselves—their hearts were big, but not towards the -Yanka-taus: and if they had to give up their animals, it would be -to _men_ and not _squaws_. They were not 'wah-keitcha,'[18] (French -engagés), but Long-knives; and, however short were the tongues of the -Yanka-taus, theirs were still shorter, and their rifles longer. The -Yanka-taus were dogs and squaws, and the Long-knives spat upon them.” - -Saying this, the trapper turned his back and rejoined his companions; -whilst the Indian slowly proceeded to his people, who, on learning the -contemptuous way in which their threats had been treated, testified -their anger with loud yells; and, seeking whatever cover was afforded, -commenced a scattering volley upon the camp of the mountaineers. The -latter reserved their fire, treating with cool indifference the balls -which began to rattle about them; but as the Indians, emboldened by -this apparent inaction, rushed for a closer position, and exposed -their bodies within a long range, half-a-dozen rifles rang from the -assailed, and two Indians fell dead, one or two more being wounded. -As yet, not one of the whites had been touched, but several of the -animals had received wounds from the enemy's fire of balls and arrows. -Indeed, the Indians remained at too great a distance to render the -volleys from their crazy fusees any thing like effectual, and had to -raise their pieces considerably to make their bullets reach as far -as the camp. After three of their band had been killed outright, and -many more wounded, their fire began to slacken, and they drew off to -a greater distance, evidently resolved to beat a retreat. Retiring -to the bluff, they discharged their pieces in a last volley, mounted -their horses and galloped off, carrying their wounded with them. -This last volley, however, although intended as a mere bravado, -unfortunately proved fatal to one of the whites. Gonneville, at the -moment, was standing on a pack, to get an uninterrupted sight for a -last shot, when one of the random bullets struck him in the breast. -La Bonté caught him in his arms as he was about to fall, and laying -the wounded trapper gently on the ground, stripped him of his buckskin -hunting-frock, to examine the wound. A glance was sufficient to -convince his companions that the blow was mortal. The ball had passed -through the lungs; and in a few moments the throat of the wounded -man swelled and turned to a livid blue colour, as the choking blood -ascended. Only a few drops of purple blood trickled from the wound,—a -fatal sign,—and the eyes of the mountaineer were already glazing with -death's icy touch. His hand still grasped the barrel of his rifle, -which had done good service in the fray. Anon he essayed to speak, -but, choked with blood, only a few inarticulate words reached the ears -of his companions, as they bent over him. - -“Rubbed—out—at—last,” they heard him say, the words gurgling in his -blood-filled throat; and opening his eyes once more, and turning them -upwards for a last look at the bright sun, the trapper turned gently -on his side and breathed his last sigh. - -With no other tools than their scalp-knives, the hunters dug a grave -on the banks of the creek; and whilst some were engaged in this work, -others sought the bodies of the Indians they had slain in the attack, -and presently returned with three reeking scalps, the trophies of the -fight. The body of the mountaineer was wrapped in a buffalo robe, -the scalps being placed on his breast, and the dead man was then laid -in the shallow grave, and quickly covered—without a word of prayer, -or sigh of grief; for, however much his companions may have felt, not -a word escaped them. The bitten lip and frowning brow told of anger -rather than of sorrow, as they vowed—what they thought would better -please the spirit of the dead man than vain regrets—bloody and lasting -revenge. - -Trampling down the earth which filled the grave, they raised upon -it a pile of heavy stones; and packing their mules once more, and -taking a last look at their comrade's lonely resting-place, they -turned their backs upon the stream, which has ever since been known as -“Gonneville's Creek.” - -If the reader casts his eye over any of the recent maps of the -western country, which detail the features of the regions embracing -the Rocky Mountains, and the vast prairies at their bases, he will -not fail to observe that many of the creeks or smaller streams which -feed the larger rivers,—as the Missouri, Platte, and Arkansa,—are -called by familiar proper names, both English and French. These are -invariably christened after some unfortunate trapper, killed there in -Indian fight; or treacherously slaughtered by the lurking savages, -while engaged in trapping beaver on the stream. Thus alone is the -memory of these hardy men perpetuated, at least of those whose fate -is ascertained: for many, in every season, never return from their -hunting expeditions, but meet a sudden death from Indians, or a more -lingering fate from accident or disease in some lonely gorge of the -mountains where no footfall save their own, or the heavy tread of -grizzly bear, disturbs the unbroken silence of the awful solitude. -Then, as many winters pass without some old familiar faces making -their appearance at the merry rendezvous, their long protracted -absence may perhaps elicit a remark, as to where such and such -a mountain worthy can have betaken himself, to which the casual -rejoinder of “Gone under, maybe,” too often gives a short but certain -answer. - -In all the philosophy of hardened hearts, our hunters turned from the -spot where the unmourned trapper met his death. La Bonté, however, not -yet entirely steeled by mountain life to a perfect indifference to -human feeling, drew his hard hand across his eye, as the unbidden tear -rose from his rough but kindly heart. He could not forget so soon the -comrade he had lost, the companion in the hunt or over the cheerful -camp-fire, the narrator of many a tale of dangers past, of sufferings -from hunger, cold, thirst, and untended wounds, of Indian perils, and -other vicissitudes. One tear dropped from the young hunter's eye, and -rolled down his cheek—the last for many a long year. - -In the forks of the northern branch of the Platte, formed by the -junction of the Laramie, they found a big village of the Sioux -encamped near the station of one of the fur companies. Here the party -broke up; many, finding the alcohol of the traders an impediment to -their further progress, remained some time in the vicinity, while La -Bonté, Luke, and a trapper named Marcelline, started in a few days -to the mountains, to trap on Sweet Water and Medicine Bow. They had -leisure, however, to observe all the rascalities connected with the -Indian trade, although at this season (August) hardly commenced. -However, a band of Indians having come in with several packs of last -year's robes, and being anxious to start speedily on their return, a -trader from one of the forts had erected his lodge in the village. - -Here he set to work immediately, to induce the Indians to trade. -First, a chief appoints three “soldiers” to guard the trader's lodge -from intrusion; and these sentries amongst the thieving fraternity can -be invariably trusted. Then the Indians are invited to have a drink—a -taste of the fire-water being given to all to incite them to trade. As -the crowd presses upon the entrance to the lodge, and those in rear -become impatient, some large-mouthed savage who has received a portion -of the spirit, makes his way, with his mouth full of the liquor and -cheeks distended, through the throng, and is instantly surrounded -by his particular friends. Drawing the face of each, by turns, near -his own, he squirts a small quantity into his open mouth, until -the supply is exhausted, when he returns for more, and repeats the -generous distribution. - -When paying for the robes, the traders, in measuring out the liquor -in a tin half-pint cup, thrust their thumbs or the four fingers of -the hand into the measure, in order that it may contain the less, or -not unfrequently fill the bottom with melted buffalo fat, with the -same object. So greedy are the Indians, that they never discover the -cheat, and, once under the influence of the liquor, cannot distinguish -between the first cup of comparatively strong spirit, and the -following ones diluted five hundred per cent, and poisonously drugged -to boot. - -Scenes of drunkenness, riot, and bloodshed last until the trade is -over. In the winter it occupies several weeks, during which period the -Indians present the appearance, under the demoralising influence of -the liquor, of demons rather than of men. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - - -La Bonté and his companions proceeded up the river, the Black Hills -on their left hand, from which several small creeks or feeders swell -the waters of the North Fork. Along these they hunted unsuccessfully -for beaver “sign,” and it was evident the spring hunt had almost -exterminated the animal in this vicinity. Following Deer Creek to the -ridge of the Black Hills, they crossed the mountain on to the waters -of the Medicine Bow, and here they discovered a few lodges, and La -Bonté set his first trap. He and old Luke finding “cuttings” near -the camp, followed the “sign” along the bank until the practised eye -of the latter discovered a “slide,” where the beaver had ascended -the bank to chop the trunk of a cotton wood, and convey the bark to -its lodge. Taking a trap from “sack,” the old hunter, after setting -the trigger, placed it carefully under the water, where the “slide” -entered the stream, securing the chain to the stem of a sappling -on the bank; while a stick, also attached to the trap by a thong, -floated down the stream, to mark the position of the trap, should the -animal carry it away. A little farther on, and near another “run,” -three traps were set; and over these Luke placed a little stick, -which he first dipped into a mysterious-looking phial containing his -“medicine.”[19] - -The next morning they visited the traps, and had the satisfaction of -finding three fine beaver secured in the first three they visited, -and the fourth, which had been carried away, they discovered by the -float-stick, a little distance down the stream, with a large drowned -beaver between its teeth. - -The animals being carefully skinned, they returned to camp with the -choicest portions of the meat, and the tails, on which they most -luxuriously supped; and La Bonté was fain to confess that all his -ideas of the superexcellence of buffalo were thrown in the shade by -the delicious beaver tail, the rich meat of which he was compelled to -allow was “great eating,” unsurpassed by “tender loin” or “boudin,” or -other meat of whatever kind he had eaten of before. - -The country where La Bonté and his companions were trapping, is very -curiously situated in the extensive bend of the Platte which encloses -the Black Hill range on the north, and which bounds the large expanse -of broken tract known as the Laramie Plains, their southern limit -being the base of the Medicine Bow Mountains. From the north-western -corner of the bend, an inconsiderable range extends to the westward, -gradually decreasing in height until it reaches an elevated plain, -which forms a break in the stupendous chain of the Rocky Mountains, -and affords the easy passage now known as the Great, or South Pass. -So gradual is the ascent of this portion of the mountain, that -the traveller can scarcely believe he is crossing the dividing -ridge between the waters which flow into the Atlantic and Pacific -Oceans, and that in a few minutes he can fling two sticks into two -neighbouring streams, one to be carried thousands of miles, traversed -by the eastern waters in their course to the Gulf of Mexico, the other -to be borne a lesser distance to the Gulf of California. - -The country is frequented by the Crows and Snakes, who are at -perpetual war with the Shians and Sioux, following them often far down -the Platte, where many bloody battles have taken place. The Crows are -esteemed friendly to the whites; but when on war expeditions, and -“hair” their object, it is always dangerous to fall in with Indian -war-parties, and particularly in the remote regions of the mountains, -where they do not anticipate retaliation. - -Trapping with tolerable success in this vicinity, the hunters crossed -over, as soon as the premonitory storms of approaching winter warned -them to leave the mountains, to the waters of Green River, one of -the affluents of the Colorado, intending to winter at a rendezvous -to be held in “Brown's Hole”—an enclosed valley so called—which, -abounding in game, and sheltered on every side by lofty mountains, -is a favourite wintering-ground of the mountaineers. Here they found -several trapping bands already arrived; and a trader from the Uintah -country, with store of powder, lead, and tobacco, prepared to ease -them of their hardly-earned peltries. - -Singly, and in bands numbering from two to ten, the trappers dropped -into the rendezvous; some with many pack-loads of beaver, others with -greater or less quantity, and more than one on foot, having lost his -animals and peltry by Indian thieving. Here were soon congregated many -mountaineers, whose names are famous in the history of the Far West. -Fitzpatrick and Hatcher, and old Bill Williams, well known leaders -of trapping parties, soon arrived with their bands. Sublette came in -with his men from Yellow Stone, and many of Wyeth's New Englanders -were there. Chabonard with his half-breeds, Wah-keitchas all, brought -his peltries from the lower country; and half-a-dozen Shawanee and -Delaware Indians, with a Mexican from Taos, one Marcelline, a fine -strapping fellow, the best trapper and hunter in the mountains, and -ever first in the fight. Here, too, arrived the “Bourgeois” traders -of the “North West”[20] Company, with their superior equipments, -ready to meet their trappers, and purchase the beaver at an equitable -value; and soon the trade opened, and the encampment assumed a busy -appearance. - -A curious assemblage did the rendezvous present, and representatives -of many a land met there. A son of _La belle France_ here lit his -pipe from one proffered by a native of New Mexico. An Englishman and -a Sandwich Islander cut a quid from the same plug of tobacco. A Swede -and an “old Virginian” puffed together. A Shawanee blew a peaceful -cloud with a scion of the “Six Nations.” One from the Land of Cakes—a -canny chiel—sought to “get round” (in trade) a right “smart” Yankee, -but couldn't “shine.” - -The beaver went briskly, six dollars being the price paid per lb. in -goods—for money is seldom given in the mountain market, where “beaver” -is cash, for which the articles supplied by the traders are bartered. -In a very short time peltries of every description had changed hands, -either by trade, or by gambling with cards and betting. With the -mountain men bets decide every question that is raised, even the most -trivial; and if the Editor of _Bell's Life_ were to pay one of these -rendezvous a winter visit, he would find the broad sheet of his paper -hardly capacious enough to answer all the questions which would be -referred to his decision. - -Before the winter was over, La Bonté had lost all traces of civilised -humanity, and might justly claim to be considered as “hard a case” -as any of the mountaineers then present. Long before the spring -opened, he had lost all the produce of his hunt and both his animals, -which, however, by a stroke of luck, he recovered, and wisely “held -on to” for the future. Right glad when spring appeared, he started -from Brown's Hole, with four companions, to hunt the Uintah or Snake -country, and the affluents of the larger streams which rise in that -region and fall into the Gulf of California. - -In the valley of the Bear River they found beaver abundant, and -trapped their way westward until they came upon the famed locality of -the Beer and Soda Springs—natural fountains of mineral water, renowned -amongst the trappers as being “medicine” of the first order. - -Arriving one evening, about sundown, at the Bear Spring, they found -a solitary trapper sitting over the rocky basin, intently regarding, -with no little awe, the curious phenomenon of the bubbling gas. Behind -him were piled his saddles and a pack of skins, and at a little -distance a hobbled Indian pony fed amongst the cedars which formed a -grove round the spring. As the three hunters dismounted from their -animals, the lone trapper scarcely noticed their arrival, his eyes -being still intently fixed upon the water. Looking round at last, -he was instantly recognised by one of La Bonté's companions, and -saluted as “Old Rube.” Dressed from head to foot in buckskin, his -face, neck, and hands appeared to be of the same leathery texture, so -nearly did they assimilate in colour to the materials of his dress. He -was at least six feet two or three in his moccasins, straight-limbed -and wiry, with long arms ending in hands of tremendous grasp, and -a quantity of straight black hair hanging on his shoulders. His -features, which were undeniably good, wore an expression of comical -gravity, never relaxing into a smile, which a broad good-humoured -mouth could have grinned from ear to ear. - -“What, boys,” he said, “will you be simple enough to camp here, -alongside these springs? Nothing good ever came of sleeping here, I -tell you, and the worst kind of devils are in those dancing waters.” - -“Why, old hos,” cried La Bonté, “what brings you hyar then, and camp -at that?” - -“This niggur,” answered Rube solemnly, “has been down'd upon a sight -too often to be skeared by what can come out from them waters; and -thar arn't a devil as hisses thar, as can 'shine' with this child, -I tell you. I've tried him onest, an' fout him to clawin' away to -Eustis,[21] and if I draws my knife again on such varmint, I'll raise -his hair, as sure as shootin'.” - -Spite of the reputed dangers of the locality, the trappers camped on -the spot, and many a draught of the delicious sparkling water they -quaffed in honour of the “medicine” of the fount. Rube, however, sat -sulky and silent, his huge form bending over his legs, which were -crossed, Indian fashion, under him, and his long bony fingers spread -over the fire, which had been made handy to the spring. At last they -elicited from him that he had sought this spot for the purpose of -“_making medicine_,” having been persecuted by extraordinary ill luck, -even at this early period of his hunt—the Indians having stolen two -out of his three animals, and three of his half-dozen traps. He had, -therefore, sought the springs for the purpose of invoking the fountain -spirits, which, a perfect Indian in his simple heart, he implicitly -believed to inhabit their mysterious waters. When the others had, as -he thought, fallen asleep, La Bonté observed the ill-starred trapper -take from his pouch a curiously carved red stone pipe, which he -carefully charged with tobacco and kinnik-kinnik. Then approaching -the spring, he walked three times round it, and gravely sat himself -down. Striking fire with his flint and steel, he lit his pipe, and, -bending the stem three several times towards the water, he inhaled a -vast quantity of smoke, and bending back his neck and looking upwards, -puffed it into the air. He then blew another puff towards the four -points of the compass, and emptying the pipe into his hand, cast the -consecrated contents into the spring, saying a few Indian “medicine” -words of cabalistic import. Having performed the ceremony to his -satisfaction, he returned to the fire, smoked a pipe on his own hook, -and turned into his buffalo robe, conscious of having done a most -important duty. - -In the course of their trapping expedition, and accompanied by Rube, -who knew the country well, they passed near the Great Salt Lake, a -vast inland sea, whose salitrose waters cover an extent of upwards of -one hundred and forty miles in length, by eighty in breadth. Fed by -several streams, of which the Big Bear River is the most considerable, -this lake presents the curious phenomenon of a vast body of water -without any known outlet. According to the trappers, an island, -from which rises a chain of lofty mountains, nearly divides the -north-western portion of the lake, whilst a smaller one, within twelve -miles of the northern shore, rises six hundred feet from the level of -the water. Rube declared to his companions that the larger island was -known by the Indians to be inhabited by a race of giants, with whom no -communication had ever been held by mortal man; and but for the casual -wafting to the shores of the lake of logs of gigantic trees, cut by -axes of extraordinary size, the world would never have known that such -a people existed. They were, moreover, white as themselves, and lived -upon corn and fruits, and rode on elephants, &c. - -Whilst following a small creek at the south-west extremity of the -lake, they came upon a band of miserable Indians, who, from the fact -of their subsisting chiefly on roots, are called the Diggers. At -first sight of the whites they immediately fled from their wretched -huts, and made towards the mountain; but one of the trappers, -galloping up on his horse, cut off their retreat, and drove them -like sheep before him back to their village. A few of these wretched -creatures came into camp at sundown, and were regaled with such meat -as the larder afforded. They appeared to have no other food in their -village but bags of dried ants and their larvæ, and a few roots of the -yampah. Their huts were constructed of a few bushes of grease-wood, -piled up as a sort of breakwind, in which they huddled in their filthy -skins. During the night, they crawled up to the camp and stole two of -the horses, and the next morning not a sign of them was visible. Now -La Bonté witnessed a case of mountain law, and the practical effects -of the “lex talionis” of the Far West. - -The trail of the runaway Diggers bore to the north-west, or along the -skirt of a barren waterless desert, which stretches far away from the -southern shores of the Salt Lake to the borders of Upper California. -La Bonté, with three others, determined to follow the thieves, -recover their animals, and then rejoin the other two (Luke and Rube) -on a creek two days' journey from their present camp. Starting at -sunrise, they rode on at a rapid pace all day, closely following the -trail, which led directly to the north-west, through a wretched sandy -country, without game or water. From the appearance of the track, -the Indians must still have been several hours ahead of them, when -the fatigue of their horses, suffering from want of grass and water, -compelled them to camp near the head of a small water-course, where -they luckily found a hole containing a little water, and whence a -broad Indian trail passed, apparently frequently used. Long before -daylight they were again in the saddle, and, after proceeding a few -miles, saw the lights of several fires a short distance ahead of them. -Halting here, one of the party advanced on foot to reconnoitre, and -presently returned with the intelligence that the party they were in -pursuit of had joined a village numbering thirty or forty huts. - -Loosening their girths, they permitted their tired animals to feed -on the scanty herbage which presented itself, whilst they refreshed -themselves with a pipe of tobacco—for they had no meat of any -description with them, and the country afforded no game. As the first -streak of dawn appeared in the east, they mounted their horses, after -first examining their rifles, and moved cautiously towards the Indian -village. As it was scarcely light enough for their operations, they -waited behind a sandhill in the vicinity, until objects became more -distinct, and then, emerging from their cover with loud war-whoops, -they charged abreast into the midst of the village. - -As the frightened Indians were scarcely risen from their beds, no -opposition was given to the daring mountaineers, who, rushing upon -the flying crowd, discharged their rifles at close quarters, and -then, springing from their horses, attacked them knife in hand, and -only ceased the work of butchery when nine Indians lay dead upon the -ground. All this time the women, half dead with fright, were huddled -together on the ground, howling piteously; and the mountaineers -advancing to them, whirled their lassos round their heads, and -throwing the open nooses into the midst, hauled out three of them, -and securing their arms in the rope, bound them to a tree, and then -proceeded to scalp the dead bodies. Whilst they were engaged in this -work, an old Indian, withered and grisly, and hardly bigger than an -ape, suddenly emerged from a rock, holding in his left hand a bow -and a handful of arrows, whilst one was already drawn to the head. -Running towards them, and almost before the hunters were aware of -his presence, he discharged an arrow at a few yards' distance, which -buried itself in the ground not a foot from La Bonté's head as he bent -over the body of the Indian he was scalping; and hardly had the whiz -ceased, when whirr flew another, striking him in his right shoulder. -Before the Indian could fit a third arrow to his bow, La Bonté sprang -upon him, seized him by the middle, and spinning his pigmy form round -his head, as easily as he would have twirled a tomahawk, he threw -him with tremendous force on the ground at the feet of one of his -companions, who, stooping down, coolly thrust his knife into the -Indian's breast, and quickly tore off his scalp. - -The slaughter over, without casting an eye to the captive squaws, -the trappers proceeded to search the village for food, of which they -stood much in need. Nothing, however, was found but a few bags of -dried ants, which, after eating voraciously of, but with wry mouths, -they threw aside, saying the food was worse than “poor bull.” They -found, however, the animals they had been robbed of, and two more -besides,—wretched half-starved creatures; and on these mounting their -captives, they hurried away on their journey back to their companions, -the distance being computed at three days' travel from their present -position. However, they thought, by taking a more direct course, they -might find better pasture for their animals, and water, besides saving -at least half a day by the short cut. To their cost, they proved the -old saying, that “a short cut is always a long road,” as will be -presently shown. - -It has been said that from the south-western extremity of the Great -Salt Lake a vast desert extends for hundreds of miles, unbroken by the -slightest vegetation, destitute of game and water, and presenting a -cheerless expanse of sandy plain, or rugged mountain, thinly covered -with dwarf pine or cedar, the only evidence of vegetable life. Into -this desert, ignorant of the country, the trappers struck, intending -to make their short cut; and, travelling on all day, were compelled to -camp at night, without water or pasture for their exhausted animals, -and themselves ravenous with hunger and parched with thirst. The next -day three of their animals “gave out,” and they were fain to leave -them behind; but imagining that they must soon strike a creek, they -pushed on until noon, but still no water presented itself, nor a sign -of game of any description. The animals were nearly exhausted, and a -horse which could scarcely keep up with the slow pace of the others -was killed, and its blood greedily drunk; a portion of the flesh being -eaten raw, and a supply carried with them for future emergencies. - -The next morning two of the horses lay dead at their pickets, and one -only remained, and this in such a miserable state that it could not -possibly have travelled six miles further. It was, therefore, killed, -and its blood drunk, of which, however, the captive squaws refused -to partake. The men began to feel the effects of their consuming -thirst, which the hot horse's blood only served to increase; their -lips became parched and swollen, their eyes blood-shot, and a giddy -sickness seized them at intervals. About mid-day they came in sight -of a mountain on their right hand, which appeared to be more thickly -clothed with vegetation; and arguing from this that water would be -found there, they left their course and made towards it, although -some eight or ten miles distant. On arriving at the base, the most -minute search failed to discover the slightest traces of water, and -the vegetation merely consisted of dwarf piñon and cedar. With their -sufferings increased by the exertions they had used in reaching the -mountain, they once more sought the trail, but every step told on -their exhausted frames. The sun was very powerful, the sand over which -they floundered was deep and heavy, and, to complete their sufferings -a high wind blew it in their faces, filling their mouths and noses -with its searching particles. - -Still they struggled onwards manfully, and not a murmur was heard -until their hunger had entered the _second stage_ upon the road to -starvation. They had now been three days without food or water; under -which privation nature can hardly sustain herself for a much longer -period. On the fourth morning, the men looked wolfish, their captives -following behind in sullen and perfect indifference, occasionally -stooping down to catch a beetle if one presented itself, and greedily -devouring it. A man named Forey, a Canadian half-breed, was the first -to complain. “If this lasted another sundown,” he said, “some of them -would 'be rubbed out;' that meat had to be 'raised' anyhow; and for -his part, he knew where to look for a feed, if no game was seen before -they put out of camp on the morrow; and meat was meat, anyhow they -fixed it.” - -No answer was made to this, though his companions well understood -him: their natures as yet revolted against the last expedient. As for -the three squaws, all of them young girls, they followed behind their -captors without a word of complaint, and with the stoical indifference -to pain and suffering, which alike characterises the haughty Delaware -of the north and the miserable stunted Digger of the deserts of the -Far West. On the morning of the fifth day, the party were seated -round a small fire of piñon, hardly able to rise and commence their -journey, the squaws squatting over another at a little distance, when -Forey commenced again to suggest that, if nothing offered, they must -either take the alternative of starving to death, for they could -not hope to last another day, or have recourse to the revolting -extremity of sacrificing one of the party to save the lives of all. -To this, however, there was a murmur of dissent, and it was finally -resolved that all should sally out and hunt; for a deer-track had been -discovered near the camp, which, although it was not a fresh one, -proved that there must be game in the vicinity. Weak and exhausted as -they were, they took their rifles and started for the neighbouring -uplands, each taking a different direction. - -It was nearly sunset when La Bonté returned to the camp, where he -already espied one of his companions engaged in cooking something -over the fire. Hurrying to the spot, overjoyed with the anticipations -of a feast, he observed that the squaws were gone; but, at the same -time, thought it was not improbable they had escaped during their -absence. Approaching the fire, he observed Forey broiling some meat on -the embers, whilst at a little distance lay what he fancied was the -carcass of a deer. - -“Hurrah, boy!” he exclaimed, as he drew near the fire. “You've 'made' -a 'raise,' I see.” - -“_Well_, I have,” rejoined the other, turning his meat with the point -of his butcher knife. “There's the meat, hos—help yourself.” - -La Bonté drew the knife from his scabbard, and approached the spot -his companion was pointing to; but what was his horror to see the yet -quivering body of one of the Indian squaws, with a large portion of -the flesh butchered from it, part of which Forey was already greedily -devouring. The knife dropped from his hand, and his heart rose to his -throat. - -The next day he and his companion struck the creek where Rube and the -other trapper had agreed to await them, and found them in camp with -plenty of meat, and about to start again on their hunt, having given -up the others for lost. From the day they parted, nothing was ever -heard of La Bonté's other two companions, who doubtless fell a prey -to utter exhaustion, and were unable to return to the camp. And thus -ended the Digger expedition. - -It may appear almost incredible that men having civilised blood in -their veins could perpetrate such wanton and cold-blooded acts of -aggression on the wretched Indians, as that detailed above; but it is -fact that the mountaineers never lose an opportunity of slaughtering -these miserable Diggers, and attacking their villages, often for the -purpose of capturing women, whom they carry off, and not unfrequently -sell to other tribes, or to each other. In these attacks neither sex -nor age is spared; and your mountaineer has as little compunction in -taking the life of an Indian woman, as he would have in sending his -rifle-ball through the brain of a Crow or Blackfoot warrior. - -La Bonté now found himself without animals, and fairly “afoot;” -consequently nothing remained for him but to seek some of the trapping -bands, and hire himself for the hunt. Luckily for him, he soon fell -in with Roubideau, on his way to Uintah, and was supplied by him with -a couple of animals; and thus equipped, he started again with a large -band of trappers, who were going to hunt on the waters of Grand River -and the Gila. Here they fell in with another nation of Indians, from -which branch out the innumerable tribes inhabiting Northern Mexico -and part of California. They were in general friendly, but lost no -opportunity of stealing horses or any articles left lying about -the camp. On one occasion, the trappers being camped on a northern -affluent of the Gila, a volley of arrows was discharged amongst them, -severely wounding one or two of the party, as they sat round the camp -fires. The attack, however, was not renewed, and the next day the -camp was moved further down the stream, where beaver was tolerably -abundant. Before sundown a number of Indians made their appearance, -and making signs of peace, were admitted into the camp. - -The trappers were all sitting at their suppers over the fires, the -Indians looking gravely on, when it was remarked that now would be -a good opportunity to retaliate upon them for the trouble their -incessant attacks had entailed upon the camp. The suggestion was -highly approved of, and instantly acted upon. Springing to their -feet, the trappers seized their rifles, and commenced the slaughter. -The Indians, panic-struck, fled without resistance, and numbers fell -before the death-dealing rifles of the mountaineers. A chief, who had -been sitting on a rock near the fire where the leader of the trappers -sat, had been singled out by the latter as the first mark for his -rifle. - -Placing the muzzle to his heart, he pulled the trigger, but the -Indian, with extraordinary tenacity of life, rose and grappled with -his assailant. The white was a tall powerful man, but, notwithstanding -the deadly wound the Indian had received, he had his equal in strength -to contend against. The naked form of the Indian twisted and writhed -in his grasp, as he sought to avoid the trapper's uplifted knife. Many -of the latter's companions advanced to administer the _coup de grâce_ -to the savage, but the trapper cried to them to keep off: “If he -couldn't whip the Injun,” he said, “he'd go under.” - -At length he succeeded in throwing him, and, plunging his knife no -less than seven times into his body, he tore off his scalp, and went -in pursuit of the flying savages. In the course of an hour or two, all -the party returned, and sitting by the fires, resumed their suppers, -which had been interrupted in the manner just described. Walker, the -captain of the band, sat down by the fire where he had been engaged -in the struggle with the Indian chief, whose body was lying within a -few paces of it. He was in the act of fighting the battle over again -to one of his companions, and was saying that the Indian had as much -life in him as a buffalo bull, when, to the horror of all present, the -savage, who had received wounds sufficient for twenty deaths, suddenly -rose to a sitting posture, the fire shedding a glowing light upon the -horrid spectacle. The face was a mass of clotted blood, which flowed -from the lacerated scalp, whilst gouts of blood streamed from eight -gaping wounds in the naked breast. - -Slowly this frightful figure rose to a sitting posture, and, bending -slowly forward to the fire, the mouth was seen to open wide, and a -hollow gurgling—owg-h-h—broke from it. - -“H—!” exclaimed the trapper—and jumping up, he placed a pistol to the -ghastly head, the eyes of which sternly fixed themselves on his, and -pulling the trigger, blew the poor wretch's skull to atoms. - -The Gila passes through a barren, sandy country, with but little -game, and sparsely inhabited by several different tribes of the great -nation of the Apache. Unlike the rivers of this western region, this -stream is, in most parts of its course, particularly towards its upper -waters, entirely bare of timber, and the bottom, through which it -runs, affords but little of the coarsest grass. Whilst on this stream, -the trapping party lost several animals for want of pasture, and many -more from the predatory attacks of the cunning Indians. These losses, -however, they invariably made good whenever they encountered a native -village—taking care, moreover, to repay themselves with interest -whenever occasion offered. - -Notwithstanding the sterile nature of the country, the trappers, -during their passage up the Gila, saw with astonishment that the arid -and barren valley had once been peopled by a race of men far superior -to the present nomade tribes who roam over it. With no little awe -they gazed upon the ruined walls of large cities, and the remains of -houses, with their ponderous beams and joists, still testifying to -the skill and industry with which they were constructed: huge ditches -and irrigating canals, now filled with rank vegetation, furrowed the -plains in the vicinity, marking the spot where once green waving maize -and smiling gardens covered what now is a bare and sandy desert. -Pieces of broken pottery, of domestic utensils, stained with bright -colours, every where strewed the ground; and spear and arrow-heads of -stone, and quaintly carved idols, and women's ornaments of agate and -obsidian, were picked up often by the wondering trappers, examined -with child-like curiosity, and thrown carelessly aside.[22] - -A Taos Indian, who was amongst the band, was evidently impressed -with a melancholy awe, as he regarded these ancient monuments of his -fallen people. At midnight he rose from his blanket and left the camp, -which was in the vicinity of the ruined city, stealthily picking his -way through the line of slumbering forms which lay around; and the -watchful sentinel observed him approach the ruins with a slow and -reverential gait. Entering the mouldering walls, he gazed silently -around, where in ages past his ancestors trod proudly, a civilised -race, the tradition of which, well known to his people, served but -to make their present degraded position more galling and apparent. -Cowering under the shadow of a crumbling wall, the Indian drew his -blanket over his head, and conjured to his mind's eye the former power -and grandeur of his race—that warlike people who, forsaking their own -country for causes of which no tradition, however dim, now exists, -sought in the fruitful and teeming valleys of the south a soil and -climate which their own lands did not afford; and, displacing the -wild and barbarous hordes inhabiting the land, raised there a mighty -empire, great in riches and civilisation. - -The Indian bowed his head, and mourned the fallen greatness of his -tribe. Rising, he slowly drew his tattered blanket round his body, -and prepared to leave the spot, when the shadow of a moving figure, -creeping past a gap in the ruined wall, through which the moonbeams -played, suddenly arrested his attention. Rigid as a statue, he stood -transfixed to the spot, thinking a former inhabitant of the city -was visiting, in a ghostly form, the scenes his body once knew so -well. The bow in his right hand shook with fear as he saw the shadow -approach, but was as tightly and steadily grasped when, on the figure -emerging from the shade of the wall, he distinguished the form of a -naked Apache, armed with bow and arrow, crawling stealthily through -the gloomy ruins. - -Standing undiscovered within the shadow of the wall, the Taos raised -his bow, and drew an arrow to the head, until the other, who was -bending low to keep under cover of the wall, and thus approach -the sentinel standing at a short distance, seeing suddenly the -well-defined shadow on the ground, rose upright on his legs, and, -knowing escape was impossible, threw his arms down his sides, and, -drawing himself erect, exclaimed, in a suppressed tone, “Wa-g-h!” - -“Wagh!” exclaimed the Taos likewise, but quickly dropped his arrow -point, and eased the bow. - -“What does my brother want,” he asked, “that he lopes like a wolf -round the fires of the white hunters?” - -“Is my brother's skin not red?” returned the Apache, “and yet he asks -a question that needs no answer. Why does the 'medicine wolf' follow -the buffalo and deer? For blood—and for blood the Indian follows the -treacherous white from camp to camp, to strike blow for blow, until -the deaths of those so basely killed are fully avenged.” - -“My brother speaks with a big heart, and his words are true; and -though the Taos and Pimo (Apache) black their faces towards each other -(are at war), here, on the graves of their common fathers, there is -peace between them. Let my brother go.” - -The Apache moved quickly away, and the Taos once more sought the -camp-fires of his white companions. - -Following the course of the Gila to the eastward, they crossed a range -of the Sierra Madre, which is a continuation of the Rocky Mountains, -and struck the waters of the Rio del Norte, below the settlements of -New Mexico. On this stream they fared well; besides trapping a great -quantity of beaver, game of all kinds abounded, and the bluffs near -the well-timbered banks of the river were covered with rich gramma -grass, on which their half-starved animals speedily improved in -condition. - -They remained for some weeks encamped on the right bank of the stream, -during which period they lost one of their number, shot with an arrow -whilst lying asleep within a few feet of the camp-fire. - -The Navajos continually prowl along that portion of the river which -runs through the settlements of New Mexico, preying upon the cowardly -inhabitants, and running off with their cattle whenever they are -exposed in sufficient numbers to tempt them. Whilst ascending the -river, the trappers met a party of these Indians returning to their -mountain homes with a large band of mules and horses which they -had taken from one of the Mexican towns, besides several women and -children, whom they had captured, as slaves. The main body of the -trappers halting, ten of the band followed and charged upon the -Indians, who numbered at least sixty, killed seven of them, and retook -the prisoners and the whole cavallada of horses and mules. Great were -the rejoicings when they entered Socorro, the town whence the women -and children had been taken, and as loud the remonstrances, when, -handing them over to their families, the trappers rode on, driving -fifty of the best of the rescued animals before them, which they -retained as payment for their services. Messengers were sent on to -Albuquerque with intelligence of the proceeding; and as troops were -stationed there, the commandant was applied to, to chastise the -insolent whites. - -That warrior, on learning that the trappers numbered less than -fifteen, became alarmingly brave, and ordering out the whole of his -disposable force, some two hundred dragoons, sallied out to intercept -the audacious mountaineers. About noon one day, just as the latter -had emerged from a little town between Socorro and Albuquerque, they -descried the imposing force of the dragoons winding along a plain -ahead. As the trappers advanced, the officer in command halted his -men, and sent out a trumpeter to order the former to await his coming. -Treating the herald to a roar of laughter, on they went, and, as they -approached the soldiers, broke into a trot, ten of the number forming -line in front of the packed and loose animals, and, rifle in hand, -charging with loud whoops. This was enough for the New Mexicans. -Before the enemy were within shooting distance, the gallant fellows -turned tail, and splashed into the river, dragging themselves up the -opposite bank like half-drowned rats, and saluted with loud peels of -laughter by the victorious mountaineers, who, firing a volley into the -air, in token of supreme contempt, quietly continued their route up -the stream. - -Before reaching the capital of the province, they struck again to the -westward, and following a small creek to its junction with the Green -River, ascended that stream, trapping _en route_ to the Uintah or -Snake Fork, and arrived at Roubideau's rendezvous early in the fall, -where they quickly disposed of their peltries, and were once more on -“the loose.” - -Here La Bonté married a Snake squaw, with whom he crossed the -mountains and proceeded to the Platte through the Bayou Salade, where -he purchased of the Yutas a commodious lodge, with the necessary -poles, &c.; and being now “rich” in mules and horses, and in all -things necessary for _otium cum dignitate_, he took unto himself -another wife, as by mountain law allowed; and thus equipped, with both -his better halves attired in all the glory of fofarraw, he went his -way rejoicing. - -In a snug little valley lying under the shadow of the mountains, -watered by Vermilion Creek, and in which abundance of buffalo, elk, -deer, and antelope fed and fattened on the rich grass, La Bonté raised -his lodge, employing himself in hunting, and fully occupying his -wives' time in dressing the skins of the many animals he killed. Here -he enjoyed himself amazingly until the commencement of winter, when he -determined to cross to the North Fork and trade his skins, of which -he had now as many packs as his animals could carry. It happened that -he one day left his camp, to spend a couple of days hunting buffalo -in the mountains, whither the bulls were now resorting, intending to -“put out” for Platte on his return. His hunt, however, led him farther -into the mountains than he anticipated, and it was only on the third -day that sundown saw him enter the little valley where his camp was -situated. - -Crossing the creek, he was not a little disturbed at seeing fresh -Indian sign on the opposite side, which led in the direction of his -lodge; and his worst fears were realised when, on coming within -sight of the little plateau where the conical top of his white lodge -had always before met his view, he saw nothing but a blackened mass -strewing the ground, and the burnt ends of the poles which had once -supported it. - -Squaws, animals, and peltry, all were gone—an Arapaho moccasin lying -on the ground told him where. He neither fumed nor fretted, but, -throwing the meat off his pack animal, and the saddle from his horse, -he collected the blackened ends of the lodge poles and made a fire—led -his beasts to water and hobbled them, threw a piece of buffalo meat -upon the coals, squatted down before the fire, and lit his pipe. La -Bonté was a true philosopher. Notwithstanding that his house, his -squaws, his peltries, were gone “at one fell swoop,” the loss scarcely -disturbed his equanimity; and before the tobacco in his pipe was half -smoked out, he had ceased to think of his misfortune. Certes, as he -turned his apolla of tender loin, he sighed as he thought of the -delicate manipulations with which his Shoshone squaw, Sah-qua-manish, -was wont to beat to tenderness the toughest bull meat—and missed -the tending care of Yute Chil-co-thē, or the “reed that bends,” in -patching the holes worn in his neatly fitting moccasins, the work of -her nimble fingers. However, he ate and smoked, and smoked and ate, -and slept none the worse for his mishap; thought, before he closed his -eyes, a little of his lost wives, and more perhaps of the “Bending -Reed” than of Sah-qua-manish, or “she who runs with the stream,” drew -his blanket tightly round him, felt his rifle handy to his grasp, and -was speedily asleep. - -Whilst the tired mountaineer breathes heavily in his dream, careless -and unconscious that a living soul is near, his mule on a sudden -pricks her ears and stares into the gloom, whence a figure soon -emerges, and with noiseless steps draws near the sleeping hunter. -Taking one look at the slumbering form, the same figure approaches -the fire and adds a log to the pile; which done, it quietly seats -itself at the feet of the sleeper, and remains motionless as a -statue. Towards morning the hunter awoke, and, rubbing his eyes, -was astonished to feel the glowing warmth of the fire striking on -his naked feet, which, in Indian fashion, were stretched towards -it; as by this time, he knew, the fire he left burning must long -since have expired. Lazily raising himself on his elbow, he saw a -figure sitting near it with the back turned to him, which, although -his exclamatory wagh was loud enough in all conscience, remained -perfectly motionless, until the trapper, rising, placed his hand upon -the shoulder: then, turning up its face, the features displayed to his -wondering eye were those of Chil-co-thē, his Yuta wife. Yes, indeed, -the “reed that bends” had escaped from her Arapaho captors, and made -her way back to her white husband, fasting and alone. - -The Indian women who follow the fortunes of the white hunters are -remarkable for their affection and fidelity to their husbands, the -which virtues, it must be remarked, are all on their own side; for, -with very few exceptions, the mountaineers seldom scruple to abandon -their Indian wives, whenever the fancy takes them to change their -harems; and on such occasions the squaws, thus cast aside, wild with -jealousy and despair, have been not unfrequently known to take signal -vengeance both on their faithless husbands and on the successful -beauties who have supplanted them in their affections. There are -some honourable exceptions, however, to such cruelty, and many of -the mountaineers stick to their red-skinned wives for better and for -worse, often suffering them to gain the upper hand in the domestic -economy of the lodges, and being ruled by their better halves in all -things pertaining to family affairs; and it may be remarked, that, -when once the lady dons the unmentionables, she becomes the veriest -termagant that ever henpecked an unfortunate husband. - -Your refined trappers, however, who, after many years of bachelor -life, incline to take to themselves a better half, often undertake an -expedition into the settlements of New Mexico, where not unfrequently -they adopt a very “Young Lochinvar” system in procuring the required -rib; and have been known to carry off, _vi et armis_, from the midst -of a fandango in Fernandez, or El Rancho of Taos, some dark-skinned -beauty—with or without her own consent is a matter of unconcern—and -bear the ravished fair one across the mountains, where she soon -becomes inured to the free and roving life fate has assigned her. - -American women are valued at a low figure in the mountains. They are -too fine and “fofarraw.” Neither can they make moccasins, or dress -skins; nor are they so schooled to perfect obedience to their lords -and masters as to stand a “lodge-pole-ing,” which the western lords of -the creation not unfrequently deem it their bounden duty to inflict -upon their squaws for some dereliction of domestic duty. - -To return, however, to La Bonté. That worthy thought himself a lucky -man to have lost but one of his wives, and she the worst of the two. -“Here's the beauty,” he philosophised, “of having two 'wiping-sticks' -to your rifle; if one breaks whilst ramming down a ball, there's still -hickory left to supply its place.” Although, with animals and peltry, -he had lost several hundred dollars' worth of “possibles,” he never -groaned or grumbled. “There's redskin will pay for this,” he once -muttered, and was done. - -Packing all that was left on the mule, and mounting Chil-co-thē on his -buffalo horse, he shouldered his rifle and struck the Indian trail for -Platte. On Horse Creek they came upon a party of French[23] trappers -and hunters, who were encamped with their lodges and Indian squaws, -and formed quite a village. Several old companions were amongst them; -and, to celebrate the arrival of a “camarade,” a splendid dog-feast -was prepared in honour of the event. To effect this, the squaws -sallied out of their lodges to seize upon sundry of the younger and -plumper of the pack, to fill the kettles for the approaching feast. -With a presentiment of the fate in store for them, the curs slunk away -with tails between their legs, and declined the pressing invitations -of the anxious squaws. These shouldered their tomahawks and gave -chase; but the cunning pups outstripped them, and would have fairly -beaten the kettles, if some of the mountaineers had not stepped out -with their rifles and quickly laid half-a-dozen ready to the knife. A -cayeute, attracted by the scent of blood, drew near, unwitting of the -canine feast in progress, and was likewise soon made _dog_ of, and -thrust into the boiling kettle with the rest. - -The feast that night was long protracted; and so savoury was the -stew, and so agreeable to the palates of the hungry hunters, that -at the moment the last morsel was drawn from the pot, when all -were regretting that a few more dogs had not been slaughtered, a -wolfish-looking cur, who incautiously poked his long nose and head -under the lodge skin, was pounced upon by the nearest hunter, who in -a moment drew his knife across the animal's throat, and threw it to a -squaw to skin and prepare for the pot. The wolf had long since been -vigorously discussed, and voted by all hands to be “good as dog.” - -“Meat's meat,” is a common saying in the mountains, and from the -buffalo down to the rattlesnake, including every quadruped that -runs, every fowl that flies, and every reptile that creeps, nothing -comes amiss to the mountaineer. Throwing aside all the qualms and -conscientious scruples of a fastidious stomach, it must be confessed -that _dog-meat_ takes a high rank in the wonderful variety of cuisine -afforded to the gourmand and the gourmet by the prolific “mountains.” -Now, when the bill of fare offers such tempting viands as buffalo -beef, venison, mountain mutton, turkey, grouse, wildfowl, hares, -rabbits, beaver and their tails, &c. &c., the station assigned to -“dog” as No. 2 in the list can be well appreciated—No. 1, in delicacy -of flavour, richness of meat, and other good qualities, being the -flesh of _panthers_, which surpasses every other, and all put together. - -“Painter meat can't 'shine' with this,” says a hunter, to express -the delicious flavour of an extraordinary cut of “tender loin,” or -delicate fleece. - -La Bonté started with his squaw for the North Fork early in November, -and arrived at the Laramie at the moment that the big village of the -Sioux came up for their winter trade. Two other villages were encamped -lower down the Platte, including the Brulés and the Yanka-taus, who -were now on more friendly terms with the whites. The first band -numbered several hundred lodges, and presented quite an imposing -appearance, the village being laid out in parallel lines, the lodge -of each chief being marked with his particular totem. The traders -had a particular portion of the village allotted to them, and a line -was marked out which was strictly kept by the soldiers appointed for -the protection of the whites. As there were many rival traders, and -numerous _coureurs des bois_, or peddling ones, the market promised -to be brisk, the more so as a large quantity of ardent spirits was in -their possession, which would be dealt with no unsparing hand to put -down the opposition of so many competing traders. - -In opening a trade a quantity of liquor is first given “on the -prairie,”[24] as the Indians express it in words, or by signs in -rubbing the palm of one hand quickly across the other, holding -both flat. Having once tasted the pernicious liquid, there is no -fear but they will quickly come to terms; and not unfrequently the -spirit is drugged, to render the unfortunate Indians still more -helpless. Sometimes, maddened and infuriated by drink, they commit -the most horrid atrocities on each other, murdering and mutilating -in a barbarous manner, and often attempting the lives of the traders -themselves. On one occasion a band of Sioux, whilst under the -influence of liquor, attacked and took possession of a trading fort of -the American Fur Company, stripping it of every thing it contained, -and roasting the trader himself over his own fire. - -The principle on which the nefarious trade is conducted is this, that -the Indians, possessing a certain quantity of buffalo robes, have -to be cheated out of them, and the sooner the better. Although it -is explicitly prohibited by the laws of the United States to convey -spirits across the Indian frontier, and its introduction amongst -the Indian tribes subjects the offender to a heavy penalty; yet the -infraction of this law is of daily occurrence, perpetrated almost in -the very presence of the government officers, who are stationed along -the frontier for the purpose of enforcing the laws for the protection -of the Indians. - -The misery entailed upon these unhappy people by the illicit traffic -must be seen to be fully appreciated. Before the effects of the -poisonous “fire-water,” they disappear from the earth like “snow -before the sun.” Although aware of the destruction it entails upon -them, the poor wretches have not moral courage to shun the fatal -allurement it holds out to them, of wild excitement and a temporary -oblivion of their many sufferings and privations. With such palpable -effects, it appears only likely that the illegal trade is connived -at by those whose policy it has ever been, gradually but surely, to -exterminate the Indians, and by any means to extinguish their title to -the few lands they now own on the outskirts of civilisation. Certain -it is that large quantities of liquor find their way annually into the -Indian country, and as certain are the fatal results of the pernicious -system, and that the American government takes no steps to prevent it. -There are some tribes who have as yet withstood the great temptation, -and have resolutely refused to permit liquor to be brought into their -villages. The marked difference between the improved condition of -these, and the moral and physical abasement of those which give way -to the fatal passion for drinking, sufficiently proves the pernicious -effects of the liquor trade on the unfortunate and abused aborigines; -and it is matter of regret that no philanthropist has sprung up in the -United States to do battle for the rights of the Red men, and call -attention to the wrongs they endure at the hands of their supplanters -in the lands of their fathers. - -Robbed of their homes and hunting-grounds, and driven by the -encroachments of the whites to distant regions, which hardly support -existence, the Indians, day by day, gradually decrease before -the accumulating evils, of body and soul, which their civilised -persecutors entail upon them. With every man's hand against them, -they drag on to their final destiny; and the day is not far distant -when the American Indian will exist only in the traditions of his -pale-faced conquerors. - -The Indians trading at this time on the Platte were mostly of the -Sioux nation, including the tribes of Burnt-woods, Yanka-taus, -Pian-Kashas, Assinaboins, Oglallahs, Broken Arrows, all of which -belong to the great Sioux nation, or La-cotahs, as they call -themselves, and which means cut-throats. There were also some -Cheyennes allied to the Sioux, as well as a small band of Republican -Pawnees. - -Horse-racing, gambling, and ball-play, served to pass away the time -until the trade commenced, and many packs of dressed robes changed -hands amongst themselves. When playing at the usual game of “_hand_,” -the stakes, comprising all the valuables the players possess, are -piled in two heaps close at hand, the winner at the conclusion of -the game sweeping the goods towards him, and often returning a small -portion “on the prairie,” with which the loser may again commence -operations with another player. - -The game of “hand” is played by two persons. One, who commences, -places a plum or cherry-stone in the hollow formed by joining the -concaved palms of the hands together, then shaking the stone for a few -moments, the hands are suddenly separated, and the other player must -guess which hand now contains the stone. - -Large bets are often wagered on the result of this favourite game, -which is also often played by the squaws, the men standing round -encouraging them to bet, and laughing loudly at their grotesque -excitement. - -A Burnt-wood Sioux, Tah-tunganisha, one of the bravest chiefs of his -tribe, was out, when a young man, on a solitary war expedition against -the Crows. One evening he drew near a certain “medicine” spring, -where, to his astonishment, he encountered a Crow warrior in the act -of quenching his thirst. He was on the point of drawing his bow upon -him, when he remembered the sacred nature of the spot, and making the -sign of peace, he fearlessly drew near his foe, and proceeded likewise -to slake his thirst. A pipe of kinnik-kinnik being produced, it was -proposed to pass away the early part of the night in a game of “hand.” -They accordingly sat down beside the spring, and commenced the game. - -Fortune favoured the Crow. He won arrow after arrow from the -Burnt-wood brave; then his bow, his club, his knife, his robe, all -followed, and the Sioux sat naked on the plain. Still he proposed -another stake against the other's winnings—his scalp. He played, and -lost; and bending forward his head, the Crow warrior drew his knife -and quickly removed the bleeding prize. Without a murmur the luckless -Sioux rose to depart, but first exacted a promise from his antagonist -that he would meet him once more at the same spot, and engage in -another trial of skill. - -On the day appointed, the Burnt-wood sought the spot, with a new -equipment, and again the Crow made his appearance, and they sat down -to play. This time fortune changed sides; the Sioux won back his -former losses, and in his turn the Crow was stripped to his skin. - -Scalp against scalp was now the stake, and this time the Crow -submitted his head to the victorious Burnt-wood's knife; and both the -warriors stood scalpless on the plain. - -And now the Crow had but one single stake of value to offer, and the -offer of it he did not hesitate to make. He staked his life against -the other's winnings. They played; and fortune still being adverse, he -lost. He offered his breast to his adversary. The Burnt-wood plunged -his knife into his heart to the very hilt; and, laden with his spoils, -returned to his village, and to this day wears suspended from his ears -his own and enemy's scalp. - -The village presented the usual scene of confusion as long as the -trade lasted. Fighting, brawling, yelling, dancing, and all the -concomitants of intoxication, continued to the last drop of the -liquor-keg, when the reaction after such excitement was almost worse -than the evil itself. During this time, all the work devolved upon -the squaws, who, in tending the horses, and in packing wood and water -from a long distance, had their time sufficiently occupied. As there -was little or no grass in the vicinity, the animals were supported -entirely on the bark of the cotton-wood; and to procure this, the -women were daily engaged in felling huge trees, or climbing them -fearlessly, chopping off the upper limbs—springing like squirrels from -branch to branch, which, in their confined costume, appeared matter of -considerable difficulty. - -The most laughter-provoking scenes, however, were, when a number -of squaws sallied out to the grove, with their long-nosed, -wolfish-looking dogs harnessed to their _travées_ or trabogans, on -which loads of cotton-wood were piled. The dogs, knowing full well the -duty required of them, refuse to approach the coaxing squaws, and, at -the same time, are fearful of provoking their anger by escaping and -running off. They, therefore, squat on their haunches, with tongues -hanging out of their long mouths, the picture of indecision, removing -a short distance as the irate squaw approaches. When once harnessed to -the travée, however, which is simply a couple of lodge-poles lashed -on either side of the dog, with a couple of cross-bars near the ends -to support the freight, they follow quietly enough, urged by bevies -of children, who invariably accompany the women. Once arrived at the -scene of their labours, the reluctance of the curs to draw near the -piles of cotton-wood is most comical. They will lie down stubbornly -at a little distance, whining their uneasiness, or sometimes scamper -off bodily, with their long poles trailing after them, pursued by the -yelling and half frantic squaws. - -When the travées are laden, the squaws, bent double under loads of -wood sufficient to break a porter's back, and calling to the dogs, -which are urged on by the buffalo-fed urchins in rear, lead the line -of march. The curs, taking advantage of the helpless state of their -mistresses, turn a deaf ear to their coaxings, lying down every -few yards to rest, growling and fighting with each other, in which -encounters every cur joins the _mêlée_, charging pell-mell into the -yelping throng, upsetting the squalling children, and making confusion -worse confounded. Then, armed with lodge-poles, the squaws, throwing -down their loads, rush to the rescue, dealing stalwart blows on the -pugnacious curs, and finally restoring something like order to the -march. - -“Tszoo—tszoo!” they cry, “wah, kashne, ceit-cha—get on, you devilish -beasts—tszoo—tszoo!” and belabouring them without mercy, they start -them into a gallop, which, once commenced, is generally continued -till they reach their destination. - -The Indian dogs are, however, invariably well treated by the squaws, -since they assist materially the every-day labours of these patient -over-worked creatures, in hauling firewood to the lodge, and, on the -line of march, carrying many of the household goods and chattels, -which otherwise the squaw herself would have to carry on her back. -Every lodge possesses from half-a-dozen to a score—some for draught -and others for eating—for dog meat forms part and parcel of an Indian -feast. The former are stout, wiry animals, half wolf half sheep-dog, -and are regularly trained to draught; the latter are of a smaller -kind, more inclined to fat, and embrace every variety of the genus -cur. Many of the southern tribes possess a breed of dogs entirely -divested of hair, which evidently have come from South America, and -are highly esteemed for the kettle. Their meat, in appearance and -flavour, resembles young pork, but far surpasses it in richness and -delicacy. - -The Sioux are very expert in making their lodges comfortable, taking -more pains in their construction than most Indians. They are all -of conical form: a framework of straight slender poles, resembling -hop-poles, and from twenty to twenty-five feet long, is first erected, -round which is stretched a sheeting of buffalo robes, softly dressed, -and smoked to render them water-tight. The apex, through which the -ends of the poles protrude, is left open to allow the smoke to escape. -A small opening, sufficient to permit the entrance of a man, is made -on one side, over which is hung a door of buffalo hide. A lodge of -the common size contains about twelve or fourteen skins, and contains -comfortably a family of twelve in number. The fire is made in the -centre immediately under the aperture in the roof, and a flap of the -upper skins is closed or extended at pleasure, serving as a cowl or -chimney-top to regulate the draught and permit the smoke to escape -freely. Round the fire, with their feet towards it, the inmates sleep -on skins and buffalo rugs, which are rolled up during the day, and -stowed at the back of the lodge. - -In travelling, the lodge-poles are secured half on each side a horse, -and the skins placed on transversal bars near the ends, which trail -along the ground,—two or three squaws or children mounted on the same -horse, or the smallest of the latter borne in the dog travées. A set -of lodge-poles will last from three to seven years, unless the village -is constantly on the move, when they are soon worn out in trailing -over the gravelly prairie. They are usually of ash, which grows on -many of the mountain creeks, and regular expeditions are undertaken -when a supply is required, either for their own lodges, or for trading -with those tribes who inhabit the prairies at a great distance from -the locality where the poles are procured. - -There are also certain creeks where the Indians resort to lay in a -store of kinnik-kinnik (the inner bark of the red willow), which they -use as a substitute for tobacco, and which has an aromatic and very -pungent flavour. It is prepared for smoking by being scraped in thin -curly flakes from the slender saplings, and crisped before the fire, -after which it is rubbed between the hands into a form resembling -leaf-tobacco, and stored in skin bags for use. It has a highly -narcotic effect on those not habituated to its use, and produces a -heaviness sometimes approaching stupefaction, altogether different -from the soothing effects of tobacco. - -Every year, owing to the disappearance of the buffalo from their -former haunts, the Indians are compelled to encroach upon each -other's hunting-grounds, which is a fruitful cause of war between -the different tribes. It is a curious fact, that the buffalo retire -before the whites, whilst the presence of Indians in their pastures -appears in no degree to disturb them. Wherever a few white hunters -are congregated in a trading port, or elsewhere, so sure it is that, -if they remain in the same locality, the buffalo will desert the -vicinity, and seek pasture elsewhere. In this, the Indians affirm, -the wah-keitcha, or “bad medicine,” of the pale-faces is very -apparent; and they ground upon it their well-founded complaints of the -encroachments made upon their hunting-grounds by the white hunters. - -In the winter, many of the tribes are reduced to the very verge of -starvation—the buffalo having passed from their country into that -of their enemies, when no other alternative is offered them, but to -remain where they are and starve, or to follow the game into a hostile -region, a move entailing war and all its horrors. - -Reckless, moreover, of the future, in order to prepare robes for the -traders, and to procure the pernicious fire-water, they wantonly -slaughter, every year, vast numbers of buffalo cows (the skins of -which sex only are dressed), and thus add to the evils in store for -them. When questioned on this subject, and reproached with such -want of foresight, they answer, that however quickly the buffalo -disappears, the Red man “goes under” more quickly still; and that the -Great Spirit has ordained that both shall be “rubbed out” from the -face of nature at one and the same time,—“that arrows and bullets -are not more fatal to the buffalo than the small-pox and fire-water -to them, and that before many winters' snows have disappeared, the -buffalo and the Red man will only be remembered by their bones, -which will strew the plains.”—“They look forward, however, to a -future state, when, after a long journey, they will reach the happy -hunting-grounds, where buffalo will once more blacken the prairies; -where the pale-faces dare not come to disturb them; where no winter -snows cover the ground, and the buffalo are always plentiful and fat.” - -As soon as the streams opened, La Bonté, now reduced to two animals -and four traps, sallied forth again, this time seeking the dangerous -country of the Blackfeet, on the head waters of the Yellow Stone -and Upper Missouri. He was accompanied by three others, a man named -Wheeler, and one Cross-Eagle, a Swede, who had been many years in -the western country. Reaching the forks of a small creek, on both of -which appeared plenty of beaver sign, La Bonté followed the left-hand -one alone, whilst the others trapped the right in company, the former -leaving his squaw in the company of a Sioux woman, who followed the -fortunes of Cross-Eagle, the party agreeing to rendezvous at the -junction of the two forks as soon as they had trapped to their heads -and again descended them. The larger party were the first to reach the -rendezvous, and camped on the banks of the main stream to await the -arrival of La Bonté. - -The morning after their return, they had just risen from their -blankets, and were lazily stretching themselves before the fire, when -a volley of firearms rattled from the bank of the creek, and two of -their number fell dead to the ground, whilst at the same moment the -deafening yells of Indians broke upon the ears of the frightened -squaws. Cross-Eagle seized his rifle, and, though severely wounded, -rushed to the cover of a hollow tree which stood near, and crawling -into it, defended himself the whole day with the greatest obstinacy, -killing five Indians outright, and wounding several more. Unable to -drive the gallant trapper from his retreat, the savages took advantage -of a favourable wind which suddenly sprang up, and fired the long dry -grass surrounding the tree. The rotten log catching fire, at length -compelled the hunter to leave his retreat. Clubbing his rifle, he -charged amongst the Indians, and fell at last, pierced through and -through with wounds, but not until two more of his assailants had -fallen by his hand. - -The two squaws were carried off, and one was sold shortly afterwards -to some white men at the trading ports on the Platte; but La Bonté -never recovered the “Bending Reed,” nor even heard of her existence -from that day. So once more was the mountaineer bereft of his better -half; and when he returned to the rendezvous, a troop of wolves were -feasting on the bodies of his late companions, and of the Indians -killed in the affray, of which he only heard the particulars a long -time after from a trapper, who had been present when one of the squaws -was offered at the trading post for sale, and had heard her recount -the miserable fate of her husband and his companions on the forks of -the creek, which, from the fact of La Bonté being the leader of the -party, has since borne his name. - -Undaunted by this misfortune, the trapper continued his solitary -hunt, passing through the midst of the Crow and Blackfeet country; -encountering many perils, often hunted by the Indians, but always -escaping. He had soon loaded both his animals with beaver, and then -thought of bending his steps to some of the trading rendezvous on the -other side of the mountains, where employés of the Great North-west -Fur Company meet the trappers with the produce of their hunts, on -Lewis's fork of the Columbia, or one of its numerous affluents. His -intention was to pass the winter at some of the company's trading -posts in Oregon, into which country he had never yet penetrated. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - - -We have said that La Bonté was a philosopher: he took the streaks of -ill luck which checkered his mountain life with perfect carelessness, -if not with stoical indifference. Nothing ruffled his danger-steeled -equanimity of temper; no sudden emotion disturbed his mind. We have -seen how wives were torn from him without eliciting a groan or -grumble, (but such _contretemps_, it may be said, can scarcely find a -place in the category of ills); how the loss of mules and mustangs, -harried by horse-stealing Indians, left him in the _ne-plus-ultra_ -of mountain misery—“afoot;” how packs and peltries, the hard-earned -“beaver” of his perilous hunts, were “raised” at one fell swoop by -free-booting bands of savages. Hunger and thirst, we know, were -commonplace sensations to the mountaineer. His storm-hardened flesh -scarce felt the pinging wounds of arrow-point or bullet; and when in -the midst of Indian fight, it is not probable that any tender qualms -of feeling would allay the itching of his fingers for his enemy's -scalp-lock, nor would any remains of civilised fastidiousness prevent -his burying his knife again and again in the life-blood of an Indian -savage. - -Still, in one dark corner of his heart, there shone at intervals a -faint spark of what was once a fiercely-burning fire. Neither time, -that corroder of all things, nor change, that ready abettor of -oblivion, nor scenes of peril and excitement, which act as dampers -to more quiet memories, could smother this little smouldering spark, -which now and again—when rarely-coming calm succeeded some stirring -passage in the hunter's life, and left him, for a brief time, devoid -of care, and victim to his thoughts—would flicker suddenly, and light -up all the nooks and corners of his rugged breast, and discover to his -mind's eye that one deep-rooted memory clung there still, though long -neglected; proving that, spite of time and change, of life and fortune, - - “On revient toujours à ses premiers amours.” - -Often and often as La Bonté sat cross-legged before his solitary -camp-fire, and, pipe in mouth, watched the blue smoke curling -upwards in the clear cold sky, a well-remembered form appeared to -gaze upon him from the vapoury wreaths. Then would old recollections -crowd before him, and old emotions, long a stranger to his breast, -shape themselves, as it were, into long-forgotten but now familiar -pulsations. Again he felt the soft subduing influence which once, in -days gone by, a certain passion exercised over his mind and body; and -often a trembling seized him, the same he used to experience at the -sudden sight of one Mary Brand, whose dim and dreamy apparition so -often watched his lonely bed, or, unconsciously conjured up, cheered -him in the dreary watches of the long and stormy winter nights. - -At first he only knew that one face haunted his dreams by night, and -the few moments by day when he thought of any thing, and this face -smiled lovingly upon him, and cheered him mightily. Name he had quite -forgotten, or recalled it vaguely, and, setting small store by it, had -thought of it no more. - -For many years after he had deserted his home, La Bonté had cherished -the idea of again returning to his country. During this period he had -never forgotten his old flame, and many a choice fur he had carefully -laid by, intended as a present for Mary Brand; and many a _gâge -d'amour_ of cunning shape and device, worked in stained quills of -porcupine and bright-coloured beads—the handiwork of nimble-fingered -squaws—he had packed in his possible sack for the same destination, -hoping a time would come when he might lay them at her feet. - -Year after year wore on, however, and still found him, with traps and -rifle, following his perilous avocation; and each succeeding one saw -him more and more wedded to the wild mountain-life. He was conscious -how unfitted he had become again to enter the galling harness of -conventionality and civilisation. He thought, too, how changed in -manners and appearance he now must be, and could not believe that -he would again find favour in the eyes of his quondam love, who, he -judged, had long since forgotten him; and inexperienced as he was in -such matters, yet he knew enough of womankind to feel assured that -time and absence had long since done the work, if even the natural -fickleness of woman's nature had lain dormant. Thus it was that he -came to forget Mary Brand, but still remembered the all-absorbing -feeling she had once created in his breast, the shadow of which still -remained, and often took form and feature in the smoke-wreaths of his -solitary camp-fire. - -If truth be told, La Bonté had his failings as a mountaineer, and—sin -unpardonable in hunter law—still possessed, in holes and corners of -his breast seldom explored by his inward eye, much of the leaven of -kindly human nature, which now and again involuntarily peeped out, as -greatly to the contempt of his comrade trappers as it was blushingly -repressed by the mountaineer himself. Thus, in his various matrimonial -episodes, he treated his dusky _sposas_ with all the consideration -the sex could possibly demand from hand of man. No squaw of his ever -humped shoulder to receive a castigatory and marital “lodge-poling” -for offence domestic; but often has his helpmate blushed to see her -pale-face lord and master devote himself to the feminine labour -of packing huge piles of fire-wood on his back, felling trees, -butchering unwieldy buffalo—all which are included in the Indian -category of female duties. Thus he was esteemed an excellent _parti_ -by all the marriageable young squaws of Blackfoot, Crow, and -Shoshone, of Yutah, Shian, and Arapaho; but after his last connubial -catastrophe, he steeled his heart against all the charms and coquetry -of Indian belles, and persevered in unblessed widowhood for many a -long day. - -From the point where we left him on his way to the waters of the -Columbia, we must jump with him over a space of nearly two years, -during which time he had a most uninterrupted run of good luck; -trapping with great success on the head streams of the Columbia and -Yellow Stone—the most dangerous of trapping ground—and finding good -market for his peltries at the “North-west” posts—beaver fetching as -high a price as five and six dollars a “plew”—the “golden age” of -trappers, now, alas, never to return, and existing only in the fond -memory of the mountaineers. This glorious time, however, was too good -to last. In mountain language, “such heap of fat meat was not going to -'shine' much longer.” - -La Bonté was at this time one of a band of eight trappers, whose -hunting ground was about the head waters of the Yellow Stone, which -we have before said is in the country of the Blackfeet. With him were -Killbuck, Meek, Marcellin, and three others; and the leader of the -party was Bill Williams, that old “hard case” who had spent forty -years and more in the mountains, until he had become as tough as the -parflêche soles of his moccasins. They were all good men and true, -expert hunters, and well-trained mountaineers. After having trapped -all the streams they were acquainted with, it was determined to strike -into the mountains, at a point where old Williams affirmed, from the -“run” of the hills, there must be plenty of water, although not one -of the party had before explored the country, or knew any thing of -its nature, or of the likelihood of its affording game for themselves -or pasture for their animals. However, they packed their peltry, and -put out for the land in view—a lofty peak, dimly seen above the more -regular summit of the chain, being their landmark. - -For the first day or two their route lay between two ridges of -mountains, and by following the little valley which skirted a creek, -they kept on level ground, and saved their animals considerable labour -and fatigue. Williams always rode ahead, his body bent over his -saddle-horn, across which rested a long heavy rifle, his keen gray -eyes peering from under the slouched brim of a flexible felt-hat, -black and shining with grease. His buckskin hunting-shirt, bedaubed -until it had the appearance of polished leather, hung in folds over -his bony carcass; his nether extremities being clothed in pantaloons -of the same material (with scattered fringes down the outside of -the leg—which ornaments, however, had been pretty well thinned to -supply “whangs” for mending moccasins or pack-saddles), which, shrunk -with wet, clung tightly to his long, spare, sinewy legs. His feet -were thrust into a pair of Mexican stirrups made of wood, and as big -as coal-scuttles; and iron spurs of incredible proportions, with -tinkling drops attached to the rowels, were fastened to his heel—a -bead-worked strap, four inches broad, securing them over the instep. -In the shoulder-belt which sustained his powder-horn and bullet-pouch, -were fastened the various instruments essential to one pursuing his -mode of life. An awl, with deer-horn handle, and the point defended -by a case of cherry-wood carved by his own hand, hung at the back -of the belt, side by side with a worm for cleaning the rifle; and -under this was a squat and quaint-looking bullet-mould, the handles -guarded by strips of buckskin to save his fingers from burning when -running balls, having for its companion a little bottle made from the -point of an antelope's horn, scraped transparent, which contained -the “medicine” used in baiting the traps. The old coon's face was -sharp and thin, a long nose and chin hob-nobbing each other; and -his head was always bent forward giving him the appearance of being -hump-backed. He _appeared_ to look neither to the right nor left, -but, in fact, his little twinkling eye was everywhere. He looked at -no one he was addressing, always seeming to be thinking of something -else than the subject of his discourse, speaking in a whining, thin, -cracked voice, and in a tone that left the hearer in doubt whether he -was laughing or crying. On the present occasion he had joined this -band, and naturally assumed the leadership (for Bill ever refused to -go in harness), in opposition to his usual practice, which was to hunt -alone. His character was well known. Acquainted with every inch of the -Far West, and with all the Indian tribes who inhabited it, he never -failed to outwit his Red enemies, and generally made his appearance -at the rendezvous, from his solitary expeditions, with galore of -beaver, when numerous bands of trappers dropped in on foot, having -been despoiled of their packs and animals by the very Indians through -the midst of whom old Williams had contrived to pass unseen and -unmolested. On occasions when he had been in company with others, and -attacked by Indians, Bill invariably fought manfully, and with all the -coolness that perfect indifference to death or danger could give, but -always “on his own hook.” His rifle cracked away merrily, and never -spoke in vain; and in a charge—if ever it came to that—his keen-edged -butcher-knife tickled the fleece of many a Blackfoot. But at the same -time, if he saw that discretion was the better part of valour, and -affairs wore so cloudy an aspect as to render retreat advisable, he -would first express his opinion in curt terms, and decisively, and, -charging up his rifle, would take himself off and “câche”[25] so -effectually that to search for him was utterly useless. Thus, when -with a large party of trappers, when any thing occurred which gave him -a hint that trouble was coming, or more Indians were about than he -considered good for his animals, Bill was wont to exclaim— - -“Do 'ee hyar now, boys, thar's sign about? this hos feels like -caching;” and, without more words, and stoically deaf to all -remonstrances, he would forthwith proceed to pack his animals, talking -the while to an old, crop-eared, raw-boned Nez-percé pony, his own -particular saddle-horse, who in dogged temper and iron hardiness, was -a worthy companion of his self-willed master. This beast, as Bill -seized his apishamore to lay upon its galled back, would express -displeasure by humping its back and shaking its withers with a wincing -motion, that always excited the ire of the old trapper; and no sooner -had he laid the apishamore smoothly on the chafed skin, than a wriggle -of the animal shook it off. - -“Do 'ee hyar now, you darned crittur?” he would whine out, “can't -'ee keep quiet your old fleece now? Isn't this old coon putting out -to save 'ee from the darned Injuns now, do 'ee hyar?” And then, -continuing his work and taking no notice of his comrades, who stood -by bantering the eccentric old trapper, he would soliloquise—“Do 'ee -hyar, now? This niggur sees sign ahead—he does; he'll be afoot afore -long, if he don't keep his eye skinned,—_he_ will. _Injuns_ is all -about, they ar': Blackfoot at that. Can't come round this child—they -can't, wagh!” And at last, his pack animals securely tied to the tail -of his horse, he would mount, and throwing the rifle across the horn -of his saddle, and without noticing his companions, would drive the -jingling spurs into his horse's gaunt sides, and muttering, “Can't -come round this child—they can't!” would ride away; and nothing more -would be seen or heard of him perhaps for months, when they would -not unfrequently, themselves bereft of animals in the scrape he had -foreseen, find him located in some solitary valley, in his lonely -camp, with his animals securely picketed around, and his peltries safe. - -However, if he took it into his head to keep company with a party, -all felt perfectly secure under his charge. His iron frame defied -fatigue, and, at night, his love for himself and his own animals -was sufficient guarantee that the camp would be well guarded. As he -rode ahead, his spurs jingling, and thumping the sides of his old -horse at every step, he managed, with admirable dexterity, to take -advantage of the best line of country to follow—avoiding the gullies -and cañons and broken ground, which would otherwise have impeded his -advance. This tact appeared instinctive, for he looked neither right -nor left, whilst continuing a course as straight as possible at the -foot of the mountains. In selecting a camping site, he displayed -equal skill: wood, water, and grass began to fill his thoughts -towards sundown, and when these three requisites for a camping ground -presented themselves, old Bill sprang from his saddle, unpacked his -animals in a twinkling, and hobbled them, struck fire and ignited a -few chips (leaving the rest to pack in the wood), lit his pipe, and -enjoyed himself. On one occasion, when passing through the valley, -they had come upon a band of fine buffalo cows, and, shortly after -camping, two of the party rode in with a good supply of fat fleece. -One of the party was a “greenhorn” on his first hunt, fresh from a -fort on Platte, and as yet uninitiated in the mysteries of mountain -cooking. Bill, lazily smoking his pipe, called to him, as he happened -to be nearest, to butcher off a piece of meat and put it in his pot. -Markhead seized the fleece, and commenced innocently carving off a -huge ration, when a gasping roar from the old trapper caused him to -drop his knife. - -“Ti-ya,” growled Bill, “do 'ee hyar, now, you darned greenhorn, do 'ee -spile fat cow like that whar you was raised? Them doins wont shine in -this crowd, boy, do 'ee hyar, darned you? What! butcher meat across -the grain! why, whar'll the blood be goin' to, you precious Spaniard? -Down the grain, I say,” he continued in a severe tone of rebuke, -“and let your flaps be long, or out the juice'll run slick—do 'ee -hyar, now?” But this heretical error nearly cost the old trapper his -appetite, and all night long he grumbled his horror at seeing “fat -cow spiled in that fashion.” - -When two or three days' journey brought them to the end of the -valley, and they commenced the passage of the mountain, their march -was obstructed by all kinds of obstacles; although they had chosen -what appeared to be a gap in the chain, and what was in fact the only -practicable passage in that vicinity. They followed the cañon of a -branch of the Yellow Stone, where it entered the mountain; but from -this point it became a torrent, and it was only by dint of incredible -exertions that they reached the summit of the ridge. Game was -exceedingly scarce in the vicinity, and they suffered extremely from -hunger, having, on more than one occasion, recourse to the parflêche -soles of their moccasins to allay its pangs. Old Bill, however, never -grumbled; he chewed away at his shoes with relish even, and as long as -he had a pipeful of tobacco in his pouch, was a happy man. Starvation -was as yet far off, for all their animals were in existence; but as -they were in a country where it was difficult to procure a remount, -each trapper hesitated to sacrifice one of his horses to his appetite. - -From the summit of the ridge, Bill recognised the country on the -opposite side to that whence they had just ascended as familiar to -him, and pronounced it to be full of beaver, as well as abounding in -the less desirable commodity of Indians. This was the valley lying -about the lakes now called Eustis and Biddle, in which are many -thermal and mineral springs, well known to the trappers by the names -of the Soda, Beer, and Brimstone Springs, and regarded by them with no -little awe and curiosity, as being the breathing-places of his Satanic -majesty—considered, moreover, to be the “biggest kind” of “medicine” -to be found in the mountains. If truth be told, old Bill hardly -relished the idea of entering this country, which he pronounced to be -of “bad medicine” notoriety, but nevertheless agreed to guide them to -the best trapping ground. - -One day they reached a creek full of beaver sign, and determined to -halt here and establish their headquarters, while they trapped in the -neighbourhood. We must here observe, that at this period—which was -one of considerable rivalry amongst the various trading companies in -the Indian territory—the Indians, having become possessed of arms -and ammunition in great quantities, had grown unusually daring and -persevering in their attacks on the white hunters who passed through -their country, and consequently the trappers were compelled to roam -about in larger bands for mutual protection, which, although it made -them less liable to open attack, yet rendered it more difficult for -them to pursue their calling without being discovered; for, where one -or two men might pass unseen, the broad trail of a large party, with -its animals, was not likely to escape the sharp eyes of the cunning -savages. - -They had scarcely encamped when the old leader, who had sallied out a -short distance from camp to reconnoitre the neighbourhood, returned -with an Indian moccasin in his hand, and informed his companions that -its late owner and others were about. - -“Do 'ee hyar now, boys, thar's _Injuns_ knocking round, and Blackfoot -at that; but thar's plenty of beaver too, and this child means -trapping any how.” - -His companions were anxious to leave such dangerous vicinity; but the -old fellow, contrary to his usual caution, determined to remain where -he was—saying that there were Indians all over the country for that -matter; and as they had determined to hunt here, he had made up his -mind too—which was conclusive, and all agreed to stop where they were, -in spite of the Indians. La Bonté killed a couple of mountain sheep -close to camp, and they feasted rarely on the fat mutton that night, -and were unmolested by marauding Blackfeet. - -The next morning, leaving two of their number in camp, they started in -parties of two, to hunt for beaver sign and set their traps. Markhead -paired with one Batiste, Killbuck and La Bonté formed another couple, -Meek and Marcellin another; two Canadians trapped together, and Bill -Williams and another remained to guard the camp: but this last, -leaving Bill mending his moccasins, started off to kill a mountain -sheep, a band of which animals was visible. - -Markhead and his companion, the first couple on the list, followed a -creek, which entered that on which they had encamped, about ten miles -distant. Beaver sign was abundant, and they had set eight traps, when -Markhead came suddenly upon fresh Indian sign, where squaws had passed -through the shrubbery on the banks of the stream to procure water, as -he knew from observing a large stone placed by them in the stream, -on which to stand to enable them to dip their kettles in the deepest -water. Beckoning to his companion to follow, and cocking his rifle, -he carefully pushed aside the bushes, and noiselessly proceeded up -the bank, when, creeping on hands and knees, he gained the top, and, -looking from his hiding-place, descried three Indian huts standing -on a little plateau near the creek. Smoke curled from the roofs of -branches, but the skin doors were carefully closed, so that he was -unable to distinguish the number of the inmates. At a little distance, -however, he observed two or three squaws gathering wood, with the -usual attendance of curs, whose acuteness in detecting the scent of -strangers was much to be dreaded. - -Markhead was a rash and daring young fellow, caring no more for -Indians than he did for prairie dogs, and acting ever on the spur -of the moment, and as his inclination dictated, regardless of -consequences. He at once determined to enter the lodges, and attack -the enemy, should any be there; and the other trapper was fain to -join him in the enterprise. The lodges proved empty, but the fires -were still burning, and meat cooking upon them, to which the hungry -hunters did ample justice, besides helping themselves to whatever -goods and chattels, in the shape of leather and moccasins, took their -fancy. - -Gathering their spoil into a bundle, they sought their horses, which -they had left tied under cover of the timber on the banks of the -creek; and, mounting, took the back trail, to pick up their traps -and remove from so dangerous a neighbourhood. They were approaching -the spot where the first trap was set, a thick growth of ash and -quaking-ash concealing the stream, when Markhead, who was riding -ahead, observed the bushes agitated, as if some animal was making its -way through them. He instantly stopped his horse, and his companion -rode to his side, to inquire the cause of this abrupt halt. They -were within a few yards of the belt of shrubs which skirted the -stream; and before Markhead had time to reply, a dozen swarthy heads -and shoulders suddenly protruded from the leafy screen, and as many -rifle-barrels and arrows were pointing at their breasts. Before the -trappers had time to turn their horses and fly, a cloud of smoke -burst from the thicket almost in their faces. Batiste, pierced with -several balls, fell dead, and Markhead felt himself severely wounded. -However, he struck the spurs into his horse; and as some half-score -Blackfeet jumped with loud cries from their cover, he discharged -his rifle amongst them, and galloped off, a volley of balls and -arrows whistling after him. He drew no bit until he reined up at the -camp-fire, where he found Bill quietly dressing a deer-skin. That -worthy looked up from his work; and seeing Markhead's face streaming -with blood, and the very unequivocal evidence of an Indian rencontre -in the shape of an arrow sticking in his back, he asked,—“Do 'ee feel -bad now, boy? Whar away you see them darned Blackfoot?” - -“Well, pull this arrow out of my back, and may be I'll feel like -telling,” answered Markhead. - -“Do 'ee hyar now! hold on till I've grained this cussed skin, will -'ee! Did 'ee ever see sich a darned pelt, now? it won't take the -smoke any how I fix it.” And Markhead was fain to wait the leisure of -the imperturbable old trapper, before he was eased of his annoying -companion. - -Old Bill expressed no surprise or grief when informed of the fate of -poor Batiste. He said it was “just like greenhorns, runnin' into them -cussed Blackfoot;” and observed that the defunct trapper, being only a -Vide-pôche, was “no account anyhow.” Presently Killbuck and La Bonté -galloped into camp, with another alarm of Indians. They had also been -attacked suddenly by a band of Blackfeet, but, being in a more open -country, had got clear off, after killing two of their assailants, -whose scalps hung at the horns of their saddles. They had been in -a different direction to that in which Markhead and his companion -had proceeded, and, from the signs they had observed, expressed -their belief that the country was alive with Indians. Neither of -these men had been wounded. Presently the two Canadians made their -appearance on the bluff, galloping with might and main to camp, and -shouting “Indians, Indians,” as they came. All being assembled, and a -council held, it was determined to abandon the camp and neighbourhood -immediately. Old Bill was already packing his animals, and as he -pounded the saddle down on the withers of his old Rosinante, he -muttered,—“Do 'ee hyar, now! this coon 'ull câche, _he_ will.” So -mounting his horse, and leading his pack mule by a lariat, he bent -over his saddle-horn, dug his ponderous rowels into the lank sides of -his beast, and, without a word, struck up the bluff and disappeared. - -The others, hastily gathering up their packs, and most of them having -lost their traps, quickly followed his example, and “put out.” On -cresting the high ground which rose from the creek, they observed -thin columns of smoke mounting into the air from many different -points, the meaning of which they were at no loss to guess. However -they were careful not to show themselves on elevated ground, keeping -as much as possible under the banks of the creek, when such a course -was practicable; but, the bluffs sometimes rising precipitously from -the water, they were more than once compelled to ascend the banks, -and continue their course along the uplands, whence they might easily -be discovered by the Indians. It was nearly sundown when they left -their camp, but they proceeded during the greater part of the night at -as rapid a rate as possible; their progress, however, being greatly -retarded as they advanced into the mountain, their route lying up -stream. Towards morning they halted for a brief space, but started -again as soon as daylight permitted them to see their way over the -broken ground. - -The creek now forced its way through a narrow cañon, the banks being -thickly clothed with a shrubbery of cottonwood and quaking-ash. The -mountain rose on each side, but not abruptly, being here and there -broken into plateaus and shelving prairies. In a very thick bottom, -sprinkled with coarse grass, they halted about noon, and removed the -saddles and packs from their wearied animals, picketing them in the -best spots of grass. - -La Bonté and Killbuck, after securing their animals, left the camp to -hunt, for they had no provisions of any kind; and a short distance -beyond it, the former came suddenly upon a recent moccasin track in -the timber. After examining it for a moment, he raised his head with -a broad grin, and, turning to his companion, pointed into the cover, -where, in the thickest part, they discerned the well-known figure of -old Bill's horse, browsing upon the cherry bushes. Pushing through the -thicket in search of the brute's master, La Bonté suddenly stopped -short as the muzzle of a rifle-barrel gaped before his eyes at the -distance of a few inches, whilst the thin voice of Bill muttered— - -“Do 'ee hyar now, I was nigh giving 'ee h——: I _was_ now. If I -didn't think 'ee was Blackfoot, I'm dogged now.” And not a little -indignant was the old fellow that his câche had been so easily, though -accidentally, discovered. However, he presently made his appearance in -camp, leading his animals, and once more joined his late companions, -not deigning to give any explanation as to why or wherefore he had -deserted them the day before, merely muttering, “do 'ee hyar now, -thar's trouble comin'.” - -The two hunters returned after sundown with a black-tailed deer; and -after eating the better part of the meat, and setting a guard, the -party were glad to roll in their blankets and enjoy the rest they -so much needed. They were undisturbed during the night; but at dawn -of day the sleepers were roused by a hundred fierce yells, from the -mountains enclosing the creek on which they had encamped. The yells -were instantly followed by a ringing volley, the bullets thudding into -the trees, and cutting the branches near them, but without causing -any mischief. Old Bill rose from his blanket and shook himself, and -exclaimed “Wagh!” as at that moment a ball plumped into the fire over -which he was standing, and knocked the ashes about in a cloud. All -the mountaineers seized their rifles and sprang to cover; but as yet -it was not sufficiently light to show them their enemy, the bright -flashes from the guns alone indicating their position. As morning -dawned, however, they saw that both sides of the cañon were occupied -by the Indians; and, from the firing, judged there must be at least a -hundred warriors engaged in the attack. Not a shot had yet been fired -by the trappers, but as the light increased, they eagerly watched -for an Indian to expose himself, and offer a mark to their trusty -rifles. La Bonté, Killbuck, and old Bill, lay a few yards distant from -each other, flat on their faces, near the edge of the thicket, their -rifles raised before them, and the barrels resting in the forks of -convenient bushes. From their place of concealment to the position of -the Indians—who, however, were scattered here and there, wherever a -rock afforded them cover—was a distance of about a hundred and fifty -yards, or within fair rifle-shot. The trappers were obliged to divide -their force, since both sides of the creek were occupied; but, such -was the nature of the ground, and the excellent cover afforded by -the rocks and boulders, and clumps of dwarf pine and hemlock, that -not a hand's-breadth of an Indian's body had yet been seen. Nearly -opposite La Bonté, a shelving glade in the mountain side ended in an -abrupt precipice, and at the very edge, and almost toppling over it, -were several boulders, just of sufficient size to afford cover to a -man's body. As this bluff overlooked the trappers' position, it was -occupied by the Indians, and every rock covered an assailant. At one -point, just over where La Bonté and Killbuck were lying, two boulders -lay together, with just sufficient interval to admit a rifle-barrel -between them, and from this breas-twork an Indian kept up a most -annoying fire. All his shots fell in dangerous propinquity to one or -other of the trappers, and already Killbuck had been grazed by one -better directed than the others. La Bonté watched for some time in -vain for a chance to answer this persevering marksman, and at length -an opportunity offered, by which he was not long in profiting. - -The Indian, as the light increased, was better able to discern his -mark, and fired, and yelled every time he did so, with redoubled -vigour. In his eagerness, and probably whilst in the act of taking -aim, he leaned too heavily against the rock which covered him, and, -detaching it from its position, down it rolled into the cañon, -exposing his body by its fall. At the same instant, a wreath of smoke -puffed from the bushes which concealed the trappers, and the crack -of La Bonté's rifle spoke the first word of reply to the Indian -challenge. A few feet behind the rock, fell the dead body of the -Indian, rolling down the steep sides of the cañon, and only stopped -by a bush at the very bottom, within a few yards of the spot where -Markhead lay concealed in some high grass. - -That daring fellow instantly jumped from his cover, and drawing his -knife, rushed to the body, and in another moment held aloft the -Indian's scalp, giving, at the same time, a triumphant whoop. A score -of rifles were levelled and discharged at the intrepid mountaineer; -but in the act many Indians incautiously exposed themselves, every -rifle in the timber cracked simultaneously, and for each report an -Indian bit the dust. - -Now, however, they changed their tactics. Finding they were unable -to drive the trappers from their position, they retired from the -mountain, and the firing suddenly ceased. In their retreat they were -forced to expose themselves, and again the whites dealt destruction -amongst them. As the Indians retired, yelling loudly, the hunters -thought they had given up the contest; but presently a cloud of smoke -rising from the bottom immediately below them, at once discovered -the nature of their plans. A brisk wind was blowing up the cañon; -and, favoured by it, they fired the brush on the banks of the stream, -knowing that before this the hunters must speedily retreat. - -Against such a result, but for the gale of wind which drove the fire -roaring before it, they could have provided—for your mountaineer never -fails to find resources on a pinch. They would have fired the brush -to leeward of their position, and also carefully ignited that to -windward, or between them and the advancing flame, extinguishing it -immediately when a sufficient space had thus been cleared, over which -the flame could not leap, and thus cutting themselves off from it both -above and below their position. In the present instance they could not -profit by such a course, as the wind was so strong that, if once the -bottom caught fire, they would not be able to extinguish it; besides -which, in the attempt, they would so expose themselves that they would -be picked off by the Indians without difficulty. As it was, the fire -came roaring before the wind with the speed of a race-horse, and, -spreading from the bottom, licked the mountain sides, the dry grass -burning like tinder. Huge volumes of stifling smoke rolled before it, -and, in a very few minutes, the trappers were hastily mounting their -animals, driving the packed ones before them. The dense clouds of -smoke concealed every thing from their view, and, to avoid this, they -broke from the creek and galloped up the sides of the cañon on to the -more level plateau. As they attained this, a band of mounted Indians -charged them. One, waving a red blanket, dashed through the cavallada, -and was instantly followed by all the loose animals of the trappers, -the rest of the Indians pursuing with loud shouts. So sudden was the -charge, that the whites had not power to prevent the stampede. Old -Bill, as usual, led his pack mules by the lariat; but the animals, -mad with terror at the shouts of the Indians, broke from him, nearly -pulling him out of his seat at the same time. - -To cover the retreat of the others with their prey, a band of mounted -Indians now appeared, threatening an attack in front, whilst their -first assailants, rushing from the bottom, at least a hundred strong, -assaulted in rear. “Do 'ee hyar, boys!” shouted old Bill, “break, or -you'll go under. This child's goin' to câche!” and saying the word, -off he went. _Sauve-qui-peut_ was the order of the day, and not a -moment too soon, for overwhelming numbers were charging upon them, and -the mountain resounded with savage yells. La Bonté and Killbuck stuck -together: they saw old Bill, bending over his saddle, dive right into -the cloud of smoke, and apparently make for the creek bottom—their -other companions scattering each on his own hook, and saw no more -of them for many a month; and thus was one of the most daring and -successful bands broken up that ever trapped in the mountains of the -Far West. - -It is painful to follow the steps of the poor fellows who, thus -despoiled of the hardly-earned produce of their hunt, saw all their -wealth torn from them at one swoop. The two Canadians were killed upon -the night succeeding that of the attack. Worn with fatigue, hungry and -cold, they had built a fire in what they thought was a secure retreat, -and, rolled in their blankets, were soon buried in a sleep from which -they never awoke. An Indian boy tracked them, and watched their camp. -Burning with the idea of signalising himself thus early, he awaited -his opportunity, and noiselessly approaching their resting-place, -shot them both with arrows, and returned in triumph to his people with -their horses and scalps. - -La Bonté and Killbuck sought a passage in the mountain by which -to cross over to the head waters of the Columbia, and there fall -in with some of the traders or trappers of the North-west. They -became involved in the mountains, in a part where was no game of any -description, and no pasture for their miserable animals. One of these -they killed for food; the other, a bag of bones, died from sheer -starvation. They had very little ammunition, their moccasins were worn -out, and they were unable to procure skins to supply themselves with -fresh ones. Winter was fast approaching; the snow already covered the -mountains; and storms of sleet and hail poured incessantly through -the valleys, benumbing their exhausted limbs, hardly protected by -scanty and ragged covering. To add to their miseries, poor Killbuck -was taken ill. He had been wounded in the groin by a bullet some time -before, and the ball still remained. The wound, aggravated by walking -and the excessive cold, assumed an ugly appearance, and soon rendered -him incapable of sustained exertion, all motion even being attended -with intolerable pain. La Bonté had made a shanty for his suffering -companion, and spread a soft bed of pine branches for him, by the -side of a small creek at the point where it came out of the mountain -and followed its course through a little prairie. They had been three -days without other food than a piece of parflêche, which had formed -the back of La Bonté's bullet-pouch, and which, after soaking in -the creek, they eagerly devoured. Killbuck was unable to move, and -sinking fast from exhaustion. His companion had hunted from morning -till night, as well as his failing strength would allow him, but had -not seen the traces of any kind of game, with the exception of some -old buffalo tracks, made apparently months before by a band of bulls -crossing the mountain. - -The morning of the fourth day La Bonté, as usual, rose at daybreak -from his blanket, and was proceeding to collect wood for the fire -during his absence while hunting, when Killbuck called to him, and in -an almost inarticulate voice desired him to seat himself by his side. - -“Boy,” he said, “this old hos feels like goin' under, and that afore -long. You're stout yet, and if thar was meat handy, you'd come round -slick. Now, boy, I'll be under, as I said, afore many hours, and if -you don't raise meat you'll be in the same fix. I never eat dead -meat[26] myself, and wouldn't ask no one to do it neither; but meat -fair killed is meat any way; so, boy, put your knife in this old -niggur's lights, and help yourself. It's 'poor bull,' I know, but -maybe it'll do to keep life in; and along the fleece thar's meat yet, -and maybe my old hump ribs has picking on 'em.” - -“You're a good old hos,” answered La Bonté, “but this child ain't -turned niggur yet.” - -Killbuck then begged his companion to leave him to his fate, and -strive himself to reach game; but this alternative La Bonté likewise -generously refused, and faintly endeavouring to cheer the sick man, -left him once again to look for game. He was so weak that he felt -difficulty in supporting himself, and knowing how futile would be his -attempts to hunt, he sallied from the camp convinced that a few hours -more would see the last of him. - -He had scarcely raised his eyes, when, hardly crediting his senses, -he saw within a few hundred yards of him an old bull, worn with age, -lying on the prairie. Two wolves were seated on their haunches before -him, their tongues lolling from their mouths, whilst the buffalo -was impotently rolling his ponderous head from side to side, his -blood-shot eyes glaring fiercely at his tormentors, and flakes of -foam, mixed with blood, dropping from his mouth over his long shaggy -beard. La Bonté was transfixed; he scarcely dared to breathe, lest the -animal should be alarmed and escape. Weak as it was, he could hardly -have followed it, and, knowing that his own and companion's life hung -upon the success of his shot, he scarcely had strength to raise his -rifle. By dint of extraordinary exertions and precautions, which were -totally unnecessary, for the poor old bull had not a move in him, the -hunter approached within shot. Lying upon the ground, he took a long -steady aim, and fired. The buffalo raised its matted head, tossed it -wildly for an instant, and, stretching out its limbs convulsively, -turned over on its side and was dead. - -Killbuck heard the shot, and crawling from under the little shanty -which covered his bed, saw, to his astonishment, La Bonté in the act -of butchering a buffalo within two hundred yards of camp. “Hurraw for -you!” he faintly exclaimed; and exhausted by the exertion he had used, -and perhaps by the excitement of an anticipated feast, fell back and -fainted. - -However, the killing was the easiest matter, for when the huge carcass -lay dead upon the ground, our hunter had hardly strength to drive the -blade of his knife through the tough hide of the old patriarch. Then -having cut off as much of the meat as he could carry, eating the while -sundry portions of the liver, which he dipped in the gall-bladder by -way of relish, La Bonté cast a wistful look upon the half-starved -wolves, who now loped round and round, licking their chops, only -waiting until his back was turned to fall to with appetite equal to -his own, and capabilities of swallowing and digesting far superior. La -Bonté looked at the buffalo and then at the wolves, levelled his rifle -and shot one dead, at which the survivor scampered off without delay. - -Arrived at camp, packing in a tolerable load of the best part of the -animal—for hunger lent him strength—he found poor Killbuck lying on -his back, deaf to time, and to all appearance gone under. Having no -salvolatile or vinaigrette at hand, La Bonté flapped a lump of raw -fleece into his patient's face, and this instantly revived him. Then -taking the sick man's shoulder, he raised him tenderly into a sitting -posture, and invited, in kindly accents, “the old hos to feed,” -thrusting at the same time a tolerable slice of liver into his hand, -which the patient looked at wistfully and vaguely for a few short -moments, and then greedily devoured. It was nightfall by the time that -La Bonté, assisted by many intervals of hard eating, packed in the -last of the meat, which formed a goodly pile around the fire. - -“Poor bull” it was in all conscience: the labour of chewing a mouthful -of the “tender loin” was equal to a hard day's hunt; but to them, -poor starved fellows, it appeared the richest of meat. They still -preserved a small tin pot, and in this, by stress of eternal boiling, -La Bonté contrived to make some strong soup, which soon restored his -sick companion to marching order. For himself, as soon as a good meal -had filled him, he was strong as ever, and employed himself in drying -the remainder of the meat for future use. Even the wolf, bony as he -was, was converted into meat, and rationed them several days. Winter, -however, had set in with such severity, and Killbuck was still so -weak, that La Bonté determined to remain in his present position -until spring, as he now found that buffalo frequently visited the -valley, as it was more bare of snow than the lowlands, and afforded -them better pasture; and one morning he had the satisfaction of seeing -a band of seventeen bulls within long rifle-shot of the camp, out of -which four of the fattest were soon laid low by his rifle. - -They still had hard times before them, for towards spring the buffalo -again disappeared; the greater part of their meat had been spoiled, -owing to there not being sufficient sun to dry it thoroughly; and -when they resumed their journey they had nothing to carry with them, -and had a desert before them without game of any kind. We pass over -what they suffered. Hunger and thirst were their portion, and Indians -assaulted them at times, and many miraculous and hair-breadth escapes -they had from these enemies. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - - -The trail to Oregon, followed by traders and emigrants, crosses the -Rocky Mountains at a point known as the South Pass, where a break in -the chain occurs of such moderate and gradual elevation, as to permit -the passage of waggons with tolerable facility. The Sweet Water Valley -runs nearly to the point where the dividing ridge of the Pacific and -Atlantic waters throws off its streams to their respective oceans. At -one end of this valley, and situated on the right bank of the Sweet -Water, a huge isolated mass of granitic rock rises to the height of -three hundred feet, abruptly from the plain. On the smooth and scarped -surface presented by one of its sides, are rudely carved the names and -initials of traders, trappers, travellers, and emigrants, who have -here recorded the memorial of their sojourn in the remote wilderness -of the Far West. The face of the rock is covered with names familiar -to the mountaineers as those of the most renowned of their hardy -brotherhood; while others again occur, better known to the science -and literature of the Old World than to the unlearned trappers of -the Rocky Mountains. The huge mass is a well-known landmark to the -Indians and mountaineers; and travellers and emigrants hail it as the -half-way beacon between the frontiers of the United States and the -still distant goal of their long and perilous journey. - -It was a hot sultry day in July. Not a breath of air relieved the -intense and oppressive heat of the atmosphere, unusual here, where -pleasant summer breezes, and sometimes stronger gales, blow over -the elevated plains with the regularity of trade-winds. The sun, -at its meridian height, struck the dry sandy plain and parched the -drooping buffalo-grass on its surface, and its rays, refracted and -reverberating from the heated ground, distorted every object seen -through its lurid medium. Straggling antelope, leisurely crossing -the adjoining prairie, appeared to be gracefully moving in mid-air; -whilst a scattered band of buffalo bulls loomed huge and indistinct -in the vapoury distance. In the timbered valley of the river, deer -and elk were standing motionless in the water, under the shade of -the overhanging cottonwoods, seeking a respite from the persevering -attacks of swarms of horse-flies and musquitos; and now and then a -heavy splash was heard, as they tossed their antlered heads into the -stream, to free them from the venomous insects that buzzed incessantly -about them. In the sandy prairie, beetles of an enormous size were -rolling in every direction huge balls of earth, pushing them with -their hind legs with comical perseverance; cameleons darted about, -assimilating the hue of their grotesque bodies with the colour of -the sand: groups of prairie-dog houses were seen, each with its -inmate barking lustily on the roof; whilst under cover of nearly -every bush of sage or cactus a rattlesnake lay glittering in lazy -coil. Tantalising the parched sight, the neighbouring peaks of the -lofty Wind River Mountains glittered in a mantle of sparkling snow, -whilst Sweet Water Mountain, capped in cloud, looked gray and cool, -in striking contrast to the burned up plains which lay basking at its -foot. - -Resting their backs against the rock (on which, we have said, are -_now_ carved the names of many travellers), and defended from the -powerful rays of the sun by its precipitous sides, two white men -quietly slept. They were gaunt and lantern-jawed, and clothed in -tattered buckskin. Each held a rifle across his knees, but—strange -sight in this country—one had its pan thrown open, which was -rust-eaten and contained no priming; the other's hammer was without -a flint. Their faces were as if covered with mahogany-coloured -parchment; their eyes were sunken; and as their jaws fell listlessly -on their breasts, their cheeks were hollow, with the bones nearly -protruding from the skin. One was in the prime of manhood, with -handsome features; the other, considerably past middle age, was stark -and stern. Months of dire privation had brought them to this pass. The -elder of the two was Killbuck, of mountain fame; the other was hight -La Bonté. - -The former opened his eyes, and saw the buffalo feeding on the plain. -“Ho, boy,” he said, touching his companion, “thar's meat a-runnin.” - -La Bonté looked in the direction the other pointed, stood up, and -hitching round his pouch and powder-horn, drew the stopper from the -latter with his teeth, and placing the mouth in the palm of his left -hand, turned the horn up and shook it. - -“Not a grain,” he said—“not a grain, old hos.” - -“Wagh!” exclaimed the other, “we'll have to eat afore long,” and -rising, walked into the prairie. He had hardly stepped two paces, -when, passing close to a sage bush, a rattlesnake whizzed a note of -warning with its tail. Killbuck grinned, and taking the wiping-stick -from his rifle-barrel, tapped the snake on the head, and, taking it by -the tail, threw it to La Bonté, saying, “hyar's meat, any how.” The -old fellow followed up his success by slaying half-a-dozen more, and -brought them in skewered through the head on his wiping-stick. A fire -was soon kindled, and the snakes roasting before it; when La Bonté, -who sat looking at the buffalo which fed close to the rock, suddenly -saw them raise their heads, snuff the air, and scamper towards him. A -few minutes afterwards a huge shapeless body loomed in the refracted -air, approaching the spot where the buffalo had been grazing The -hunters looked at it and then at each other, and ejaculated “Wagh!” -Presently a long white mass showed more distinctly, followed by -another, and before each was a string of animals. - -“Waggons, by hos and beaver! Hurrah for Conostoga!” exclaimed the -trappers in a breath, as they now observed two white-tilted waggons, -drawn by several pairs of mules, approaching the very spot where they -sat. Several mounted men were riding about the waggons, and two on -horseback, in advance of all, were approaching the rock, when they -observed the smoke curling from the hunters' fire. They halted at -sight of this, and one of the two, drawing a long instrument from a -case, which Killbuck voted a rifle, directed it towards them for a -moment, and then, lowering it, again moved forward. - -As they drew near, the two poor trappers, although half-dead with -joy, still retained their seats with Indian gravity and immobility of -feature, turning now and then the crackling snakes which lay on the -embers of the fire. The two strangers approached. One, a man of some -fifty years of age, of middle height and stoutly built, was clad in -a white shooting-jacket, of cut unknown in mountain tailoring, and a -pair of trousers of the well-known material called “shepherd's plaid;” -a broad-brimmed Panama shaded his face, which was ruddy with health -and exercise; a belt round the waist supported a handsome bowie-knife, -and a double-barrelled fowling-piece was _slung_ across his shoulder. - -His companion was likewise dressed in a light shooting-jacket, of -many pockets and dandy cut, rode on an English saddle and in _boots_, -and was armed with a superb double rifle, glossy from the case, and -bearing few marks of use or service. He was a tall, fine-looking -fellow of thirty, with light hair and complexion; a scrupulous beard -and mustache; a wide-awake hat, with a short pipe stuck in the band, -not very black with smoke; an elaborate powder-horn over his shoulder, -with a Cairngorm in the butt as large as a plate; a blue handkerchief -tied round his throat in a sailor's knot, and the collar of his shirt -turned carefully over it. He had, moreover, a tolerable idea of his -very correct appearance, and wore Woodstock gloves. - -The trappers looked at them from head to foot, and the more they -looked, the less could they make them out. - -“H—!” exclaimed La Bonté emphatically. - -“This beats grainin' bull-hide slick,” broke from Killbuck as the -strangers reined up at the fire, the younger dismounting, and staring -with wonder at the weather-beaten trappers. - -“Well, my men, how are you?” he rattled out. “Any game here? By Jove!” -he suddenly exclaimed, seizing his rifle, as at that moment a large -buzzard, the most unclean of birds, flew into the topmost branch of a -cottonwood, and sat, a tempting shot. “By Jove, there's a chance!” -cried the mighty hunter; and, bending low, started off to approach the -unwary bird in the most approved fashion of northern deer-stalkers. -The buzzard sat quietly, and now and then stretched its neck to gaze -upon the advancing sportsman, who on such occasions threw himself flat -on the ground, and remained motionless, in dread of alarming the bird. -It was worth while to look at the countenance of old Killbuck, as he -watched the antics of the “bourgeois” hunter. He thought at first that -the dandy rifleman had really discovered game in the bottom, and was -nothing loth that there was a chance of his seeing meat; but when he -understood the object of such manœuvres, and saw the quarry the hunter -was so carefully approaching, his mouth grinned from ear to ear, and, -turning to La Bonté, he said, “Wagh! _he's_ some—_he_ is!” - -Nothing doubting, however, the stranger approached the tree on which -the bird was sitting, and, getting well under it, raised his rifle and -fired. Down tumbled the bird; and the successful hunter, with a loud -shout, rushed frantically towards it, and bore it in triumph to the -camp, earning the most sovereign contempt from the two trappers by the -achievement. - -The other stranger was a quieter character. He, too, smiled as he -witnessed the exultation of his younger companion, (whose horse, by -the way, was scampering about the plain), and spoke kindly to the -mountaineers, whose appearance was clear evidence of the sufferings -they had endured. The snakes by this time were cooked, and the -trappers gave their new acquaintances the never-failing invitation to -“sit and eat.” When the latter, however, understood what the viands -were, their looks expressed the horror and disgust they felt. - -“Good God!” exclaimed the elder, “you surely cannot eat such -disgusting food?” - -“This niggur doesn't savy what disgustin is,” gruffly answered -Killbuck; “but them as carries empty paunch three days an' more, is -glad to get 'snake-meat,' I'm thinkin.” - -“What! you've no ammunition, then?” - -“_Well_, we haven't.” - -“Wait till the waggons come up, and throw away that abominable stuff, -and you shall have something better, I promise,” said the elder of the -strangers. - -“Yes,” continued the younger, “some hot preserved soup, hotch-potch, -and a glass of porter, will do you good.” - -The trappers looked at the speaker, who was talking Greek (to them). -They thought the bourgeois were making fun, and did not half like it, -so answered simply, “Wagh! h—'s full of hosh-posh and porter.” - -Two large waggons presently came up, escorted by some eight or ten -stout Missourians. Sublette was amongst the number, well known as a -mountain trader, and under whose guidance the present party, which -formed a pleasure expedition at the expense of a Scotch sportsman, -was leisurely making its way across the mountains to the Columbia. As -several mountaineers were in company, Killbuck and La Bonté recognised -more than one friend, and the former and Sublette were old compañeros. -As soon as the animals were unhitched, and camp formed on the banks of -the creek, a black cook set about preparing a meal. Our two trapping -friends looked on with astonishment as the sable functionary drew -from the waggon the different articles he required to furnish forth a -feed. Hams, tongues, tins of preserved meats, bottles of pickles, of -porter, brandy, coffee, sugar, flour, were tumbled promiscuously on -the prairie; whilst pots and pans, knives, forks, spoons, plates, &c. -&c., displayed their unfamiliar faces to the mountaineers. “Hosh-posh -and porter” did not now appear such Utopian articles as they had first -imagined; but no one but those who have fared for years on simple meat -and water, can understand the relish with which they accepted the -invitation of the Capen (as they called the Scotchman) to “take a horn -of liquor.” Killbuck and La Bonté sat in the same position as when we -first surprised them asleep under the shadow of Independence Rock, -regarding the profuse display of comestibles with scarce-believing -eyes, and childishly helpless from the novelty of the scene. Each -took the proffered half-pint cup, filled to the brim with excellent -brandy—(no tee-totallers they!)—looked once at the amber-coloured -surface, and with the usual mountain pledge of “here's luck!” tossed -off the grateful liquour at a breath. This prepared them in some -measure for what was yet in store for them. The Scotchman bestirred -the cook in his work, and soon sundry steaming pots were lifted from -the fire, and the skillets emptied of their bread—the contents of the -former poured in large flat pans, while panikins were filled with -smoking coffee. The two trappers needed no second invitation, but, -seizing each a panful of steaming stew, drew the butcher-knives from -their belts, and fell to lustily—the hospitable Scotchman plying them -with more and more, and administering corrective noggins of brandy the -while; until at last they were fain to cry enough, wiped their knives -on the grass, and placed them in their sheaths—a sign that human -nature could no more. How can pen describe the luxury of the smoke -that followed, to lips which had not kissed pipe for many months, and -how the fragrant honey-dew from Old Virginia was relishingly puffed. - -But the Scotchman's bounty did not stop here. He soon elicited from -the lips of the hunters the narrative of their losses and privations, -and learned that they now, without ammunition and scarcely clothed, -were on their way to Platte Fort, to hire themselves to the Indian -traders in order to earn another outfit, wherewith once more to betake -themselves to their perilous employment of trapping. What was their -astonishment to see their entertainer presently lay out upon the -ground two piles of goods, each consisting of a four-point Mackinaw, -two tin canisters of powder, with corresponding lead and flints, a -pair of moccasins, a shirt, and sufficient buckskin to make a pair of -pantaloons; and how much the more was the wonder increased when two -excellent Indian horses were presently lassoed from the cavallada, and -with mountain saddle, bridle, and lariats complete, together with the -two piles of goods described, presented to them “on the prairie” or -“gift-free,” by the kind-hearted stranger, who would not even listen -to thanks for the most timely and invaluable present. - -Once more equipped, our two hunters, filled with good brandy and fat -buffalo meat, again wended on their way; their late entertainers -continuing their pleasure trip across the gap of the South Pass, -intending to visit the Great Salt Lake, or Timponogos, of the West. -The former were bound for the North Fork of the Platte, with the -intention of joining one of the numerous trapping parties which -rendezvous at the American Fur Company's post on that branch of the -river. On a fork of Sweet Water, however, not two days after the -meeting with the Scotchman's waggons, they encountered a band of -a dozen mountaineers, mounted on fine horses, and well armed and -equipped, travelling along without the usual accompaniment of a -mulada of pack-animals, two or three mules alone being packed with -meat and spare ammunition. The band was proceeding at a smart rate, -the horses moving with the gait peculiar to American animals, known -as “_pacing_” or “_racking_,” in Indian file—each of the mountaineers -with a long heavy rifle resting across the horn of his saddle. Amongst -them our two friends recognised Markhead, who had been of the party -dispersed months before by the Blackfeet on one of the head streams -of the Yellow Stone, which event had been the origin of the dire -sufferings of Killbuck and La Bonté. Markhead, after running the -gauntlet of numerous Indians, through the midst of whose country -he passed with his usual temerity and utter disregard to danger, -suffering hunger, thirst, and cold—those every-day experiences of -mountain life—riddled with balls, but with three scalps hanging from -his belt, made his way to a rendezvous on Bear River, whence he struck -out for the Platte in early spring, in time to join the band he now -accompanied, who were on a horse-stealing expedition to the Missions -of Upper California. Little persuasion did either Killbuck or La Bonté -require to join the sturdy freebooters. In five minutes they had gone -“files-about,” and at sundown were camping on the well-timbered bottom -of “Little Sandy,” feasting once more on delicate hump-rib and tender -loin. - -For California, ho! - -Fourteen good rifles in the hands of fourteen mountain men, stout -and true, on fourteen strong horses, of true Indian blood and -training—fourteen cool heads, with fourteen pairs of keen eyes in -them, each head crafty as an Indian's, directing a right arm strong as -steel, and a heart as brave as grizzly bear's. Before them a thousand -miles of dreary desert or wilderness, overrun by hostile savages, -thirsting for the white man's blood; famine and drought, the arrows of -wily hordes of Indians—and, these dangers past, the invasion of the -civilised settlements of whites, the least numerous of which contained -ten times their number of armed and bitter enemies,—the sudden swoop -upon their countless herds of mules and horses, the fierce attack -and bloody slaughter;—such were the consequences of the expedition -these bold mountaineers were now engaged in. Fourteen lives of any -fourteen enemies who would be rash enough to stay them, were, any day -you will, carried in the rifle barrels of these stout fellows; who, -in all the proud consciousness of their physical qualities, neither -thought, nor cared to think, of future perils; and rode merrily on -their way, rejoicing in the dangers they must necessarily meet. Never -a more daring band crossed the mountains; a more than ordinary want -of caution characterised their march, and dangers were recklessly -and needlessly invited, which even the older and more cold-blooded -mountaineers seemed not to care to avoid. They had, each and all, many -a debt to pay the marauding Indians. Grudges for many privations, -for wounds and loss of comrades, rankled in their breasts; and not -one but had suffered more or less in property and person at the hands -of the savages, within a few short months. Threats of vengeance on -every Redskin they met were loud and deep; and the wild war-songs -round their nightly camp-fires, and grotesque scalp-dances, borrowed -from the Indians, proved to the initiated that they were, one and all, -“half-froze for hair.” Soon after Killbuck and La Bonté joined them, -they one day suddenly surprised a band of twenty Sioux, scattered on -a small prairie and butchering some buffalo they had just killed. -Before they could escape, the whites were upon them with loud shouts, -and in three minutes the scalps of eleven were dangling from their -saddle-horns. - -Struggling up mountains, slipping down precipices, dashing over -prairies which resounded with their Indian songs, charging the -Indians wherever they met them, and without regard to their numbers; -frightening with their lusty war-whoops the miserable Diggers, who -were not unfrequently surprised while gathering roots in the mountain -plains, and who, scrambling up the rocks and concealing themselves, -like sage rabbits, in holes and corners, peered, chattering with -fear, as the wild and noisy troop rode by:—scarce drawing rein, -they passed rapidly the heads of Green and Grand Rivers, through a -country abounding in game and in excellent pasture; encountering in -the upland valleys, through which meandered the well-timbered creeks -on which they made their daily camps, many a band of Yutas, through -whom they dashed at random, caring not whether they were friends or -foes. Passing many other heads of streams, they struck at last the -edge of the desert, lying along the south-eastern base of the Great -Salt Lake, and which extends in almost unbroken sterility to the -foot of the range of the Sierra Nevada—a mountain chain, capped with -perpetual snow, that bounds the northern extremity of a singular -tract of country, walled by mountains and utterly desert, whose salt -lagoons and lakes, although fed by many streams, find no outlet to -the ocean, but are absorbed in the spongy soil or thirsty sand, which -characterise the different portions of this deserted tract. In the -“Grand Basin,” it is reported, neither human nor animal life can be -supported. No oases cheer the wanderer in the unbroken solitude of -the vast wilderness. More than once the lone trapper has penetrated, -with hardy enterprise, into the salt plains of the basin; but no signs -of beaver or fur-bearing animal rewarded the attempt. The ground -is scantily covered with coarse unwholesome grass that mules and -horses refuse to eat; and the water of the springs, impregnated with -the impurities of the soil through which it percolates, affords but -nauseating draughts to the thirsty traveller. - -In passing from the more fertile uplands to the lower plains, as they -descended the streams, the timber on their banks became scarcer, -and the groves more scattered. The rich buffalo or _grama_ grass was -exchanged for a coarser species, on which the hard-worked animals soon -grew poor and weak. The thickets of plum and cherry, of boxalder and -quaking ash, which had hitherto fringed the creeks, and where the deer -and bear loved to resort—the former to browse on the leaves and tender -shoots, the latter to devour the fruit—now entirely disappeared, -and the only shrub seen was the eternal sage-bush, which flourishes -every where in the western regions in uncongenial soils where other -vegetation refuses to grow. The visible change in the scenery had also -a sensible effect on the spirits of the mountaineers. They travelled -on in silence through the deserted plains; the hi-hi-hiya of their -Indian chants was no longer heard enlivening the line of march. More -than once a Digger of the Piyutah tribe took himself and hair, in -safety, from their path, and almost unnoticed; but as they advanced -they became more cautious in their movements, and testified, by the -vigilant watch they kept, that they anticipated hostile attacks even -in these arid wastes. They had passed without molestation through -the country infested by the bolder Indians. The mountain Yutas, not -relishing the appearance of the hunters, had left them unmolested; -but they were now entering a country inhabited by the most degraded -and abject of the western tribes; who, nevertheless, ever suffering -from the extremities of hunger, have their brutish wits sharpened -by the necessity of procuring food, and rarely fail to levy a -contribution of rations, of horse or mule flesh, on the passenger in -their inhospitable country. The brutish cunning and animal instinct of -these wretches is such, that although arrant cowards, their attacks -are more feared than those of bolder Indians. These people-called -the Yamparicas or Root-Diggers—are, nevertheless, the degenerate -descendants of those tribes which once overran that portion of the -continent of North America now comprehended within the boundaries of -Mexico, and who have left such startling evidences in their track of a -comparatively superior state of civilisation. They now form an outcast -tribe of the great nation of the Apache, which extends under various -names from the Great Salt Lake along the table-lands on each side the -Sierra Madre to the tropic of Cancer, where they merge into what are -called the Mexican Indians. The whole of this nation is characterised -by most abject cowardice; and they even refuse to meet the helpless -Mexicans in open fight—unlike the Yuta or Camanche, who carry bold and -open warfare into the territories of their civilised enemy, and never -shrink from hand to hand encounter. The Apaches and the degenerate -Diggers pursue a cowardly warfare, hiding in ambush, and shooting the -passer-by with arrows; or, dashing upon him at night when steeped in -sleep, they bury their arrow to the feather in his heaving breast. As -the Mexicans say, “_Sin ventaja, no salen_;” they never attack without -odds. But they are not the less dangerous enemies on this account; and -by the small bands of trappers who visit their country, they are the -more dreaded by reason of this cowardly and wolfish system of warfare. - -To provide against surprise, therefore, as the hunters rode along, -flankers were extended _en guerilla_ on each side, mounting the high -points to reconnoitre the country, and keeping a sharp look-out -for Indian sign. At night the animals were securely hobbled, and -a horse-guard posted round them—a service of great danger, as the -stealthy cat-like Diggers are often known to steal up silently, under -cover of the darkness, towards the sentinel, shoot him with their -arrows, and approaching the animals, cut the hobbles and drive them -away unseen. - -One night they encamped on a creek where was but little of the -coarsest pasture, and that little scattered here and there; so that -they were compelled to allow their animals to roam farther than usual -from camp in search of food. Four of the hunters, however, accompanied -them to guard against surprise; whilst but half of those in camp lay -down to sleep, the others, with rifles in their hands, remaining -prepared for any emergency. This day they had killed one of their two -pack-mules for food, game not having been met with for several days; -but the animal was so poor, that it scarcely afforded more than one -tolerable meal to the whole party. - -A short time before the dawn of day an alarm was given; the animals -were heard to snort violently; a loud shout was heard, followed by -the sharp crack of a rifle, and the tramp of galloping horses plainly -showed that a stampede had been effected. The whites instantly sprang -to their arms, and rushed in the direction of the sounds. The body -of the cavallada, however, had luckily turned, and, being headed by -the mountaineers, were surrounded and secured, with the loss of only -three, which had probably been mounted by the Indians. - -Day breaking soon after, one of their band was discovered to be -missing; and it was then found that a man who had been standing -horse-guard at the time of the attack, had not come into camp with -his companions. At that moment a thin spiral column of smoke was seen -to rise from the banks of the creek, telling but too surely the fate -of the missing mountaineer. It was the signal of the Indians to their -people that a “_coup_” had been struck, and that an enemy's scalp -remained in their triumphant hands. - -“H——!” exclaimed the trappers in a breath; and soon imprecations and -threats of revenge, loud and deep, were showered upon the heads of the -treacherous Indians. Some of the party rushed to the spot where the -guard had stood, and there lay the body of their comrade, pierced -with lance and arrow, the scalp gone, and the body otherwise mutilated -in a barbarous manner. Five were quickly in the saddle, mounted upon -the strongest horses, and flying along the track of the Indians, who -had made off towards the mountains with their prize and booty. We will -not follow them in their work of bloody vengeance, save by saying that -they followed the savages to their village, into which they charged -headlong, recovered their stolen horses, and returned to camp at -sundown with thirteen scalps dangling from their rifles, in payment -for the loss of their unfortunate companion.[27] - -In their further advance, hunger and thirst were their daily -companions; they were compelled to kill several of their animals for -food, but were fortunate enough to replace them by a stroke of good -luck in meeting a party of Indians returning from an excursion against -one of the Californian settlements with a tolerably large band of -horses. Our hunters met this band one fine morning, and dashed into -the midst at once; half a dozen Indians bit the dust, and twenty -horses were turned over from red to white masters in as many seconds, -which remounted those whose animals had been eaten, and enabled -the others to exchange their worn-out steeds for fresh ones. This -fortunate event was considered a _coup_, and the event was celebrated -by the slaughter of a fat young horse, which furnished an excellent -supper that night—a memorable event in these starveling regions. - -They were now devouring their horses and mules at the rate of one -every alternate day; for, so poor were the animals, that one scarcely -furnished an ample meal for the thirteen hungry hunters. They were -once more reduced to the animals they rode on; and after a fast of -twenty-four hours' duration, were debating on the propriety of drawing -lots as to whose Rosinante should fill the kettle, when some Indians -suddenly appeared making signs of peace upon the bluff, and indicating -a disposition to enter the camp for the purpose of trading. Being -invited to approach, they offered to trade a few dressed elk-skins; -but being asked for meat, they said that their village was a long -way off, and they had nothing with them but a small portion of some -game they had lately killed. When requested to produce this, they -hesitated, but the trappers looking hungry and angry at the same -moment, an old Indian drew from under his blanket several flaps of -portable dried meat, which he declared was bear's. It was but a small -ration amongst so many; but, being divided, was quickly laid upon -the fire to broil. The meat was stringy, and of whitish colour, -altogether unlike any flesh the trappers had before eaten. Killbuck -was the first to discover this. He had been quietly masticating the -last mouthful of his portion, the stringiness of which required more -than usual dental exertion, when the novelty of the flavour struck him -as something singular. Suddenly his jaws ceased their work, he thought -a moment, took the morsel from his mouth, looked at it intently, and -dashed it into the fire. - -“Man-meat, by G—!” he cried out; and at the words every jaw stopped -work: the trappers looked at the meat and each other. - -“I'm dog-gone if it ain't!” cried old Walker, looking at his piece, -“and white meat at that, wagh!” (and report said it was not the first -time he had tasted such viands;) and the conviction seizing each mind, -every mouthful was quickly spat into the fire, and the ire of the -deceived whites was instantly turned upon the luckless providers of -the feast. They saw the storm that was brewing, and without more ado -turned tail from the camp, and scuttled up the bluffs, where, turning -round, they fired a volley of arrows at the tricked mountaineers, and -instantly disappeared. - -However, the desert and its nomade pilferers were at length passed; -the sandy plains became grass-covered prairies; the monstrous -cottonwood on the creeks was replaced by oak and ash; the surface of -the country grew more undulating, and less broken up into cañons and -ravines; elk and deer leaped in the bottoms, and bands of antelope -dotted the plains, with occasional troops of wild horses, too wary to -allow the approach of man. On the banks of a picturesque stream called -the San Joaquim, the party halted a few days to recruit themselves and -animals, feasting the while on the fattest of venison and other game. -They then struck to the south-east for two days, until they reached a -branch of the “Las Animas,” a clear stream running through a pretty -valley, well timbered and abounding in game. Here, as they wound along -the river-banks, a horseman suddenly appeared upon the bluff above -them, galloping at a furious rate along the edge. His dress approached -in some degree to civilised attire. A broad-brimmed sombrero -surmounted his swarthy face; a coloured blanket, through a slit in -which his head was thrust, floated in the air from his shoulders; -leathern leggings encased his lower limbs; and huge spurs jingled on -his heels. He rode in a high-peaked Mexican saddle, his feet thrust -in ponderous stirrups, and in his hand swung a coil of ready lasso, -his only offensive arm. One of the trappers knew a little Spanish, and -instantly hailed him. - -“_Compadre_,” he shouted, “_por onde va?_” The Californian reined in -suddenly, throwing the horse he rode on its very haunches, and darting -down the bluff, galloped unhesitatingly into the midst of the hunters. - -“_Americanos!_” he exclaimed, glancing at them; and continued, -smiling—“_Y caballos quieren, por eso vienen tan lejitos. Jesus, que -mala gente!_”—“It's horses you want, and for this you come all this -way. Ah, what rogues you are!” - -He was an Indian, employed at the mission of San Fernando, distant -three days' journey from their present position, and was now searching -for a band of horses and mules which had strayed. San Fernando, -it appeared, had once before been visited by a party of mountain -free-booters, and the Indian therefore divined the object of the -present one. He was, he told them, “_un Indio, pero mansito_:” an -Indian, but a tame one;[28] “_de mas, Christiano_:” a Christian -moreover (exhibiting a small cross which hung round his neck). -There were many people about the mission, he said, who knew how to -fight, and had plenty of arms; and there were enough to “eat up” -the “_Americanos, sin frijoles_,” without beans, as he facetiously -observed. For his part, however, he was very friendly to the -_Americanos_; he had once met a man of that nation who was a good -sort of fellow, and had made him a present of tobacco, of which he -was particularly fond. Finding this hint did not take, he said that -the horses and mules belonging to the mission were innumerable—“like -that,” he added, sweeping his hand to all points of the compass over -the plain, to intimate that they would cover that extent; and he could -point out a large herd grazing nearer at hand than the mission, and -guarded but by three _vaqueros_. Regaled with venison, and with a -smoke of his coveted tobacco, he rode off, and made his way to the -mission without delay, conveying the startling intelligence that a -thousand Americans were upon them. - -The next morning the thirteen doughty mountaineers quietly resumed -their journey, moving leisurely along towards the object of their -expedition. - -It will not be out of place here to digress a little, in order to -describe the singular features of the establishments formed in those -remote regions by the Catholic church, as nuclei round which to -concentrate the wandering tribes that inhabit the country, with a view -to give them the benefit of civilised example, and to wean them from -their restless nomadic habits. - -The establishment of missions in Upper California is coeval with -the first settlement of Southern Mexico. No sooner had Spanish rule -taken a firm foot-hold in the Aztec empire, than the avowed primary -object of the military expedition began to be carried into effect. -“To save the souls” of the savage and barbarous subjects of their -most Catholic majesties was ever inculcated upon the governors of -the conquered country as the grand object to be sought after, as -soon as tranquillity was partially restored by the submission of the -Mexicans; and the Cross, the sacred emblem of the Catholic faith, was -to be upraised in the remotest corners of the country, and the natives -instructed and compelled to worship it, in lieu of the grotesque -images of their own idolatrous religion. - -To carry into effect these orthodox instructions, troops of pious -priests, of friars and monks of every order, and even of saintly -nuns, followed in the wake of the victorious armies of Cortez; and, -girding up their loins with zealous fervour and enthusiasm, and with -an enterprise and hardihood worthy of buccaneers, they pushed their -adventurous way far into the bowels of the land, preaching devoutly -and with commendable perseverance to savages who did not understand a -syllable of what they so eloquently discoursed; and returning, after -the lapse of many months passed in this first attempt, with glowing -accounts of the “_muy buen indole_,” the very ductile disposition of -the savages, and of the thousands they had converted to “_la santa fé -catolica_.” - -Ferdinand and Isabel, of glorious memory, at once beat up for -volunteers. Crowds of Franciscan monks, greasy Capuchinos, and nuns -of orthodox odour, joined the band; and saints even of the feminine -gender, long since canonised and up aloft amongst the goodly muster of -saints and martyrs, put foot once more on _terra firma_, and, rosary -in hand, crossed the seas to participate in the good work. As proof -of this latter fact, one Venabides, a Franciscan, whose veracity is -beyond impeachment, declared that, while preaching in the regions -now known as New Mexico, one million Indians from the “rumbo” known -as Cibolo, a mighty nation, approached his temporary pulpit on the -Rio Grande, and requested in a body the favour of being baptised. -Struck with the singularity of this request from Indians with whom -he had as yet held no communication, and with conscientious scruple -as to whether he would be justified in performing such ceremony -without their having received previous instruction, he hesitated a few -moments before making an answer. At this juncture the Indians espied a -medallion which hung around his neck, bearing the effigy of a certain -saint of extraordinary virtue. At sight of this they fell on their -knees before it; and it was some time before they found words (in -what language does not appear) to explain to the holy father that the -original of that effigy, which hung pendant from his neck, had been -long amongst them instructing them in the elements of the Christian -religion, and had only lately disappeared; informing them that certain -reverend men would shortly appear in the land, who would finish the -good work she had devoutly commenced, and clench the business by -baptising the one million miserable sinners who now knelt before El -Padre Venabides. - -“Valgame Dios!” reverently exclaimed that worthy man, “qui milagro es -este;” [what a miracle is this I hear;] and casting up his eyes, and -speaking slowly, as if he weighed every word, and taxing his memory of -the historical calendar of saints, continued,— - -“_Se murió—aquella—santissima—muger—en el ano 175—es decir—ya -hacen—mil—quatro—cientos—anos._” [That most holy woman died in the -year 175, that is to say, one thousand four hundred years ago.] - -“Oh, what a strange thing is this!” the padre continues devoutly. -“After so many ages spent in heaven in company of the angels, of most -holy men, and of virgins the most pure; and, perhaps, also in the -company of my worthy and esteemed friend and patron, Don Vincente -Carvajal y Calvo, who died a few years ago in San Lucar of Xeres -(bequeathing me certain arrobas of dry wine, of a class I greatly -esteem—for which act he deserved to be canonised, and, I have no -doubt, is), the said Don Vincente Carvajal y Calvo being, moreover, a -man of the purest and holiest thoughts (Dios mio! what a puchero that -man always had on his table!) this holy woman comes here—to these wild -and remote regions; this holy woman (who died fifteen hundred years -ago), abandoning the company of angels, of holy men, and sanctified -women and virgins, and also of Don Vincente Carvajal y Calvo (that -worthy man!)—comes here, I say, where there are neither pucheros, nor -garbanzos, nor dry wine, nor sweet wine, neither of Xeres, nor of Val -de Peñas, nor of Peralta; where” (sobbed the padre, and bellowed -the last word) “there is—nothing either to eat or to drink. Valgame -Purissima Maria! And what is the name of this holy woman? the world -will ask,” continues Venabides. “Santa Clara of Carmona is her name, -one well known in my native country, who leaves heaven and all its -joys, wends her way to the distant wilds of New Spain, and spends -years in inducting the savage people to the holy faith. Truly a pious -work, and pleasing to God!”[29] - -Thus spoke Venabides the Franciscan, and no doubt he believed what he -said; and many others in Old Spain were fools enough to believe it -too, for the shaven heads flocked over in greater numbers, and the cry -was ever “still they come.” - -Along the whole extent of the table-lands, not an Indian tribe but was -speedily visited by the preaching friars and monks; and, in less than -a century after the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, these hardy -and enthusiastic frayles had pushed their way into the inhospitable -regions of New Mexico, nearly two thousand miles distant from the -valley of Anahuac. How they succeeded in surmounting the natural -obstacles presented by the wild and barren deserts they traversed; how -they escaped the infinite peril they encountered at every step, at the -hands of the savage inhabitants of the country, with whose language -they were totally unacquainted, is sufficient puzzle to those who, in -the present day, have attempted a journey in the same regions. - -However, it is impossible not to admire the hardihood of these holy -pioneers of civilisation, who, totally unfitted by their former mode -of life for undergoing such hardships as they must have anticipated, -threw themselves into the wilderness with fearless and stubborn zeal. - -For the most part, however, they found the Indians exceedingly -hospitable and well disposed; and it was not until some time -after—when, receiving from the missionary monks glowing, and not -always very truthful accounts of the riches of the country in which -they had located themselves, the governors of Mexico despatched -armed expeditions under adventurous desperadoes to take and retain -possession of the said country, with orders to compel the submission -of the native tribes, and enforce their obedience to the authority -of the whites—that the simple and confiding Indians began to see the -folly they had committed in permitting the residence amongst them -of these superior beings, whom they had first looked upon as more -than mortal, but who, when strong enough to do so, were not long in -throwing off the mask, and proving to the simple savages that they -were much “more human than divine.” - -Thus, in the province of New Mexico, Fray Augustin Ruiz, with his -co-preachers, Marcos and Venabides, were kindly received by the native -inhabitants, and we have seen how one million (?) Indians came from -the “rumbo” of the Cibolo, ready and willing to receive the baptismal -sacrament. This Cibolo, or Sivulo, as it is written in some old MSS., -is, by the way, mysteriously alluded to by the monkish historians who -have written on this region, as being a kingdom inhabited by a very -superior class of Indians to any met with between Anahuac and the Vale -of Taos—in the enjoyment of a high state of civilisation, inhabiting -a well-built city, the houses of which were three stories high, and -having attained considerable perfection in the domestic arts. This, -notwithstanding the authority of Don Francisco Vasquez Coronado, who -visited Cibolo, and of Solis and Venegas, who have guaranteed the -assertion, must be received _cum grano salis_; but, at all events, -the civilisation of the mysterious Cibolo may be compared to that -of the Aztec empire, under Montezuma, at the time of the Spanish -Conquest, both being egregiously exaggerated by the historians of -the day. Cibolo was situated on a river called Tegue. At this day, -neither name is known to the inhabitants of New Mexico. If pate-shaven -Venabides had held his tongue, New Mexico might now be in the peaceful -possession of the Catholic Missions, and the property of the Church -of Mexico pretty considerably enhanced by the valuable _placeres_, or -gold washings, which abound in that province. Full, however, of the -wonderful miracle of Santa Clara of Carmona, which had been brought to -light through the agency of the medallion at the end of his rosario, -Fray Venabides must needs return to Spain, and humbug poor old -Fernando, and even the more sensible Isabel, with wonderful accounts -of the riches of the country he had been instrumental in exploring, -and of the excellent disposition of the natives to receive the word -of God. Don Juan Oñate was, therefore, quickly despatched to take -possession; and in his train followed twelve Castilian families of -_sangre azul_, to colonise the newly-acquired territory. The names of -these still remain, disgraced by the degenerate wretches who now bear -them, but in whom scarce a drop of blood remains which ever filtered -from the veins of the paladins of Old Castile. - -Then commenced the troublous times. The missions were upheld by dint -of steel alone; and frequently the Indians rose, and often massacred -their white persecutors. The colonists were more than once driven -bodily from New Mexico, and were only reinstated by the aid of large -bodies of armed men. - -In California, however, they managed these things better. The wily -monks took care to keep all interlopers from the country, established -themselves in snug quarters, instructed the Indians in agriculture, -and soon gained such an ascendancy over them, that no difficulty was -experienced in keeping them under proper and wholesome restraint. -Strong and commodious missions were built and fortified, well stored -with arms and ammunition, and containing sufficient defenders to defy -attack. Luxuriant gardens and thriving vineyards soon surrounded these -isolated stations: the plains waved with golden corn; whilst domestic -cattle, thriving on the rich pasture, and roaming far and near, -multiplied and increased a hundred-fold. - -Nothing can be more beautiful than the appearance of one of these -missions, to the traveller who has lately passed the arid and barren -wilderness of the North-west. The _adobe_ walls of the convent-looking -building, surmounted by cross and belfry, are generally hidden in a -mass of luxuriant vegetation. Fig-trees, bananas, cherry, and apple, -leaf-spreading platanos, and groves of olives, form umbrageous vistas, -under which the sleek monks delight to wander; gardens, cultivated -by their own hands, testify to the horticultural skill of the worthy -padres; whilst vineyards yield their grateful produce to gladden the -hearts of the holy exiles in these western solitudes. Vast herds of -cattle roam half-wild on the plains, and bands of mules and horses, -whose fame has even reached the distant table-lands of the Rocky -Mountains, and excited the covetousness of the hunters—and thousands -of which, from the day they are foaled to that of their death, never -feel a saddle on their backs—cover the country. Indians (Mansitos) -idle round the skirts of these vast herds (whose very numbers keep -them together), living, at their own choice, upon the flesh of mule, -or ox, or horse. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - - -The Mission of San Fernando is situated on a small river called Las -Animas, a branch of the Los Martires. The convent is built at the neck -of a large plain, at the point of influx of the stream from the broken -spurs of the sierra. The savana is covered with luxuriant grass, kept -down, however, by the countless herds of cattle which pasture on it. -The banks of the creek are covered with a lofty growth of oak and -poplar, which near the Mission have been considerably thinned for the -purpose of affording fuel and building materials for the increasing -settlement. The convent stands in the midst of a grove of fruit-trees, -its rude tower and cross peeping above them, and contrasting -picturesquely with the wildness of the surrounding scenery. Gardens -and orchards lie immediately in front of the building, and a vineyard -stretches away to the upland ridge of the valley. The huts of the -Indians are scattered here and there, built of stone and adobe, -sometimes thatched with flags and boughs, but comfortable enough. The -convent itself is a substantial building, of the style of architecture -characterising monastic edifices in most parts of the world. -Loopholes peer from its plastered walls, and on a flat portion of the -roof a comically mounted gingall or wall-piece, carrying a two-pound -ball, threatens the assailant in time of war. At one end of the oblong -building, a rough irregular arch of sun-burned bricks is surmounted by -a rude cross, under which hangs a small but deep-toned bell—the wonder -of the Indian peones, and highly venerated by the frayles themselves, -who received it as a present from a certain venerable archbishop of -Old Spain, and who, whilst guarding it with reverential awe, tell -wondrous tales of its adventures on the road to its present abiding -place. - -Of late years the number of the canonical inmates of the convent has -been much reduced—there being but four priests now to do the duties of -the eleven who formerly inhabited it: Fray Augustin, a Capuchin of due -capacity of paunch, being at the head of the holy quartette. Augustin -is the conventual name of the reverend father, who fails not to -impress upon such casual visitants to that _ultima Thule_ as he deems -likely to appreciate the information, that, but for his humility, -he might add the sonorous appellations of Ignacio Sabanal-Morales-y -Fuentes—his family being of the best blood of Old Castile, and known -there since the days of Ruy Gomez—el Campéador—possessing, moreover, -half the “vega” of the Ebro, &c., where, had fate been propitious, he -would now have been the sleek superior of a rich capuchin convent, -instead of vegetating, a leather-clad frayle, in the wilds of -California Alta. - -Nevertheless, his lot is no bad one. With plenty of the best and -fattest meat to eat, whether of beef or venison, of bear or mountain -mutton; with good wine and brandy of home make, and plenty of it; -fruit of all climes in great abundance; wheaten or corn bread to suit -his palate; a tractable flock of natives to guide, and assisted in the -task by three brother shepherds; far from the strife of politics or -party—secure from hostile attack (not quite, by-the-by), and eating, -drinking, and sleeping away his time, one would think that Fray -Augustin Ignacio Sabanal-Morales-y Fuentes had little to trouble him, -and had no cause to regret even the vega of Castilian Ebro, held by -his family since the days of el Campéador. - -One evening Fray Augustin sat upon an adobe bench, under the fig-tree -shadowing the porch of the Mission. He was dressed in a goat-skin -jerkin, softly and beautifully dressed, and descending to his hips, -under which his only covering—tell it not in Gath!—was a long linen -shirt, reaching to his knees, and lately procured from Puebla de los -Angeles, as a sacerdotal garment. Boots, stockings, or unmentionables, -he had none. A cigarito, of tobacco rolled in corn shuck, was -occasionally placed between his lips; whereupon huge clouds of smoke -rushed in columns from his mouth and nostrils. His face was of a -golden yellow colour, relieved by arched and very black eyebrows; -his shaven chin was of most respectable duplicity—his corporation -of orthodox dimensions. Several Indians and half-bred Mexican women -were pounding Indian corn on metates near at hand; whilst sundry -beef-fed urchins of whitey-brown complexion sported before the door, -exhibiting, as they passed Fray Augustin, a curious resemblance to the -strongly marked features of that worthy padre. They were probably his -nieces and nephews—a class of relations often possessed in numbers by -priests and monks. - -The three remaining brothers were absent from the Mission; Fray -Bernardo, hunting elk in the sierra; Fray José, gallivanting at Puebla -de los Angeles, ten days' journey distant; Fray Cristoval, lassoing -colts upon the plain. Augustin, thus left to his own resources, had -just eaten his vespertine frijolitos and chile colorado, and was -enjoying a post-cœnal smoke of fragrant pouche under the shadow of his -own fig-tree. - -Whilst thus employed, an Indian dressed in Mexican attire approached -him hat in hand, and, making a reverential bow, asked his directions -concerning domestic business of the Mission. - -“Hola! friend José,” cried Fray Augustin in a thick guttural voice, -“pensaba yo—I was thinking that it was very nearly this time three -years ago when those 'malditos Americanos' came by here and ran off -with so many of our cavallada.” - -“True, reverend father,” answered the administrador, “just three years -ago, all but fifteen days: I remember it well. _Malditos sean_—curse -them!” - -“How many did we kill, José?” - -“Quizas mōōchos—a great many, I dare say. But they did not fight -fairly—charged right upon us, and gave us no time to do any thing. -They don't know how to fight, these Mericanos; come right at you, -before you can swing a lasso, hallooing like Indios Bravos.” - -“But, José, how many did they leave dead on the field?” - -“Not one.” - -“And we?” - -“Valgame Dios! thirteen dead, and many more wounded.” - -“That's it! Now if these savages come again (and the Chemeguaba, -who came in yesterday, says he saw a large trail), we must fight -adentro—within—outside is no go; for as you very properly say, José, -these Americans don't know how to fight, and kill us before—before we -can kill them! Vaya!” - -At this moment there issued from the door of the Mission Don Antonio -Velez Trueba, a Gachupin—that is, a native of Old Spain—a wizened old -hidalgo refugee, who had left the mother country on account of his -political opinions, which were stanchly Carlist, and had found his -way—how, he himself scarcely knew—from Mexico to San Francisco in -Upper California, where, having a most perfect contempt for every -thing Mexican, and hearing that in the Mission of San Fernando, far -away, were a couple of Spanish padres of “sangre regular,” he had -started into the wilderness to ferret them out; and having escaped -all dangers on the route (which, however, were hardly dangers to the -Don, who could not realise the idea of scalp-taking savages), had -arrived with a whole skin at the Mission. There he was received with -open arms by his countryman Fray Augustin, who made him welcome to -all the place afforded, and there he harmlessly smoked away his time; -his heart far away on the banks of the Genil and in the grape-bearing -vegas of his beloved Andalusia, his withered cuerpo in the sierras of -Upper California. Don Antonio was the walking essence of a Spaniard -of the _ancien régime_. His family dated from the Flood, and with -the exception of sundry refreshing jets of Moorish blood, injected -into the Truebas during the Moorish epoch, no strange shoot was ever -engrafted on their genealogical tree. The marriages of the family were -ever confined to the family itself—never looking to fresh blood in a -station immediately below it, which was not hidalgueño; nor above, -since any thing higher in rank than the Trueba y Trueba family, _no -habia_, there was not. - -Thus, in the male and female scions of the house, were plainly visible -the ill effects of breeding “in and in.” The male Truebas were sadly -degenerate Dons, in body as in mind—compared to their ancestors of -Boabdil's day; and the señoritas of the name were all eyes, and eyes -alone, and hardly of such stamp as would have tempted that amorous -monarch to bestow a kingdom for a kiss, as ancient ballads tell. - - “Dueña de la negra toca, - Por un beso de tu boca, - Diera un reyno, Boabdil; - Y yo por ello, Cristiana, - Te diera de buena gana - Mil cielos, si fueran mil.” - -Come of such poor stock, and reared on tobacco smoke and “gazpacho,” -Don Antonio would not have shone, even amongst pigmy Mexicans, for -physical beauty. Five feet high, a framework of bones covered with a -skin of Andalusian tint, the Trueba stood erect and stiff in all the -consciousness of his “sangre regular.” His features were handsome, -but entirely devoid of flesh, his upper lip was covered with a -jet-black mustache mixed with gray, his chin was bearded “like the -pard.” Every one around him clad in deer and goat skin, our Don walked -conspicuous in shining suit of black—much the worse for wear, it must -be confessed—with beaver hat sadly battered, and round his body and -over his shoulder an unexceptionable “capa” of the amplest dimensions. -Asking, as he stepped over him, the pardon of an Indian urchin who -blocked the door, and bowing with punctilious politeness to the -sturdy mozas who were grinding corn, Don Antonio approached our friend -Augustin, who was discussing warlike matters with his administrador. - -“Hola! Don Antonio, how do you find yourself, sir?” - -“Perfectly well, and your very humble servant, reverend father; and -your worship also, I trust you are in good health?” - -“_Sin novedad_—without novelty;” which, since it was one hour and a -half since our friends had separated to take their siestas, was not -impossible. - -“Myself and the worthy José,” continued Fray Augustin, “were speaking -of the vile invasion of a band of North American robbers, who three -years since fiercely assaulted this peaceful Mission, killing many -of its inoffensive inhabitants, wounding many more, and carrying off -several of our finest colts and most promising mules to their dens and -caves in the Rocky Mountains. Not with impunity, however, did they -effect this atrocity. José informs me that many of the assailants were -killed by my brave Indians. How many said you, José?” - -“Quizas mo-o-ochos,” answered the Indian. - -“Yes, probably a great multitude,” continued the padre; “but, unwarned -by such well-merited castigation, it has been reported to me by a -Chemeguaba mansito, that a band of these audacious marauders are now -on the road to repeat the offence, numbering many thousands, well -mounted and armed; and to oppose these white barbarians it behoves us -to make every preparation of defence.”[30] - -“There is no cause for alarm,” answered the Andaluz. “I (tapping -his breast) have served in three wars: in that glorious one 'de la -Independencia,' when our glorious patriots drove the French like sheep -across the Pyrenees; in that equally glorious one of 1821; and in the -late magnanimous struggle for the legitimate rights of his majesty -Charles V., king of Spain (doffing his hat), whom God preserve. With -that right arm,” cried the spirited Don, extending his shrivelled -member, “I have supported the throne of my kings—have fought for my -country, mowing down its enemies before me; and with it,” vehemently -exclaimed the Gachupin, working himself into a perfect frenzy, “I will -slay these Norte Americanos, should they dare to show their faces in -my front. Adios, Don Augustin Ignacio Sabanal-Morales-y Fuentes,” he -cried, doffing his hat with an earth-sweeping bow; “I go to grind my -sword. Till then adieu.” - -“A countryman of mine!” said the frayle, admiringly, to the -administrador. “With him by our side we need not to fear: neither -Norte Americanos, nor the devil himself, can harm us when he is by.” - -Whilst the Trueba sharpens his Tizona, and the priest puffs volumes -of smoke from his nose and mouth, let us introduce to the reader one -of the muchachitas, who knelt grinding corn on the metate, to make -tortillas for the evening meal. Juanita was a stout wench from Sonora, -of Mexican blood, hardly as dark as the other women who surrounded -her, and with a drop or two of the Old Spanish blood struggling with -the darker Indian tint to colour her plump cheeks. An enagua (a -short petticoat) of red serge was confined round her waist by a gay -band ornamented with beads, and a chemisette covered the upper part -of the body, permitting, however, a prodigal display of her charms. -Whilst pounding sturdily at the corn, she laughed and joked with her -fellow-labourers upon the anticipated American attack, which appeared -to have but few terrors for her. “Que vengan,” she exclaimed—“let them -come; they are only men, and will not molest us women. Besides, I -have seen these white men before—in my own country, and they are fine -fellows, very tall, and as white as the snow on the sierras. Let them -come, say I!” - -“Only hear the girl!” cried another: “if these savages come, then will -they kill Pedrillo, and what will Juanita say to lose her sweetheart?” - -“Pedrillo!” sneered the latter; “what care I for Pedrillo? Soy -Mejicana, yo—a Mexican girl am I, I'd have you know, and don't demean -me to look at a wild Indian. Not I, indeed, by my salvation! What I -say is, let the Norte Americanos come.” - -At this juncture Fray Augustin called for a glass of aguardiente, -which Juanita was despatched to bring, and, on presenting it, the -churchman facetiously inquired why she wished for the Americans, -adding, “Don't think they'll come here—no, no: here we are brave men, -and have Don Antonio with us, a noble fellow, well used to arms.” As -the words were on his lips, the clattering of a horse's hoofs was -heard rattling across the loose stones and pebbles in the bed of the -river, and presently an Indian herder galloped up to the door of the -Mission, his horse covered with foam, and its sides bleeding from -spur-wounds. - -“Oh, padre mio!” he cried, as soon as he caught sight of his -reverence, “vienen los Americanos—the Americans, the Americans are -upon us. Ave Maria purissima!—more than ten thousand are at my heels!” - -Up started the priest and shouted for the Don. - -That hidalgo presently appeared, armed with the sword that had graced -his thigh in so many glorious encounters—the sword with which he -had mowed down the enemies of his country, and by whose aid he now -proposed to annihilate the American savages, should they dare to -appear before him. - -The alarm was instantly given; peones, vagueros hurried from the -plains; and milpas, warned by the deep-toned bell, which soon rung out -its sonorous alarum. A score of mounted Indians, armed with gun and -lasso, dashed off to bring intelligence of the enemy. The old gingall -on the roof was crammed with powder and bullets to the very muzzle, by -the frayle's own hand. Arms were brought and piled in the sala, ready -for use. The padre exhorted, the women screamed, the men grew pale -and nervous, and thronged within the walls. Don Antonio, the fiery -Andaluz, alone remained outside, flourishing his whetted sabre, and -roaring to the padre, who stood on the roof with lighted match, by the -side of his formidable cannon, not to be affrighted. “That he, the -Trueba, was there, with his Tizona, ready to defeat the devil himself -should he come on.” - -He was deaf to the entreaties of the priest to enter. - -“Siempre en el frente—Ever in the van,” he said, “was the war-cry of -the Truebas.” - -But now a cloud of dust was seen approaching from the plain, and -presently a score of horsemen dashed headlong towards the Mission. -“El enemigo,” shouted Fray Augustin; and, without waiting to aim, he -clapped his match to the touch-hole of the gun, harmlessly pointed to -the sky, and crying out “in el nombre de Dios”—in God's name—as he did -so, was instantly knocked over and over by the recoil of the piece, -then was as instantly seized by some of the Indian garrison, and -forced through the trap-door into the building; whilst the horsemen -(who were his own scouts) galloped up with the intelligence that the -enemy was at hand, and in overwhelming force. - -Thereupon the men were all mounted, and formed in a body before the -building, to the amount of more than fifty, well armed with guns or -bows and arrows. Here the gallant Don harangued them, and infusing -into their hearts a little of his own courage, they eagerly demanded -to be led against the enemy. Fray Augustin re-appeared on the roof, -gave them his blessing, advised them to give no quarter, and, with -slight misgivings, saw them ride off to the conflict. - -About a mile from the Mission, the plain gradually ascended to a ridge -of moderate elevation, on which was a growth of dwarf oak and ilex. -To this point the eyes of the remaining inmates of the convent were -earnestly directed, as here the enemy was first expected to make his -appearance. Presently a few figures were seen to crown the ridge, -clearly defined against the clear evening sky. Not more than a dozen -mounted men composed this party, which all imagined must be doubtless -the vanguard of the thousand invaders. On the summit of the ridge -they halted a few minutes, as if to reconnoitre; and by this time -the Californian horsemen were halted in the plain, midway between -the Mission and the ridge, and distant from the former less than -half-a-mile, so that all the operations were clearly visible to the -lookers-on. - -The enemy wound slowly, in Indian file, down the broken ground of the -descent; but when the plain was reached, they formed into something -like a line, and trotted fearlessly towards the Californians. These -began to sit uneasily in their saddles; nevertheless they made a -forward movement, and even broke into a gallop, but soon halted, and -again huddled together. Then the mountaineers quickened their pace, -and their loud shout was heard as they dashed into the middle of the -faltering troop. The sharp cracks of the rifles followed, and the -duller reports of the smooth-bored pieces of the Californians; a cloud -of smoke and dust arose from the plain, and immediately half-a-dozen -horses, with empty saddles, broke from it, followed quickly by the -Californians, flying like mad across the level. The little steady line -of the mountaineers advanced, and puffs of smoke arose, as they loaded -and discharged their rifles at the flying horsemen. As the Americans -came on, however, one was seen to totter in his saddle, the rifle fell -from his grasp, and he tumbled headlong to the ground. For an instant -his companions surrounded the fallen man, but again forming, dashed -towards the Mission, shouting fierce war-whoops, and brandishing -aloft their long and heavy rifles. Of the defeated Californians some -jumped off their horses at the door of the Mission, and sought shelter -within; others galloped off towards the sierra in panic-stricken -plight. Before the gate, however, still paced valiantly the proud -hidalgo, encumbered with his cloak, and waving with difficulty his -sword above his head. To the priest and women, who implored him to -enter, he replied with cries of defiance, “Viva Carlos Quinto,” and -“Death or glory.” He shouted in vain to the flying crowd to halt; -but, seeing their panic was beyond hope, he clutched his weapon more -firmly as the Americans dashed at him, closed his teeth and his eyes, -thought once of the vega of his beloved Genil, and of Granada la -Florida, and gave himself up for lost. Those inside the Mission, when -they observed the flight of their cavalry, gave up the defence as -hopeless; and already the charging mountaineers were almost under the -walls, when they observed the curious figure of the little Don making -demonstrations of hostility. - -“Wagh!” exclaimed the leading hunter (no other than our friend La -Bonté), “here's a little crittur as means to do all the fighting;” -and seizing his rifle by the barrel, he poked at the Don with the -butt-end, who parried the blow, and with such a sturdy stroke, as -nearly severed the stock in two. Another mountaineer rode up, and, -swinging his lasso overhead, threw the noose dexterously over the -Spaniard's head, and as it fell over his shoulders, drew it taut, thus -securing the arms of the pugnacious Don as in a vice. - -“Quartel!” cried the latter; “por Dios, quartel!” - -“Quarter be d——!” exclaimed one of the whites, who understood -Spanish; “who's agoin' to hurt you, you little crittur?” - -By this time Fray Augustin was waving a white flag from the roof, in -token of surrender; and soon after he appeared trembling at the door, -beseeching the victors to be merciful and to spare the lives of the -vanquished, when all and every thing in the Mission would be freely -placed at their disposal. - -“What does the niggur say!” asked old Walker, the leader of the -mountaineers, of the interpreter. - -“Well, he talks so queer, this hos can't rightly make it out.” - -“Tell the old coon then to quit that, and make them darned greasers -clear out of the lodge, and pock some corn and shucks here for the -animals, for they're nigh give out.” - -This being conveyed to him in mountain Spanish, which fear alone made -him understand, the padre gave orders to the men to leave the Mission, -advising them, moreover, not to recommence hostilities, as himself was -kept as hostage, and if a finger was lifted against the mountaineers, -he would be killed at once, and the Mission burned to the ground. Once -inside, the hunters had no fear of attack, they could have kept the -building against all California; so, leaving a guard of two outside -the gate, and first seeing their worn-out animals supplied with piles -of corn and shucks, they made themselves at home, and soon were paying -attention to the hot tortillas, meat, and chile colorado which were -quickly placed before them, washing down the hot-spiced viands with -deep draughts of wine and brandy. It would have been amusing to have -seen the faces of these rough fellows as they gravely pledged each -other in the grateful liquor, and looked askance at the piles of fruit -served by the attendant Hebes. These came in for no little share of -attention, it may be imagined; but the utmost respect was paid to -them, for your mountaineer, rough and bear-like though he be, never, -by word or deed, offends the modesty of a woman, although sometimes -obliged to use a compulsory wooing, when time is not allowed for -regular courtship, and not unfrequently known to jerk a New Mexican -or Californian beauty behind his saddle, should the obdurate parents -refuse consent to their immediate union. It tickled the Americans not -a little to have all their wants supplied, and to be thus waited upon, -by what they considered the houris of paradise; and after their long -journey, and the many hardships and privations they had suffered, -their present luxurious situation seemed scarcely real. - -The hidalgo, released from the durance vile of the lasso, assisted at -the entertainment; his sense of what was due to the “sangre regular” -which ran in his veins being appeased by the fact, that he sat _above_ -the wild uncouth mountaineers, these preferring to squat cross-legged -on the floor in their own fashion, to the uncomfortable and novel -luxury of a chair. Killbuck, indeed, seemed to have quite forgotten -the use of such pieces of furniture. On Fray Augustin offering him -one, and begging him, with many protestations, to be seated, that -old mountain worthy looked at it, and then at the padre, turned it -round, and at length comprehending the intention, essayed to sit. -This he effected at last, and sat grimly for some moments, when, -seizing the chair by the back, he hurled it out of the open door, -exclaiming,—“Wagh! this coon aint hamshot anyhow, and don't want such -fixins, he don't;” and gathering his legs under his body, reclined in -the manner customary to him. There was a prodigious quantity of liquor -consumed that night, the hunters making up for their many banyans; -but as it was the pure juice of the grape, it had little or no effect -upon their hard heads. They had not much to fear from attacks on the -part of the Californians; but, to provide against all emergencies, the -padre and the Gachupin were “hobbled,” and confined in an inner room, -to which there was no ingress nor egress save through the door which -opened into the apartment where the mountaineers lay sleeping, two of -the number keeping watch. A fandango with the Indian girls had been -proposed by some of them, but Walker placed a decided veto on this. -He said “they had need of sleep now, for there was no knowing what -to-morrow might bring forth; that they had a long journey before them, -and winter was coming on; they would have to 'streak' it night and -day, and sleep when their journey was over, which would not be until -Pike's Peak was left behind them. It was now October, and the way -they'd have to hump it back to the mountains would take the gristle -off a painter's tail.” - -Young Ned Wooton was not to the fore when the roll was called. He -was courting the Sonora wench Juanita, and to some purpose, for we -may at once observe, that the maiden accompanied the mountaineer to -his distant home, and at the present moment is sharing his lodge on -Hard-scrabble creek of the upper Arkansa, having been duly and legally -married by Fray Augustin before their departure. - -But now the snow on the ridge of the Sierra Madre, and the nightly -frosts; the angular flights of geese and ducks constantly passing -overhead; the sober tints of the foliage, and the dead leaves that -strew the ground; the withering grass on the plain, and the cold -gusts, sometimes laden with snow and sleet, that sweep from the -distant snow-clad mountains;—all these signs warn us to linger no -longer in the tempting valley of San Fernando, but at once to pack our -mules to cross the dreary and desert plains and inhospitable sierras; -and to seek with our booty one of the sheltered bayous of the Rocky -Mountains. - -On the third day after their arrival, behold our mountaineers -again upon the march, driving before them—with the assistance of -half-a-dozen Indians, impressed for the first few days of the journey -until the cavallada get accustomed to travel without confusion—a band -of four hundred head of mules and horses, themselves mounted on the -strongest and fleetest they could select from at least a thousand. - -Fray Augustin and the Hidalgo, from the house-top, watched them -depart: the former glad to get rid of such unscrupulous guests at any -cost, the latter rather loath to part with his boon companions, with -whom he had quaffed many a quartillo of Californian wine. Great was -the grief, and violent the sobbing, when all the girls in the Mission -surrounded Juanita to bid her adieu; as she, seated en cavalier on -an easy pacing mule, bequeathed her late companions to the keeping -of every saint in the calendar, and particularly to the great St -Ferdinand himself, under whose especial tutelage all those in the -Mission were supposed to live. Pedrillo, poor forsaken Pedrillo, a -sullen sulky half-breed, was overcome, not with grief, but with anger -at the slight put upon him, and vowed revenge. He of the “sangre -regular,” having not a particle of enmity in his heart, waved his -arm—that arm with which he had mowed down the enemies of Carlos -Quinto—and requested the mountaineers, if ever fate should carry them -to Spain, not to fail to visit his quinta in the vega of Genil, which, -with all in it, he placed at their worships' disposal—con muchissima -franqueza. - -Fat Fray Augustin likewise waved his arm, but groaned in spirit as he -beheld the noble band of mules and horses, throwing back clouds of -dust on the plain where they had been bred. One noble roan stallion -seemed averse to leave his accustomed pasture, and again and again -broke away from the band. Luckily old Walker had taken the precaution -to secure the “_bell-mare_” of the herd, and mounted on her rode -ahead, the animals all following their well-known leader. As the roan -galloped back, the padre was in ecstasy. It was a favourite steed, and -one he would have gladly ransomed at any price. - -“Ya viene, ya viene!” he cried out, “now, now it's coming! hurra -for the roan!” but, under the rifle of a mountaineer, one of the -Californians dashed at it, a lasso whirling round his head, and -turning and twisting like a doubling hare, as the horse tried to avoid -him, at last threw the open coil over the animal's head, and led him -back in triumph to the band. - -“Maldito sea aquel Indio—curse that Indian!” quoth the padre, and -turned away. - -And now our sturdy band—less two who had gone under—were fairly on -their way. They passed the body of their comrade who had been killed -in the fight before the Mission; the wolves, or Indian dogs, had -picked it to the bones; but a mound near by, surrounded by a rude -cross, showed where the Californians (seven of whom were killed) had -been interred—the pile of stones at the foot of the cross testifying -that many an _ave maria_ had already been said by the poor Indians, -to save the souls of their slaughtered companions from the pangs of -purgatory. - -For the first few days progress was slow and tedious. The confusion -attendant upon driving so large a number of animals over a country -without trail or track of any description, was sufficient to prevent -speedy travelling; and the mountaineers, desirous of improving the -pace, resolved to pursue a course more easterly, and to endeavour to -strike the great SPANISH TRAIL, which is the route followed by the -New Mexicans in their journeys to and from the towns of Puebla de -los Angeles and Santa Fé. This road, however, crosses a long stretch -of desert country, destitute alike of grass and water, save at a few -points, the regular halting-places of the caravans; and as but little -pasture is to be found at these places at any time, there was great -reason to doubt, if the Santa Fé traders had passed this season, that -there would not be sufficient grass to support the numerous cavallada, -after the herbage had been laid under contribution by the traders' -animals. However, a great saving of time would be effected by taking -this trail, although it wound a considerable distance out of the way -to avoid the impassable chain of the Sierra Nevada—the gap in those -mountains through which the Americans had come being far to the -southward, and at this late season probably obstructed by the snow. - -Urged by threats and bribes, one of the Indians agreed to guide the -cavallada to the trail, which he declared was not more than five -days' distant. As they advanced, the country became wilder and more -sterile,—the valleys, through which several small streams coursed, -alone being capable of supporting so large a number of animals. No -time was lost in hunting for game; the poorest of the mules and horses -were killed for provisions, and the diet was improved by a little -venison when a deer casually presented itself near the camping ground. -Of Indians they had seen not one; but they now approached the country -of the Diggers, who infest the district through which the Spanish -trail passes, laying contributions on the caravans of traders, and who -have been, not inaptly, termed the “Arabs of the American desert.” The -Californian guide now earnestly entreated permission to retrace his -steps, saying, that he should lose his life if he attempted to pass -the Digger country alone on his return. He pointed to a snow-covered -peak, at the foot of which the trail passed; and leave being accorded, -he turned his horse's head towards the Mission of San Fernando. - -Although the cavallada travelled, by this time, with much less -confusion than at first, still, from the want of a track to follow, -great trouble and exertion were required to keep the proper direction. -The bell-mare led the van, carrying Walker, who was better acquainted -with the country than the others; another hunter, of considerable -distinction in the band, on a large mule, rode by his side. Then -followed the cavallada, jumping and frisking with each other, stopping -whenever a blade of grass showed, and constantly endeavouring to -break away to green patches which sometimes presented themselves in -the plains. Behind the troop, urging them on by dint of loud cries -and objurgations, rode six mountaineers, keeping as much as possible -in a line. Two others were on each flank to repress all attempts to -wander, and keep the herd in a compact body. In this order the caravan -had been crossing a broken country, up and down ridges, all day, -the animals giving infinite trouble to their drivers, when a loud -shout from the advanced guard put them all upon the _qui-vive_. Old -Walker was seen to brandish the rifle over his head and point before -him, and presently the cry of “The trail! the trail!” gladdened all -hearts with the anticipation of a respite from the harassing labour -of mule-driving. Descending a broken ridge, they at once struck into -a distinct and tolerably well-worn track, into which the cavallada -turned as easily and instinctively as if they had all their lives -been accustomed to travel on beaten roads. Along this they travelled -merrily—their delight being, however, alloyed by frequent indications -that hunger and thirst had done their work on the mules and horses of -the caravans which had preceded them on the trail. They happened to -strike it in the centre of a long stretch of desert, extending sixty -miles without either water or pasture; and many animals had perished -here, leaving their bones to bleach upon the plain. The soil was -sandy, but rocks and stones covered the surface, disabling the feet of -many of the young horses and mules; several of which, at this early -stage of the journey, were already abandoned. Traces of the wretched -Diggers became very frequent; these abject creatures resorting to the -sandy plains for the purpose of feeding upon the lizards which there -abound. As yet they did not show; only at night they prowled around -the camp, waiting a favourable opportunity to run the animals. In the -present instance, however, many of the horses having been left on the -road, the Diggers found so plentiful a supply of meat as to render -unnecessary any attack upon the formidable mountaineers. - -One evening the Americans had encamped, earlier than usual, on a creek -well-timbered with willow and quaking-ash, and affording tolerable -pasture; and although it was still rather early, they determined to -stop here, and give the animals an opportunity to fill themselves. -Several deer had jumped out of the bottom as they entered it; and -La Bonté and Killbuck had sallied from the camp with their rifles, -to hunt and endeavour to procure some venison for supper. Along the -river banks, herds of deer were feeding in every direction, within -shot of the belt of timber; and the two hunters had no difficulty in -approaching and knocking over two fine bucks within a few paces of -the thicket. They were engaged in butchering the animals, when La -Bonté, looking up from his work, saw half-a-dozen Indians dodging -among the trees, within a few yards of himself and Killbuck. At the -same instant two arrows _thudded_ into the carcass of the deer over -which he knelt, passing but a few inches from his head. Hollowing to -his companion, La Bonté immediately seized the deer, and, lifting it -with main strength, held it as a shield before him, but not before -an arrow had struck him in the shoulder. Rising from the ground he -retreated behind cover, yelling loudly to alarm the camp, which was -not five hundred yards' distant on the other side of the stream. -Killbuck, when apprised of the danger, ran bodily into the plain, -and, keeping out of shot of the timber, joined La Bonté, who now, out -of arrow-shot, threw down his shield of venison and fired his rifle -at the assailants. The Indians appeared at first afraid to leave -the cover; but three or four more joining them, one a chief, they -advanced into the plain, with drawn bows, scattering wide apart, and -running swiftly towards the whites, in a zigzag course, in order not -to present a steady mark to their unerring rifles. The latter were -too cautious to discharge their pieces, but kept a steady front, -with rifle at shoulder. The Indians evidently disliked to approach -nearer; but the chief, an old grizzled man, incited them by word and -gesture—running in advance, and calling upon the others to follow him. - -“Ho, boy!” exclaimed Killbuck to his companion, “that old coon must go -under, or we'll get rubbed out by these darned critturs.” - -La Bonté understood him. Squatting on the ground, he planted his -wiping-stick firmly at the extent of his left arm, and resting the -long barrel of his rifle on his left hand, which was supported by the -stick, he took a steady aim and fired. The Indian, throwing out his -arms, staggered and let fall his bow—tried hard to recover himself, -and then fell forward on his face. The others, seeing the death -of their chief, turned and made again for the cover. “You darned -critturs,” roared Killbuck, “take that!” and fired his rifle at the -last one, tumbling him over as dead as a stone. The camp had also been -alarmed. Five of them waded across the creek and took the Indians in -rear; their rifles cracked within the timber, several more Indians -fell, and the rest quickly beat a retreat. The venison, however, was -not forgotten; the two deer were packed into camp, and did the duty of -mule-meat that night. - -This lesson had a seasonable effect upon the Diggers, who made no -attempt on the cavallada that night or the next; for the camp remained -two days to recruit the animals. - -We will not follow the party through all the difficulties and perils -of the desert route, nor detail the various devilries of the Diggers, -who constantly sought opportunities to stampede the animals, or, -approaching them in the night as they grazed, fired their arrows -indiscriminately at the herd, trusting that dead or disabled ones -would be left behind, and afford them a good supply of meat. In the -month of December the mountaineers crossed the great dividing ridge -of the Rocky Mountains, making their way through the snowy barrier -with the utmost difficulty, and losing many mules and horses in the -attempt. On passing the ridge, they at once struck the head-springs -of the Arkansa river, and turned into the Bayou Salade. Here they -found a village of Arapahos, and were in no little fear of leaving -their cavallada with these dexterous horse-thieves. Fortunately, the -chief in command was friendly to the whites, and restrained his young -men; and a present of three horses insured his good offices. Still, -the near neighbourhood of these Indians being hardly desirable, after -a few days' halt, the Americans were again on their way, and halted -finally at the juncture of the Fontaine-qui-bout with the Arkansa, -where they determined to construct a winter camp. They now considered -themselves at home, and at once set about building a log-shanty -capable of containing them all, and a large corral for securing the -animals at night, or in case of Indian alarms. This they effected by -felling several large cottonwoods, and throwing them in the form of -a horse-shoe: the entrance, however, being narrower than in that -figure, and secured by upright logs, between which poles were fixed -to be withdrawn at pleasure. The house, or “fort”—as any thing in the -shape of a house is called in these parts, where, indeed, every man -must make his house a castle—was loopholed on all sides, and boasted -a turf chimney of rather primitive construction; but which answered -the purpose of drawing the smoke from the interior. Game was plentiful -all around;—bands of buffalo were constantly passing the Arkansa; and -there were always deer and antelope within sight of the fort. The -pasture, too, was good and abundant—being the rich grama or buffalo -grass, which, although rather dry at this season, still retains its -fattening qualities; and the animals soon began to improve wonderfully -in condition and strength. - -Of the four hundred head of mules and horses with which they had -started from California, but one-half reached the Arkansa. Many had -been killed for food (indeed they had furnished the only provisions -during the journey), many had been stolen by the Indians, or shot by -them at night; and many had strayed off and not been recovered. We -have omitted to mention that the Sonora girl, Juanita, and her spouse, -Ned Wooton, remained behind at Roubideau's fort and rendezvous on the -Uintah, which our band had passed on the other side of the mountains, -whence they proceeded with a party to Taos in New Mexico, and resided -there for some years, blessed with a fine family, &c. &c. &c., as the -novels end. - -As soon as the animals were fat and strong, they were taken down the -Arkansa to Bent's Indian trading fort, about sixty miles below the -mouth of Fontaine-qui-bout. Here a ready sale was found for them, -mules being at that time in great demand on the frontier of the United -States, and every season the Bents carried across the plains to -Independence a considerable number collected in the Indian country, -and in the upper settlements of New Mexico. While the mountaineers -were descending the Arkansa, a little incident occurred, and some of -the party very unexpectedly encountered an old friend. Killbuck and -La Bonté, who were generally compañeros, were riding some distance -ahead of the cavallada, passing at the time the mouth of the Huerfano -or Orphan Creek, when, at a long distance before them, they saw the -figure of a horseman, followed by two loose animals, descending the -bluff into the timbered bottom of the river. Judging the stranger to -be Indian, they spurred their horses and galloped in pursuit, but the -figure ahead suddenly disappeared. However, they quickly followed the -track, which was plain enough in the sandy bottom, that of a horse -and two mules. Killbuck scrutinised the “sign,” and puzzled over it a -considerable time; and at last exclaimed—“Wagh! this sign's as plain -as mon beaver to me; look at that hos-track, boy; did ye ever see that -afore?” - -“_Well_, I have!” answered La Bonté, peering down at it: “that ar -shuffle-toe seems handy to me now, I _tell_ you.” - -“The man as used to ride that hos is long gone under, but the hos, -darn the old crittur, is old Bill Williams's, I'll swar by hook.” - -“Well, it aint nothin else,” continued La Bonté, satisfying himself -by a long look; “it's the old boy's hos as shure as shootin: and them -Rapahos has rubbed him out at last, and raised his animals. Ho, boy! -let's lift their hair.” - -“Agreed,” answered Killbuck; and away they started in pursuit, -determined to avenge the death of their old comrade. - -They followed the track through the bottom and into the stream, which -it crossed, and, passing a few yards up the bank, entered the water -again, when they could see nothing more of it. Puzzled at this, -they sought on each side the river, but in vain; and, not wishing -to lose more time in the search, they proceeded through the timber -on the banks to find a good camping-place for the night, which had -been their object in riding in advance of the cavallada. On the left -bank, a short distance before them, was a heavy growth of timber, -and the river ran in one place close to a high bluff, between which -and the water was an almost impervious thicket of plum and cherry -trees. The grove of timber ended before it reached this point, and -but few scattered trees grew in the little glade which intervened, -and which was covered with tolerable grass. This being fixed upon -as an excellent camp, the two mountaineers rode into the glade, and -dismounted close to the plum and cherry thicket, which formed almost a -wall before them, and an excellent shelter from the wind. Jumping off -their horses, they were in the act of removing the saddles from their -backs, when a shrill neigh burst from the thicket not two yards behind -them; a rustling in the bushes followed, and presently a man dressed -in buckskin, and rifle in hand, burst out of the tangled brush, -exclaiming in an angry voice— - -“Do'ee hy'ar now? I was nigh upon gut-shootin some of e'e—I was now; -thought e'e was darned Rapahos, I did, and câched right off.” - -“Ho, Bill! what, old hos! not gone under yet?” cried both the hunters. -“Give us your paw.” - -“Do'ee now, if hy'ar ar'nt them boys as was rubbed out on Lodge Pole -(creek) a time ago. Do'ee hyar? if this aint 'some' now, I would'nt -say so.” - -Leaving old Bill Williams and our two friends to exchange their rough -but hearty greetings, we will glance at that old worthy's history -since the time when we left him caching in the fire and smoke on the -Indian battle-ground in the Rocky Mountains. He had escaped fire -and smoke, or he would not have been here on Arkansa with his old -grizzled Nez-percé steed. On that occasion, the veteran mountaineer -had lost his two pack-animals and all his beaver. He was not the man, -however, to want a horse or mule as long as an Indian village was -near at hand. Skulking, therefore, by day in cañons and deep gorges -of the mountains, and travelling by night, he followed closely on the -trail of the victorious savages, bided his time, struck his “coup,” -and recovered a pair of pack-horses, which was all he required. Ever -since, he had been trapping alone in all parts of the mountains; had -visited the rendezvous but twice for short periods, and then with full -packs of beaver; and was now on his way to Bent's Fort, to dispose of -his present loads of peltry, enjoy one good carouse on Taos whisky, -and then return to some hole or corner in the mountains which he -knew of, to follow in the spring his solitary avocation. He too had -had his share of troubles, and had many Indian scrapes, but passed -safely through all, and scarcely cared to talk of what he had done, -so matter-of-fact to him were the most extraordinary of his perilous -adventures. - -Arrived at Bent's Fort, the party disposed of their cavallada, and -then—respect for the pardonable weaknesses of our mountain friends -prompts us to draw a veil over the furious orgies that ensued. A -number of hunters and trappers were “in” from their hunting-grounds, -and a village of Shians and some lodges of Kioways were camped round -the fort. As long as the liquor lasted, and there was good store of -alcohol as well as of Taos whisky, the Arkansa resounded with furious -mirth—not unmixed with graver scenes; for your mountaineer, ever -quarrelsome in his cups, is quick to give and take offence, when -rifles alone can settle the difference, and much blood is spilt upon -the prairie in his wild and frequent quarrels. - -Bent's Fort is situated on the left or northern bank of the river -Arkansa, about one hundred miles from the foot of the Rocky -Mountains—on a low and level bluff of the prairie which here slopes -gradually to the water's-edge. The walls are built entirely of -adobes—or sun-burned bricks—in the form of a hollow square, at two -corners of which are circular flanking towers of the same material. -The entrance is by a large gateway into the square, round which are -the rooms occupied by the traders and employés of the host. These are -small in size, with walls coloured by a white-wash made of clay found -in the prairie. Their flat roofs are defended along the exterior by -parapets of adobe, to serve as a cover to marksmen firing from the -top; and along the coping grow plants of cactus of all the varieties -common in the plains. In the centre of the square is the press for -packing the furs; and there are three large rooms, one used as a store -and magazine, another as a council-room, where the Indians assemble -for their “talks,” whilst the third is the common dining-hall, where -the traders, trappers, and hunters, and all employés, feast upon the -best provender the game-covered country affords. Over the culinary -department presided of late years a fair lady of colour, Charlotte -by name, who was, as she loved to say, “de onlee lady in de dam Injun -country,” and who moreover was celebrated from Long's Peak to the -Cumbres Espanolás for slapjacks and pumpkin pies. - -Here congregate at certain seasons the merchants of the plains and -mountains, with their stocks of peltry. Chiefs of the Shian, the -Kioway, and Arapaho, sit in solemn conclave with the head traders, -and smoke the “calumet” over their real and imaginary grievances. Now -O-cun-no-whurst, the Yellow Wolf, grand chief of the Shian, complains -of certain grave offences against the dignity of his nation! A trader -from the “big lodge” (the fort) has been in his village, and before -the trade was opened, in laying the customary chief's gift “on the -prairie”[31] has not “opened his hand,” but “squeezed out his present -between his fingers,” grudgingly, and with too sparing measure. This -was hard to bear, but the Yellow Wolf would say no more! - -Tah-kai-buhl, or, “he who jumps,” is deputed from the Kioway to -warn the white traders not to proceed to the Canadian to trade with -the Comanche. That nation is mad—a “heap mad” with the whites, and -has “dug up the hatchet” to “rub out” all who enter its country. -The Kioway loves the paleface, and gives him warning (and “he who -jumps” looks as if he deserves something “on the prairie” for his -information). - -Shawh-noh-qua-mish, “the peeled lodge-pole,” is there to excuse his -Arapaho braves, who lately made free with a band of horses belonging -to the fort. He promises the like shall never happen again, and he, -Shawh-noh-qua-mish, speaks with a “single tongue.” Over clouds of -tobacco and kinnik-kinnik, these grave affairs are settled and terms -arranged. - -In the corral, groups of leather-clad mountaineers, with “decks” of -“euker” and “seven up,” gamble away their hard-earned peltries. The -employés—mostly St Louis Frenchmen and Canadian voyageurs—are pressing -packs of buffalo skins, beating robes, or engaged in other duties -of a trading fort. Indian squaws, the wives of mountaineers, strut -about in all the pride of beads and fofarrow, jingling with bells and -bugles, and happy as paint can make them. Hunters drop in with animals -packed with deer or buffalo meat to supply the fort; Indian dogs look -anxiously in at the gateway, fearing to enter and encounter their -natural enemies, the whites: and outside the fort, at any hour of the -day or night, one may safely wager to see a dozen cayeutes or prairie -wolves loping round, or seated on their haunches, and looking gravely -on, waiting patiently for some chance offal to be cast outside. -Against the walls, groups of Indians, too proud to enter without an -invitation, lean, wrapped in their buffalo robes, sulky and evidently -ill at ease to be so near the whites without a chance of fingering -their scalp-locks; their white lodges shining in the sun, at a little -distance from the river-banks; their horses feeding in the plain -beyond. - -The appearance of the fort is very striking, standing as it does -hundreds of miles from any settlement, on the vast and lifeless -prairie, surrounded by hordes of hostile Indians, and far out of reach -of intercourse with civilised man; its mud-built walls inclosing a -little garrison of a dozen hardy men, sufficient to hold in check the -numerous tribes of savages ever thirsting for their blood. Yet the -solitary stranger passing this lone fort, feels proudly secure when he -comes within sight of the “stars and stripes” which float above the -walls. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - - -Again we must take a jump with La Bonté over a space of several -months; when we find him, in company of half a dozen trappers, amongst -them his inseparable compañero Killbuck, camped on the Greenhorn -creek, _en route_ to the settlements of New Mexico. They have a few -mules packed with beaver for the Taos market: but this expedition has -been planned more for pleasure than profit—a journey to Taos valley -being the only civilised relaxation coveted by the mountaineers. Not a -few of the present band are bound thither with matrimonial intentions; -the belles of Nuevo Mejico being to them the _ne plus ultra_ of female -perfection, uniting most conspicuous personal charms (although coated -with cosmetic _alegria_—an herb, with the juice of which the women -of Mexico hideously bedaub their faces), with all the hard-working -industry of Indian squaws. The ladies, on their part, do not hesitate -to leave the paternal abodes, and eternal tortilla-making, to share -the perils and privations of the American mountaineers in the distant -wilderness. Utterly despising their own countrymen, whom they are -used to contrast with the dashing white hunters who swagger in all -the pride of fringe and leather through their towns—they, as is but -natural, gladly accept husbands from the latter class; preferring the -stranger, who possesses the heart and strong right arm to defend them, -to the miserable cowardly “peládos,” who hold what little they have on -sufferance of savage Indians, but one degree superior to themselves. - -Certainly no band of hunters that ever appeared in the vale of Taos, -numbered in its ranks a properer lot of lads than those now camped on -Greenhorn, intent on matrimonial foray into the settlements of New -Mexico. There was young Dick Wooton, who was “some” for his inches, -being six feet six, and as straight and strong as the barrel of his -long rifle. Shoulder to shoulder with this “boy,” stood Rube Herring, -and not a hair's-breadth difference in height or size was there -between them. Killbuck, though mountain winters had sprinkled a few -snow-flakes on his head, _looked up_ to neither; and La Bonté held -his own with any mountaineer who ever set a trap in sight of Long's -Peak or the Snowy Range. Marcellin—who, though a Mexican, despised -his people and abjured his blood, having been all his life in the -mountains with the white hunters—looked down easily upon six feet and -odd inches. In form a Hercules, he had the symmetry of an Apollo; -with strikingly handsome features, and masses of long black hair -hanging from his slouching beaver over the shoulders of his buckskin -hunting shirt. He, as he was wont to say, was “no dam Spaniard, but -'mountainee man,' wagh!” Chabonard, a half-breed, was not lost in -the crowd;—and, the last in height, but the first in every quality -which constitutes excellence in a mountaineer, whether of indomitable -courage, or perfect indifference to death or danger; with an iron -frame capable of withstanding hunger, thirst, heat, cold, fatigue, and -hardships of every kind; of wonderful presence of mind, and endless -resources in times of peril; with the instinct of an animal, and the -moral courage of a _man_—who was “taller” for his inches than KIT -CARSON, paragon of mountaineers?[32] Small in stature, and slenderly -limbed, but with muscles of wire, with a fair complexion and quiet -intelligent features, to look at Kit none would suppose that the -mild-looking being before him was an incarnate devil in Indian fight, -and had raised more hair from head of Redskins than any two men in the -western country; and yet, thirty winters had scarcely planted a line -or furrow on his clean-shaven face. No name, however, was better known -in the mountains—from Yellow Stone to Spanish Peaks, from Missouri to -Columbia River—than that of Kit Carson, “raised” in Boonlick, county -of Missouri State, and a credit to the diggins that gave him birth. - -On Huerfano or Orphan Creek, so called from an isolated _hutte_ which -stands on a prairie near the stream, our party fell in with a village -of Yuta Indians, at that time hostile to the whites. Both parties -were preparing for battle, when Killbuck, who spoke the language, -went forward with signs of peace, and after a talk with several -chiefs, entered into an armistice, each party agreeing not to molest -the other. After trading for a few deer-skins, which the Yutas are -celebrated for dressing delicately fine, the trappers moved hastily -on out of such dangerous company, and camped under the mountain on -Oak Creek, where they forted in a strong position, and constructed a -corral in which to secure their animals at night. At this point is -a tolerable pass through the mountains, where a break occurs in a -range, whence they gradually decrease in magnitude until they meet -the sierras of Mexico, which connect the two mighty chains of the -Andes and the Rocky Mountains. From the summit of the dividing ridge, -to the eastward, a view is had of the vast sea of prairie which -stretches away from the base of the mountains, in dreary barrenness, -for nearly a thousand miles, until it meets the fertile valley of -the great Missouri. Over this boundless expanse, nothing breaks the -uninterrupted solitude of the view. Not a tree or atom of foliage -relieves the eye; for the lines of scattered timber which belt the -streams running from the mountains, are lost in the shadow of their -stupendous height, and beyond this nothing is seen but the bare -surface of the rolling prairie. In no other part of the chain are the -grand characteristics of the Far West more strikingly displayed than -from this pass. The mountains here rise, on the eastern side, abruptly -from the plain, and the view over the great prairies is not therefore -obstructed by intervening ridges. To the westward the eye sweeps over -the broken spurs which stretch from the main range in every direction; -whilst distant peaks, for the most part snow-covered, are seen at -intervals rising isolated above the range. On all sides the scene is -wild and dismal. - -Crossing by this pass, the trappers followed the Yuta trail over a -plain, skirting a pine-covered ridge, in which countless herds of -antelope, tame as sheep, were pasturing. Numerous creeks intersect it, -well timbered with oak, pine, and cedar, and well stocked with game of -all kinds. On the eleventh day from leaving the Huerfano, they struck -the Taos valley settlement on Arroyo Hondo, and pushed on at once to -the village of Fernandez—sometimes, but improperly, called Taos. As -the dashing band clattered through the village, the dark eyes of the -reboso-wrapped muchachas peered from the doors of the adobe houses, -each mouth armed with cigarito, which was at intervals removed to -allow utterance to the salutation to each hunter as he trotted past of -_Adios Americanos_,—“Welcome to Fernandez!” and then they hurried off -to prepare for the fandango, which invariably followed the advent of -the mountaineers. The men, however, seemed scarcely so well pleased; -but leaned sulkily against the walls, their sarapes turned over the -left shoulder, and concealing the lower part of the face, the hand -appearing from its upper folds only to remove the eternal cigarro from -their lips. They, from under their broad-brimmed sombreros, scowled -with little affection upon the stalwart hunters, who clattered past -them, scarcely deigning to glance at the sullen Peládos, but paying -incomprehensible compliments to the buxom wenches who smiled at them -from the doors. Thus exchanging salutations, they rode up to the house -of an old mountaineer, who had long been settled here with a New -Mexican wife, and who was the recognised entertainer of the hunters -when they visited Taos valley, receiving in exchange such peltry as -they brought with them. - -No sooner was it known that Los Americanos had arrived, than nearly -all the householders of Fernandez presented themselves to offer the -use of their “salas” for the fandango which invariably celebrated -their arrival. This was always a profitable event; for as the -mountaineers were generally pretty well “flush” of cash when on -their “spree,” and as open-handed as an Indian could wish, the sale -of whisky, with which they regaled all comers, produced a handsome -return to the fortunate individual whose room was selected for the -fandango. On this occasion the sala of the Alcalde Don Cornelio Vegil -was selected and put in order; a general invitation was distributed; -and all the dusky beauties of Fernandez were soon engaged in arraying -themselves for the fête. Off came the coats of dirt and “alegnía” -which had bedaubed their faces since the last “funcion,” leaving -their cheeks clear and clean. Water was profusely used, and their -cuerpos were doubtless astonished by the unusual lavation. Their long -black hair was washed and combed, plastered behind their ears, and -plaited into a long queue, which hung down their backs. _Enaguas_ -of gaudy colour (red most affected) were donned, fastened round the -waist with ornamented belts, and above this a snow-white _camisita_ -of fine linen was the only covering, allowing a prodigal display -of their charms. Gold and silver ornaments, of antiquated pattern, -decorate their ears and necks; and massive crosses of the precious -metals, wrought from the gold or silver of their own placeres, hang -pendant on their breasts. The enagua or petticoat, reaching about -halfway between the knee and ancle, displays their well-turned limbs, -destitute of stockings, and their tiny feet, thrust into quaint little -shoes (_zapatitos_) of Cinderellan dimensions. Thus equipped, with the -reboso drawn over their heads and faces, out of the folds of which -their brilliant eyes flash like lightning, and each pretty mouth -armed with its cigarito, they coquettishly enter the fandango.[33] -Here, at one end of a long room, are seated the musicians, their -instruments being generally a species of guitar, called heaca, a -_bandolin_, and an Indian drum, called _tombé_—one of each. Round the -room groups of New Mexicans lounge, wrapped in the eternal sarape, and -smoking of course, scowling with jealous eyes at the more favoured -mountaineers. These, divested of their hunting-coats of buckskins, -appear in their bran-new shirts of gaudy calico, and close fitting -buckskin pantaloons, with long fringes down the outside seam from the -hip to the ancle; with moccasins, ornamented with bright beads and -porcupine quills. Each, round his waist, wears his mountain-belt and -scalp-knife, ominous of the company he is in, and some have pistols -sticking in their belt. - -The dances—save the mark!—are without form or figure, at least -those in which the white hunters sport the “fantastic toe.” Seizing -his partner round the waist with the gripe of a grisly bear, each -mountaineer whirls and twirls, jumps and stamps; introduces Indian -steps used in the “scalp” or “buffalo” dances, whooping occasionally -with unearthly cry, and then subsiding into the jerking step, raising -each foot alternately from the ground, so much in vogue in Indian -ballets. The hunters have the floor all to themselves. The Mexicans -have no chance in such physical force dancing; and if a dancing -Peládo[34] steps into the ring, a lead-like thump from a galloping -mountaineer quickly sends him sprawling, with the considerate -remark—“Quit, you darned Spaniard! you can't 'shine' in this crowd.” - -During a lull, guagés[35] filled with whisky go the rounds—offered to -and seldom refused by the ladies—sturdily quaffed by the mountaineers, -and freely swallowed by the Peládos, who drown their jealousy and -envious hate of their entertainers in potent aguardiente. Now, as the -guagés are oft refilled and as often drained, and as night advances, -so do the spirits of the mountaineers become more boisterous, while -their attentions to their partners become warmer—the jealousy of -the natives waxes hotter thereat—and they begin to show symptoms -of resenting the endearments which the mountaineers bestow upon -their wives and sweethearts. And now, when the room is filled to -crowding,—with two hundred people, swearing, drinking, dancing, and -shouting—the half-dozen Americans monopolising the fair, to the -evident disadvantage of at least threescore scowling Peládos, it -happens that one of these, maddened by whisky and the green-eyed -monster, suddenly seizes a fair one from the waist-encircling arm of -a mountaineer, and pulls her from her partner. Wagh!—La Bonté—it is -he—stands erect as a pillar for a moment, then raises his hand to -his mouth, and gives a ringing war-whoop—jumps upon the rash Peládo, -seizes him by the body as if he were a child, lifts him over his head, -and dashes him with the force of a giant against the wall. - -The war, long threatened, has commenced; twenty Mexicans draw their -knives and rush upon La Bonté, who stands his ground, and sweeps them -down with his ponderous fist, one after another, as they throng around -him. “Howgh-owgh-owgh-owgh-h!” the well-known warhoop, bursts from the -throats of his companions, and on they rush to the rescue. The women -scream, and block the door in their eagerness to escape; and thus -the Mexicans are compelled to stand their ground and fight. Knives -glitter in the light, and quick thrusts are given and parried. In the -centre of the room the whites stand shoulder to shoulder—covering the -floor with Mexicans by their stalwart blows; but the odds are fearful -against them, and other assailants crowd up to supply the place of -those who fall. - -The alarm being given by the shrieking women, reinforcements of -Peládos rushed to the scene of action, but could not enter the -room, which was already full. The odds began to tell against the -mountaineers, when Kit Carson's quick eye caught sight of a high -stool or stone, supported by three long heavy legs. In a moment he had -cleared his way to this, and in another the three legs were broken off -and in the hands of himself, Dick Wooton, and La Bonté. Sweeping them -round their heads, down came the heavy weapons amongst the Mexicans -with wonderful effect—each blow, dealt by the nervous arms of Wooton -and La Bonté, mowing down a good half-dozen of the assailants. At this -the mountaineers gave a hearty whoop, and charged the wavering enemy -with such resistless vigour, that they gave way and bolted through the -door, leaving the floor strewed with wounded, many most dangerously; -for, as may be imagined, a thrust from the keen scalp-knife by the -nervous arm of a mountaineer was no baby blow, and seldom failed to -strike home—up to the “Green River”[36] on the blade. - -The field being won, the whites, too, beat a quick retreat to the -house where they were domiciled, and where they had left their rifles. -Without their trusty weapons they felt, indeed, unarmed; and not -knowing how the affair just over would be followed up, lost no time in -making preparations for defence. However, after great blustering on -the part of the prefecto, who, accompanied by a _posse comitatus_ of -“Greasers,” proceeded to the house, and demanded the surrender of all -concerned in the affair—which proposition was received with a yell of -derision—the business was compounded by the mountaineers promising to -give sundry dollars to the friends of two of the Mexicans, who died -during the night of their wounds, and to pay for a certain amount of -masses to be sung for the repose of their souls in purgatory. Thus the -affair blew over; but for several days the mountaineers never showed -themselves in the streets of Fernandez without their rifles on their -shoulders, and refrained from attending fandangos for the present, and -until the excitement had cooled down. - -A bitter feeling, however, existed on the part of the men; and one -or two offers of a matrimonial nature were rejected by the papas of -certain ladies who had been wooed by some of the white hunters, and -their hands formally demanded from the respective padres. - -La Bonté had been rather smitten with the charms of one Dolores -Salazar—a buxom lass, more than three parts Indian in her blood, but -confessedly the “beauty” of the Vale of Taos. She, by dint of eye, -and of nameless acts of elaborate coquetry, with which the sex so -universally bait their traps, whether in the salons of Belgravia, or -the rancherias of New Mexico, contrived to make considerable havoc in -the heart of our mountaineer; and when once Dolores saw she had made -an impression, she followed up her advantage with all the arts the -most civilised of her sex could use when fishing for a husband. - -La Bonté, however, was too old a hunter to be easily caught; and -before committing himself, he sought the advice of his tried companion -Killbuck. Taking him to a retired spot without the village, he drew -out his pipe and charged it—seated himself cross-legged on the ground, -and, with Indian gravity, composed himself for a “talk.” - -“Ho, Killbuck!” he began, touching the ground with the bowl of his -pipe, and then turning the stem upwards for “_medicine_”—“Hyar's -a child feels squamptious like, and nigh upon 'gone beaver,' _he_ -is—Wagh!” - -“Wagh!” exclaimed Killbuck, all attention. - -“Old hos,” continued the other, “thar's no use câching anyhow what a -niggur feels—so hyar's to 'put out.' You're good for beaver _I_ know; -at deer or buffler, or darned red Injun either, you're 'some.' Now -that's a fact. 'Off-hand,' or 'with a rest,' you make 'em 'come.' -You knows the 'sign' of Injuns slick—Blackfoot or Sioux, Pawnee or -Burnt-wood, Zeton, Rapaho, Shian, or Shoshonée, Yutah, Piyutah, or -Yamhareek—their trail's a plain as writin', old hos, to you.” - -“Wagh!” grunted Killbuck, blushing bronze at all these compliments. - -“Your sight ain't bad. Elks is elk; black-tail deer ain't white-tails; -and b'ar is b'ar to you, and nothin' else, a long mile off and more.” - -“Wa-agh!” - -“Thar ain't a track as leaves its mark upon the plains or mountains -but you can read off-hand; that I've see'd myself. But tell me, old -hos, can you make understand the 'sign' as shows itself in a woman's -breast?” - -Killbuck removed the pipe from his mouth, raised his head, and puffed -a rolling cloud of smoke into the air,—knocked the ashes from the -bowl, likewise made his “medicine”—and answered thus:— - -“From Red River, away up north amongst the Britishers, to Heely (Gila) -in the Spanish country—from old Missoura to the Sea of Californy, -I've trapped and hunted. I knows the Injuns and thar 'sign,' and they -knows _me_, I'm thinkin. Thirty winters has snowed on me in these -hyar mountains, and a niggur or a Spaniard[37] would larn 'some' in -that time. This old tool” (tapping his rifle) “shoots 'center' _she_ -does; and if thar's game afoot, this child knows 'bull' from 'cow,' -and ought to could. That deer is deer, and goats is goats, is plain -as paint to any but a greenhorn. Beaver's a cunning crittur, but I've -trapped a 'heap;' and at killing meat when meat's a-running, I'll -'shine' in the biggest kind of crowd. For twenty year I packed a squaw -along. Not one, but a many. First I had a Blackfoot—the darndest slut -as ever cried for fofarrow. I lodge-poled her on Colter's Creek, and -made her quit. My buffler hos, and as good as four packs of beaver, I -gave for old Bull-tail's daughter. He was head chief of the Ricaree, -and 'came' nicely 'round' me. Thar was'nt enough scarlet cloth, nor -beads, nor vermilion in Sublette's packs for her. Traps wouldn't buy -her all the fofarrow she wanted; and in two years I'd sold her to -Cross-Eagle for one of Jake Hawkin's guns—this very one I hold in my -hands. Then I tried the Sioux, the Shian, and a Digger from the other -side, who made the best moccasin as ever _I_ wore. She was the best of -all, and was rubbed out by the Yutas in the Bayou Salade. Bad was the -best; and after she was gone under I tried no more. - -“Afore I left the settlements I know'd a white gal, and she was some -punkins. I have never seed nothing as 'ould beat her. Red blood won't -'shine' any ways you fix it; and though I'm h— for 'sign,' a woman's -breast is the hardest kind of rock to me, and leaves no trail that -I can see of. I've hearn you talk of a gal in Memphis county; Mary -Brand you called her oncest. The gal I said _I_ know'd, her name I -disremember, but she stands before me as plain as Chimley Rock on -Platte, and thirty year and more har'nt changed a feature in her face, -to me. - -“If you ask this child, he'll tell you to leave the Spanish slut to -her Greasers, and hold on till you take the trail to old Missoura, -whar white and Christian gals are to be had for axing. Wagh!” - -La Bonté rose to his feet. The mention of Mary Brand's name decided -him; and he said— - -“Darn the Spaniard! she can't shine with me; come, old hos! let's -move.” - -And, shouldering their rifles, the two compañeros returned to the -Ranch. More than one of the mountaineers had fulfilled the object of -their journey, and had taken to themselves a partner from amongst -the belles of Taos, and now they were preparing for their return -to the mountains. Dick Wooton was the only unfortunate one. He had -wooed a damsel whose parents peremptorily forbade their daughter to -wed the hunter, and he therefore made ready for his departure with -considerable regret. - -The day came, however. The band of mountaineers were already mounted, -and those with wives in charge were some hours on the road, leaving -the remainder quaffing many a stirrup-cup before they left. Dick -Wooton was as melancholy as a buffalo bull in spring; and as he rode -down the village, and approached the house of his lady-love, who stood -wrapped in reboso, and cigarito in mouth, on the sill of the door, he -turned away his head as if dreading to say adios. La Bonté rode beside -him, and a thought struck him. - -“Ho, Dick!” he said, “thar's the gal, and thar's the mountains: shoot -sharp's the word.” - -Dick instantly understood him, and was “himself again.” He rode up to -the girl as if to bid her adieu, and she came to meet him. Whispering -one word, she put her foot upon his, was instantly seized round the -waist, and placed upon the horn of his saddle. He struck spurs into -his horse, and in a minute was out of sight, his three companions -covering his retreat, and menacing with their rifles the crowd which -was soon drawn to the spot by the cries of the girl's parents, who had -been astonished spectators of the daring rape. - -The trapper and his bride, however, escaped scatheless, and the whole -party effected a safe passage of the mountains, and reached the -Arkansa, where the band was broken up,—some proceeding to Bent's Fort, -and others to the Platte, amongst whom were Killbuck and La Bonté, -still in company. - -These two once more betook themselves to trapping, the Yellow Stone -being their chief hunting-ground. But we must again leap over months -and years, rather than conduct the reader through all their perilous -wanderings, and at last bring him back to the camp on Bijou, where -we first introduced him to our mountaineers; and as we have already -followed them on the Arapaho trail, which they pursued to recover -their stolen animals from a band of that nation, we will once again -seat ourselves at the camp on Boiling Spring, where they had met a -strange hunter on a solitary expedition to the Bayou Salade, whose -double-barrelled rifle had excited their wonder and curiosity. - -From him they learned also that a large band of Mormons were -wintering on the Arkansa, _en route_ to the Great Salt Lake and Upper -California; and as our hunters had before fallen in with the advanced -guard of these fanatic emigrants, and felt no little wonder that -such helpless people should undertake so long a journey through the -wilderness, the stranger narrated to them the history of the sect, -which we shall shortly transcribe for the benefit of the reader. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - - -The Mormons were originally of the sect known as “Latter-day -Saints,” which sect flourishes wherever Anglo-Saxon gulls are found -in sufficient numbers to swallow the egregious nonsense of fanatic -humbugs who fatten upon their credulity. In the United States they -especially abounded; but, the creed becoming “slow,” one Joe Smith, a -_smart_ man, arose from its ranks, and instilled a little life into -the decaying sect. - -Joe, better known as the “Prophet Joe,” was taking his siesta one -fine day, upon hill in one of the New England States, when an angel -suddenly appeared to him, and made known the locality of a new Bible -or Testament, which contained the history of the lost tribes of -Israel; that these tribes were no other than the Indian nations which -possessed the continent of America at the time of its discovery, -and the remains of which still existed in their savage state; that, -through the agency of Joe, these were to be reclaimed, collected into -the bosom of a church to be there established, according to principles -which would be found in the wonderful book—and which church was -gradually to receive into its bosom all other churches, sects, and -persuasions, with “unanimity of belief and perfect brotherhood.” - -After a certain probation, Joe was led in body and spirit to the -mountain; by the angel who first appeared to him, was pointed out the -position of the wonderful book, which was covered by a flat stone, -on which would be found two round pebbles, called Urim and Thummim, -and through the agency of which the mystic characters inscribed on -the pages of the book were to be deciphered and translated. Joe found -the spot indicated without any difficulty, cleared away the earth, -and discovered a hollow place formed by four flat stones; on removing -the topmost one of which sundry plates of brass presented themselves, -covered with quaint and antique carving; on the top lay Urim and -Thummim (commonly known to the Mormons as Mummum and Thummum, the -pebbles of wonderful virtue), through which the miracle of reading the -plates of brass was to be performed. - -Joe Smith, on whom the mantle of Moses had so suddenly fallen, -carefully removed the plates and hid them, burying himself in woods -and mountains whilst engaged in the work of translation. However, he -made no secret of the important task imposed upon him, nor of the -great work to which he had been called. Numbers at once believed -him, but not a few were deaf to belief, and openly derided him. -Being persecuted (as the sect declares, at the instigation of the -authorities), and many attempts being made to steal his precious -treasure, Joe, one fine night, packed his plates in a sack of beans, -bundled them into a Jersey waggon, and made tracks for the West. Here -he completed the great work of translation, and not long after gave -to the world the “Book of Mormon,” a work as bulky as the Bible, and -called “of Mormon,” for so was the prophet named by whose hand the -history of the lost tribes had been handed down in the plates of brass -thus miraculously preserved for thousands of years, and brought to -light through the agency of Joseph Smith. - -The fame of the Book of Mormon spread over all America, and even to -Great Britain and Ireland. Hundreds of proselytes flocked to Joe, to -hear from his lips the doctrine of Mormonism; and in a very brief -period the Mormons became a numerous and recognised sect, and Joe was -at once, and by universal acclamation, installed as the head of the -Mormon church, and was ever after known by the name of the “Prophet -Joseph.” - -However, from certain peculiarities in their social system, the -Mormons became rather unpopular in the settled States, and at length -moved bodily into Missouri, where they purchased several tracts -of land in the neighbourhood of Independence. Here they erected a -large building, which they called the Lord's Store, where goods were -collected on the common account, and retailed to members of the -church at moderate prices. All this time their numbers increased in -a wonderful manner, and immigrants from all parts of the States, as -well as Europe, continually joined them. As they became stronger, they -grew bolder and more arrogant in their projects. They had hitherto -been considered as bad neighbours, on account of their pilfering -propensities, and their utter disregard of the conventional decencies -of society—exhibiting the greatest immorality, and endeavouring to -establish amongst their society an indiscriminate concubinage. This -was sufficient to produce an ill feeling against them on the part of -their neighbours, the honest Missourians; but they still tolerated -their presence amongst them, until the Saints openly proclaimed their -intention of seizing upon the country, and expelling by force the -present occupants—giving, as their reason, that it had been revealed -to their prophets that the “Land of Zion” was to be possessed by -themselves alone. - -The sturdy Missourians began to think this was a little too strong, -and that, if they permitted such aggressions any longer, they would -be in a fair way of being despoiled of their lands by the Mormon -interlopers. At length matters came to a crisis, and the Saints, -emboldened by the impunity with which they had hitherto carried out -their plans, issued a proclamation to the effect that all in that part -of the country, who did not belong to the Mormon persuasion, must -“clear out,” and give up possession of their lands and houses. The -Missourians collected in a body, burned the printing-press from which -the proclamation had emanated, seized several of the Mormon leaders, -and, after inflicting a summary chastisement, “tarred and feathered” -them, and let them go. - -To revenge this insult, the Mormons marshalled an army of Saints, and -marched upon Independence, threatening vengeance against the town -and people. Here they met, however, a band of sturdy backwoodsmen, -armed with rifles, determined to defend the town against the fanatic -mob, who, not relishing their appearance, refused the encounter, and -surrendered their leaders at the first demand. The prisoners were -afterwards released, on condition that the Mormons left that part of -the country without delay. - -Accordingly, they once more “took up their beds and walked,” crossing -the Missouri to Clay County, where they established themselves, and -would finally have formed a thriving settlement but for their own -acts of wilful dishonesty. At this time their blasphemous mummery -knew no bounds. Joe Smith, and other prophets who had lately arisen, -were declared to be chosen of God; and it was the general creed that, -on the day of judgment, the former would take his stand on the right -hand of the judgment-seat, and that none would pass into the kingdom -of heaven without his seal and touch. One of their tenets was the -faith in “spiritual matrimony.” No woman, it appeared, would be -admitted into heaven unless “passed” by a saint. To qualify them for -this, it was necessary that the woman should first be received by the -guaranteeing Mormon as an “earthly wife,” in order that he did not -pass in any of whom he had no knowledge. The consequence of this state -of things may be imagined. The most debasing immorality was a precept -of the order, and an almost universal concubinage existed amongst -the sect, which at this time numbered at least forty thousand. Their -disregard to the laws of decency and morality was such as could not be -tolerated in any class of civilised society. - -Again did the honest Missourians set their faces against this -pernicious example, and when the county to which the Mormons had -removed became more thickly settled, they rose to a man against the -modern Gomorrah. The Mormons, by this time, having on their part -gained considerable accession to their strength, thought to set the -laws at defiance, organised and armed large bodies of men, in order -to maintain the ascendency over the legitimate settlers, and bid fair -to constitute an “imperium in imperio” in the State, and become the -sole possessors of the public lands. This, of course, could not be -tolerated. Governor Boggs at once ordered out a large force of State -militia to put down this formidable demonstration, marched against -the Mormons, and suppressed the insurrectionary movement without -bloodshed. - -From Clay County they moved still farther into the wilds, and settled -at last in Caldwell County, where they built the town of “Far West,” -and here they remained for the space of three years. - -During this time they were continually receiving converts to the -faith, and many of the more ignorant country people were disposed to -join them, being only deterred by the fear of incurring ridicule from -the stronger-minded. The body of the Mormons seeing this, called upon -their prophet, Joe Smith, to perform a miracle in public before all -comers, which was to prove to those of their own people who still -doubted the doctrine, the truth of what it advanced—(the power of -performing miracles was stedfastly declared to be in their hands by -the prophets)—and to enlist those who wavered in the Mormon cause. - -The prophet instantly agreed, and declared that, upon a certain day, -he would walk across the broad waters of the Missouri without wetting -the soles of his feet. On the appointed day, the river banks were -thronged by an expectant crowd. The Mormons sang hymns of praise in -honour of their prophet, and were proud of the forthcoming miracle, -which was to set finally at rest all doubt as to his power and -sanctity. - -This power of performing miracles and effecting miraculous cures of -the sick, was so generally believed by the Mormons, that physic was -never used amongst them. The prophets visited the beds of the sick, -and laid hands upon them, and if, as of course was almost invariably -the case, the patient died, it was attributed to his or her want of -faith; but if, on the contrary, the patient recovered, there was -universal glorification on the miraculous cure. - -Joe Smith was a tall, fine-looking man, of most plausible address, -and possessed the gift of the gab in great perfection. At the time -appointed for the performance of the walking-water miracle, he duly -attended on the river banks, and descended barefoot to the edge of the -water. - -“My brethren!” he exclaimed in a loud voice, “this day is a happy one -to me, to us all, who venerate the great and only faith. The truth of -our great and blessed doctrine will now be proved before the thousands -I see around me. You have asked me to prove by a miracle that the -power of the prophets of old has been given to me. I say unto you, not -only to me, but to all who have faith. I have faith, and can perform -miracles—that faith empowers me to walk across the broad surface of -that mighty river without wetting the soles of my unworthy feet; but -if ye are to _see_ this miracle performed, it is necessary that ye -have faith also, not only in yourselves, but in me. Have ye this faith -in yourselves?” - -“We have, we have!” roared the crowd. - -“Have ye the faith in me, that ye believe I can perform this miracle?” - -“We have, we have!” roared the crowd. - -“Then,” said Joe Smith, coolly walking away, “with such faith do ye -know well that I _could_, but it boots not that I _should_, do it; -therefore, my brethren, doubt no more”—and Joe put on his boots and -disappeared. - -Being again compelled to emigrate, the Mormons proceeded into the -state of Illinois, where, in a beautiful situation, they founded the -new Jerusalem, which, it had been declared by the prophet Mormon, -should rise out of the wilderness of the west, and where the chosen -people should be collected under one church, and governed by the -elders after a “spiritual fashion.” - -The city of Nauvoo soon became a large and imposing settlement. An -enormous building, called the Temple of Zion, was erected, half church -half hôtel, in which Joe Smith and the other prophets resided—and -large storehouses were connected with it, in which the goods and -chattels belonging to the community were kept for the common good. - -However, here, as every where else, they were continually quarrelling -with their neighbours; and as their numbers increased, so did their -audacity. A regular Mormon militia was again organised and armed, -under the command of experienced officers, who had joined the sect; -and now the authority of the state government was openly defied. In -consequence, the executive took measures to put down the nuisance, -and a regular war commenced, and was carried on for some time, with -no little bloodshed on both sides; and this armed movement is known -in the United States as the Mormon war. The Mormons, however, who, -it seemed, were much better skilled in the use of the tongue than -the rifle, succumbed: the city of Nauvoo was taken, Joe Smith and -other ringleading prophets captured; and the former, in an attempt to -escape from his place of confinement, was seized and shot. The Mormons -declare he had long foretold his own fate, and that when the rifles -of the firing party who were his executioners were levelled at the -prophet's breast, a flash of lightning struck the weapons from their -hands, and blinded for a time the eyes of the sacrilegious soldiers. - -With the death of Joe Smith the prestige of the Mormon cause declined; -but still thousands of proselytes joined them annually, and at last -the state took measures to remove them altogether, as a body, from the -country. - -Once again they fled, as they themselves term it, before the -persecutions of the ungodly! But this time their migration was far -beyond the reach of their enemies, and their intention was to place -between them the impassable barrier of the Rocky Mountains, and to -seek a home and resting-place in the remote regions of the Far West. - -This, the most extraordinary migration of modern times, commenced -in the year 1845; but it was not till the following year that the -great body of the Mormons turned their backs upon the settlements of -the United States, and launched boldly out into the vast and barren -prairies, without any fixed destination as a goal to their endless -journey. For many months, long strings of Pittsburg and Conostaga -waggons, with herds of horses and domestic cattle, wound their way -towards the Indian frontier, with the intention of rendezvousing at -Council Bluffs on the Upper Missouri. Here thousands of waggons were -congregated, with their tens of thousands of men, women, and children, -anxiously waiting the route from the elders of the church, who on -their parts scarcely knew whither to direct the steps of the vast -crowd they had set in motion. At length the indefinite destination of -Oregon and California was proclaimed, and the long train of emigrants -took up the line of march. It was believed the Indian tribes would -immediately fraternise with the Mormons, on their approaching their -country; but the Pawnees quickly undeceived them by running off with -their stock on every opportunity. Besides these losses, at every camp, -horses, sheep, and oxen strayed away and were not recovered, and -numbers died from fatigue and want of provender; so that, before they -had been many weeks on their journey, nearly all their cattle, which -they had brought to stock their new country, were dead or missing, -and those that were left were in most miserable condition. - -They had started so late in the season, that the greater part were -compelled to winter on the Platte, on Grand Island, and in the -vicinity, where they endured the greatest privations and suffering -from cold and hunger. Many who had lost their stock lived upon -roots and pig-nuts; and scurvy, in a most malignant form, and other -disorders, carried off numbers of the wretched fanatics. - -Amongst them were many substantial farmers from all parts of the -United States, who had given up their valuable farms, sold off all -their property, and were dragging their irresponsible and unfortunate -families into the wilderness—carried away by their blind and fanatic -zeal in this absurd and incredible faith. There were also many poor -wretches from different parts of England, mostly of the farm-labouring -class, with wives and families, crawling along with helpless and -almost idiotic despair, but urged forward by the fanatic leaders of -the movement, who promised them a land flowing with milk and honey to -reward them for all their hardships and privations. - -Their numbers were soon reduced by want and disease. When too late, -they often wished themselves back in the old country, and sighed many -a time for the beer and bacon of former days, now preferable to the -dry buffalo meat (but seldom obtainable) of the Far West. - -Evil fortune pursued the Mormons, and dogged their steps. The year -following, some struggled on towards the promised land, and of these -a few reached Oregon and California. Many were killed by hostile -Indians; many perished of hunger, cold, and thirst, in passing the -great wilderness; and many returned to the States, penniless and -crestfallen, and heartily cursing the moment in which they had -listened to the counsels of the Mormon prophet. The numbers who -reached their destination of Oregon, California, and the Great Salt -Lake, are computed at 20,000, of whom the United States had an -unregretted riddance. - -One party had followed the troops of the American government intended -for the conquest of New Mexico and the Californias. Of these a -battalion was formed, and part of it proceeded to Upper California; -but the way being impracticable for waggons, some seventy families -proceeded up the Arkansa, and wintered near the mountains, intending -to cross to the Platte the ensuing spring, and join the main body of -emigrants on their way by the south pass of the Rocky Mountains. - -In the wide and well-timbered bottom of the Arkansa, the Mormons had -erected a street of log shanties, in which to pass the inclement -winter. These were built of rough logs of cottonwood, laid one above -the other, the interstices filled with mud, and rendered impervious to -wind or wet. At one end of the row of shanties was built the “church” -or temple—a long building of huge logs, in which the prayer-meetings -and holdings-forth took place. The band wintering on the Arkansa were -a far better class than the generality of Mormons, and comprised many -wealthy and respectable farmers from the western states, most of whom -were accustomed to the life of woodmen, and were good hunters. Thus -they were enabled to support their families upon the produce of their -rifles, frequently sallying out to the nearest point of the mountains -with a waggon, which they would bring back loaded with buffalo, deer, -and elk meat, thereby saving the necessity of killing any of their -stock of cattle, of which but few remained. - -The mountain hunters found this camp a profitable market for their -meat and deer-skins, with which the Mormons were now compelled to -clothe themselves, and resorted there for that purpose—to say nothing -of the attraction of the many really beautiful Missourian girls who -sported their tall graceful figures at the frequent fandangoes. -Dancing and preaching go hand in hand in Mormon doctrine, and the -“temple” was generally cleared for a hop two or three times during -the week, a couple of fiddles doing the duty of orchestra. A party of -mountaineers came in one day, bringing some buffalo meat and dressed -deer-skins, and were invited to be present at one of these festivals. - -Arrived at the temple, they were rather taken aback by finding -themselves in for a sermon, which one of the elders delivered -preparatory to the “physical exercises.” The preacher was one -Brown—called, by reason of his commanding a company of Mormon -volunteers, “Cap'en Brown”—a hard-featured, black-coated man of -five-and-forty, correctly got up in black continuations, and white -handkerchief round his neck, a costume seldom seen at the foot of -the Rocky Mountains. The Cap'en, rising, cleared his voice, and thus -commenced, first turning to an elder (with whom there was a little -rivalry in the way of preaching):—“Brother Dowdle!”—(brother Dowdle -blushed and nodded: he was a long tallow-faced man, with black hair -combed over his face)—“I feel like holding forth a little this -afternoon, before we glorify the Lord,—a—a—in the—a—holy dance. As -there are a many strange gentlemen now—a—present, it's about right to -tell 'em—a—what our doctrine just is, and so I tells 'em right off -what the Mormons is. They are the chosen of the Lord; they are the -children of glory, persecuted by the hand of man: they flies here to -the wilderness, and, amongst the _Injine_ and the buffler, they lifts -up their heads, and cries with a loud voice, Susannah, and hurray for -the promised land! Do you believe it? I _know_ it. - -“They wants to know whar we're going. Whar the church goes—thar we -goes. Yes, to hell, and pull the devil off his throne—that's what -we'll do. Do you believe it? I _know_ it. - -“Thar's milk and honey in that land as we're goin' to, and the lost -tribes of Israel is thar, and will jine us. They say as we'll starve -on the road, bekase thar's no game and no water; but thar's manna up -in heaven, and it 'll rain on us, and thar's prophets among us can -make the water 'come.' Can't they, brother Dowdle?” - -“_Well_, they can.” - -“And now, what have the Gen_tiles_ and the Philis_tines_ to say -against us Mormons? They says we're thieves, and steal hogs; yes, -d—— 'em! they say we has as many wives as we like. So we have. I've -twenty—forty, myself, and mean to have as many more as I can get. But -it's to pass unfortunate females into heaven that I has 'em—yes, to -prevent 'em going to roaring flames and damnation that I does it. - -“Brother Dowdle,” he continued, in a hoarse, low voice, “I've 'give -out,' and think we'd better begin the exercises grettful to the Lord.” - -Brother Dowdle rose, and, after saying that “he didn't feel like -saying much, begged to remind all hands, that dancing was solemn like, -to be done with proper devotion, and not with laughing and talking, -of which he hoped to hear little or none; that joy was to be in their -hearts, and not on their lips; that they danced for the glory of the -Lord, and not their own amusement, as did the Gen_tiles_.” After -saying thus, he called upon brother Ezra to “strike up:” sundry -couples stood forth, and the ball commenced. - -Ezra of the violin was a tall, shambling Missourian, with a pair of -“homespun” pantaloons thrust into the legs of his heavy boots. Nodding -his head in time with the music, he occasionally gave instructions to -such of the dancers as were at fault, singing them to the tune he was -playing, in a dismal nasal tone,— - - “Down the centre—hands across,” - “You, Jake Herring—thump it,” - “Now, you all go right ahead— - Every one of you hump it. - Every one of you—_hump it_.” - -The last words being the signal that all should clap the steam on, -which they did _con amore_, and with comical seriousness. - -A mountaineer, Rube Herring, whom we have more than once met in the -course of this narrative, became a convert to the Mormon creed, -and held forth its wonderful doctrines to such of the incredulous -trappers as he could induce to listen to him. Old Rube stood nearly -six feet six in height, and was spare and bony in make. He had picked -up a most extraordinary cloth coat amongst the Mormons, which had -belonged to some one his equal in stature. This coat, which was of -a snuff-brown colour, had its waist about a hand's span from the -nape of Rube's neck, or about a yard above its proper position, and -the skirts reached to his ancles. A slouching felt-hat covered his -head, from which long black hair escaped, hanging in flakes over his -lantern-jaws. His pantaloons of buckskin were shrunk with wet, and -reached midway between his knees and ancles, and his huge feet were -encased in moccasins of buffalo-cow skin. - -Rube was never without the book of Mormon in his hand, and his -sonorous voice might be heard, at all hours of the day and night, -reading passages from its wonderful pages. He stood the badgering -of the hunters with most perfect good humour, and said there never -was such a book as that ever before printed; that the Mormons were -the “biggest kind” of prophets, and theirs the best faith ever man -believed in. - -Rube had let out one day that he was to be hired as guide by this -party of Mormons to the Great Salt Lake; but their destination being -changed, and his services not required, a wonderful change came over -his mind. He was, as usual, book of Mormon in hand, when brother Brown -announced the change in their plans; at which the book was cast into -the Arkansa, and Rube exclaimed—“Cuss your darned Mummum and Thummum! -thar's not one among you knows 'fat cow' from 'poor bull,' and you may -go h—— for me.” And turning away, old Rube spat out a quid of tobacco -and his Mormonism together. - -Amongst the Mormons was an old man, named Brand, from Memphis county, -state of Tennessee, with a family of a daughter and two sons, the -latter with their wives and children. Brand was a wiry old fellow, -nearly seventy years of age, but still stout and strong, and wielded -axe or rifle better than many a younger man. If truth be told, he was -not a very red-hot Mormon, and had joined them as much for the sake -of company to California, whither he had long resolved to emigrate, -as from any implicit credence in the faith. His sons were strapping -fellows, of the sterling stuff that the Western pioneers are made of; -his daughter Mary, a fine woman of thirty, for whose state of single -blessedness there must doubtless have been sufficient reason; for she -was not only remarkably handsome, but was well known in Memphis to be -the best-tempered and most industrious young woman in those diggings. -She was known to have received several advantageous offers, all of -which she had refused; and report said, that it was from having been -disappointed in very early life in an _affaire du cœur_, at an age -when such wounds sometimes strike strong and deep, leaving a scar -difficult to heal. Neither his daughter, nor any of his family, had -been converted to the Mormon doctrine, but had ever kept themselves -aloof, and refused to join or associate with them; and, for this -reason, the family had been very unpopular with the Mormon families -on the Arkansa; and hence, probably, one great reason why they now -started alone on their journey. - -Spring had arrived, and it was time the Mormons should proceed on -their march; but whether already tired of the sample they had had of -life in the wilderness, or fearful of encountering the perils of the -Indian country, not one amongst them, with the exception of old Brand, -seemed inclined to pursue the journey farther. That old backwoodsman, -however, was not to be deterred, but declared his intention of -setting out alone, with his family, and risking all the dangers to be -anticipated. - -One fine sunny evening in April of 1847, when the cottonwoods on the -banks of the Arkansa began to put forth their buds, and robins and -blue-birds—harbingers of spring—were hopping, with gaudy plumage, -through the thickets, three white-tilted Conostoga waggons emerged -from the timbered bottom of the river, and rumbled slowly over the -prairie, in the direction of the Platte's waters. Each waggon was -drawn by eight oxen, and contained a portion of the farming implements -and household utensils of the Brand family. The teams were driven by -the young boys, the men following in rear with shouldered rifles—Old -Brand himself mounted on an Indian horse, leading the advance. The -women were safely housed under the shelter of the waggon tilts, and -out of the first the mild face of Mary Brand smiled adieu to many -of her old companions who had accompanied them thus far, and now -wished them “God-speed” on their long journey. Some mountaineers, too, -galloped up, dressed in buckskin, and gave them rough greeting—warning -the men to keep their “eyes skinned,” and look out for the Arapahos, -who were out on the waters of the Platte. Presently all retired, and -then the huge waggons and the little company were rolling on their -solitary way through the deserted prairies—passing the first of the -many thousand miles which lay between them and the “setting sun,” as -the Indians style the distant regions of the Far West. And on, without -casting a look behind him, doggedly and boldly marched old Brand, -followed by his sturdy family. - -They made but a few miles that evening, for the first day the _start_ -is all that is effected; and nearly the whole morning is taken up in -getting fairly under weigh. The loose stock had been sent off earlier, -for they had been collected and corralled the previous night; and, -after a twelve hours' fast, it was necessary they should reach the -end of the day's journey betimes. They found the herd grazing in the -bottom of the Arkansa, at a point previously fixed upon for their -first camp. Here the oxen were unyoked, and the waggons drawn up so as -to form the three sides of a small square. The women then descended -from their seats, and prepared the evening meal. A huge fire was -kindled before the waggons, and round this the whole party collected; -whilst large kettles of coffee boiled on it, and hoe-cakes baked upon -the embers. - -The women were sadly downhearted, as well they might be, with the -dreary prospect before them; and poor Mary, when she saw the Mormon -encampment shut out from her sight by the rolling bluffs, and nothing -before her but the bleak, barren prairie, could not divest herself -of the idea that she had looked for the last time on civilised -fellow-creatures, and fairly burst into tears. - -In the morning the heavy waggons rolled on again across the upland -prairies, to strike the trail used by the traders in passing from the -south fork of the Platte to the Arkansa. They had for guide a Canadian -voyageur, who had been in the service of the Indian traders, and knew -the route well, and who had agreed to pilot them to Fort Lancaster, on -the north fork of the Platte. Their course led for about thirty miles -up the Boiling Spring River, whence they pursued a north-easterly -course to the dividing ridge which separates the waters of the Platte -and Arkansa. Their progress was slow, for the ground was saturated -with wet, and exceedingly heavy for the cattle, and they scarcely -advanced more than ten miles a-day. - -At the camp-fire at night, Antoine, the Canadian guide, amused them -with tales of the wild life and perilous adventures of the hunters and -trappers who make the mountains their home; often extorting a scream -from the women by the description of some scene of Indian fight and -slaughter, or beguiling them of a commiserating tear by the narrative -of the sufferings and privations endured by those hardy hunters in -their arduous life. - -Mary listened with the greater interest, since she remembered that -such was the life which had been led by one very dear to her—by one, -long supposed to be dead, of whom she had never but once, since -his departure, nearly fifteen years before, heard a syllable. Her -imagination pictured him as the bravest and most daring of these -adventurous hunters, and conjured up his figure charging through the -midst of whooping savages, or stretched on the ground perishing from -wounds, or cold, or famine. - -Amongst the characters who figured in Antoine's stories, a hunter -named La Bonté was made conspicuous for deeds of hardiness and daring. -The first mention of the name caused the blood to rush to Mary's face: -not that she for a moment imagined it was her La Bonté, for she knew -the name was a common one; but, associated with feelings which she had -never got the better of, it recalled a sad epoch in her former life, -to which she could not look back without mingled pain and pleasure. - -Once only, and about two years after his departure, had she ever -received tidings of her former lover. A mountaineer had returned from -the Far West to settle in his native State, and had found his way to -the neighbourhood of old Brand's farm. Meeting him by accident, Mary, -hearing him speak of the mountain hunters, had inquired, tremblingly, -after La Bonté. Her informant knew him well—had trapped in company -with him—and had heard at the trading fort, whence he had taken his -departure for the settlements, that La Bonté had been killed on the -Yellow Stone by Blackfeet; which report was confirmed by some Indians -of that nation. This was all she had ever learned of the lover of her -youth. - -Now, upon hearing the name of La Bonté so often mentioned by Antoine, -a vague hope was raised in her breast that he was still alive, and she -took an opportunity of questioning the Canadian closely on the subject. - -“Who was this La Bonté, Antoine, who you say was so brave a -mountaineer?” she asked one day. - -“J'ne sais pas; he vas un beau garçon, and strong comme le -diable—enfant de garce, mais he pas not care a dam for les sauvages, -pe gar. He shoot de centare avec his carabine; and ride de cheval -comme one Comanche. He trap heap castor, (what you call beevare,) -and get plenty dollare—mais he open hand vare wide—and got none too. -Den, he hont vid de Blackfoot and avec de Cheyenne, and all round de -montaignes he hont dam sight.” - -“But, Antoine, what became of him at last? and why did he not come -home, when he made so many dollars?” asked poor Mary. - -“Enfant de garce, mais pourquoi he com home? Pe gar, de montaigne-man, -he love de montaigne and de prairie more better dan he love de grandes -villes—même de Saint Louis ou de Montreal. Wagh! La Bonté, well, he -one montaigne-man, wagh! He love de buffaloe and de chevreaux plus -que de bœuf and de mouton, may be. Mais on-dit dat he have autre -raison—dat de gal he lofe in Missouri not lofe him, and for dis he not -go back. Mais now he go ondare, m' on dit. He vas go to de Californe, -may be to steal de hos and de mule—pe gar, and de Espagnols rub him -out, and take his hair, so he mort.” - -“But are you sure of this?” she asked, trembling with grief. - -“Ah, now, j'ne suis pas sûr, mais I tink you know dis La Bonté. -Enfant de garce, maybe you de gal in Missouri he lofe, and not lofe -him. Pe gar! 'fant de garce! fort beau garçon dis La Bonté, pourquoi -you ne l'aimez pas? Maybe he not gone ondare. Maybe he turn op, -autrefois. De trappares, dey go ondare tree, four, ten times, mais -dey turn op twenty time. De sauvage not able for kill La Bonté, ni de -dam Espagnols. Ah, non! ne craignez pas; pe gar, he not gone ondare -encore.” - -Spite of the good-natured attempts of the Canadian, poor Mary burst -into a flood of tears: not that the information took her unawares, for -she long had believed him dead; but because the very mention of his -name awoke the strongest feelings within her breast, and taught her -how deep was the affection she had felt for him whose loss and violent -fate she now bewailed. - -As the waggons of the lone caravan roll on towards the Platte, we -return to the camp where La Bonté, Killbuck, and the stranger, were -sitting before the fire when last we saw them:—Killbuck loquitur:— - -“The doins of them Mormon fools can't be beat by Spaniards, stranger. -Their mummums and thummums you speak of won't 'shine' whar Injuns are -about; nor pint out a trail, whar nothin crossed but rattler-snakes -since fust it snow'd on old Pike's Peak. If they pack along them -_profits_, as you tell of, who can make it rain hump-ribs and -marrow-guts when the crowd gets out of the buffler range, they are -'some,' now, that's a fact. But this child don't believe it. I'd -laugh to get a sight on these darned Mormonites, I would. They're 'no -account,' I guess; and it's the 'meanest' kind of action to haul their -women critters and their young 'uns to sech a starving country as the -Californys.” - -“They are not all Mormons in the crowd,” said the strange hunter; “and -there's one family amongst them with some smartish boys and girls, I -tell you. Their name's Brand.” - -La Bonté looked up from the lock of his rifle, which he was -cleaning—but either didn't hear, or, hearing, didn't heed, for he -continued his work. - -“And they are going to part company,” continued the stranger, “and -put out alone for Platte and the South Pass.” - -“They'll lose their hair, I'm thinking,” said Killbuck, “if the -Rapahos are out thar.” - -“I hope not,” continued the other, “for there's a girl amongst them -worth more than that.” - -“Poor beaver!” said La Bonté, looking up from his work. “I'd hate to -see any white gal in the hands of Injuns, and of Rapahos worse than -all. Where does she come from, stranger?” - -“Down below St Louis, from Tennessee, I've heard them say.” - -“Tennessee,” cried La Bonté,—“hurrah for the old State! What's her -name, stran——” At this moment Killbuck's old mule pricked her ears -and snuffed the air, which action catching La Bonté's eye, he rose -abruptly, without waiting a reply to his question, and exclaimed, “The -old mule smells Injuns, or I'm a Spaniard!” - -The hunter did the old mule justice, and she well maintained her -reputation as the best “guard” in the mountains; for in two minutes an -Indian stalked into the camp, dressed in a cloth capote, and in odds -and ends of civilised attire. - -“Rapaho,” cried Killbuck, as soon as he saw him; and the Indian -catching the word, struck his hand upon his breast, and exclaimed, -in broken Spanish and English mixed, “Si, si, me Arapaho, white man -amigo. Come to camp—eat heap _carne_—me amigo white man. Come from -Pueblo—hunt cibola—me gun break—_no puedo matar nada: mucha hambre_ -(very hungry),—heap eat.” - -Killbuck offered his pipe to the Indian, and spoke to him in his own -language, which both he and La Bonté well understood. They learned -that he was married to a Mexican woman, and lived with some hunters at -the Pueblo fort on the Arkansa. He volunteered the information that -a war party of his people were out on the Platte trail to intercept -the Indian traders on their return from the North Fork; and as some -“Mormones” had just started with three waggons in that direction, -he said his people would make a “roise.” Being muy amigo himself to -the whites, he cautioned his present companions from crossing to the -“divide,” as the “braves,” he said, were a “heap” mad, and their -hearts were “big,” and nothing in the shape of white skin would live -before them. - -“Wagh!” exclaimed Killbuck, “the Rapahos know me, I'm thinking; and -small gain they've made against this child. I've knowed the time when -my gun-cover couldn't hold more of their scalps.” - -The Indian was provided with some powder, of which he stood in need; -and, after gorging as much meat as his capacious stomach would hold, -he left the camp, and started into the mountain. - -The next day our hunters started on their journey down the river, -travelling leisurely, and stopping wherever good grass presented -itself. One morning they suddenly struck a wheel trail, which left -the creek banks and pursued a course at right angles to it, in the -direction of the “divide.” Killbuck pronounced it but a few hours old, -and that of three waggons drawn by oxen. - -“Wagh!” he exclaimed, “if them poor devils of Mormonites ain't going -head first into the Rapaho trap. They'll be 'gone beaver' afore long.” - -“Ay,” said the strange hunter, “these are the waggons belonging to -old Brand, and he has started alone for Laramie. I hope nothing will -happen to them.” - -“Brand!” muttered La Bonté. “I knowed that name mighty well once, -years agone; and should hate the worst kind that mischief happened -to any one who bore it. This trail's as fresh as paint; and it goes -against me to let these simple critters help the Rapahos to their own -hair. This child feels like helping 'em out of the scrape. What do you -say, old hos?” - -“I thinks with you, boy,” answered Killbuck, “and go in for following -this waggon trail, and telling the poor critters that thar's danger -ahead of them. What's your talk, stranger?” - -“I go with you,” shortly answered the latter; and both followed -quickly after La Bonté, who was already trotting smartly on the trail. - -Meanwhile the three waggons, containing the household gods of the -Brand family, rumbled slowly over the rolling prairie, and towards -the upland ridge of the “divide,” which, studded with dwarf pine -and cedar thicket, rose gradually before them. They travelled with -considerable caution, for already the quick eye of Antoine had -discovered recent Indian sign upon the trail, and, with mountain -quickness, had at once made it out to be that of a war party; -for there were no horses with them, and, after one or two of the -moccasin tracks, the mark of a rope which trailed upon the ground -was sufficient to show him that the Indians were provided with the -usual lasso of skin, with which to secure the horses stolen in the -expedition. The men of the party were consequently all mounted and -thoroughly armed, the waggons moved in a line abreast, and a sharp -look-out was kept on all sides. The women and children were all -consigned to the interior of the waggons; and the latter had also guns -in readiness, to take their part in the defence, should an attack be -made. - -However, they had seen no Indians, and no fresh sign, for two days -after they left the Boiling Spring River, and they began to think they -were well out of their neighbourhood. One evening they camped on a -creek called Black Horse, and, as usual, had corralled the waggons, -and forted as well as circumstances would permit, when three or four -Indians suddenly appeared on a bluff at a little distance, and, making -signals of peaceable intentions, approached the camp. Most of the -men were absent at the time, attending to the cattle or collecting -fuel, and only old Brand and one of his young grandchildren, about -fourteen years old, remained in camp. The Indians were hospitably -received, and regaled with a smoke, after which they began to evince -their curiosity by examining every article lying about, and signifying -their wishes that it should be given to them. Finding their hints were -not taken, they laid hold of several things which took their fancies, -and, amongst others, of the pot which was boiling on the fire, and -with which one of them was about very coolly to walk off, when old -Brand, who up to this moment had retained possession of his temper, -seized it out of the Indian's hand, and knocked him down. One of the -others instantly began to draw the buckskin cover from his gun, and -would no doubt have taken summary vengeance for the insult offered -to his companion, when Mary Brand courageously stepped up to him, -and, placing her left hand upon the gun which he was in the act of -uncovering, with the other pointed a pistol at his breast. - -Whether daunted by the bold act of the girl, or admiring her devotion -to her father, the Indian drew himself back, exclaimed “Howgh!” and -drew the cover again on his piece, went up to old Brand, who all this -time looked him sternly in the face, and, shaking him by the hand, -motioned at the same time to the others to be peaceable. - -The other whites presently coming into camp, the Indians sat quietly -down by the fire, and, when the supper was ready, joined in the -repast, after which they gathered their buffalo robes about them, and -quietly withdrew. Meanwhile Antoine, knowing the treacherous character -of the savages, advised that the greatest precaution should be taken -to secure the stock; and before dark, therefore, all the mules and -horses were hobbled and secured within the corral, the oxen being -allowed to feed at liberty—for the Indians scarcely care to trouble -themselves with such cattle. A guard was also set round the camp, and -relieved every two hours; the fire was extinguished, lest the savages -should aim, by its light, at any of the party, and all slept with -rifles ready at their sides. However, the night passed quietly, and -nothing disturbed the tranquillity of the camp. The prairie wolves -loped hungrily around, and their mournful cry was borne upon the wind -as they chased deer and antelope on the neighbouring plain; but not a -sign of lurking Indians was seen or heard. - -In the morning, shortly after sunrise, they were in the act of yoking -the oxen to the waggons, and driving in the loose animals which had -been turned out to feed at daybreak, when some Indians again appeared -upon the bluff, and, descending it, confidently approached the camp. -Antoine strongly advised their not being allowed to enter; but Brand, -ignorant of Indian treachery, replied that, so long as they came as -friends, they could not be deemed enemies, and allowed no obstruction -to be offered to their approach. It was now observed that they were -all painted, armed with bows and arrows, and divested of their buffalo -robes, appearing naked to the breech-clout, their legs only being -protected by deerskin leggings, reaching to the middle of the thigh. -Six or seven first arrived, and others quickly followed, dropping -in one after the other, until a score or more were collected round -the waggons. Their demeanour, at first friendly, soon changed as -their numbers increased, and they now became urgent in their demands -for powder and lead, and bullying in their manner. A chief accosted -Brand, and, through Antoine, informed him “that, unless the demands -of his braves were acceded to, he could not be responsible for the -consequences; that they were out on the 'war-trail,' and their eyes -were red with blood, so that they could not distinguish between white -and Yuta scalps; that the party, with all their women and waggons, -were in the power of the Indian 'braves,' and therefore the white -chief's best plan was to make the best terms he could; that all they -required was that they should give up their guns and ammunition 'on -the prairie.' and all their mules and horses-retaining the 'medicine' -buffaloes (the oxen) to draw their waggons.” - -By this time the oxen were yoked, and the teamsters, whip in hand, -only waited the word to start. Old Brand foamed whilst the Indian -stated his demands, but, hearing him to the end, exclaimed, “Darn the -red devil! I wouldn't give him a grain of powder to save my life. Put -out, boys!”—and, turning to his horse, which stood ready saddled, was -about to mount, when the Indians sprang at once upon the waggons, and -commenced their attack, yelling like fiends. - -One jumped upon old Brand, pulled him back as he was rising in the -stirrup, and drew his bow upon him at the same moment. In an instant -the old backwoodsman pulled a pistol from his belt, and, putting -the muzzle to the Indian's heart, shot him dead. Another Indian, -flourishing his war-club, laid the old man at his feet; whilst some -dragged the women from the waggons, and others rushed upon the men, -who made brave fight in their defence. - -Mary, when she saw her father struck to the ground, sprang with a -shrill cry to his assistance; for at that moment a savage, frightful -as red paint could make him, was standing over his prostrate body, -brandishing a glittering knife in the air, preparatory to thrusting it -into the old man's breast. For the rest, all was confusion: in vain -the small party of whites struggled against overpowering numbers. -Their rifles cracked but once, and they were quickly disarmed; whilst -the shrieks of the women and children, and the loud yells of the -Indians, added to the scene of horror and confusion. As Mary flew to -her father's side, an Indian threw his lasso at her, the noose falling -over her shoulders, and, jerking it tight, he uttered a delighted -yell as the poor girl was thrown back violently to the ground. As -she fell, another deliberately shot an arrow at her body, whilst the -one who had thrown the lasso rushed forward, his scalp-knife flashing -in his hand, to seize the bloody trophy of his savage deed. The girl -rose to her knees, and looked wildly towards the spot where her -father lay bathed in blood; but the Indian pulled the rope violently, -dragged her some yards upon the ground, and then rushed with a yell -of vengeance upon his victim. He paused, however, as at that moment a -shout as fierce as his own sounded at his very ear; and, looking up, -he saw La Bonté gallopping madly down the bluff, his long hair and -the fringes of his hunting-shirt and leggins flying in the wind, his -right arm supporting his trusty rifle, whilst close behind him came -Killbuck and the stranger. Dashing with loud hurrahs to the scene of -action, La Bonté, as he charged down the bluff, caught sight of the -girl struggling in the hands of the ferocious Indian. Loud was the -war-shout of the mountaineer, as he struck his heavy spurs to the -rowels in his horse's side, and bounded like lightning to the rescue. -In a single stride he was upon the Indian, and, thrusting the muzzle -of his rifle into his very breast, he pulled the trigger, driving the -savage backward by the blow itself, at the same moment that the bullet -passed through his heart, and tumbled him over stone-dead. Throwing -down his rifle, La Bonté wheeled his obedient horse, and, drawing a -pistol from his belt, again charged the enemy, among whom Killbuck and -the stranger were dealing death-giving blows. Yelling for victory, -the mountaineers rushed at the Indians; and they, panic-struck at the -sudden attack, and thinking this was but the advanced guard of a large -band, fairly turned and fled, leaving five of their number dead upon -the field. - -Mary, shutting her eyes to the expected death-stroke, heard the loud -shout La Bonté gave in charging down the bluff, and, again looking -up, saw the wild-looking mountaineer rush to her rescue, and save her -from the savage by his timely blow. Her arms were still pinned by the -lasso, which prevented her from rising to her feet; and La Bonté was -the first to run to aid her, as soon as the fight was fairly over. -He jumped from his horse, cut the skin rope which bound her, raised -her from the ground, and, upon her turning up her face to thank him, -beheld his never-to-be-forgotten Mary Brand; whilst she, hardly -believing her senses, recognised in her deliverer her former lover, -and still well-beloved La Bonté. - -“What, Mary! can it be you?” he asked, looking intently upon the -trembling woman. - -“La Bonté, you don't forget me!” she answered, and threw herself -sobbing into the arms of the sturdy mountaineer. - -There we will leave her for the present, and help Killbuck and his -companions to examine the killed and wounded. Of the former, five -Indians and two whites lay dead, grandchildren of old Brand, fine lads -of fourteen or fifteen, who had fought with the greatest bravery, and -lay pierced with arrows and lance wounds. Old Brand had received a -sore buffet, but a hatful of cold water from the creek sprinkled over -his face soon restored him. His sons had not escaped scot-free, and -Antoine was shot through the neck, and, falling, had actually been -half scalped by an Indian, whom the timely arrival of La Bonté had -caused to leave his work unfinished. - -Silently, and with sad hearts, the survivors of the family saw the -bodies of the two boys buried on the river bank, and the spot marked -with a pile of loose stones, procured from the rocky bed of the creek. -The carcasses of the treacherous Indians were left to be devoured by -wolves, and their bones to bleach in the sun and wind—a warning to -their tribe, that such foul treachery as they had meditated had met -with a merited retribution. - -The next day the party continued their course to the Platte. Antoine -and the stranger returned to the Arkansa, starting in the night to -avoid the Indians; but Killbuck and La Bonté lent the aid of their -rifles to the solitary caravan, and, under their experienced guidance, -no more Indian perils were encountered. Mary no longer sat perched -up in her father's Conostoga, but rode a quiet mustang by La Bonté's -side; and no doubt they found a theme with which to while away the -monotonous journey over the dreary plains. South Fork was passed, and -Laramie was reached. The Sweet Water mountains, which hang over the -“pass” to California, were long since in sight; but when the waters -of the North Fork of Platte lay before their horses' feet, and the -broad trail was pointed out which led to the great valley of Columbia -and their promised land, the heads of the oxen were turned _down_ the -stream where the shallow waters flow on to join the great Missouri—and -not _up_, towards the mountains where they leave their spring-heads, -from which springs flow several waters—some coursing their way to -the eastward, fertilising, in their route to the Atlantic, the lands -of civilised man; others westward, forcing a passage through rocky -cañons, and flowing through a barren wilderness, inhabited by fierce -and barbarous tribes. - -These were the routes to choose from: and, what ever was the cause, -the oxen turned their yoked heads away from the rugged mountains; -the teamsters joyfully cracked their ponderous whips, as the waggons -rolled lightly down the Platte; and men, women, and children, waved -their hats and bonnets in the air, and cried out lustily, “Hurrah for -home!” - -La Bonté looked at the dark sombre mountains ere he turned his back -upon them for the last time. He thought of the many years he had spent -beneath their rugged shadow, of the many hardships he had suffered, -of all his pains and perils in those wild regions. The most exciting -episodes of his adventurous career, his tried companions in scenes of -fierce fight and bloodshed, passed in review before him. A feeling -of regret was creeping over him, when Mary laid her hand gently on -his shoulder. One single tear rolled unbidden down his cheek, and he -answered her inquiring eyes: “I'm not sorry to leave it, Mary,” he -said; “but it's hard to turn one's back upon old friends.” - -They had a hard battle with Killbuck, in endeavouring to persuade -him to accompany them to the settlements. The old mountaineer shook -his head. “The time,” he said “was gone by for that. He had often -thought of it, but, when the day arrived, he hadn't heart to leave the -mountains. Trapping now was of no account, he knew; but beaver was -bound to rise, and then the good times would come again. What could he -do in the settlements, where there wasn't room to move, and where it -was hard to breathe—there were so many people?” - -He accompanied them a considerable distance down the river, ever and -anon looking cautiously back, to ascertain that he had not gone out of -sight of the mountains. Before reaching the forks, however, he finally -bade them adieu; and, turning the head of his old grizzled mule -westward, he heartily wrung the hand of his comrade La Bonté; and, -crying Yep! to his well-tried animal, disappeared behind a roll of the -prairie, and was seen no more—a thousand good wishes for the welfare -of the sturdy trapper speeding him on his solitary way. - -Four months from the day when La Bonté so opportunely appeared to -rescue Brand's family from the Indians on Black Horse Creek, that -worthy and the faithful Mary were duly and lawfully united in the -township church of Brandville, Memphis county, State of Tennessee. We -cannot say, in the concluding words of nine hundred and ninety-nine -thousand novels, that “numerous pledges of mutual love surrounded -and cheered them in their declining years,” &c. &c.; because it was -only on the 24th of July, in the year of our Lord 1847, that La Bonté -and Mary Brand were finally made one, after fifteen long years of -separation. - - * * * * * - -The fate of one of the humble characters who have figured in these -pages, we must yet tarry a little longer to describe. - -During the past winter, a party of mountaineers, flying from -overpowering numbers of hostile Sioux, found themselves, one stormy -evening, in a wild and dismal cañon near the elevated mountain valley -called the “New Park.” - -The rocky bed of a dry mountain torrent, whose waters were now -locked up at their spring-heads by icy fetters, was the only road -up which they could make their difficult way: for the rugged sides -of the gorge rose precipitously from the creek, scarcely affording -a foot-hold to even the active bighorn, which occasionally looked -down upon the travellers from the lofty summit. Logs of pine, -uprooted by the hurricanes which sweep incessantly through the -mountain defiles, and tossed headlong from the surrounding ridges, -continually obstructed their way; and huge rocks and boulders, fallen -from the heights and blocking up the bed of the stream, added to the -difficulty, and threatened them every instant with destruction. - -Towards sundown they reached a point where the cañon opened out into a -little shelving glade or prairie, a few hundred yards in extent, the -entrance to which was almost hidden by a thicket of dwarf pine and -cedar. Here they determined to encamp for the night, in a spot secure -from Indians, and, as they imagined, untrodden by the foot of man. - -What, however, was their astonishment, on breaking through the -cedar-covered entrance, to perceive a solitary horse standing -motionless in the centre of the prairie. Drawing near, they found it -to be an old grizzled mustang, or Indian pony, with cropped ears and -ragged tail, (well picked by hungry mules), standing doubled up with -cold, and at the very last gasp from extreme old age and weakness. -Its bones were nearly through the stiffened skin, the legs of the -animal were gathered under it; whilst its forlorn-looking head and -stretched-out neck hung listlessly downwards, almost overbalancing -its tottering body. The glazed and sunken eye—the protruding and -froth-covered tongue—the heaving flank and quivering tail—declared its -race was run; and the driving sleet and snow, and penetrating winter -blast, scarce made impression upon its callous and worn-out frame. - -One of the band of mountaineers was Marcellin, and a single look at -the miserable beast was sufficient for him to recognise the once -renowned Nez-percé steed of old Bill Williams. That the owner himself -was not far distant he felt certain; and, searching carefully around, -the hunters presently came upon an old camp, before which lay, -protruding from the snow, the blackened remains of pine logs. Before -these, which had been the fire, and leaning with his back against a -pine trunk, and his legs crossed under him, half covered with snow, -reclined the figure of the old mountaineer, his snow-capped head bent -over his breast. His well-known hunting-coat of fringed elk-skin hung -stiff and weather-stained about him; and his rifle, packs, and traps, -were strewed around. - -Awe-struck, the trappers approached the body, and found it frozen hard -as stone, in which state it had probably lain there for many days -or weeks. A jagged rent in the breast of his leather coat, and dark -stains about it, showed he had received a wound before his death; but -it was impossible to say, whether to his hurt, or to sickness, or -to the natural decay of age, was to be attributed the wretched and -solitary end of poor Bill Williams. - -A friendly bullet cut short the few remaining hours of the trapper's -faithful steed; and burying, as well as they were able, the body of -the old mountaineer, the hunters next day left him in his lonely -grave, in a spot so wild and remote, that it was doubtful whether even -hungry wolves would discover and disinter his attenuated corpse. - - -THE END. - - -PRINTED BY JOHN HUGHES, 3 THISTLE STREET, EDINBURGH. - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] In accordance with this suggestion, the name was changed to -Brand. The mountaineers, it seems, are more sensitive to type than to -tomahawks; and poor Ruxton, who always contemplated another expedition -among them, would sometimes jestingly speculate upon his reception, -should they learn that he had shown them up in print. - -[2] Killed, } both terms adapted from the Indian figurative - } -[3] Died, } language. - -[4] The Mexicans are called “Spaniards” or “Greasers” (from their -greasy appearance) by the Western people. - -[5] Bent's Indian trading fort on the Arkansa. - -[6] Meaning—if that's what you mean. The “stick” is tied to the beaver -trap by a string; and, floating on the water, points out its position, -should a beaver have carried it away. - -[7] Scalped. - -[8] Soles made of buffalo hide. - -[9] The Hudson Bay Company having amalgamated with the American North -West Company, is known by the name 'North West' to the southern -trappers. Their employés usually wear Canadian capotes. - -[10] A spice of the devil. - -[11] “Euker,” “poker,” and “seven up,” are the fashionable games of -cards. - -[12] Antelope are frequently called “goats” by the mountaineers. - -[13] An Indian is always a “heap” hungry or thirsty—loves a “heap”—is -a “heap” brave—in fact, “heap” is tantamount to very much. - -[14] The young untried warriors of the Indians are thus called. - -[15] There is a great difference between an Indian's fire and a -white's. The former places the ends of logs to burn gradually; the -latter, the centre, besides making such a bonfire that the Indians -truly say, “The white makes a fire so hot that he cannot approach to -warm himself by it.” - -[16] A pithy substance found in dead pine-trees. - -[17] Saddle-blanket made of buffalo-calf skin. - -[18] The French Canadians are called _wah-keitcha_—“bad medicine”—by -the Indians, who account them treacherous and vindictive, and at the -same time less daring than the American hunters. - -[19] A substance obtained from a gland in the scrotum of the beaver, -and used to attract that animal to the trap. - -[20] The Hudson's Bay Company is so called by the American trappers. - -[21] A small lake near the head waters of the Yellow Stone, near which -are some curious thermal springs of ink-black water. - -[22] The Aztecs are supposed to have built this city during their -migration to the south; there is little doubt, however, but that the -region extending from the Gila to the Great Salt Lake, and embracing -the province of New Mexico, was the locality from which they emigrated. - -[23] Creoles of St Louis, and French Canadians. - -[24] “On the prairie,” is the Indian term for a free gift. - -[25] Hide—from _cacher_. - -[26] Carrion. - -[27] In Frémont's expedition to California, on a somewhat similar -occasion, two mountaineers, one the celebrated Kit Carson, the other -a St Louis Frenchman named Godey, and both old trappers, performed a -feat surpassing the one described above, inasmuch as they were but -two. They charged into an Indian village to rescue some stolen horses, -and avenge the slaughter of two New Mexicans who had been butchered by -the Indians; both which objects they effected, returning to camp with -the lost animals and a couple of propitiatory scalps. - -[28] The Mexicans call the Indians living near the missions and -engaged in agriculture, _mansos_, or _mansitos_, tame. - -[29] From a manuscript obtained in Santa Fé of New Mexico, describing -the labours of the missionaries Fray Augustin Ruiz, Venabides, and -Marcos, in the year 1585. - -[30] From the report to the Governor of California by the Head of the -Mission, in reference to the attacks by the American mountaineers. - -[31] Indian expression for a free gift. - -[32] Since the time of which we speak, Kit Carson has distinguished -himself in guiding the several U. S. exploring expeditions, under -Frémont, across the Rocky Mountains, and to all parts of Oregon and -California; and for his services, the President of the United States -presented the gallant Mountaineer with the commission of lieutenant in -a newly raised regiment of mounted riflemen, of which his old leader -Frémont is appointed colonel. - -[33] The word _fandango_, in New Mexico, is not applied to the -peculiar dance known in Spain by that name, but designates a ball or -dancing meeting. - -[34] A nickname for the idle fellows hanging about a Mexican town, -translated into “Greasers” by the Americans. - -[35] Cask-shaped gourds. - -[36] The knives used by the hunters and trappers are manufactured at -the “Green River” works, and have that name stamped upon the blade. -Hence the mountain term for doing any thing effectually is “up to -Green River.” - -[37] Always alluding to Mexicans, who are invariably called Spaniards -by the Western Americans. - - - - - ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ - │ Transcriber's note: │ - │ │ - │ The original spelling, hyphenation, and punctuation have been │ - │ retained, with the exception of apparent typographical errors │ - │ which have been corrected. │ - │ │ - │ Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. │ - │ │ - │ Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant │ - │ form was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. │ - │ │ - │ Footnotes were moved to the end of the book and numbered in one │ - │ sequence. │ - └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE IN THE FAR WEST*** - - -******* This file should be named 55093-0.txt or 55093-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/5/0/9/55093 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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