I 



IN THE OLD WEST 55 



mit, and, looking down, descried at their very 

 feet the Indian camp, with their own stolen caval- 

 lada feeding quietly round. 



" Wagh ! " exclaimed both the hunters in a 

 breath. "And thar's the old gal at that," 

 chuckled Killbuck, as he recognized 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 arn't a-goin' to 

 pack them animals after 'em, and have crawled 

 like rattlers along this bottom to cache 'em till 

 they come back from the Bayou, and maybe 

 they'll leave half-a-dozen soldiers * with 'em." 



How right the wily trapper was in his con- 

 jectures will be shortly proved. Meanwhile, with 

 his companion, he descended the bluff, and push- 

 ing 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 un- 

 known 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, 



* The young untried warriors of the Indians are thus 

 called. 



