IN THE OLD WEST 301 



ready 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 our- 

 selves at the camp on Boiling Spring, where they 

 had met a strange hunter on a solitary expedition 

 to the Bayou Salade, whose double-barreled 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 Califor- 

 nia; 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 his- 

 tory of the sect, which we shall shortly transcribe 

 for the benefit of the reader. 



