LIFE IN THE FAR WEST 57 



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 mocassins the best hunter 

 and rifle-shot in the country, with many other advan- 

 tages too numerous to mention. But when did the 

 course, <kc. 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 BontS's words, " awful fond," and 

 consequently about once a-week had their tiffs and 

 makes-up. 



However, on one occasion, at a " husking," and dur- 

 ing 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 mis- 

 chief in this world ; and by a flirtation over the corn- 

 cobs with Big Pete, La Bonte'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 be 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 Bonte 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 



