100 LIFE IX THE FAR WEST 



" Why, old hos," cried La Bonte, " 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 ;* and if I draws my knife again on such var- 

 mint, I'll raise his hair, as sure as shootin'." 



Spite of the reputed dangers of the locality, the trap- 

 pers 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 

 Bonte observed the ill-starred trapper take from his 

 pouch a curiously carved red stone pipe, which he care- 



* A small lake near the head waters of the Yellow Stone, 

 near which are some curious thermal springs of ink-black water. 



