348 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST 



" Ti-ya," growled Bill, " do 'ee hyar, now, you darned 

 greenhorn, do 'ee spile fat cow like that whar you was 

 raised ? Them doins won't shine in this crowd, boy, do 

 'ee hyar, darned you 1 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 'ill 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 cafion 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 parfleche soles of their 

 mocassins 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 



