LIFE IN THE FAB WEST 15? 



watched for an Indian to expose himself, and offer a 

 mark to their trusty rifles. La Bonte, Killbuck, and 

 old Bill, lay a few yards distant from each other, flat on 

 their faces, near the edge of the thicket, their rifles 

 raised before them, and the barrels resting in the forks 

 of convenient bushes. From their place of concealment 

 to the position of the Indians who, however, were 

 scattered here and there, wherever a rock afforded them 

 cover was a distance of about a hundred and fifty 

 yards, or within fair rifle-shot. The trappers were 

 obliged to divide their force, since both sides of the 

 creek were occupied ; but such was the nature of the 

 ground, and the excellent cover afforded by the rocks 

 and boulders, and clumps of dwarf pine and hemlock, 

 that not a hand's-breadth of an Indian's body had yet 

 been seen. Nearly opposite La Bonte, a shelving glade 

 in the mountain-side ended in an abrupt precipice, and 

 at the very edge, and almost toppling over it, were 

 several boulders, just of sufficient size to afford cover to 

 a man's body. As this bluff overlooked the trappers' 

 position, it was occupied by the Indians, and every 

 rock covered an assailant. At one point, just over 

 where La Bonte and Killbuck were lying, two boulders 

 lay together, with just sufficient interval to admit a 

 rifle-barrel between them, and from this breastwork an 

 Indian kept up a most annoying fire. All his shots fell 

 in dangerous propinquity to one or other of the trappers, 

 and already Killbuck had been grazed by one better 

 directed than the others. La Bonte watched for 

 some time in vain for a chance to answer this persever- 



