LIFE IN THE FAB WEST 245 



" Wagh ! " grunted Killbuck, blushing bronze at all 

 these compliments. 



" Your sight ain't bad. Elks is elk ; black-tail deer 

 ain't white-tails; and b'ar is b'ar to you, and nothin* else, 

 a long mile off and more." 



"Wa-agh!" 



"Thar ain't a track as leaves its mark upon the 

 plains or mountains but you can read off-hand ; that 

 I've see'd myself. But tell me, old hos, can you make 

 understand the ' sign ' as shows itself in a woman's 

 breast ? " 



Killbuck removed the pipe from his mouth, raised his 

 head, and puffed a rolling cloud of smoke into the air, 

 knocked the ashes from the bowl, likewise made his 

 medicine and answered thus : 



" From Red River, away up north among the Brit- 

 ishers, to Heely (Gila) in the Spanish country from 

 old Missoura to the Sea of Californy, I've trapped 

 and hunted. I knows the Injuns and thar ' sign,' and 

 they knows me, I'm thinkin. Thirty winters has 

 snowed on me in these hyar mountains, and a niggur 

 or a Spaniard * would larn ' some ' in that time. This 

 old tool " (tapping his rifle) " shoots ' center, ' she does ; 

 and if thar's game afoot, this child knows ' bull ' from 

 ' cow,' and ought to could. That deer is deer, and 

 goats is goats, is plain as paint to any but a greenhorn. 

 Beaver's a cunning crittur, but I've trapped a ' heap ; ' 

 and at killing meat when meat's a-running, I'll ' shine ' 



* Always alluding to Mexicans, who arc invariably called 

 Spaniards by the Western Americans. 



