270 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST 



the Platte. Their course led for about thirty miles up 

 the Boiling Spring River, whence they pursued a north- 

 easterly course to the dividing ridge which separates 

 the waters of the Platte and Arkansa. Their progress 

 was slow, for the ground was saturated with wet, and 

 exceedingly heavy for the cattle, and they scarcely 

 advanced more than ten miles a-day. 



At the camp-fire at night, Antoine, the Canadian 

 guide, amused them with tales of the wild life and 

 perilous adventures of the hunters and trappers who 

 make the mountains their home ; often extorting a 

 scream from the women by the description of some 

 scene of Indian fight and slaughter, or beguiling them 

 of a commiserating tear by the narrative of the suffer- 

 ings and privations endured by those hardy hunters in 

 their arduous life. 



Mary listened with the greater interest, since she 

 remembered that such was the life which had been led 

 by one very dear to her by one, long supposed to 

 be dead, of whom she had never but once, since his 

 departure, nearly fifteen years before, heard a syllable. 

 Her imagination pictured him as the bravest and most 

 daring of these adventurous hunters, and conjured up 

 his figure charging through the midst of whooping 

 savages, or stretched on the ground perishing from 

 wounds, or cold, or famine. 



Amongst the characters who figured in Antoine's 

 stories, a hunter named La Bonte was made con- 

 spicuous for deeds of hardiness and daring. The first 

 mention of the name caused the blood to rush to 



