LIFE IX THE FAR WEST 273 



saiivage not able for kill La Bonte, ni de dam Espag- 

 nols. Ah, non ! ne craignez pas ; be gar, he not gone 

 ondare encore." 



Spite of the good-natured attempts of the Canadian, 

 poor Mary burst into a flood of tears : not that the 

 information took her unawares, for she long had believed 

 her lover dead ; but because the very mention of his 

 name awoke the strongest feelings within her breast, 

 and taught her how deep was the affection she had felt 

 for him whose loss and violent fate she now bewailed. 



As the waggons of the lone caravan roll on towards 

 the Platte, we return to the camp where La Bonte, 

 Killbuck, and the stranger, were sitting before the fire 

 w lie n last \\v BOW them. Killbuck loquitur : 



" The doins of them Mormon fools can't be beat by 

 Spaniards, stranger. Their mummums and thummums 

 you speak of won't 'shine* wliar Injuns are about; 

 nor pint out a trail, whar nothin crossed but rattler- 

 snakes since fust it snow'd on old Pike's Peak. If they 

 park along them profits, as you tell of, who can make 

 it rain hump-ribs and marrow-guts when the crowd 

 gets out of the burner range, they are ' some,' now, 

 that's a fact. But this child don't believe it. I'd laugh 

 to get a sight on these darned Mormonites, I would. 

 They're ' no account,' I guess ; and its the ' meanest ' 

 kind of action to haul their women critters and their 

 young 'uns to sech a starving country as the Cali- 

 fornys." 



" They are not all Mormons in the crowd," said the 

 strange hunter ; "and there's one family amongst 

 3 



