ASTOR ENCOUNTERS NEW OPPONENTS 45 



eouri with his canoe full of beaver-pelts, which he 

 quickly exchanged for the gay attire to be obtained at 

 Fort Union. Oddly enough,, though the fellow was a 

 French-Canadian, he had long, flaxen hair, of which lie 

 was inordinately vain. Strutting about the court-yard, 

 feeling himself a very prince of importance, he saw 

 MacKenzie s pretty young Indian wife. Each paid the 

 other the tribute of adoration that was warmer than 

 it was wise. The denouement was a vision of the flaxen- 

 haired Siegfried sprinting at the top of his speed 

 through the fort gate, with the irate MacKenzie flour 

 ishing a flail to the rear. The matter did not end here. 

 The outraged Frenchman swore to kill MacKenzie on 

 sight, and haunted the fort gates with a loaded rifle 

 till MacKenzie was obliged to hire a mulatto servant to 

 &quot; wing &quot; the fellow with, a shot in the shoulder, when 

 he was brought into the fort, nursed back to health, and 

 sent away. 



At another time two Rocky Mountain trappers built 

 an opposition fort just below Union and lay in wait 

 for the coming of the Blackfeet to trade with the Amer 

 ican Fur Company. MacKenzie posted a lookout on his 

 bastion. The moment the Indians were descried, out 

 sallied from Fort Union a band in full regalia, with 

 drum and trumpet and piccolo and fife wonders that 

 would have lured the astonished Indians to perdition. 

 Behind the band came gaudy presents for the savages, 

 and what was not supposed to be in the Indian country 

 liquor. When these methods failed to outbuy rivals, 

 MacKenzie did not hesitate to pay twelve dollars for 

 a beaver-skin not worth two. The Rocky Mountain 

 trappers were forced to capitulate, and their post 

 passed over to the American Fur Company. 



