176 IN THE OLD WEST 



der " more quickly still ; and that the Great Spirit 

 has ordained that both shall be " rubbed out " 

 from the face of nature at one and the same time, 

 " that arrows and bullets are not more fatal 

 to the buffalo than the small-pox and fire-water 

 to them, and that before many winters' snows have 

 disappeared, the buffalo and the Red Man will 

 only be remembered by their bones, which will 

 strew the plains." " They look forward, how- 

 ever, to a future state, when, after a long jour- 

 ney, they will reach the happy hunting-grounds, 

 where buffalo will once more blacken the prairies ; 

 where the pale-faces dare not come to disturb 

 them; where no winter snows cover the ground, 

 and the buffalo are always plentiful and fat." 



As soon as the streams opened, La Bonte, now 

 reduced to two animals and four traps, sallied 

 forth again, this time seeking the dangerous coun- 

 try of the Blackfeet, on the head-waters of the 

 Yellow Stone and Upper Missouri. He was ac- 

 companied by three others, a man named Wheeler, 

 and one Cross-Eagle, a Swede, who had been many 

 years in the western country. Reaching the 

 forks of a small creek, on both of which appeared 

 plenty of beaver sign, La Bonte followed the left- 

 hand one alone, whilst the others trapped the 

 right in company, the former leaving his squaw 

 in the company of a Sioux woman, who followed 

 the fortunes of Cross-Eagle, the party agreeing 

 to rendezvous at the junction of the two forks, 



