178 IN THE OLD WEST 



recovered the " Bending Reed," nor even heard of 

 her existence from that day. So once more was 

 the mountaineer bereft of his better half; and 

 when he returned to the rendezvous, a troop of 

 wolves were feasting on the bodies of his late com- 

 panions, and of the Indians killed in the affray, 

 of which he only heard the particulars a long time 

 after from a trapper, who had been present when 

 one of the squaws was offered at the trading-post 

 for sale, and had heard her recount the miserable 

 fate of her husband and his companions on the 

 forks of the creek, which, from the fact of La 

 Bonte being the leader of the party, has since 

 borne his name. 



Undaunted by this misfortune, the trapper con- 

 tinued his solitary hunt, passing through the midst 

 of the Crow and Blackfeet country ; encountering 

 many perils, often hunted by the Indians, but al- 

 ways escaping. He had soon loaded both his ani- 

 mals with beaver, and then thought of bending 

 his steps to some of the trading rendezvous on the 

 other side of the mountains, where employes of 

 the Great Northwest Fur Company meet the 

 trappers with the produce of their hunts, on 

 Lewis's fork of the Columbia, or one of its numer- 

 ous affluents. His intention was to pass the win- 

 ter at some of the company's trading-posts in 

 Oregon, into which country he had never yet 

 penetrated. 



