78 THRILLING ADVENTURES. 



No more daring mountaineer than La Bonte ever trapped 

 a beaver, and no counsel could have more exactly tallied with 

 his own inclination than the law laid down by old Killbuck. 



" Agreed," was his answer, and forthwith he set about 

 forming a cache. In this instance they had not sufficient time 

 to construct a regular one, so they contented themselves with 

 securing their packs of beaver in bnfialo robes, and tying 

 them in the forks of several cotton-woods, under which the 

 camp had been made. This done, they lit a fire, and cooked 

 some buffalo meat: and, while smoking a pipe, carefully 

 cleaned their rifles and filled their horns and pouches with a 

 good stock of ammunition. 



A prominent feature in the character of the hunters of the 

 far west is their quick determination and resolves in cases of 

 extreme difficulty and peril, and their fixedness of purpose, 

 when any plan of operations has been laid, requiring bold and 

 instant action in carrying out. It is here that they so infi- 

 nitely surpass the savage Indian, in bringing to a successful 

 issue their numerous hostile expeditions against the natural 

 foe of the white man in the wild and barbarous regions of the 

 west. Ready to resolve as they are prompt to execute, and 

 combining far greater dash and daring with equal subtlety 

 and caution, they possess great advantage over the vacillat- 

 ing Indian, whose superstitious mind in a great degree para- 

 lyzes the physical energy of his active body ; ^nd who, by 

 waiting for propitious signs and seasons before he undertakes 

 an enterprise, often loses the opportunity by which his white 

 and more civilized enemy knows how to profit. 



Killbuck and La Bonte were no exceptions to this charac- 

 teristic rule ; and before the sun was a hand's-breadth above 

 the eastern horizen, the two hunters were running on the trail 

 of the victorious Indians. Striking from the creek where the 

 night attack was made, they crossed to another, known as 

 Kioway, running parallel to Bijou, a few hours' journey west- 

 ward, and likewise heading in the " divide." Following this 



