10 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 



nut Creek, and Pawnee Fork passed the fireless route of 

 the Coon Creeks, through a sea of fat buffalo-meat, without 

 fuel to cook it ; have struck the big river, and, leaving at 

 the " Crossing " the waggons destined for Santa Fe, have 

 trailed us up the Arkansa to Bent's Fort ; thence up Boil- 

 ing Spring, across the divide over to the southern fork of 

 the Platte, away up to the Black Hills, and finally camped 

 us, with hair still preserved, in the beaver-abounding val- 

 leys of the Sweet Water, and Cache la Poudre, under the 

 rugged shadow of the Wind Biver Mountains ; if it had 

 not so happened, at this juncture, as all our mountaineers 

 sat cross-legged round the fire, pipe in mouth, and with 

 Indian gravity listened to the yarn of the old trapper, 

 interrupting him only with an occasional wagh! or with 

 the exclamations of some participator in the events then 

 under narration, who would every now and then put in 

 a corroborative, "This child remembers that fix," or, 

 " hyar's a niggur lifted hair that spree," &c. that a whiz- 

 zing noise was heard in the air, followed by a sharp but 

 suppressed cry from one of the hunters. 



In an instant the mountaineers had sprung from their 

 seats, and, seizing the ever-ready rifle, each one had thrown 

 himself on the ground a few paces beyond the light of the 

 fire (for it was now nightfall) ; but not a word escaped 

 them, as, lying close, with their keen eyes directed towards 

 the gloom of the thicket, near which the camp was placed, 

 with rifles cocked, they waited a renewal of the attack. 

 Presently the leader of the band, no other than Killbuck, 

 who had so lately been recounting some of his experiences 

 across the plains, and than whom no more crafty woods- 

 man or more expert trapper ever tracked a deer or grained 

 a beaver-skin, raised his tall leather-clad form, and, placing 

 his hand over his mouth, made the prairie ring with the 

 wild protracted note of an Indian war-whoop. This was 

 instantly repeated from the direction where the animals 

 belonging to the camp were grazing, under the charge of 

 the horse-guard. Three shrill whoops answered the warn- 

 ing of the leader, and showed that the guard was on the 

 alert, and understood the signal. However, with the inani- 



