18 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 



which the camp had been made. This done, they lit a fire, 

 and cooked some buffalo-meat ; and, whilst smoking a pipe, 

 carefully cleaned their rifles, and filled their horns and 

 pouches with good store of ammunition. 



A prominent feature in the character of the hunters of 

 the Far West is their quick determination and resolve in 

 cases of extreme difficulty and peril, and their fixedness of 

 purpose, when any plan of operations has been laid re- 

 quiring bold and instant action in carrying out. It is 

 here that they so infinitely surpass the savage Indian in 

 bringing to a successful issue their numerous hostile ex- 

 peditions 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 vacillating Indian, whose 

 superstitious mind in a great degree paralyses the physical 

 energy of his active body ; and who, by waiting for propi- 

 tious signs and seasons before he undertakes an enterprise, 

 often loses the opportunity by which his white and more 

 civilised enemy knows so well how to profit. 



Killbuck and La Bonte were no exceptions to this 

 characteristic rule ; and before the sun was a hand's- 

 breadth above the eastern horizon, 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 westward, and likewise 

 heading in the " divide." Following this to its forks, they 

 struck into the upland prairies lying at the foot of the 

 mountains ; and crossing to the numerous water-courses 

 which feed the creek called " Vermillion " or " Cherry," 

 they pursued the trail over the mountain-spurs until it 

 reached a fork of the Boiling Spring. Here the war-party 

 had halted and held a consultation, for from this point the 

 trail turned at a tangent to the westward, and entered the 

 rugged gorges of the mountains. It was now evident to 

 the two trappers that their destination was the Bayou 

 Salade, a mountain valley which is a favourite resort of 



