LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 35 



" Well, we do. But whar's your companyeros ? " 



I'm alone." 



" Alone ? Wagh ! how do you get your animals along ? " 



" I go ahead, and they follow the horse." 



" Well, that beats all ! That's a smart-looking hos now ; 

 and runs some, I'm thinking." 



" Well, it does." 



" Whar's them mules from ? They look Lke Californy." 



" Mexican country away down south." 



H ! Whar's yourself from ? " 



" There away, too." 



" What's beaver worth in Taos ? " 



"Dollar." 



" In Saint Louiy?" 



"Same." 



H ! Any call for buckskin ? " 



" A heap ! The soldiers in Santa Fd are half froze for 

 leather ; and mocassins fetch two dollars easy." 



" Wagh ! How's trade on Arkansa, and what's doin' to 

 the Fort ?" 



" Shians at Big Timber, and Bent's people trading smart. 

 On North Fork, Jim Waters got a hundred pack right off, 

 and Sioux making more." 



"Whar's Bill Williams?" 



" Gone under, they say : the Diggers took his hair." 



" How's powder goin' ? " 



" Two dollars a pint." 



" Bacca ? " 



" A plew a plug." 



" Got any about you ? " 



" Have so." 



" Give us a chaw ; and now let's camp." 



Whilst unpacking their own animals, the two trappers 

 could not refrain from glancing, every now and then, with 

 no little astonishment, at the solitary stranger they had so 

 unexpectedly encountered. If truth be told, his appear- 

 ance not a little perplexed them. His hunting-frock of 

 buckskin, shining with grease, and fringed pantaloons, 

 over which the well-greased butcher-knife had evidently 



