UFE IN THE FAR WEST. 107 



otherwise have impeded his advance. This tact appeared 

 instinctive, for he looked neither right nor left, whilst 

 continuing a course as straight as possible at the foot of 

 the mountains. In selecting a camping-site he displayed 

 equal skill : wood, water, and grass began to fill his 

 thoughts towards sundown ; and when these three requi- 

 sites for a camping-ground presented themselves, old Bill 

 sprang from his saddle, unpacked his animals in a twink- 

 ling and hobbled them, struck fire and ignited a few chips 

 (leaving the rest to pack in the wood), lit his pipe, and 

 enjoyed himself. 



On one occasion, when passing through the valley, they 

 had ccme upon a band of fine buffalo cows, and, shortly 

 after camping, two of the party rode in with a good supply 

 of fat fleece. One of the party was a "greenhorn" on his 

 first hunt, fresh from a fort on Platte, and as yet unini- 

 tiated in the mysteries of mountain cooking. Bill, lazily 

 smoking his pipe, called to him, as he happened to be 

 nearest, to butcher off a piece of meat and put it in his 

 pot. Markhead seized the fleece, and commenced inno- 

 cently carving off a huge ration, when a gasping roar from 

 the old trapper caused him to drop his knife. " Ti-ya,' 

 growled Bill, " do 'ee hyar, now, you darned greenhorn, do 

 'ee spile fat cow like that whar you was raised ? Them 

 doins won't shine in this crowd, boy, do 'ee hyar, darned 

 you ? What ! butcher meat across the grain ! why, whar'll 

 the blood be goin' to, you precious Spaniard ? Down the 

 grain, I say," he continued, in a severe tone of rebuke, " and 

 let your flaps be long, or out the juice 'ill run slick do 'ee 

 hyar, now ? " But this heretical error nearly cost the old 

 trapper his appetite, and all night long he grumbled his 

 horror at seeing "fat cow spiled in that fashion." 



When two or three days' journey brought them to the 

 end of the valley, and they commenced the passage of the 

 mountain, their march was obstructed by all kinds of 

 obstacles ; although they had chosen what appeared to be 

 a gap in the chain, and what was in fact the only practi- 

 cable passage in that vicinity. They followed the canon of 

 a branch of the Yellow Stone, where it entered the rnoun- 



