120 LIFE IN THE PAR WEST. 



at hand, La Bonte" flapped a lump of raw fleece into his 

 patient's face, and this instantly revived him. Then tak- 

 ing the sick man's shoulder, he raised him tenderly into 

 a sitting posture, and invited, in kindly accents, " the old 

 hos to feed," thrusting at the same time a tolerable slice of 

 liver into his hand, which the patient looked at wistfully 

 and vaguely for a few short moments, and then greedily 

 devoured. It was nightfall by the time that La Bonte, 

 assisted by many intervals of hard eating, packed in the 

 last of the meat, which formed a goodly pile around the fire. 



"Poor bull" it was, in all conscience: the labour of 

 chewing a mouthful of the " tender loin " was equal to a 

 hard day's hunt ; but to them, poor starved fellows, it 

 appeared the richest of meat. They still preserved a small 

 tin pot, and in this, by stress of eternal boiling, La Bonte 

 contrived to make some strong soup, which soon restored 

 his sick companion to marching order. For himself, as 

 soon as a good meal had filled him, he was strong as ever, 

 and employed himself in drying the remainder of the meat 

 for future use. Even the wolf, bony as he was, was con- 

 verted into meat, and rationed them several days. Winter, 

 however, had set in with such severity, and Killbuck was 

 still so weak, that La Bonte determined to remain in his 

 present position until spring, as he now found that buffalo 

 frequently visited the valley, as it was more bare of snow 

 than the lowlands, and afforded them better pasture ; and 

 one morning he had the satisfaction of seeing a band of 

 seventeen bulls within long rifle-shot of the camp, out of 

 which four of the fattest were soon laid low by his rifle. 



They still had hard times before them, for towards spring 

 the buffalo again disappeared ; the greater part of their 

 meat had been spoiled, owing to there not being sufficient 

 sun to dry it thoroughly; and when they resumed their 

 journey they had nothing to carry with them, and had a 

 desert before them without game of any kind. We pass 

 over what they suffered. Hunger and thirst were their 

 portion, and Indians assaulted them at times, and many 

 miraculous and hair-breadth escapes they had from these 

 enemies. 



