176 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 



the business was compounded by the mountaineers promis- 

 ing to give sundry dollars to the friends of two of the 

 Mexicans who died during the night of their wounds, and 

 to pay for a certain amount of masses to be sung for the 

 repose of their souls in purgatory. Thus the affair blew 

 over ; but for several days the mountaineers never showed 

 themselves in the streets of Fernandez without their 

 rifles on their shoulders, and refrained from attending 

 fandangos for the present, and until the excitement had 

 cooled down. 



A bitter feeling, however, existed on the part of the men ; 

 and one or two offers of a matrimonial nature were rejected 

 by the papas of certain ladies who had been wooed by some 

 of the white hunters, and their hands formally demanded 

 from their respective padres. 



La Bonte had been rather smitten with the charms of 

 one Dolores Salazar a buxom lass, more than three parts 

 Indian in her blood, but confessedly the " beauty " of the 

 Vale of Taos. She, by dint of eye, and of nameless acts of 

 elaborate coquetry, with which the sex so universally bait 

 their traps, whether in the salons of Belgravia or the ran- 

 cherias of New Mexico, contrived to make considerable 

 havoc in the heart of our mountaineer ; and when once 

 Dolores saw she had made an impression, she followed up 

 her advantage with all the arts the most civilised of her 

 sex could Use when fishing for a husband. 



La Bonte, however, was too old a hunter to be easily 

 caught ; and before committing himself, he sought the 

 advice of his tried companion, Killbuck. Taking him to a 

 retired spot without the village, he drew out his pipe and 

 charged it seated himself cross-legged on the ground, and 

 with Indian gravity, composed himself for a " talk." 



" Ho, Killbuck*! " he began, touching the ground with 

 the bowl of his pipe, and then turning the stem upwards 

 for medicine " Hyar's a child feels squamptious-like, and, 

 nigh upon ' gone beaver,' he is Wagh ! " 



" Wagh ! " exclaimed Killbuck, all attention. 



"Old hos," continued the other, "thar's no use etch- 

 ing anyhow what a niggur feels so hyar's to ' put out.' 



