LIFE IN THE FAB WEST. 195 



by the description of some scene of Indian fight and slaugh- 

 ter, or beguiling them of a commiserating tear by the narra- 

 tive of the sufferings and privations endured by those hardy 

 hunters in their arduous life. 



Mary listened with the greater interest since she remem- 

 bered that such was the life which had been led by one 

 very dear to her by one long supposed to be dead, of 

 whom she had never but once since his departure, nearly 

 fifteen years before, heard a syllable. Her imagination 

 pictured him as the bravest and most daring of these 

 adventurous hunters, and conjured up his figure charging 

 through the midst of whooping savages, or stretched on 

 the ground perishing from wounds, or cold, or famine. 



Amongst the characters who figured in Antoine's stories, 

 a hunter named La Bonte was made conspicuous for deeds 

 of hardiness and daring. The first mention of the name 

 caused the blood to rush to Mary's face ; not that she for 

 a moment imagined it was her La Bonte, for she knew the 

 name was a common one ; but, associated with feelings 

 which she had never got the better of, it recalled a sad 

 epoch in her former life, to which she could not look back 

 without mingled pain and pleasure. 



Once only, and about two years after his departure, had 

 she ever received tidings of her former lover. A moun- 

 taineer had returned from the Far West to settle in his 

 native state, and had found his way to the neighbourhood 

 of old Brand's farm. Meeting him by accident, Mary, 

 hearing him speak of the mountain hunters, had inquired, 

 tremblingly, after La Bonte. Her informant knew him 

 well had trapped in company with him and had heard 

 at the trading-fort, whence he had taken his departure for 

 the settlements, that La Bonte had been killed on the 

 Yellow Stone by Blackfeet ; which report was confirmed 

 by some Indians of that nation. This was all she had ever 

 learned of the lover of her youth. 



Now, upon hearing the name of La Bonte so often men- 

 tioned by Antoine, a vague hope was raised in her breast 

 that he was still alive ; and she took an opportunity of 

 questioning the Canadian closely on the subject. 



