198 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 



" Down below St Louis, from Tennessee, I've heard them 

 say." 



"Tennessee," cried La Bonte, "hurrah for the old 



state ! What's her name, stran " At this moment 



Killbuck's old mule pricked her ears and snuffed the air, 

 which action catching La Bonte's eye, he rose abruptly, 

 without waiting a reply to his question, and exclaimed, 

 " The old mule smells Injuns, or I'm a Spaniard ! " 



The hunter did the old mule justice, and she well main- 

 tained her reputation as the best "guard" in the moun- 

 tains ; for in two minutes an Indian stalked into the camp, 

 dressed in a cloth capote, and in odds and ends of civilised 

 attire. 



" Rapaho," cried Killbuck, as soon as he saw him ; and 

 the Indian catching the word, struck his hand upon his 

 breast, and exclaimed, in broken Spanish and English 

 mixed, " Si, si, me Arapaho, white man amigo. Come to 

 camp eat heap carne me amigo white man. Come from 

 Pueblo hunt cibola me gun break no puedo matar 

 nada, : mucha hambre (very hungry) heap eat." 



Killbuck offered his pipe to the Indian, and spoke to 

 him in his own language, which both he and- La Bonte 

 well understood. They learned that he was married to a 

 Mexican woman, and lived with some hunters at the Pueblo 

 fort on the Arkansa. He volunteered the information that 

 a war-party of his people were out on the Platte trail to 

 intercept the Indian traders on their return from the 

 North Fork ; and as some "Hormones" had just started 

 with three waggons in that direction, he said his people 

 would make a " raise." Being muy amigo himself to the 

 whites, he cautioned his present companions from crossing 

 to the "divide," as the "braves," he said, were a "heap" 

 mad, and their hearts were " big," and nothing in the shape 

 of white skin would live before them. 



" Wagh ! " exclaimed Killbuck, " the Piapahos know me, 

 I'm thinking ; and small gain they've made against this 

 child. I've knowed the time when my gun-cover couldn't 

 hold more of their scalps." 



The Indian was provided with some powder, of which 



