IN THE OLD WEST 43 



would have to be " butchered " out. This was 

 accordingly effected with the ready blade of a 

 scalp-knife; and a handful of beaver-fur being 

 placed on the wound, and secured by a strap of 

 buckskin round the body, the wounded man donned 

 his hunting-shirt once more, and coolly set about 

 lighting his pipe, his rifle lying across his lap 

 cocked and ready for use. 



It was now near midnight — dark and misty ; 

 and the clouds, rolling away to the eastward from 

 the lofty ridges of the Rocky Mountains, were 

 gradually obscuring the dim starlight. As the 

 lighter vapors faded from the mountains, a thick 

 black cloud succeeded them, and settled over the 

 loftier peaks of the chain, faintly visible through 

 the gloom of night, whilst a mass of fleecy scud 

 soon overspread the whole sky. A hollow moan- 

 ing sound crept through the valley, and the upper 

 branches of the cotton woods, with their withered 

 leaves, began to rustle with the first breath of 

 the coming storm. Huge drops of rain fell at 

 intervals, hissing as they dropped into the blazing 

 fires, and pattering on the skins with which the 

 hunters hurriedly covered the exposed baggage. 

 The mules near the camp cropped the grass with 

 quick and greedy bites round the circuit of their 

 pickets, as if conscious that the storm would soon 

 prevent their feeding, and already humped their 

 backs as the chilling rain fell upon their flanks. 

 The prairie wolves crept closer to the camp, and 



