LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 51 



perfect ease with which even this one, in common with the rest, 

 permitted herself to be handled. 



Dismounting, and unhitching from the horn of his saddle the 

 coil of skin rope, one end of which was secured round the neok of 

 the horse, he proceeded to unsaddle ; and while so engaged, the 

 three mules, two of which were packed, one with the unbutchered 

 carcass of a deer, the other with a pack of skins, &:c., followed 

 leisurely into the space chosen for the camp, and, cropping the 

 grass at their ease, waited until a whistle called them to be un- 

 packed. 



The horse was a strong square-built bay ; and, although the se- 

 verities of a prolonged winter, with scanty pasture and long and 

 trying travel, had robbed his bones of fat and flesh, tucked up his 

 flank, and " ewed" his neck ; still his clean and well-set legs, ob- 

 lique shoulder, and withers fine as a deer's, in spite of his gaunt 

 half-starved appearance, bore ample testimony as to what he had 

 been ; while his clear cheerful eye, and the hearty appetite with 

 which he fell to work on the coarse grass of the bottom, proved 

 that he had something in him still, and was game as ever. His 

 tail, gnawed by the mules in days of strait, attracted the observant 

 mountaineers. 



'Hard doins when it come to that," remarked La Bonte. 



Between the horse and two of the mules a mutual and great af- 

 fection appeared to subsist, which was no more than natural, when 

 their master observed to his companions that they had traveled to- 

 gether upwards of two thousand miles. 



One of these mules was a short thick-set, stumpy animal, with 

 an enormous head surmounted by proportionable ears, and a pair 

 of unusually large eyes, beaming the most perfect good temper and 

 docility (most uncommon qualities in a mule). Her neck was 

 thick, and rendered more so in appearance by reason of her maie 

 not being reached (or, in English, hogged), which privilege she 

 alone enjoyed of the trio ; and her short, strong legs, ending in 



