134 LIFEINTHEFARWEST. 



deer : and after eating the better part of the meat, and setting a 

 guard, the party were glad to roll in their blankets and enjoy the 

 rest they so much needed. They were undisturbed during the 

 night ; but at dawn of day the sleepers were roused by a hundred 

 fierce yells from the mountains inclosing the creek on which they 

 had encamped. The yells were instantly followed by a rmging 

 volley, the bullets thudding into the trees, and cutting the branch- 

 es near them, but without causing any mischief Old Bill rose 

 from his blanket and shook himself, and exclaimed "Wagh I" as at 

 that moment a ball plumped into the fire over which he was 

 standing, and knocked the ashes about in a cloud. All the mount- 

 aineers seized their rifles and sprang to cover ; but as yet it was 

 not sufficiently light to show them their enemy, the bright flashes 

 from the guns alone indicating their position. As morning dawn- 

 ed, however, they saw that both sides of the caiion were occupied 

 by the Indians ; and, from the firing, judged there must be at least 

 a hundred warriors engaged in the attack. Not a shot had yet 

 been fired by the trappers, but as the light increased, they eagerly 

 watched for an Indian to expose himself, and offer a mark to their 

 trusty rifles. La Bonte, Killbuck, and old Bill, lay a few yards dis- 

 tant from each other, flat on their faces, near the edge of the thick- 

 et, their rifles raised before them, and the barrels resting in the forks 

 of convenient bushes. From their place of concealment to the 

 position of the Indians — who, however, were scattered here and 

 there, wherever a rock afforded them cover — was a distance of 

 about a hundred and fifty yards, or within fair rifle-shot. The 

 trappers were obliged to divide their force, since both sides of the 

 creek were occupied ; but, such was the nature of the ground, and 

 the excellent cover afforded by the rocks and boulders, and clumps 

 of dwarf pine and hemlock, that not a hand's breadth of an Indi- 

 an's body had yet been seen. Nearly opposite La Bonte, a shelv- 

 ing glade in the mountain side ended in an abrupt precipice, and at 

 the very edge, and almost toppling over it, were several boulders 



