144 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 



fell listlessly on their breasts, their cheeks were hollow, with the 

 bones nearly protruding from the skin. One was in the prime of 

 manhood, with handsome features ; the other, considerably past 

 middle age, was stark and stern. Months of dire privation had 

 brought them to this pass. The elder of the two was Killbuck, 

 of mountain fame ; the other was hight La Bonte. 



The former opened his eyes, and saw the buffalo feeding on the 

 plain. " Ho, boy," he said, touching his companion, " thar's meat 

 a-runnin." 



La Bonte looked in the direction the other pointed, stood up 

 and hitching round his pouch and powder-horn, drew the stopper 

 from the latter with his teeth, and placing the mouth in the palm 

 of his left hand, turned the horn up and shook it. 



" Not a grain," he said — " not a grain, old hos." 



" Waghl" exclaimed the other, " we'll have to eat afore long," 

 and rising, walked into the prairie. He had hardly stepped two 

 paces, when, passing close to a sage bush, a rattlesnake whizzed a 

 note of warning with its tail. Killbuck grinned, and taking the 

 wiping-stick from his rifle-barrel, tapped the snake on the head, 

 and, taking it by the tail, threw it to La Bonte, saying, " hyar's 

 meat, any how." The old fellow followed up his success by slay- 

 ing half-a-dozen more, and brought them in skewered through the 

 head on his wiping-stick. A fire was soon kindled, and the snakes 

 roasting before it ; when La Bonte, who sat looking at the buffalo 

 which fed close to the rock, suddenly saw them raise their heads, 

 snuff the air, and scamper toward him. A few minutes afterward 

 a huge shapeless body loomed in the refracted air, approaching the 

 spot where the buffalo had been grazing. The hunters looked at 

 it and then at each other, and ejaculated " Wagh !" Presently a 

 long white mass showed more distinctly, followed by another, and 

 before each was a string of animals. 



"Wagons, by hos and beaver I Hurrah for Conostoga !" ex- 

 claimed the trappers in a breath, as they now observed two white- 



