222 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 



not come home, when he made so many dollars?" asked poor 

 Mary. 



" Enfant de garce, mais pourquoi he com home ? Pe gar, de 

 montaigne-man, he love de montaigne and the prairie more better 

 dan he love de grandes villes — meme de Saint Louis ou de Mont- 

 real. Wagh I La Bonte, well, he one montaigne-man, wagh ' He 

 love de buffaloe and de chevreaux plus que de boeuf and de mouton, 

 may be. Mais on-dit dat he have autre raison — dat de gal he lofe in 

 Missouri not lofe him, and for dis he not go back. Mais now he go 

 ondare, m' on dit. He vas go to de Californe, may be to steal de 

 hos and de mule — ^pe gar, and de Espagnols rub him out, and 

 take his hair, so he mort." 



" But are you sure of this ?" she asked, trembling with grief 



*' Ah, now, j'ne suis pas sur, mais I tink you know dis La Bon- 

 te. Enfant de garce, maybe you de gal in Missouri he lofe, and 

 not lofe him. Pe gar I 'fant de garce ! fort beau garcon dis La 

 Bonte, pourquoi you ne I'aimez pas ? Maybe he not gone ondare. 

 Maybe he turn op, autrefois. De trappares, dey go ondare tree, 

 four, ten times, mais dey turn op twenty time. De sauvage not 

 able for kill La Bonte, ni de dam Espagnols. Ah, non I ne 

 craignez pas ; pe gar, he not gone ondare encore." 



Spite of the good-natured attempts of the Canadian, poor Mary 

 burst into a flood of tears : not that the information took her una- 

 wares, for she had long believed him dead ; but becausef the very 

 mention of his name awoke the strongest feelings within her 

 breast, and taught her how deep was the affection she had felt 

 for him whose loss and violent fate she now bewailed. 



As the wagons of the lone caravan roll on toward the Platte, 

 we return to the camp where La Bonte, Killbuck, and the 

 stranger, were sitting before the fire when last we saw them : — 

 Killbuck loquitur : — 



" The doins of them Mormon fools can't be beat by Spaniards, 

 stranger. Their mummums and thummums you speak of won't 



