LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 231 



the bodies of the two boys buried on the river bank, and the spot 

 marked with a pile of loose stones, procured from the rocky bed of 

 the creek. The carcasses of the treacherous Indians were left to 

 be devoured by wolves, and their bones to bleach in the sun and 

 wind — a warning to their tribe, that such foul treachery as they 

 had meditated had met with a merited retribution. 



The next day the party continued their course to the Platte. 

 Antoine and the stranger returned to the Arkansas, starting in the 

 night to avoid the Indians ; but Killbuck and La Bonte lent the 

 aid of their rifles to the solitary caravan, and, under their experi- 

 enced guidance, no more Indian perils were encoiuitered. Mary 

 no longer sat perched up in her father's Conostoga, but rode a 

 quiet mustang by La Bonte's side ; and no doubt they found a 

 theme with which to while away the monotonous journey over the 

 dreary plains. South Fork was passed and Laramie was reached. 

 The Sweet Water Mountains, which hang over the "pass" to Cal- 

 ifornia, were long since in sight; but when the waters of the 

 North Fork of Platte lay before their horses' feet, and the broad 

 trail was pointed out which led to the great valley of Columbia 

 and their promised land, the heads of the oxen were turned down 

 the stream where the shallo^v waters flow on to join the great 

 Missouri — and not wp, toward the mountains where they leave 

 their spring-heads, from which springs flow several waters — some 

 coursmg their way to the eastward, fertilizing, in their route to the 

 Atlantic, the lands of civilized man ; others westward forcing a 

 passage through rocky canons, and flowing through a barren wil- 

 derness, inhabited by fierce and barbarous tribes. 



These were the routes to choose from : and, whatever was the 

 cause, the oxen turned their yoked heads away from the rugged 

 mountains ; the teamsters joyfully cracked their ponderous whips, 

 as the wagons rolled lightly down the Platte ; and men, women, 

 and children, waved their hats and bonnets in the air, and cried 

 out lustily, " Hurrah for home I" 



