84 PEAIEIE AND FOREST. 



rare occurrence for me to draw trigger till within fifty 

 yards. 



I had met in one of the sequestered valleys of the Rocky 

 Mountains, from whence a tributary of the Yellowstone 

 flowed, a couple of wanderers. Two more objectionable 

 beings it would be difficult to find. The veriest off- 

 scourings of a jail could not excel them in villany and 

 repulsiveness of appearance. Still they were white men, 

 and as such were welcomed as brothers, so we cast lot 

 together, and commenced housekeeping in common. The 

 first night after our meeting a slight amount of disagree- 

 ableness occurred, through the elder of my new associates 

 being discovered ransacking my pack, as he said, for 

 tobacco. Now tobacco was scarce in these regions, and 

 although T would willingly have shared with a friend, still 

 I objected to be deprived of what was as important to me 

 as my molars, by an individual I knew nothing about, and 

 still more already had acquired an intuitive dislike to. 

 Happily next day we were joined by a new comer, or I 

 believe a row would have taken place, for I could see that 

 an entente cordiale existed between the duo, far from 

 amicable to my interests. However, the stranger's advent 

 acted as a sedative, and the most acute could not have 

 imagined that ought but the most perfect comradeship 

 existed amongst us. Some time after the sun went down, 

 a game of euchre was proposed. Never having cared 

 particularly about cards I said nothing, so the movement 

 was carried without opposition. The stranger was assigned 

 to me as a partner, and the stakes to be played for were 

 tobacco, lead or powder; in fact anything we possessed. 



