"A GONE COON." 41 



tiest morsels with great gallantry. Mr. Frazer, on 

 learning that the trappers intended to pass Fort Pierre, 

 which was his post, cordially invited them to stay 

 there on a visit as long as they wished. 



He was much astonished and pleased to find that 

 one of his new acquaintances was the hero of the ad- 

 venture which bestowed the name of the fort as a 

 sobriquet on its bearer. Pierre modestly refused to 

 give the particulars of the fracas. But old Jake had 

 no such scruples, and gave an account of the affair 

 which even Pierre failed to recognize, so filled was it 

 with the exaggerations and strange conceits peculiar 

 to the old hunter. 



Miss Frazer listened with eager interest, and at the 

 conclusion fixed her eyes on the young trapper, who 

 blushed crimson under the ordeal. It was evident, 

 even at that early stage of the acquaintance, that Pierre 

 was " a gone coon." 



Chatting thus pleasantly together, the dinner hour 

 passed speedily. To persons living in civilized com- 

 munities it may seem strange that a young lady could 

 so soon forget the terrible event that had so recently 

 occurred, and take her dinner with apparent sang-froid 

 within view of the corpses of her would-be murderers. 

 But life in the wilderness soon strengthens the nerves, 

 and the most sensitive become callous to impressions 

 which seem a part of our nature. Perhaps it is as well 

 that it should be so. It by no means follows that 

 persons who can behold terrible scenes unmoved are 



