A WONDERFUL SIGHT. 71 



rt I wur a bit skeery at fust about swingin' out wi' 

 my whole weight on the rope ; but thinkin' didn't make 

 it any easier, an' at last I jest let mysel' go. You bet, 

 boys, my old elbers ached afore I clawed mysel' into 

 that thur hole. Hows'ever, I did get in, and looked 

 about me. 



" At fust I cudn't 'a seed Pike's Peak ef it had been 

 painted white an' stud afore me. But in a minute or 

 so I got used to the darkness, an' I cud hardly b'lieve 

 my eyes. Thur wur piles an' piles o' the finest furs 

 (and I knows what they are, I reckon) that I ever sot 

 my peepers on. The fust lot I got my clutches on 

 wur fifteen 6' the grandest black foxes ye ever seed. 

 Boyees, I wur clean 'mazed. Thur wur bear an' beaver 

 in plenty; carcajou an' deer hides, an' all sorts. I guess 

 that Redskin wur an out-an'-out good trapper, an' be- 

 sides must hev hit a streak o' the tallest sort o' luck. 

 He must have been layin' up them pelts fur years. 

 Thur's no location in all creation where he cud 'a raised 

 all them in one season's trappin'. Anyhow, I guess he 

 never thort he wur a-layin' em by fur me. No ; that 

 he didn't." 



Here the old trapper chuckled a little at the idea of 

 falling heir to the Indian's wealth. 



" Wai," he continued, " the missioner once said to 

 me, ' Virtue is its own reward ;' an' sure enuff, ef I had 

 met that Injun and raised his ha'r as I used to do, we 

 wouldn't now hev a cupple o' hunder pounds' worth o' 

 plunder." 



