AN OLD COMRADE. 189 



all. I reckin, though, until I think o' a better 'n, that 

 a rumpus I hed wi' the Comanches in the Pan Handle 

 o' Texas will sarve yer turn." 



" Wait a bit, Jake," said Pierre ; " I'll just throw some 

 more logs on the fire, and we'll have a fresh chaw of 

 beaver while you are telling your story." 



The two young men accordingly collected a good 

 supply of fuel, and having put down another broil of 

 beaver, they took their place, turning expectant faces 

 on their veteran companion. The latter seemed lost in 

 rumination while vacantly fumbling with a plug of 

 twist-tobacco, from which he slowly severed a " bite," 

 which he placed in his cheek. At length he broke 

 silence : 



" I guess I hain't never met wi' sich mortal savages 

 as them Comanches; and I've heern Eagle Jack say 

 that he has fout a'most all the tribes in the States, an' 

 gives in that the Comanches beat 'em all fur cruelty. 

 I feels lonesome when I thinks o' poor Jack. He wur 

 an out an' out good fellur, an' many a day he an' this 

 coon spent in company. Ye see we wur reg'lar chums ; 

 neyther o' us ever kep' a good thing to hisself, but 

 allers went shares wi' his commerade. We trapped an' 

 hunted, eat and starved together, an' wur a sight fonder 

 o' each other than many brothers. Wai, one day (we 

 wur at Fort Belknap at the time) Jack wur told by a 

 friend that wur dyin' in the fort (hevin' got a ball in 

 his gizzard in a rumpus wi' some o' the boyees) that he 

 knew o' a silver mine in the mountains near the Salado. 



