INTRODUCTION. 17 



being there, a few words of explanation will suffice. I 

 had been trapping beaver up the Yellow Stone, and hav- 

 ing been forced to leave that region by the bands of 

 Blackfeet, before I had fairly begun to trap, I had come 

 to the mountains, with the hope of making a pack of 

 bear-skins, or at least, of living well upon the meat of the 

 bear and the Rocky Mountain sheep. Thus far I had 

 met with tolerable fortune, having already stowed away 

 in my packs, three bear-skins, four sheep-skins, and about 

 a dozen deer-skins. Still I had much work to perform, 

 to earn my winter's support at the mountaineer rendez- 

 vous, "Brown's Hole." Deprived of my usual stock of 

 beaver, which always brought me a good living price, I 

 knew that it would take many a hunt to supply the defi- 

 ciency. However, my mules were sound, my arms in 

 prime order, and my ammunition was abundant. I had 

 the fullest confidence in my own ability to contend with 

 the dangers and privations of the wilderness, and as I 

 laid myself by the fire on that June night, with the starry 

 sky for a roof, and the howling of the prairie-wolf for my 

 lullaby. I feared neither wild beast nor savage man. 



