Page:Hugh Pendexter--Kings of the Missouri.djvu/179

 down by the stream to drink and bathe his head in the icy water. As he rested there a buffalo cow, fairly fat, clambered down from a circular mound and made for the river. By luck Lander managed to make a kill.

As a butcher he had much to learn but with the knife he was an artist. In a short time he had lifted the back fat and had the tongue cooking over a fire. He commenced to eat when the meat was but partly cooked. "You're a devil of a feller!" remarked a voice behind him.

Flopping wildly about he beheld a white man, tanned to the color of an Indian, his hair long and unkempt, his face smothered in whiskers.

"Who might ye be, a comin' out hyar an' skeerin' all th' Injuns up into Canada by yer bold ways?"

"Have some grub. I belong with Jim Bridger's outfit. Strayed away like a fool greenhorn. Who are you?"

"Jim Baker, fresh from Green River. Reckon I'll cut off a leetle more meat an' set it to cookin'."

So this was the man who was indirectly responsible for his keeping aloof from his mates until he