Page:The Oregon Trail by Parkman.djvu/265

Rh. They called the white men cowards and old women; and a friendly Dahcotah came to Fort Laramie with the report that they were determined to kill the first white dog they could lay hands on.

Had a military officer, with suitable powers, been stationed at Fort Laramie; had he accepted the offer of the Arapahoes to deliver up the murderer, had ordered him to be led out and shot, in presence of his tribe, they would have been awed into tranquillity, and much danger averted; but now the neighborhood of the Medicine Bow Mountain and the region beyond it was perilous in the extreme. Old Mene-Seela, a true friend of the whites, and many other of the Indians gathered about the two trappers, and vainly endeavored to turn them from their purpose; but Rouleau and Saraphin only laughed at the danger. On the morning preceding that on which they were to leave the camp, we could all discern faint white columns of smoke rising against the dark base of the Medicine-Bow. Scouts were out immediately, and reported that these proceeded from an Arapahoe camp, abandoned only a few hours before. Still the two trappers continued their preparations for departure.

Saraphin was a tall, powerful fellow, with a sullen and sinister countenance. His rifle had very probably drawn other blood than that of buffalo or Indians. Rouleau had a broad ruddy face, marked with as few traces of thought or care as a child's. His figure was remarkably square and strong, but the first joints of both his feet were frozen off, and his horse had lately thrown and trampled upon him, by which he had been severely injured in the chest. But nothing could subdue his gayety. He went all day rolling about the camp on his stumps of feet, talking, singing, and frolicking with the Indian women. Rouleau had an unlucky partiality for squaws. He always had one, whom