Page:The Prairie Flower; Or, Adventures In the Far West.djvu/65

 "And do yo>

think the route westward particularly dan gerous at this time?"

"I do; for rumors have reached us that the Crows, the Oglallahs, the Gros Ven- tres, the Cheyennes, and one or two other tribes, have vowed to take vengeance on all the whites that fall in their way; and it is said, 1 do not. know with how much truth, that the Oglallahs are out on the Black Hill range and in the vicinity of the lied Buttes, while the Crows are skulking through the valley of the iSweetwater."

"Why this is alarming, truly," I re joined; " and certainly discouraging to those who, like ourselves, are going merely for adventure and amusement."

"if adventure or amusement is your onlv object in crossing the Rocky mount ains, take my advice, young men, and either turn buck or remain where you are."

"And yet why should they turn back?" said a voice behind us. "All men ar born to die, and it's not probable any will go before thar time. Courage and resolution ar every thing in this part of the world."

I turned round and beheld in the speak er a young man of small stature and ro bust frame, over whose clean-shaven face time had not drawn a wrinkle. His fea tures were regular and prepossessing. The general expression of his intelligent countenance was so reserved and unob trusive, that I readily felt surprised he should have hazarded the remarks just quoted, without first being called upon for his opinion. To all appearance he had not seen over twenty-live winters, though in reality he might have been much older, so difficult was it to determine by his coun tenance. He had light hair a keen, rest less, eagle-like gray eye an ample fore head and a skin which, but for exposure U> all kinds of weather, had doubtless been as fair and as soft as a lady's. Though small in stature and small limbed, as 1 said before, I noticed there was in all a beautiful symmetry^ a perfect adaptation of one part to another. His limbs, though slender, were plump and wiry, with mus cles of iron; and being someihing of a connoiseur in such matters, I at once put him down as an active, and, for his inches, a powerful man. He was costumed in the usual mountain style, and I judged had

just entered the fort, as I did not remem her having seen him before.

As he spoke, I noticed that several of the bystanders whispered to others, and that instantly all eyes became fixed upon him, with an air of curiosity which I could not account for there being nothing par ticularly remarkable in his appearance, as I have shown by my description. The stranger to whom he had addressed his re marks, coolly examined him from head to foot, as one who felt a little nettled at his interference, and wished to assure himself of the exact importance that should be at tached to his words before he ventured a reply. By a slight curl of the lip into something like a sneer, I saw at once he was not a judge of human nature, and had underrated the new comer not a little. He was himself a supercilious man, who delighted in giving advice with a patroni zing air, and consequently did not care to have his wise counsel questioned by what he evidently considered an interloper. He therefore, after taking a complete and rath er insolent survey of the other's person, replied rather pompously :

"Why should they turn back, say you? Because there is danger, great danger, to them if they advance farther, as any one who is at all acquainted with this part of the country must be aware. If you had traveled it as much as /have, sir, (there was an important stress on the pronoun,) you would, I fancy, understand the value of my advice; but young men (the speak er was about thirty) on their first hunt are apt to be very knowing and imprudent and, sir, I may add. without wishing to be personal, a little impudent also."

Here the speaker straightened himself up with an air of importance, and glanced around upon the spectators, where he saw many a quiet smile, which he was fain to attribute to silent approvals of his own lofty and conclusive argument. The new comer also smiled slightly, as he quietly asked :

"May I inquire, sir, how much of the country you've traveled?"

"Thousands of miles, young man thou sands of miles, sir! Yes, sir! 1 have been twice to Oregon, and once to Cali fornia."