Page:The Prairie Flower; Or, Adventures In the Far West.djvu/66



"Is that all?"

4 Thiu all, sir! Umpli! that, let me tell you, is a good deal, sir, as you will find when you have gone over the half of it."

"I think I have already at least that's my impression, "was the somewhat nettling answer, which was rendered none the less so to the speculator, by a few half suppress ed titters and one hearty laugh from the crowd.

"Indeed! young man. Pray be so good as to inform us where you have been?"

"It would be much easier to tell you whar I've not been," answered the other pleasantly. " But I may say, without fear of contradiction, that I've seen nearly every foot of ground from the Yellow Stone to the Spanish Peaks from the Mississippi to the Pacific ocean."

"Your name, stranger?" said the other, a little crest-fallen.

"I'm called KIT CARSON."

At the quiet mention of that renowned name, better known on the mountains and over the broad West than that of any other living being, and which was as familiar to me as a household word, I involuntarily gave a start of surprise, while three deaf ening cheers went up from the crowd, mingled with boisterous shouts of laughter, to the no small chagrin and mortification of the pompous speculator, who muttered something which to me sounded very much like an oath.

Here, then, stood the famous Kit Carson! a being I had long had a secret desire to behold, but whom I had always pictured to myself as huge, rough, brawny and fe- ocious. Nor could I bring myself to re alize that the person before me was that same incarnate devil in Indian fight I had heard him represented, and who had killed and scalped more savages in the same number of years than any two hunters west of the old Mississippi.

When the laugh and tumult had some what subsided, the stranger, anxious to escape ridicule, observed :

"Gentlemen, I acknowledge my ver dancy, and feel myself indebted to you a treat. Kit Carson, your hand! and how wrilJ you have yours mixed or clear ?"

Another burst of merriment broke from tlift crowd, with three hearty cheers for the speculator and the prospect of a speedy

"wet " all round. Suddenly the boister ous tumult subsided as if by magic, and not a man ventured a remark above a whisper, while the eyes of each became fixed upon some object on the opposite side of the square.

"Stand back! stand back! She comes! she conies! " I heard whispered on all sides of me.

"Look, Frank look!" said Huntly, in a suppressed voice, clutching my arm ner vously.

I did look; and what I beheld I feel myself incompetent to describe and do the subject justice. Before me, perfectly erect, her tiny feet scarce seeming to touch the ground she trod, was a being which required no great stretch of imagination to fancy just dropped from some celestial sphere. She was a little above medium in stature, as straight as an arrow, and with a form as symmetrical and faultless as ;i Venus. Twenty summers (I could not re alize she had ever seen a winter) had molded her features into what I may term a classic beauty, as if chiselled from mar ble by the hand of a master. Her skin was dark, but not more so than a Creole's, and with nothing of the brownish or red dish hue of the native Indian. It wai beautifully clear too, and apparently of a velvet-like softness. Her hair was a glos sy black, and her hazel eyes were large and lustrous, fringed with long lashes, and arched by tine, pencilled brows. Her pro- tile was straight from forehead to chin, and her full face oval, lighted with a soul of feeling, fire and intelligence. A well formed mouth, guarded by two plump lips, was adorned by a beautiful set of teeth, partially displayed when she spoke or smiled. A slightly aquiline nose gave an air of decision to the whole countenance, and rendered its otherwise almost too effeminate expression, noble, lofty and commanding.

Her costume was singular, and such as could not fail to attract universal attention. A scarlet waistcoat concealed a well devel oped bust, to which were attached short sleeves and skirts the latter coming bare ly to the knees, something after the fashion of the short frock worn by the danseuse of the present day. Thesr skirts were show ily embroidered tfith