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Show 38 AtJTOBlOGRAPil \" OF the morning vvith the gloom of the preceding night filling his mind; we built our fires and partook of our scanty repast without saying a word. At last our general gave orders for the .best hunt~rs to sally out and try their fortune. .I seized my r1~e and issued from the camp alone, feehng so reduced In strength that my mind involuntar.ily reve~ted to the extremity I had been reduced to With Harris. About three hundred yards from camp I saw two teal ducks; I leveled my rifle, and handsomely decapitated one. This was a temptation to my constancy; and appetite and conscientiousness had a long strife as to the disposal of the booty. I reflected that it would be but an inconsiderable trifle in n1y mess of four hungry men, vvhile to roast and eat him myself would give me strength to hunt for more. A strong inward feeling remonstrated against such an invasion of the rights of my starving messmates ; but if, by fortifying myself, I gained ability to procure something more substantial than a teal duck, my dereliction would be sufficiently atoned, and my overruling appetite, at the same time, gratified. Had I admitted my messmates to the argument, they might possibly have carried it adversely. But I received the conclusion as valid ; so, roasting him without ceremony in the bushes, I devoured the duck alone, and felt greatly invigorated with the meal. Passing up the stream, I pushed forward to fulfill my obligation. At the distance of about a mile from the camp I came across a narrow deer-trail through some rushes, and directly across the trail, with only the centre of his body visible (his two extremities being hidden by the rushes), not more than fifty yards distant, I saw a fine large buck standing. I did not JAME~ P. BEUKWOUR'l'H. wait for a nearer shot. I fired, Pnd broke his back. I dispatched him by dra·wing my knife across his throat, and, having partially dressed him, hung him on a tree close by. Proceeding onward, I met a large white wolf, attracted, probably, by the scent of the deer. I shot hin1, and, depriving him of his meal, devoted him for a repast to the camp. Before I returned, I succeeded in killing three good-sized elk, which, added to the former, afforded a pretty good display of meat. I then returned near enough to the camp to signal to them to come to my assistance. They had heard the reports of my rifle, and, knowing that I would not waste a1nmunition, had been expecting to see me return with game. All who were able turned out to my summons; and vvhen they saw the booty awaiting them, their faces were irradiated with joy. Each man shouldered his load ; but there was not one capable of carrying the weight of forty pounds. The game being all brought into carnp, the fame of "Jin1 Beckwourth" was celebrated by all tongues. Amid all this gratulation, I could not separate my thoughts from the duck which had supplied 1ny clandestine meal in the bushes. I suffered thetn to appease their hunger with the proceeds of my toil before I ventured to tell my comrades of the offense I had been guilty of. All justified my conduct, declaring my conclusions obvious. As it turned out, my proceeding was right enough ; but if I had failed to meet with any game, I had been guilty of an offense which would, ever after, have haunted me. At this present time I never kill a duck on my ranche, and there are thousands of teal duck there, but I think of my feast in the bushes while my compan- |