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Show .. 122 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. we took our seats on the grass with a fe eling of greatly increased respectability, to await the arr'ival of our guests. They came; the banquet was concluded, and the pipe smoked. Bid: ding them adieu, we turned our horses' heads toward the fort. An hour elapsed. The barren hills closed across our front, and we could see no further; until having surmounted them, a rapid stream appeared at the foot of the descent, running into the Platte; beyond was a green meadow, dotted with bushes, and in the midst of these, at the point where the two rivers joined, were the low clay walls of a fort. This was not Fort Laramie, but another post of less recent date, which having sunk before its successful competitor, was now deserted and rmnous. A moment after, the hills seeming to draw apart as we advanced, disclosed Fort Laramie itself, its high bastions and perpendicular walls of clay crowning an eminence on the left beyond the stream, while behind stretched a line of arid and desolate ridges; and behind these again, towering aloft seven thousand feet, arose the grim Black Hills. We tried to ford Laramie creek at a point nearly opposite the fort, but the stream, swollen with the rains in the mountains, was too rapid. We passed up along its bank to find a better crossing place. Men gathered on the wall to look at us. ' There's Bordeaux!' called Henry, his face brightening as he recognized his acquaintance ; 'him there with the spy-glass; and there's old V askiss, and Tucker, and May ; and by George ! there's Cimoneau !' This Cimoneau was Henry's f~st ~riend, and the only man in the country who could rival lum m hunting. We soon found a ford. Henry led the way, the pony approaching the bank with a countenance of cool indifference, TAKING FRENCH LEAVE. 123 bracing his feet and sliding into the stream with the most unmoved composure: ' AT the first plunge the horse sunk low, And the water broke o'er the saddle-bow.' We followed ; the water boiled against our saddles, but our horses bore us easily through. The unfortunate little mules came near going down with the current, cart and all ; and we watched them with some solicitude scrambling over the loose round stones at the bottom, and bracing stoutly against the stream. All landed safely at last; we crossed a little plain, descended a hollow, and riding up a steep bank, found ourselves before the gateway of Fort Laramie, under the impending blockhouse erected above it to defend the entrance. |