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Show 68 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. however, we lI.'o. un d' instead of the expected . Mormon cam. p, nothm. g bu t t he 1o ne ly prairie ' and a large w bite rock sta.n dmg by the pat h · The cow ' therefore, resumed her place In our processw. n. She walked on until we encam. ped, ·when R-- firm 1y approac hm. g with his enormous English double-barrelle.d n' fle , ca1m 1 y an d deliberately took aim at her heart, and dis-charged into it first one bullet and then the other. She was then butchered on the most approved principles of woodcraft, and furnished a very welcome item to our somewhat limited bill of fare. In a day or two more we reached the river called the ' Big Blue.' By titles equally elegant, almost all the streams of this region are designated. We had struggled through ditches and little brooks all that morning ; but on traversing the dense woods that lined the banks of the Blue, we found that more formidable difficulties awaited us, for the stream, swollen by the rains, was wide, deed and rapid. No sooner were we on the spot, than R-- had flung off his clothes, and was swimming across, or splashing through the shallows, with the end of a rope between his teeth. We all looked on in admiration, wondering what might be the design of this energetic preparation ; but soon we heard him shouting: ' Give that rope a turn round that stump ! You, Sorel ; do you hear? Look sharp, now Boisverd ! Come over to this side, some of you, and help me !' The men to whom these orders were directed paid not the least attention to them, though they were pou_red out without pause .or intermission. Henry Chatillon directed the work, and it proceeded quietly and rapidly. R 's sharp brattling voice might have been heard incessantly; and he was leaping about with the utmost activity, THE 'BIG BLUE.' 69 multiplying himself, after the manner of great commanders, as if his universal presence and supervision were of the last necessity. His commands were rather amusingly inconsistent; for when he saw that the men would not do as he told them, he wisely accommodated himself to circumstances, and with the utmost vehemence ordered them to do precisely that which they were at the time engaged upon. no doubt recollecting the story of Mahomet and the refractory mountain. Shaw smiled significantly ; R observed it, and approaching with a countenance of lofty indignation, began to vapour a little, but vvas instantly reduced to silence. The raft was at length complete. We piled our goods upon it, with the exception of our guns, which each man chose to retain in his own keeping. Sorel, Boisverd, Wright and Delorier took their stations at the four corners, to hold it together, and swim across with it; and in a moment more, all our earthly possessions were floating on the turbid waters of the Big Blue. We sat on the bank, anxious} y watching the result, until we saw the raft safe landed in a little cove far down on the opposite bank. The empty wagons were easily passed across ; and then, each man mounting a horse, we rode through the stream, the stray animals following of their own accord. |