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Show 84 THE CALI FORNJA AND OREGON TRAIL. Pl t This very morning, for instance, was with that of the a te. . . close and s.u 1t i.y , tl1 e s un rising with a faint oppressive he. at; l d ·k ess aathered in tho we t, and a f uno us when sudden Y a1 n · o . f 1 d l 1.1 drove full in our faces, Icy cold, and blast o s eet an Ia . . urged W.i t·h sue h de i'JYl 'Ionica c vehemence that It felt hko a storm of nee dl es. It was Curious to see tho horses ; they faced about · d' leasure holdina their tails like whipped dogs, 111 extreme 1sp ' b an d s l1 1· ven·n g as the angry gusts ' howling louder than a concert of wolves, swept over us. \iVright'.., long train of mules came sweeping round before the storm, like a flight of brown snow~ birds driven by a winter tempest. Thus we all remained sta~ tionary for some minutes, crouching close to our horses' necks, much too surly to speak, though once the Captain looked up from between the collars of his coat, his face blood-red, and the muscles of his mouth contracted by the cold into a most ludicrous grin of agony. l-Ie grumbled something that sounded like a curse, directed, as we believed, against the unhappy hour when he had first thought of leaving home. The thing was too good to last long; and the instant the puffs of wind subsided we erected our tents, and remained in camp for the rest of a gloomy and lowering day. The emigrants also encamped ncar at hand. We being first on the ground, had appropriated all the wood within reach ; so that our fire alone blazed cheerily. Around it soon gathered a group of uncouth figures, shivering in the drizzling rain. Conspicuous among them were two or three of the half-savage men who spend their reckless lives in trapping among the Rocky Mountains or in tradinrr for the ' b Fur Company in the Indian villages. They were all of Cana· dian extraction; their hard, weather-beaten faces and bushy moustaches looked out from beneath the hoods of their white , THE PLATTE AND THE DESERT. 85 capotes with a bad and brutish expression, us if their owner might be the willing agent of any villn.ny. And such in fact is the character of 1nany of these men. On the day following we overtook Kearsley's wagons, and thenceforward, for a week or two, we were fellow-travellers. One good effect, at least, resulted from the alliance ; it materially diminished the serious fatigues of standing guard; for the party being now more numerous, there were longer intervals between each man's turns of duty. |