| OCR Text |
Show 92 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. d don't attempt it. It's dangerous, and of my advice now, an no use at alL' . ?. , Then why did you come out w1th us . What do you mean to do?' . 'I shall "approach," ' replied the Captain. , You don't mean to "approach" with your pistols, do you? We have all of us left our rifles in the wagons.' The Captain seemed staggered at this suggestion. In his characteristic indecision, at setting out, pistols, ri£les, ' running' and , approaching' were mingled in an inextricable medley in h]s brain. He trotted on in silence between us for a while; but at length he dropped behind, and slowly walked his horse back to rejoin the party. Shaw and I kept on; when lo! as we advanced, the band of buffalo were transfo~med into certain clumps of tall bushes, dotting the prairie for ,.a considerable dis. tance. At this ludicrous termination of our chase, we followed the example of our late ally, and turned back toward the party. We were skirting the brink of a deep ravine, when we saw Henry and the broad-chested pony coming toward us at a gallop. 'Here's old Papin and Frederic, down from Fort Laramie!' shouted Henry, long before he came up. We had for some days expected this encounter. Papin was the bourgeois of Fort Laramie. He had come down the river with the buffalo-robes and the beaver, the produce of the last winter's trading. I had among our baggage a letter which I wished to commit to their hands ; so requesting Henry to detain the boats if he could until my return, I set out after the wagons. They were about four miles in advance. In half an hour I overtook them, got the letter, trotted back upon the trail, and looking carefully, as I rode, saw a patch of broken, storm-blasted trees, and ):r:loving THE BUFFALO. 93 near them, some little black specks like men and horses. Arriving at the place, I found a strange assembly. The boats, eleven in number, deep-laden with the skins, hugged close to the shore, to escape being borne down by tho swift current. The rowers, swarthy ignoble Mexicans, turned their brutish faces upward to look, as I reached the bank. Papin sat in the middle of one of the boats upon the canvas covering that protected the robes. f-Ie was a stout, robust fellow, with a little gray eye, that had a peculiarly sly twinkle. 'Frederic,' al o, stretched his tall raw-boned proportions close by tho bourgeois, and 'mountain men' completed the group; some lounging in the boats, some strolling on shore ; some attired in gayly-painted buffalo robes, like Indian dandies; some with hair saturated with red paint, and beplastcred with glue to their temples; - and one bedaubed with vermilion upon the forehead and each cheek. They were a mongrel race; yet the French blood seemed to predominate: in a few, indeed rniaht be seen the .. ' 0 black snaky eye of the Indian half-breed, and one and all, they seemed to aim at a similating them elves to their savage associates. I shook hands with the bourgeois, and delivered the letter : then the boats swung round into the stremn and floated away. They had r ason for haste, for already the voyage from Fort Laramie had occupied a full month and the river was growina ' . b daily more shallow. Fifty times a day the boats had been uground: indeed, those who navigate the Platte invariably spend half their time upon sand-bars. Two of these boats, the property of private traders, afterwards separating from the rest, got hopelessly involved in the shallows, not very far from the Pawnee villages, and were soon surrounded by a swarm of the .;_ ' . ... . ..,,. ,. ' , |
