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Show 48 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF and, sui. ti. ng t h e ac t.I On to the word ' he cocked his piece and leveled it. .fl d presented I· t a1 s o, an d the n I cocked myb ri le ::ing each other direct in the we stood at ay, 0 eye". Ge neral , " I a t length said' '' you have addrde ssed 1 guage to mewh I.C h I allow no man to use, an ' unl - l::s you retract that last epithet, you or I must sure y die." h · fi II . d "I will acknowledge t at It was He na Y. sal ' h ld be used to a man, but language which never s ou h .l B t " when I am angry I am apt to spea£k ha.sti,y. u ' h dd d "I will make you suffer or t IS. e a e , l , I r d " you '' Not in your service, genera ' rep Ie . . h can take your horse now, and do what !o~ please Wit h. I am going to return to St. Louis. 1m. ·a The general almost smiled at the 1 ea. . " "you will play going back to St. ~ouis,. he ·a "when in truth you were afraid of being killed sbayl t'h e India' ns, throu'g h being left too far b eh .I n d WI. th that old horse." I left general, horse, and ~ack, and started on to overtake the advanced party, In order to get my saddle- bags before leaving them. Approaching t~e party, I advanced to Fitzpatrick (in whose posse~sion ~hey were) and addressed him: "Hold up, Fitzpatrick; give me my saddle-bags. I am going to leave you, and return to St. Louis." "What ! " exclaimed he, "have you had more words with the general?" . "Yes," I replied, "words that will never be forgiv-en- by me, at least, in this life. I am bound to re-turn." · "Well," said he, " wait till we encamp, a few hund- • JAMES P. BECKWOURTH. 49 red yards ahead. Your things are in the pack ; when we stop you can get them." I accompanied them till they encamped ; then, taking my goods from the pack, I was getting ready to return, when the general came up. Seeing me about to carry my threat into execution, he addressed me: "Jim, you have ammunition belonging to me ; you can not take that with you." Luckily, I had plenty of my own, so I delivered up all in my possession belonging to him. " Sir," I said, " as Fortune has· favored me with plenty, I deliver up yours ; but, if I had had none of my own, I would have retained a portion of yours, or died in the attempt. And it seems to me that you 1nti.st have a very small soul to see a man turned adrift without any thing to protect him against hostile savages, or procure him necessary food in traversing this wide wilderness." He then said no more to me, but called Fitzpatrick, and requested him to dissuade me from leaving. Fitzpatrick came, and exerted all his eloquence to deter me from going, telling me of the great distance before me, the danger I ran, when alone, of being killed by Indians- representing the almost certain fact that I must perish from starvation. :S:e reminded me that it was now March, and the snows were already melting; that Spring, with all its beauties, would soon be ushered in, and I should lose the subli1ne scenery of the Rocky Mountains. But my mind was bent upon going ; all my former love for the man was forfeited, and I felt I could never endure his presence again. Fitzpatrick's mission having failed, the general sent a French boy to intercede, toward whom I felt great c |
