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Show 50 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF h t He was named Baptiste La J eunesse, attac men· , I h d many and was about seventeen years of age. ~ ti.m es pro t·e cted this lad from the abuse ohf' his connt - d h d fought several battles on IS accoun ' trymen, an a £ t t' on for which reason he naturally fled to ~e or prof: e~ I ' and had grown to regard me in the h.ght of a at er. When this boy saw that I was III earn.est about l eavm. g, 1r ear.m g that all attem. pts at persuasiOn wd ould be useless, he hung his nether lip, and appeare per-fectly disconsolate. . . . The general, calling this lad to him, des~red him to come to me and persuade me from the notiOn of leaving. He pledged his word to Baptiste that he would say no more to displease me; that he would spare no efforts to accommodate me, and offered n:e free use. of his horses, assigning as a reason for this concessiOn that he was unwilling for word to rea~h the St~tes that he had suffered a man to perish In the Wilderness through a little private difficulty in the c~mp. . At this moment Le Pointe presented hims.elf, m~nifesting by his appearance that he had something of Im-portance to communicate. " General," said he, " more than half the men are determined to leave with Beckwourth ; they are now taking ammunition from the sacks and hiding it about. What is to be done?" '' I will do the best I can." Then turning to the lad, he said,'' I took Jim's ammunition, thi?-king to deter him from going; had he insisted upon gomg, I should have furnished him with plenty. Go now," he added, "and tell him I want him to stay, but if he insists upon going, to take whatever he wants." Baptiste left the group whic~ sur:ounded. th~ general, and made his way to me, with his head Inclined. JAMES P. BECKWOURTH. 51 '' Mon frere," said the lad, addressing me as I sat "the general talk much good. He vant you stay. I tell him you no stay; dat you en colere. I tell him if mo~ frere go, by gar, I go too. He say, you go talk to Jim, and get him stay. I tell you vat I tink. You s:ay leetle longer, and if de general talk you bad one time more, den ve go, by gar. You take von good horse, me take von good horse too ; ve cany our plan~ et, ve take some viande, and some poudre-den ve hve. Ve go now-ve take noting-den ve die." I knew that the boy gave good advice, and, foregoing my former 1·esolve, I concluded to remain. My decision was quickly communicated to the whole camp, and the hidden parcels of ammunition were restored to their proper places. The storm in the camp ceased, and a:q were ready to proceed. . I have. heard scores of emigTants (when stopping Wit~ me. In my "he:mitage," in Beckwourth Valley, ~ahfornia) rel~te thmr hair-breadth escapes from Indians, and var:ous hardships endured in their passage ~cross ~he Plains. They would dwell upon their perilous nights when standing guard; their encounters with Indians, or some daring exploit with a buffalo. These :r;ecitals were listened to with incredulous ears . for there is in human nature such a love of the mar~ · velous, that tra_ditionary deeds, by dint of repetition, become appropnated to the narrator, and the tales that were related as actual experience now mislead the speaker and the audience. When I recurred to my own adventures I would smile at the comparison of their sufferings ~ith what myself and other men of the mountains had really endur~ d in former times. The forts that now afford protectiOn to the traveler were built by ourselves at the |
