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Show 388 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF it was believed the law could not humble, was visibly cowed, and in the presence of a large concourse of men. I had no n1ore trouble from the party afterward. In connection with this affair, it is but justice to myself to mention that, when Captain Sublet, Fitzpatrick, and myself happened to meet in the office of Mr. Chouteau, Captain Sublet interrogated Fitzpatrick upon the cause of his hostility toward 1ne, and represented to him at length the open absurdity of his trumping up a charge of robbery of his party in the mountains against me. · Being thus pressed, Fitzpatrick used the following words: "I never believed the truth of the charge Inyself; but when I am in the company of sundry persons, they try to persuade me into the belief of it, in order to raise trouble. I repeat, it is not my belief at this present moment, and I will not be persuaded into believing it again." Then turning to me, he said, " Beckwourth, I have done you a great injustice by ever harboring such a thought. I acknowledge it free- 1 y, and I ask your forgiveness for the same. Let us be as we formerly were, friends, and think no more about l' t. " Friends we therefore mutually pledged ourselves, and friends we have since remained up to this day. While in town I called on General Ashley, but he happened to be away from home. I was about leaving the house, when a melodious voice invited me in to await the general's return. "My husband will soon be back," the lady said, "and will be, doubtless, pleased to see you." I turned, and really thought I was looking on an angel's face. She moved toward me with such grace, and uttered such dulcet and harmonious sounds, that I JAMES P. BECKWOURTH. 389 was riveted to the spot. It was the first time I had seen the lady of General Ashley. I accepted her invitation, and was shown into a neat little parlor, the lady taking a seat at the window to act as my entertainer until the return of the general. "If I 1nistake not," she said, "you are a mountaineer?" I put on all the airs possible, and replied, '' Yes, madam, I was with General Ashley when he first went to the mountains." Her grace and affability so charmed me that I could not fix my ideas upon all the remarks she addressed to me. I was conscious I was not showing myself off to advantage, and she kept me sayin<r "Yes, madam" and "No, ma~am," without any corre~t understanding of the ~ppropnateness, until she espied the general approachmg. "~ere comes the general," the lady said; "I knew he would not he long away." Shortly the. general entered the lodge, and fixed his e~e upon me In an instant, at the same time whipping his ~a~taloons playfully with his riding-whip. . Rising from a better chair than the whole Crow natiOn possessed, I said, without ceremony, "I-Iow do you do, general?" " <?-racious heavens ! is this you, Beckwourth ?" and he smzed n1y hand with the grip of a vice, and nearly shook off my scalp, while his lady laughed heartily at the rough salutation of two old mountaineers. " My dea " · d th 1 c: r, sa1. e genera , ''let me introduce you to Mr. Beckwourth, of whom you have heard me so ~ften make me~tion. This is the man that saved my h[e on thr~e different occasions in the Rocky Mountains ; had It not been for our visitor, you would not |
