Part 8 (1/2)

There were Blackfeet, to be sure, in that region; and Blackfeet hated Vanderburgh with deadly venoreat warrior Also, the Blackfeet were s from the fearful losses of Pierre's Hole

But if the Rocky Mountainthe Blackfeet, why, so could the Ah and Drips went!

Rival traders ht not commit murder That led to the fearful ruin of the lawsuits that overtook Nor' Westers and Hudson's Bay in Canada only fifteen years before

But the h!

Corduroyedfile of pack-horses had passed, fresh-chopped logs to reenthe spruce at cloudline broken and swinging free as if a rider had passed that way, grazed bark where the pack-saddle had brushed a tree-trunk,an icy streaed boot had stepped--all these told which way Fitzpatrick and Bridger had led their brigade

Oh, it was an easy matter to scent so hot a trail! Here the ashes of a camp-fire! There a pile of rock placed a deal too carefully for nature's work--the cached furs of the fleeing rivals! Besides, ith canon and whirlpool, there are so very feays by which a cavalcade can pass through mountains that the sier

Doubtless between the h and Drips set out on the chase and the itives the Ah at their own cleverness

They succeeded in overtaking the -grounds with gah and Drips at once set out No swift flight by forced marches this time! The mountaineers sat still for almost a week

Then they casually moved down the Jefferson towards the ood Weren't thea trifle too soon? Should the A over into the adjacent valley and spreading his traps along the Madison Drips followed the round probably suggested to Drips that even an animal will lead off on a false scent to draw the enemy away from the true trail At the Missouri he turned back up the Jefferson

Wheeling right about, the mountaineers at once turned back too, up the farthest valley, the Gallatin, then on the way to the first hunting-ground ard over a divide to the Madison, where--ill luck!--they again h laughed at these antics one uess!

Post-haste up the Madison went the h stay or follow? Certainly the enerounds when they had turned to retrace their way up the Madison If they h would forestall the move He crossed over to the valley where he had first found the-grounds, a dead buffalo, froh! If Vanderburgh laughed, his laugh was short; for there were signs that the buffalo had been slain by an Indian

The trappers refused to hunt where there were Blackfeet about

Vanderburgh refused to believe there was any danger of Blackfeet

Calling for volunteers, he rode forith six men

First they found a fire The marauders must be very near Then a dead buffalo was seen, then fresh tracks, unmistakably the tracks of Indians

But buffalo were pasturing all around undisturbed There could not be many Indians

Deterh pushed on, entered a heavily wooded gulch, paused at the steep bank of a dried torrent, descried nothing, and jumped his horse across the bank, followed by the six volunteers

Instantly the valley rang with rifle-shots A hundred hostiles sprang froh's horse went down Three others cleared the ditch at a bound and fled; but Vanderburgh was to his feet, ai out: ”Don't run! Don't run!” Two men sent their horses back over the ditch to his call, a third was thrown to be slain on the spot, and Vanderburgh's first shot had killed the nearest Indian, when another volley froeance for the warrior Vanderburgh had slain years before

Panic-stricken riders carried the news to the waiting brigade Refuge was taken in the woods, where sentinels kept guard all night The next ade retreated cautiously towards soht was passed behind barriers of logs; and the third day a band of friendly Indians was encountered, ere sent to bury the dead

The Frenchh had been torn to pieces and his bones thrown into the river

So ended theon the mountaineers