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Updated: June 6, 2025
Bounce also remained to gaze, as if he had lost all his wonted self-command. "Ho! March!" shouted Redhand. "Dash into the stream straight for me with all yer might; don't be afraid, lad! do it boldly!" But March heard not. The rush of water about him deadened all other sounds.
An' there's Redhand, the old trapper that's bin off and on between this place and the Rocky Mountains for nigh fifty years, I believe." "Oh, I know him well. He must be made of iron, I think, to go through what he does at his time of life. I wonder what his right name is?" "Nobody knows that, lad.
"True, lad, force won't do," returned Bounce; "an' yit," he added, knitting his brows, "if nothin' else 'll do, we'll try at least how much force 'll do." After a short pause Bounce resumed, "Wos they tied very tight, Gibault?" "Oui. I see de cords deep in de wrists, an' poor Redhand seem to be ver' moch stunned; he valk as if hims be dronk."
"Friends," replied Redhand riding forward, "we come from the Yellowstone. Have lost some of our property, but got some of it back, and want to trade furs with you." To this the sentinel made no reply, but, looking straight at Big Waller, inquired abruptly, "Are you the Wild Man?" "Wot wild man?" said Waller gruffly. "Why, the Wild Man o' the West?"
"Now, I'll tell ye wot it is," observed Bounce while thus engaged, "I means for to have a most awful blow out, and then go to sleep for four-and-twenty hours on end." "Ditto," remarked Big Waller with a nod; to which old Redhand replied with a chuckle. "An' who be go to vatch, tink you?" inquired Gibault, as they all returned to the camp. "Perhaps de Injuns look out for us vat den?"
"Men of pluck sometimes get careless, and go to sleep, though," said March Marston, riding up to the old trapper; "I've heard o' such forts bein' taken by redskins before now." "So have I, lad, so have I," returned Redhand; "I've heard o' a fort bein' attacked by Injuns when the men were away huntin', an' bein' burnt down.
"So he has," observed Redhand, "but there may be other wild men besides our one." "Unpossible," said Bounce emphatically. "Ditto," cried Waller still more emphatically; "what say you, Hawkswing?" "There is but one Wild Man of the West," replied the Indian. "By the way, Hawkswing, what was the name o' the rascally trader you said was in charge o' this fort when you lived here?" asked Redhand.
But Redhand's observations were few. He preferred to listen to the conversations of his comrades, as they plodded steadily along, enlivening their march with many an anecdote and legend. At last Redhand called a halt, and gazed inquiringly around him, as if in search of some object. "Wot's up?" inquired Bounce earnestly.
Redhand spoke little, but he was an attentive listener, and, although he never laughed loudly, he laughed often and heartily, in his own way, at the sallies of his younger comrades. In youth he must have been a strikingly handsome man. Even in old age he was a strong one.
"I suppose you don't want to part company with us yet, Mr Bertram?" said old Redhand as they were about to start. "By no means," replied the artist quickly; "I have no intention of quitting you that is, if you do not find me a burden on your hands," he added with a sad smile. "A burden!" cried Bounce in surprise; "I tell ye wot, sir, I consider yer company a honour."
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