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I's afeerd that trapper's rubbed out; an' thur ain't many more o' his sort in the mountains. No, that thur ain't. "Rot it!" continued the voice, with a fierce emphasis; "this comes o' layin' one's rifle ahint them. Ef I'd 'a had Tar-guts wi' me, I wudn't 'a been hidin' hyur like a scared 'possum.
Mahoghany Drake, on the contrary, spoke Indian fluently, and it must be understood that in the discourses which he delivered to the two boys he mixed up English and Indian in an amazing compound which served to render him intelligible to both, but which, for the reader's sake, we feel constrained to give in the trapper's ordinary English.
"But what about the ornithologist;" said Tolly, who, albeit well pleased at the trapper's complimentary remarks, did not quite relish his criticism. "Yes, yes; I'm comin' to that. Well, as I was sayin', it makes me larf yet, when I thinks on it. How he did run, to be sure! Greased lightnin' could scarce have kep' up wi' him."
If the trapper's tale should prove a sentimental romance and such are not uncommon in the Mexican border land the moment was opportune. Seeing that my new acquaintance was in the communicative mood, I essayed to draw him forth. "You speak truly," I said. "Love is a powerful passion, and defies even the desert to destroy it. You yourself have proved it so, I presume? You have souvenirs?"
Every effort was made to gain the nearest island; to reach the mainland was impossible, for the rain poured down a blinding deluge; it was with difficulty the little craft was kept afloat, by baling out the water; to do this, Louis was fain to use his cap, and Catharine assisted with the old tin-pot which she had fortunately brought from the trapper's shanty.
And now that I was myself delivered from danger, had I reason to regard the future of my beloved with apprehensions less acute? No. The horrid scheme which the trapper's story had disclosed in respect to her sister might not she, too, be the victim of a similar procuration? O heaven! it was too painfully probable. The more I dwelt upon it, the more probable appeared this appalling hypothesis.
The trapper's pursuit has always been a severe one, for, aside from the fierce storms, sudden changes, and violent weather, the men as a rule were exposed to the rifles of lurking Indians, who resented the intrusion of any one into their territory.
Then, turning her attention to the traps again, she speedily drew upon her the trapper's wrath, and found herself obliged to keep watch against two foes at once, and they the most powerful in the wilderness namely, the man and the wolf-pack.
Presently the savage removed a corner of the blanket which covered Larry's broad chest and then raised his knife. In another moment the trapper's rifle sent forth its deadly contents, and the Indian fell across the Irishman in the agonies of death.
This, then, is the trapper's holiday, when he is all for fun and frolic, and ready for a saturnalia among the mountains. At the present season, too, all parties were in good humor. The year had been productive.
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