n' let him come along wi'
us. There was ten of us altogether, an' he made eleven. At first we
thought he'd be of some use to us, but we soon found he was fit for
nothin'. However, we couldn't cast him adrift in the wilderness, for
he'd have bin sure to come to damage somehow, so we let him go on with
us. When we came to this neighbourhood we made up our minds to trap in
the valley, and as the Injins were wild at that time, owin' to some
rascally white men who had treated them badly and killed a few, we
thought it advisable to pitch our camp on the Outlook here. It was a
well-known spot to most o' my comrades, tho' I hadn't seen it myself at
that time.

"When we came to the gap, one of the young fellows named Bounce gave a
shout, took a run, and went clear over it just as Leapin' Buck did. He
was fond o' showin' off, you know! He turned about with a laugh, and
asked us to follow. We declined, and felled a small tree to bridge it.
Next day we cut the tree down to a plank, as bein' more handy to shove
across in a hurry if need be.

"Well, we had good sport--plenty of b'ar and moose steaks, no end of
fresh eggs of all sorts, and enough o' pelts to make it pay. You see we
didn't know there was gold here in those days, so we didn't look for it,
an' wouldn't ha' knowed it if we'd seen it. But I never myself cared to
look for gold. It's dirty work, grubbin' among mud and water like a
beaver. It's hard work, too, an' I've obsarved that the men who get
most gold at the diggin's are not the diggers but the storekeepers, an'
a bad lot they are, many of 'em, though I'm bound to say that I've
knowed a few as was real honest men, who kep' no false weights or
measures, an' had some sort of respec' for their Maker.

"However," continued the trapper, filling a fresh pipe, while Tolly and
his little red friend, whittling their sticks less vigorously as the
story went on and at length dropping them altogether, kept their bright
eyes riveted on Drake's face. "However, that's not what I've got to
tell 'ee about. You must know that one evening, close upon sundown, we
was all returnin' from our traps more or less loaded wi' skins an' meat,
all except Miffy, who had gone, as he said, a huntin'. Bin truer if
he'd said he meant to go around scarin' the animals. Well, just as we
got within a mile o' this place we was set upon by a band o' Redskins.
There must have bin a hundred of 'em at least. I've lived a longish
time now in