ocks and bushes,
and merry voices of men, women, and children ringing in the air. It
seemed almost incredible, and no wonder Dick, in his bewilderment, had
difficulty in believing it was not all a dream.

In days long gone by the fur-trade in that country was carried on in a
very different way from the manner in which it is now conducted. These
wild regions, indeed, are still as lonesome and untenanted (save by wild
beasts and wandering tribes of Indians), as they were then; but the
Indians of the present day have become accustomed to the "pale-faced"
trader, whose little wooden forts or trading-posts are dotted here and
there, at wide intervals, all over the land. But in the days of which
we write it was not so. The fur-traders at that time went forth in
armed bands into the heart of the Indians' country, and he who went
forth did so "with his life in his hand." As in the case of the soldier
who went out to battle, there was great probability that he might never
return.

The band of which Walter Cameron was the chief had, many months before,
started from one of the distant posts of Oregon on a hunting expedition
into the then totally unknown lands of the Snake Indians. It consisted
of about sixty men, thirty women, and as many children of various
ages,--about a hundred and twenty souls in all. Many of the boys were
capable of using the gun and setting a beaver-trap. The men were a most
motley set. There were Canadians, half-breeds, Iroquois, and Scotchmen.
Most of the women had Indian blood in their veins, and a few were pure
Indians.

The equipment of this strange band consisted of upwards of two hundred
beaver-traps--which are similar to our rat-traps, with this difference,
that they have two springs and no teeth--seventy guns, a few articles
for trade with the Indians, and a large supply of powder and ball; the
whole--men, women, children, goods, and chattels--being carried on the
backs of nearly four hundred horses. Many of these horses, at starting,
were not laden, being designed for the transport of furs that were to be
taken in the course of the season.

For food this adventurous party depended entirely on their guns, and
during the march hunters were kept constantly out ahead. As a matter of
course their living was precarious. Sometimes their kettles were
overflowing; at others they scarce refrained from eating their horses.
But, during the months they had already spent in the wilderness, good