furs for powder and lead, but he'll speak to no one, except in the
sharpest, gruffest way. I think he's mad myself. But he seems to lead
a charmed life here; for although he has had fights with many of the
tribes in these parts, he always puts them to flight, although he fights
single-handed."

"Single-handed!" exclaimed Bounce in surprise.

"Ay. I've seen him at it myself, and can vouch for it, that if ever
there was a born fiend let loose on this earth it's the Wild Man of the
West when he sets-to to thrash a dozen Indians. But I must do him the
justice to say that I never heard of him making an unprovoked attack on
anybody. When he first came to these mountains, many years ago--before
I came here--the Indians used to wonder who he was and what he meant to
do. Then after a while, seeing he had a good horse, a good rifle, and
plenty of ammunition, they tried to kill him; but the first fellow that
tried that only tried it once. He lay in a close thicket nigh to where
the Wild Man used to pass from his home in the mountains to places where
he used to hunt the elk and the buffalo, so, when he came up, the Indian
laid an arrow on his bow. But the Wild Man's eye was sharp as a needle.
He stopped his horse, took aim like a flash of lightning, and shot him
through the head. I heard this from another Indian that was with the
murderin' fellow that was shot. The Wild Man did nothing to the other.
He let him escape.

"Of course the relations of the man who was killed were up immediately,
and twenty of them set out to murder the Wild Man. They took their
horses, spears, and bows, with them, and lay in wait at a place where he
was often seen passing. Sure enough up he came, on horseback, at a slow
walk, looking as careless and easy as if no blood of a redskin rested on
his hand.

"It chanced the day before that day that we had run out of fresh meat,
so Mr Macgregor, our commandant here, ordered me to take three of the
men, and go out after the buffaloes. Away we went, looking sharp out,
however, for some of the Indians had been treated by Macgregor so
brutally, I am sorry to say, that we knew our scalps were not safe.
Next morning I happened to pass close by the place where the Indians lay
in ambush, and we came to the top of a precipice that overlooked the
spot. We saw them before they saw us, so we went quietly back into the
bush, tied our horses to trees, and lay on the edge of the cliff to
watch them.

"In