scovered how few composed the besieging force, they in turn became
the assailants, and rushed out of their fort with their frightful war
whoops, but they were met by such a destructive fire that they scurried
back again.

The second attack of the savages was so furious that the trappers were
forced to fall back, but the reserve, as it may be called, speedily
joined them, and once more drove the Indians into their fort. Several
of the whites had been wounded though not dangerously, and both parties
having had enough of fighting, the battle ended.

CHAPTER VI.

The British and American Trapper--Hunting on the Laramie--The
Deserters--The Vain Pursuit--Arrival of Friends--The Return Journey--The
Night Alarm--The Attack Upon the Camp--Pursuit and Recovery of Horses.

A half century ago the vast region beyond the Rocky Mountains was
comparatively unknown and unexplored. Its general features of course
were understood, but the interior was like the central portion of
Australia or Africa. Clarke and Lewis made their famous expedition to
Oregon during the early days of the century, and helped to turn general
attention in that direction. Its growth and development since then is
one of the wonders of the age.

But there was one class (if the word may be used), who never hesitated
to penetrate the wildest and most dangerous recesses of the far West
and Northwest: those were the hunters and trappers. As we have already
stated, the employees of the venerable and all embracing Hudson Bay
Company ranged over British America and through Oregon, to which vast
territory they possessed the clear legal right, besides which they and
the trappers of the American Fur Company frequently trespassed on each
others reserves, and not infrequently came in bloody collision with each
other.

Far to the northward, the Indian drove his birch canoe across the silent
Athabasca and Great Bear Lakes, on his way with his peltries to the
distant factory or post of the Company; along the frozen shores of the
lone Mackenzie (the only American river flowing into the Arctic Ocean),
the trapper glided on his snow shoes, or with his sturdy dogs and
sleigh, fought his way over the snowy wastes of Prince Rupert's Land;
the brigades in their boats rounded the curves of the Saskatchewan,
keeping time with their paddles to their own cheery songs; their camp
fires were kindled in the land of the Assiniboine and they set their
traps in the wildest recesses