--As you like it.

It is well known, that even long before the immense regions of Louisiana
changed their masters for the second, and, as it is to be hoped, for the
last time, its unguarded territory was by no means safe from the inroads
of white adventurers. The semi-barbarous hunters from the Canadas, the
same description of population, a little more enlightened, from the
States, and the metiffs or half-breeds, who claimed to be ranked in the
class of white men, were scattered among the different Indian tribes, or
gleaned a scanty livelihood in solitude, amid the haunts of the beaver
and the bison; or, to adopt the popular nomenclature of the country of
the buffaloe.[*]

[*] In addition to the scientific distinctions which mark the two
species, it may be added, with due deference to Dr. Battius, that a
much more important particular is the fact, that while the former
of these animals is delicious and nourishing food, the latter is
scarcely edible.

It was, therefore, no unusual thing for strangers to encounter each
other in the endless wastes of the west. By signs, which an unpractised
eye would pass unobserved, these borderers knew when one of his fellows
was in his vicinity, and he avoided or approached the intruder as
best comported with his feelings or his interests. Generally, these
interviews were pacific; for the whites had a common enemy to dread,
in the ancient and perhaps more lawful occupants of the country; but
instances were not rare, in which jealousy and cupidity had caused them
to terminate in scenes of the most violent and ruthless treachery. The
meeting of two hunters on the American desert, as we find it convenient
sometimes to call this region, was consequently somewhat in the
suspicious and wary manner in which two vessels draw together in a
sea that is known to be infested with pirates. While neither party
is willing to betray its weakness, by exhibiting distrust, neither is
disposed to commit itself by any acts of confidence, from which it may
be difficult to recede.

Such was, in some degree, the character of the present interview. The
stranger drew nigh deliberately; keeping his eyes steadily fastened
on the movements of the other party, while he purposely created little
difficulties to impede an approach which might prove too hasty. On the
other hand, Paul stood playing with the lock of his rifle, too proud
to let it appear that three men could manifest any apprehe