ared so conscious of the difficulty of
the undertaking, he set about its achievement with great steadiness and
alacrity. After completing the examination, which had been interrupted
by the melancholy wanderings of his mind, he gave the signal to his
companions to mount. The horses, which had continued passive and
trembling amid the raging of the fire, received their burdens with a
satisfaction so very evident, as to furnish a favourable augury of their
future industry. The trapper invited the Doctor to take his own steed,
declaring his intention to proceed on foot.

"I am but little used to journeying with the feet of others," he added,
as a reason for the measure, "and my legs are a weary of doing nothing.
Besides, should we light suddenly on an ambushment, which is a thing far
from impossible, the horse will be in a better condition for a hard
run with one man on his back than with two. As for me, what matters it
whether my time is to be a day shorter or a day longer! Let the Tetons
take my scalp, if it be God's pleasure: they will find it covered
with grey hairs; and it is beyond the craft of man to cheat me of the
knowledge and experience by which they have been whitened."

As no one among the impatient listeners seemed disposed to dispute
the arrangement, it was acceded to in silence. The Doctor, though he
muttered a few mourning exclamations on behalf of the lost Asinus,
was by far too well pleased in finding that his speed was likely to be
sustained by four legs instead of two, to be long in complying: and,
consequently, in a very few moments the bee-hunter, who was never last
to speak on such occasions, vociferously announced that they were ready
to proceed.

"Now look off yonder to the East," said the old man, as he began to lead
the way across the murky and still smoking plain; "little fear of cold
feet in journeying such a path as this: but look you off to the East,
and if you see a sheet of shining white, glistening like a plate of
beaten silver through the openings of the smoke, why that is water. A
noble stream is running thereaway, and I thought I got a glimpse of it
a while since; but other thoughts came, and I lost it. It is a broad
and swift river, such as the Lord has made many of its fellows in this
desert. For here may natur' be seen in all its richness, trees alone
excepted. Trees, which are to the 'arth, as fruits are to a garden;
without them nothing can be pleasant, or thoroughly useful. Now w