exhausted, with the
odds decidedly against him. He entreated Baker to come to his assistance
at once, which he did; but much to his astonishment, as soon as he
entered the second contest his comrade ran off, leaving him to fight
the battle alone. He was, however, again victorious, and soon had the
satisfaction of seeing his two antagonists stretched out in front of
him, but as he expressed it, "I made my mind up I'd never fight nary
nother grizzly without a good shootin'-iron in my paws."

He established a little store at the crossing of Green River, and
had for some time been doing a fair business in trafficking with the
emigrants and trading with the Indians; but shortly a Frenchman came to
the same locality and set up a rival establishment, which, of course,
divided the limited trade, and naturally reduced the income of Baker's
business.

This engendered a bitter feeling of hostility, which soon culminated in
a cessation of all social intercourse between the two men. About this
time General Marcy arrived there on his way to California, and he
describes the situation of affairs thus:--

"I found Baker standing in his door, with a revolver loaded and cocked
in each hand, very drunk and immensely excited. I dismounted and
asked him the cause of all this disturbance. He answered: 'That thar
yaller-bellied, toad-eatin' Parly Voo, over thar, an' me, we've been
havin' a small chance of a scrimmage to-day. The sneakin' pole-cat, I'll
raise his har yet, ef he don't quit these diggins'!'

"It seems that they had an altercation in the morning, which ended in
a challenge, when they ran to their cabins, seized their revolvers, and
from the doors, which were only about a hundred yards from each other,
fired. Then they retired to their cabins, took a drink of whiskey,
reloaded their revolvers, and again renewed the combat. This strange
duel had been going on for several hours when I arrived, but,
fortunately for them, the whiskey had such an effect on their nerves
that their aim was very unsteady, and none of the shots had as yet taken
effect.

"I took away Baker's revolvers, telling him how ashamed I was to find a
man of his usually good sense making such a fool of himself. He gave in
quietly, saying that he knew I was his friend, but did not think I would
wish to have him take insults from a cowardly Frenchman.

"The following morning at daylight Jim called at my tent to bid me
good-by, and seemed very sorry for what had