g which they suffered much
exposure and hardship. They slept for weeks in the open woods, or when
the severity of the weather would not allow this, they found refuge in
caves or hollow trees. Then, when enough skins had been gathered to load
their pack-horses they started on the long tramps to the French trading
post on the Mississippi. They followed faintly marked paths or trails
that converged from a score or hundred different points until they
reached the Father of Waters, where the peltries were soon sold and the
proceeds, too often, squandered within the succeeding few hours.

At the date of which I am speaking, a small settlement known as Greville
stood in the south-western section of the large State of Missouri, as it
is now known. The first cabins were put up only a few years before, and
the settlers, including men, women and children, numbered about two
hundred. Near the center of the straggling settlement stood a rude but
strong blockhouse to be used for refuge in the event of an attack by
Indians. As yet this emergency had not arisen, for the red men in that
section were far less warlike and hostile than those in Ohio and
Kentucky.

The father of Fred Linden was one of the hunters and trappers who made
regular visits to the wild section near the Ozark Mountains for the
purpose of gathering furs. He never had less than two companions, and
sometimes the number was half a dozen. As you are well aware, the furs
of all animals are in the finest condition in wintry weather, since
nature does her best to guard their bodies from the effects of cold.
Thus it came about that the party of hunters, of whom I shall have more
to say further on, left Greville in the autumn of the year, and as a
rule were not seen again until spring. Since they entered a fine,
fur-bearing country, these trips generally paid well. One convenience
was that the hunters were not obliged to go to St. Louis to sell them.
An agent of the great fur company that made its headquarters at that
post, came regularly to Greville with his pack-horses and gave the same
price for the peltries that he would have given had they been brought to
the factory, hundreds of miles away. He was glad to do this, for the
furs that George Linden and his brother hunters brought in were not
surpassed in glossiness and fineness by any of the thousands gathered
from the four points of the compass.

Among the daring little band that made these regular visits to the Ozark
r