CHAPTER I.

IN WHICH WE PREPARE THE READER FOR COMING EVENTS.

IN WRITING A NARRATIVE OF this description, where the incidents and adventures occur in a region so remote from civilization, and where the characters are so peculiar and uncommon, I think it would not be out of place to give a short description of the manners, habits and customs of the Rocky Mountain trapper.

St. Louis is one of the principal depots in which these fur companies are formed, and the majority of men who join them are old hands, and understand the business; but raw recruits are often taken in, and are compelled for some time to occupy an inferior position—it being their business to watch the camp, cook, skin and dress the game, stretch and dry the pelts, and otherwise make themselves generally useful; while the old hunter and trapper, after attending to his traps, sits by the campfire, smokes his pipe, and makes himself as comfortable as circumstances will allow.

Trappers are divided into three distinct classes. The first and foremost of these is the free trapper. He furnishes his own outfit, traps where he pleases, and sells his pelts to the highest bidder. Some of these men stay in the mountains for years, only making occasional visits to trading-post, or fort. These men often take to themselves wives from among the Indian women, and their children are known as half-breeds. It is a well known fact that an Indian girl generally prefers a