The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-08-15

some greatly exaggerated account OF eN-
citing adventure. Indeed, so given are
they to hyperbole, that few Of them
seem capable Of giving an uuembel-
lished account Of anything.
While sitting by their blazing camp
fire, some one remarked that we would
probably have cold weather in Walla
Walla during the winter. "CoId -
said Narcisse v, supplementing the
word with the monosyllable that Is
used to denote the place Of darkness,
"why, the coolest weather here is like
a bake oven compared with the Black
foot country. Forty years ago I was
trapping on the head-waters OF the
Missouri, aud one morning, mounting
my horse, the same one / have with me
now, ] proceeded to visit my traps a
mile or two distant. | had just gained
my saddle to return to camp, when /
was Mortified at seeing a thousand
Blackfeet charging down the hill to-
ward me. Knowing my life depended
on outrunning them, 1 put spurs to my
horse, and didn't he scratch gravel l
don't believe he touched the ground
more than a half-dozen times during
the first half-mile. / then refined him
in to get a breath, and, turning my
head, discovered that all the savages
had given up the chase except one, and
he was in close pursuit, with his long
bow drawn ready to launch an arrow
into the roll Of buffalo robes that wore
around me. / dropped from my horse,
and, drawing a bead on the Indian with
this same rifle / have with me now, |
planted an Ounce-ball just above his
halted and began eating grass. had
reloaded by this time, and gave him
another salute, but, judge Of my sur
prise on having my bullet whiZ back
over my head as it bounded Off from his
tongh hide. The savage still held his
bow drawn, and / was puzzled to know
why he did not shoot. But when his
horse in feeding turned his head away
from me, and the Indian his aim in the
same direction, the mystery was solved.
He had frozen stiff in the pose he had
assumed on first attempting to shoot
me. I approached and tried to push
him from his horse, but they were in
separable. l pushed the poor horse
over number Of times, but could not
dislodge his rider, for his legs had frozen
as hard as a rock in the shape he had
clinched them to prevent his going over
the horses head as he thundered down
the hill toward me. ] towed the horse
into camp, however, and a stone-cutter
with his mallet and chisel succeeded,
after two days hard labor in ampu-
tating one of the savage's legs above
the knee, and then We got him of his
horse. l dragged him hundred yards
from camp, and there his carcass lay
until the following July, proof against
the swarms of hungry wolves, when,
thawing out sufficiently, the arrow
slipped from his fingers and killed a
long swath Of his snarling tormenters."
His auditors listened attentively until
the story was concluded, when they all
Joined in hearty laugh. Then each
had some ludicrous addition to suggest,
or quizzing question to ask, all vOcifer-
ating at the same time, and each striv-
/ ing TO be heard above all others.
But when it is known that these un-
cultured sons of nature possess the in
trepidity and impetuosity Of the French
man, the cunning and endurance Of the
Indian, and that they are not excelleC
by Russian Cossack, Egyptian Name
luke, Arabian freebooter or Mexican
vaquero in horsemanship, their eff
cheney as Indian fighters will not b,
questioned.
TO De continued