Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1891-01-15
and you may Judge of its sutbe,a..
fo~ ..o,,r1lF ~NNutlteitn

for yourself" "aela
A THRILLING ENCOUNTER WITH w.
This was the story: Si
Even In those early DAVIS r..
sportsmen of title and means -sns'
now and then to penetrate tho D. Won
hunting bear and buffalo and sesls
adventure, and they had NOT orI.
q bloodthirsty wastefulness in Their =
/ which has characterized many ~ ~
, foreign sportsmen since, but a cras~,' s'
( which was the delight of the ola :
) ain men whom they often enlisrsS
aids. "us
On n occasion Bridger was finn.
gagged as a guide to an English noh,a
man, who was pleased with every "a.
about him except his modest retics.-s
as to his adventures-most of All ~
directly appealed to for an accom-, |,
some OF those experiences which ~
employer felt sure must have been sn.'
with exciting adventures. Bridcer
%sistently parted these requests bn, !,
last the nobleman's urgency copops,.s
and one night the old mountaineero'
fessed at the campfire that possibly 1
had had an adventure or two with 81.
juns" that might be entertaining -
stranger, though he doubted 1t.
Trust us for that" the party 4.
clared in chorus, and settled down /,
listen to a soul-stirring tale.
well. you see," Bridger began. t.,
partner and | were trapping over I
ward the h~eadwaters of the Missouri :.
Twenty-Five Yard creek, and after 80,
sons work had got together as fine a Il,
OF beaver skins as ever went to maria,
At last we made up our packs, tied than
on our pack-horses, mounted and ra.
of toward Pierre's Hole, where all ~
trappers were accustomed to assembl.
every spring to meet each other and M
buyers, who would purchase their nell,
and return them a new outfit We kent
a good lookout for Indians, for tbs,.
were plenty of Blackfeet war partie, a.
ways stirring about; but for soms tim.
we saw no sign, and as we were drawn,
Nao W. ltlI baIHT and
began to travel with less caution.
That's the very time an Indian 4
waiting for, and when it comes Ia
means to jump on you. Keep your eyss
peeled and you'll never see an Indian
but the minute you get careless down
they come, and away go your horses
and maybe your scalp, too. That WA
what happened to us, or at any rata
threatened to, for just as we broke camn
n morning the Blackfeet hove IN
sight, about fifty Of them. We vera
still out on the prairie, where the odd,
were greatly against us, but the mount
aims were not far away, so we whipped
up our horses and rode for them our
level best, the Indians racing after Us
at the top of their speed.
I'VE soon found that they were gain.
Ing on us, and finally we had to abandon
our paok-animals. They carried all our
winters profit. and we hoped the plum
Ter would satisfy them, for we had done
Blackfeet no harm. and couldn't see
what good it would do them to kill us
In fact, we had not then much fear
or our lives, since we were well
mounted, and we might easily have
rot away from the band, but fresh
'edskins seemed to come out from
couk to join in the pursuit as fast
S the tired fell out. Before long, there
ore, they began to overhaul US, and
Inally were within shooting distance.
their rifles made things lively, | tell
but We joined in the fracas, firing
ack as we ran, and pretty often an In.
ian fell; but it seemed as though the
ountry was full of Blackfeet, and thei
lore we killed the more there were OIL
hem, till we estimated them at nigh
NO hundred.
"our only hope was in reaching thel
fountains. There was a couk right
head OF us, but our pursuers saw what
Q were after, and as an Indian neveri
'ares his horse anyhow, now theyl
hipped and yelled and kicked and goti
! the speed out of their ponies theeI
as in them. At last we were close toll
Q couk and with a yell of triumph
looked back and knocked an In-l
off his horse, just for fun, when,
eat Scott what did we see but anil
her party of redskins dashing inl
cad to IA us off"
Good heavensl Mr.. BridgerF' ext
lined the excited nobleman, 'and
t you say your story isn't worth tell
:. Why. | never heard any thingl
to it But did you reach theI
I am glad you like il" said Bridger,
But wait a bit. The bestI
coming. Yes. we reached the mouth
the canyon, for it was too big and
ky to be called a coule, but only byl
skin of our teeth, for the Indians
lowed us in. only about q hundred
DIS in the rear. The sides were tool
to climb, and our horses were
oming badly blown, but yet we gall
on, hoping for something f@svor
to turn up-we hardly knew what
the Indians kept gaining, the side-t
Is grew sleeper and higher, and the
5om became so rough and narrow
J before long we had to leave our
SEES and take 1t afoot. The Indians
suit, yelling like triumphant
Ions, for they felt so sure of US that
quit firing, evidently wishing to
rye no TO- 4o-&-- w. Io~or N