Year: 1874

their attention 10 the name or lin Wag-
ner.


He was large and powerfully built
mau-as fine specimen of the genuine
backwoodsman as you would commonly
meet-swift of foot as an antelope, and
as strong as buffalo.


There was but one serious. fault ia
Tins character, He had the reputation
among his friends of being most incor
rigible brag and exaggerator In a word,
he preferred q fright smart lie" to the
truth, anytime.


For that reason his stories were rarely
believed by any one, unless they had &C.
cult evidence, or the testimony of some
reliable person to substantiate them,


"Call me liar!' he would say with a
humorous show Of rebuke. "Why, you
Jest take it to reason, mister. Here was
brought up till was fourteen by pious,
moral, and religious parent, and my ear
liest recollections is of the dreadfully de-
praved youth in the primer who cried
wolf till nobody would b'iieve him, and
was Gnally eaten at last, when the hun
cry, varmints really did come And now,
mates, with such an example as that be-
fore my eyes do you think would lie to
you? Oh, no."


Some years ago, he was employed as
hunter chief at Ft Gonna, in the very
heart of the Biackteet country.


The surrounding forests abounded in
game, but they were also infested by say
ages who bore an inveterate hatred to the
whites At all times, therefore, his hunt
ing expeditions were attended with more
or less peril to life and limb from the bull
let of some skulking BIaclfoot.


On his return from these expeditions
to have heard him talk, and boast, and
improvise the most improbable yarns rel
atiye to his own individual plowess and
hair breadth escapes, You would have
supposed he had either slain,put to flight
or dutwitted whole legion of red skins


None Of his friends at the fort pre,en-
ded to place any credence in his absurd
yarns, although, in some instances, there
might have been some show of truth in
them, as in the one we are about TO re.
late.


AS was sometimes the case, ,he had ven
tured out one day to a place called The
B ue Licks," from whence he rarely re
turned without a good fat buck or doe
swung lightly over his massive shoul
ders.


The distance was not less than from
ItweiveAte discen nsfigss ailti direct tres
pass upon the hunting grounds of the
Blackfeet. In visiting the locality he Ger
tainly ran great risk Of being shot OF
captured.


On the occasion referred 10 he was OF
his way home from the Blue Liclls, with
deer on his shoulder,and his mind busy
inconcocting some sort of ar improbable
story TO relate TO the occupants of the
! fort.


He was not dreaming of danger at the
time, for he was now within three miles
of their stronghold, and the territory
where be would be the most liable to en-
counter an enemy was already passed =
He was moving over section heavily
covered with timber-immense fores
trees that cast their somber shadows owe
everything below them, leaving a sort o
perpetual twilight that could find no way
of escape oct of its sheltered labyrinths


Suddenly he experienced keen, sting
ing sensation ia the left arm, just below
the shoulder, followed almost simultane
ously by the sharp report Of a rife. HI
glanced back hurriedly and beheld :
Blaekfoot skulking behind neighborin,
tree, and hastily preparing to retreat.
i The tree behind which he had sough
shelter was of such capacious dimensions
as to completely screen him from obser
vation when once safely behind it.


Scarcely had his eye singled out thi
one when there came another report
short distance to the left, and secon,
savage, till now unnoticed by Wagner
: leaped to the cover OF another tree, and
like his companion, began hurriedly t,
reload


As good fortune would have it, tn
body of the tree was not large enoug
to wholly cover the ugly form of the saw
age, leaving just a glimpse of his bac
exposed as target TO the keen sighte
hunter.


Disengaging himself from the burde
which encumbered him. Tim raised hi
} rife-he was as sure shot as there wa
in Montans-and emptied its deadly cor
tents into the exposed hack of the treacl
: erous Blackfoot With unerring precis
ion the bullet sought out its mark, an
the fatally wounded savage dropped hi
rifle with howl of pain, and clappin
both han Is to his back, doubled up as
suddenly assailed with q violent fit c
collie


The other savage,in the meantime, wa
loading as rapidly as possible, and Was
ner felt that in few seconds more b
should ne placed at deadly disadvaut
!, age Whatever was to he done must b
done promptly, and with dubbed rid
Wagner bounded toward the tree whic
sheltered his uninjured adversary
> While attempting to load, the quic
8 eye of the Backfoot had noted all Ii
. movements, ,and when he beheld the pov
erful hunter springing toward him wit
his rifle elevated, he lodged round ju
in season to avoid the terrific blow whic


was dealt at him,


The result was that the stock of Was


ners rifle was shattered into fragment


against the tough wood, and the stol


barrel doubled up into the unwield


crook of the rainbow


Quick.as thought the savage sprun


out from the shelter of the tree and hun
. ed his tomabawk at the head of Wayne


The willy hunter, ever on the aleI


ducked just in season to avoid the dea


ly weapon, and the white man and Il
g savage closed together in most desp


rate and determined struggle.


The Blackroot warrior was large ar


powerfully built as well as his opponen
n and the struggle which now ensued W
u one that CALLED forth all the late
= strength, activity and muscle of tv


most powerful and determined contes
rs ants.


1t was soon apparent, however, tn