They Did So; And A Day It Was, Of Boast, And Swagger, And
Rodomontade.
The prime bullies and braves among the free trappers
had each his circle of novices, from among the captain's band;
mere greenhorns, men unused to Indian life; mangeurs de lard, or
pork-eaters; as such new-comers are superciliously called by the
veterans of the wilderness.
These he would astonish and delight
by the hour, with prodigious tales of his doings among the
Indians; and of the wonders he had seen, and the wonders he had
performed, in his adventurous peregrinations among the mountains.
In the evening, the free trappers drew off, and returned to the
camp of Fontenelle, highly delighted with their visit and with
their new acquaintances, and promising to return the following
day. They kept their word: day after day their visits were
repeated; they became "hail fellow well met" with Captain
Bonneville's men; treat after treat succeeded, until both parties
got most potently convinced, or rather confounded, by liquor. Now
came on confusion and uproar. The free trappers were no longer
suffered to have all the swagger to themselves. The camp bullies
and prime trappers of the party began to ruffle up, and to brag,
in turn, of their perils and achievements. Each now tried to
out-boast and out-talk the other; a quarrel ensued as a matter of
course, and a general fight, according to frontier usage. The two
factions drew out their forces for a pitched battle. They fell to
work and belabored each other with might and main; kicks and
cuffs and dry blows were as well bestowed as they were well
merited, until, having fought to their hearts' content, and been
drubbed into a familiar acquaintance with each other's prowess
and good qualities, they ended the fight by becoming firmer
friends than they could have been rendered by a year's peaceable
companionship.
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