For My Part, I Remained As Quiet As He,
And Looked Quite As Hard; I Felt Greatly Inclined To Come To Term
With Him.
"My friend," thought I, "if you'll let me off, I'll let
you off." At length he seemed to have abandoned any hostile design.
Very slowly and deliberately he began to turn about; little by little
his side came into view, all be-plastered with mud. It was a
tempting sight. I forgot my prudent intentions, and fired my rifle;
a pistol would have served at that distance. Round spun old bull
like a top, and away he galloped over the prairie. He ran some
distance, and even ascended a considerable hill, before he lay down
and died. After shooting another bull among the hills, I went back
to camp.
At noon, on the 14th of September, a very large Santa Fe caravan came
up. The plain was covered with the long files of their white-topped
wagons, the close black carriages in which the traders travel and
sleep, large droves of animals, and men on horseback and on foot.
They all stopped on the meadow near us. Our diminutive cart and
handful of men made but an insignificant figure by the side of their
wide and bustling camp. Tete Rouge went over to visit them, and soon
came back with half a dozen biscuits in one hand and a bottle of
brandy in the other. I inquired where he got them. "Oh," said Tete
Rouge, "I know some of the traders.
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