“Yes. Now ther’s one thing more atween Jan and me. It looks as ef we’d got to tramp the prairie together fer a long time. Now any man thet travels alongside of old Trapping Ben, must hev the right sort of pluck. Don’t ye see thar’s always danger in the life of a free trapper?”
“I nefer dinks dere vas so mooch, Penn. Off I dinks so, I would not coom.”
“All right. Hyar ye ar’ an’ hyar ye’ve got ter stay this season. Now I’ve noticed thet when they b’ar ye right down to it ye kin fight ez well ez the best man among ’em. But, ye’r’ apt to shirk danger ef ye hev time to think an’ see it comin’. Now, thet ain’t the way with a free trapper. They don’t like to fight, nuther will they shirk danger, nor go a step out of the way to git cl’ar of it.”
“Yaw. Dat ish vat I dinks. You likes to vite. Now I vould sooner run den fight, if I can.”
Millicent laughed at this naive confession on the part of the Dutchman, whose face was the very picture of truth.
“I’ll cure ye of that before I quit ye, my boy,” ejaculated Ben. “Take my word for it. I ain’t goin’ to hev no cowardly cuss in my camp. Now ef we meet an Injun, what ar’ ye goin’ to do?”
“I dinks I vould run avay so hard ash efer I can,” said Jan, with refreshing candor. “I not likes Plackfeet no more ash hogs.”
Again the merry laughter of Millicent rung through the pass. Old Ben looked at her with a fatherly smile.
“You’d run away, would ye? Now, don’t ye ever go to do it. Fer ef ye do, ez sure ez a gun you git it right through the back. I won’t hev no skulkin’. It’s no wonder the gal laughs at you. But hyar’s our b’ar.”
The leaves had rattled down during the night, and drifted so that the body of the animal was completely covered. Ben brushed them away with his hand and exposed the huge body to view. Millicent had never seen a grizzly bear, and it was something so terrible that she could not repress a cry. The wound which the roer had made was exposed to view. Indeed, the top of the head was completely blown off.