Chapter Twenty Nine.
“Look!”
I can’t describe my feelings towards Gunson. One hour he seemed to me coarse, brutal, and common; at another he was the very reverse, and spoke in conversation as we tramped along together about books and languages in a way which made me think that at one time he must have been a gentleman. At these moments his voice sounded soft and pleasant, and he quite won me to him.
On the morning after our perilous passage through the gorge, he quite took me into his confidence, talking to me and consulting with me as if I were a man of his own age, while Esau hung aloof looking jealous and answering in a surly way whenever he was addressed.
“You see,” Gunson said, “the matter stands like this: along by the river, which is getting more and more to assume the character of a mountain torrent, the way must be difficult. It winds, too, terribly, so that we have to travel perhaps twice as far as we should if we made a straight cut for the Fort.”
“That sounds the easiest way,” I said.
“Yes; but we do not know the country; we have not the least idea where Fort Elk lies; we shall be met now and then by other rivers, which may be very hard to cross, perhaps impossible without making long journeys to right or left; lastly, we shall get into a wild country where probably there will be no Indians, or if there are, they may be a fierce hunting race, who will object to our going through their district. So you see that though we may save a good deal of walking if we can get an idea from some settler where the Fort lies, we may meet with a great many difficulties such as I have named. On the other hand, if we keep tramping on here, we are certain to hit the Fort if we can master the troubles of the way, while we are among a people who seem to live by fishing, and are as friendly as can be.”
“Yes,” I said, thoughtfully, as I glanced at where the Indians were peaceably catching and drying the fish they speared.
“Well, what do you say? I am ready to do either—perhaps to break away from the river would suit me best, for I should be coming across smaller streams such as I could examine for metals. You must not forget that I’m a prospector,” he added, laughingly.