“BEFORE goin’ further,” continued the trapper, “I oughter tell you that this Black Bill had been on the prairy a long time. Like a good many others, he had run away from the law in the States, an’, fallin’ in with more rascals as bad as he war, he soon made himself known, by name, to nearly every trapper in the country. ’Sides robbin’ lone men he met on the prairy an’ in the mountains, he would jine in with Injuns, an’ lead ’em ag’in wagon trains.
“None of our comp’ny had ever seed him, although, in course, we had often heered of him, an’ we never onct thought that he would have the face to jine in with a party of honest trappers; so we called him Peters, bein’ very fur from thinkin’ that he war the feller that had done so much mischief. If we had knowed who he war, prairy law wouldn’t have let him live five minits.
“Wal, arter we had been at the fort ’bout two weeks, Cap’n Forbes got every thing ready fur the start, an’, one mornin’, bright an’ ’arly, we sot off t’wards the mountains. Thar war fourteen of us altogether—seven of us fellers, five of Bosh Peters’ party, the trader, and his darkey. We had four pack mules; and, as the Cap’n warn’t a bit stingy, he had give us good we’pons an’ plenty of powder an’ lead. I hadn’t forgot what them two fellers said that night, although I hadn’t never spoke about it, fur fear of bein’ laughed at—an’ I kept close watch on the trader, to find out if he had his money with him. He carried a pair of saddle-bags, an’ they were well packed, too; but, judgin’ by the keerless way he throwed them around, when we camped fur the night, thar warn’t no money in ’em. Bosh Peters and his party had all along been tryin’ to git on the right side of us, and purty soon our fellers begun to think that we had been fooled in ’em, an’ that they war all right arter all.
“Wal, when we reached the trappin’ grounds, we built our quarters fur the winter, an’ then commenced work. The trader went with one feller one day, an’ with another the next. He warn’t no trapper; but he liked the sport, an’ seemed to want to larn how it war done. But, arter awhile he got tired of this, an’ staid in the camp from mornin’ till night. He never went out with me; if he had, I should have told him to keep his eye on them money-bags, if he had ’em with him.
“One day, as I war at work settin’ a trap in a clump of bushes that grew on the banks of a little creek, I heered some fellers comin’ along, talkin’ to each other. Now, jest that one little thing war enough to make me b’lieve that thar war somethin’ wrong in the wind, ’cause, when fellers go out to hunt an’ trap, an’ fur nothin’ else, they don’t go together through the woods, as though they were huntin’ cows. So I sot still an’ listened, an’ purty quick heered Bosh Peters talkin’. Thar war one feller with him, but the bushes war so thick I couldn’t see him, an’ I didn’t know his voice. They war comin’ right t’wards me, an’ when they reached the creek, one of ’em went to get a drink, an’ the others sot down on a log not ten foot from me. Purty soon I heered Bosh Peters say:
“‘I know it’s time we war doin’ somethin’, Tom, but I’m a’most afraid to try it. Them ’ar fellers are seven to our five, an’ if we shouldn’t happen to get away, we would ketch prairy law, sartin; an’ that’s a heap wusser nor law in the settlements. They don’t give a feller a chance to break jail on the prairy.’
“‘Black Bill,’ said the other, ‘thar’s jest no use a talkin that ’ar way. If we’re a goin’ to do it at all, now is jest as good a chance as we shall have. The cap’n stays in the camp all day alone, an’ afore the other chaps get back to larn what’s done, we can be miles in the mountains.’
“‘Wal, then,’ said Black Bill, ‘let’s do the job to onct. The cap’n war in the camp this mornin’ when I left, an’ if he’s thar this arternoon, we’ll finish him, an’ the money-bags are ourn. But let’s move off; it won’t do fur us to be seed together.’
“The varlets walked away, an’ I lay thar in them bushes fifteen minutes afore I stirred. This war the fust time that I knowed Black Bill war one of our comp’ny. To say that I war surprised to hear it, wouldn’t half tell how I felt. I war teetotally tuk back. The idee of that feller comin’ into our camp, when he knowed that if he war found out, short work would be made with him! I could hardly b’lieve it. But I couldn’t lay thar, foolin’ away time with such thoughts, when I knowed that the cap’n’s life war in danger. So, thinkin’ the rascals had got out of sight an’ hearin’, I crawled out of the bushes, intendin’ to start at onct fur the camp, an’ tell the fellers what I had jest heered. I walked down to the creek fust, to get a drink, an’ jest as I war bendin’ over, I heered the crack of a rifle; a bullet whistled by, not half an inch from my head, an’ buried itself in the ground. I jumped to my feet, an’ lookin’ up the bank, saw a leetle smoke risin’ from behind a log not twenty yards distant. Grabbin’ my rifle, which I had laid down as I war goin’ to drink, I rushed acrost the creek, an’ the next minit war standin’ face to face with Black Bill. Fur an instant the chap shook like a leaf, an’ turned as pale as his black skin would let him. Then he seemed to find his wits ag’in, fur he stuck out his hand, sayin’: