He was about to descend, when a wounded Sioux at the bottom of the rock raised his gun, and sent the contents into the body of the old trapper.
At that distance it could but prove fatal. It was the last spasmodic effort of the Sioux, and his life went out with it.
The old trapper fell back into the arms of the scout, who bore him to the inner room, and laid him upon a pile of furs beside the fire.
Through all the exertions of the scout to restore life, the old man lay senseless.
For nearly an hour he remained in this state, while his friends looked on in mute sympathy.
When his consciousness returned, he recognized the scout, and said:
"Kelly, yesterday I told you I would sometime relate the story of my life, and I will do it now, if God spares my life long enough. I have felt a strange presentiment of evil for several days, and now I know that I have but a few hours to live, and I will be as brief as possible.
"I told you to call me Bear-Paw—my true name is Gallaudet. I was born in Scotland, and my father emigrated to this country when I was ten years of age. I say emigrated, but he did not. He started, but the vessel never reached America.
"When nearly in the middle of the Atlantic, the vessel was wrecked in a storm, and all but four perished. My parents found a grave in the ocean, while through an inscrutable dispensation of Divine Providence, I was saved. Three days after the storm, we were picked up by a vessel bound for New Orleans, where we arrived in due season.
"When the story of our misfortunes became known, I was offered a home with a wealthy gentleman of that city, and was by him educated, and started in business. When I was twenty-one my kind guardian died, leaving no family but one lovely daughter.