I made a new start, feeling very comfortable, and determined to speak to every one I met, and I did not expect to meet many but strangers, for Mr. H. and family were the only ones I knew in the neighborhood. As I was passing the next house, near the road there was a man repairing a gate, with a fur cap pulled over his ears.
“Good morning,” said I, and he nodded. Stopping my horse, I asked:
“Do you think that it is going to storm?”
“Hey,” said the man at the gate.
“Do you think this cold weather is going to last much longer?”
“What you say?” asked he.
I was getting discouraged, but as a last resort I asked in a loud tone:
“Do you think I had better go?”
“I go tomorrow,” he answered.
Giving my horse the spur, I caught up with an old freighter; he said that he was making regular trips between Sun River and Fort Benton. I remarked that it was rather cold weather for freighting.