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It was, therefore, no unusual thing for strangers to encounter each
other in the endless wastes of the west. By signs, which an
unpractised eye would pass unobserved, these borderers knew when one
of his fellows was in his vicinity, and he avoided or approached the
intruder as best comported with his feelings or his interests.
Generally, these interviews were pacific; for the whites had a common
enemy to dread, in the ancient and perhaps more lawful occupants of
the country; but instances were not rare, in which jealousy and
cupidity had caused them to terminate in scenes of the most violent
and ruthless treachery. The meeting of two hunters on the American
desert, as we find it convenient sometimes to call this region, was
consequently somewhat in the suspicious and wary manner in which two
vessels draw together in a sea that is known to be infested with
pirates. While neither party is willing to betray its weakness, by
exhibiting distrust, neither is disposed to commit itself by any acts
of confidence, from which it may be difficult to recede.


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