"
"It is a well-known fact. But if the animal has had a rider, where is
he?"
"Ay, therein lies the mystery," returned the trapper, stooping to
examine the signs in the ground with a closer eye. "Yes, yes, it is
plain there has been a long struggle atween the two. The master has
tried hard to save his beast, and the flames must have been very
greedy, or he would have had better success."
"Harkee, old trapper," interrupted Paul, pointing to a little
distance, where the ground was drier, and the herbage had, in
consequence, been less luxuriant; "just call them two horses. Yonder
lies another."
"The boy is right! can it be, that the Tetons have been caught in
their own snares? Such things do happen; and here is an example to all
evil-doers. Ay, look you here, this is iron; there have been some
white inventions about the trappings of the beast--it must be so--it
must be so--a party of the knaves have been skirting in the grass
after us, while their friends have fired the prairie, and look you at
the consequences; they have lost their beasts, and happy have they
been if their own souls are not now skirting along the path, which
leads to the Indian heaven.
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