Injun. Who are 'ee, anyhow?
'Tain't Bill Garey? No, Billee, 'tain't you, ole fellur."

"No," said I, recovering from my surprise; "it's not Bill."

"I mout 'a guessed that. Bill wud 'a know'd me sooner. He wud 'a
know'd the glint o' this niggur's eyes as I wud his'n. Ah! poor Billee!
I's afeerd that trapper's rubbed out; an' thur ain't many more o' his
sort in the mountains. No, that thur ain't.

"Rot it!" continued the voice, with a fierce emphasis; "this comes o'
layin' one's rifle ahint them. Ef I'd 'a had Tar-guts wi' me, I wudn't
'a been hidin' hyur like a scared 'possum. But she are gone; that
leetle gun are gone; an' the mar too; an' hyur I am 'ithout eyther beast
or weepun; cuss the luck!"

And the last words were uttered with an angry hiss, that echoed through
every part of the cave.

"Yur the young fellur, the capt'n's friend, ain't 'ee?" inquired the
speaker, with a sudden change of tone.

"Yes," I replied.

"I didn't see yur a-comin' in, or I mout 'a spoke sooner. I've got a
smart lick across the arm, an' I wur just a-tyin' it up as ye tumbled in
thur. Who did 'ee think this child wur?"

"I did not think you were anyone. I took you for a grizzly bear."

"Ha! ha! ha! He! he! he! I thort so, when I heard the click o' your
pistol. He! he! he! If ever I sets my peepers on Bill Garey agin, I'll
make that niggur larf till his guts ache. Ole Rube tuk for a grizzly!
If that ain't--Ha! ha! ha! ha! He! he! he! Ho! ho! hoo!"

And the old trapper chuckled at the conceit, as if he had just been
witnessing some scene of amusement, and there was not an enemy within a
hundred miles of him.

"Did you see anything of Seguin?" I asked, wishing to learn whether
there was any probability that my friend still lived.

"Did I? I did; an' a sight that wur. Did 'ee iver see a catamount
riz?"

"I believe I have," said I.

"Wal, that wur him. He wur in the shanty when it felled. So were I
m'self; but I wa'n't there long arter. I creeped out some'rs about the
door; an' jest then I seed the cap, hand to hand wi' an Injun in a
stan'-up tussle: but it didn't last long. The cap gi'n him a
sockdolloger some'rs about the ribs, an' the niggur went under; he did."

"But what of Seguin? Did you see him afterwards?"

"Did I see him arterwards? No; I didn't."

"I fear he is killed."

"That ain't likely, young fellur. He knows these diggin's better'n any
o' us; an' he oughter know whur to cacher, I