o which I replied in
the affirmative. He continued,

"I've owned her well-nigh goin on twenty year. I've put her through the
perarries and through the timber, and now look yeer, straanger, you can
just bet your life on't she never _var_-ried arry time, and if you'll
just follow her sign you'll knock the centre outer the north star. She
never lies, she don't."

He seemed to consider my interrogatory as a direct insinuation that his
compass was an imperfect one, and hence his indignation. Thinking that
I should not get any very important intelligence concerning the
variation of the needle from this surveyor, I begged his pardon for
questioning the accuracy of his instru-_ment_, bid him good-morning,
and continued on my journey.

BLACK BEAVER.

In 1849 I met with a very interesting specimen of the Delaware tribe
whose name was Black Beaver. He had for ten years been in the employ of
the American Fur Company, and during this time had visited nearly every
point of interest within the limits of our unsettled territory. He had
set his traps and spread his blanket upon the head waters of the
Missouri and Columbia; and his wanderings had led him south to the
Colorado and Gila, and thence to the shores of the Pacific in Southern
California. His life had been that of a veritable cosmopolite, filled
with scenes of intense and startling interest, bold and reckless
adventure. He was with me two seasons in the capacity of guide, and I
always found him perfectly reliable, brave, and competent. His
reputation as a resolute, determined, and fearless warrior did not
admit of question, yet I have never seen a man who wore his laurels
with less vanity.

When I first made his acquaintance I was puzzled to know what to think
of him. He would often, in speaking of the Prairie Indians, say to me,

"Captain, if you have a fight, you mustn't count much on me, for I'ze a
big coward. When the fight begins I 'spect you'll see me run under the
cannon; Injun mighty 'fraid of big gun."

I expressed my surprise that he should, if what he told me was true,
have gained such a reputation as a warrior; whereupon he informed me
that many years previous, when he was a young man, and before he had
ever been in battle, he, with about twenty white men and four
Delawares, were at one of the Fur Company's trading-posts upon the
Upper Missouri, engaged in trapping beaver. While there, the stockade
fort was attacked by a numerous band of Blackfeet Indians