The Lost Trail

e only brea

ir that's bre

r on its wi

eath, 'tis s

northwest. The wind howled through the branches with a moaning sound such as often heralds the approach of bitter cold we

ward the fire. From appearances they were on the best of terms. One of them needs no introduction, as he is our old friend Teddy, who evidently feels at home in his new situation. The other is a man of much the same build althoug

y the missionary's wife, and hain't been heard on since. Let

at'll forgit that same date to my dying day, if, indade, I forgit it

llers find a white man to do a mean trick, when you can't a

caught with a hook an' line in the muddy creeks where the catfish breed; but, fur all that, I don't think they could have been equal to this piece of wickedness. May the divil git howld of his

my own powers, but I'll lay if I'd been in the neighborhood, I'd 've found it

elf an' siveral other savages has been looking iver since, and non

" asked the trapper, turning his

re I can't a

they'll do a mean thing just 'cause they lik

hing done in years agone, and has taken this means of revinging himself upo

't a done nothin' to give the rapscallion cause to run off with his wife, 'less he'

e was always a boy that did more praying than fighting. The idea of his harming anyone, is pre-pos-te-trous. After the haythen had fired at us, the good man actilly made me promise not to do the wretch hurt if the chance was give

in' 'im these three o

sing a day rain or shine, wid Indians an' widout '

that would track through the woods that ar long. And ye ha

t it's meself that '

usiness. But s'pose, my friend, you go

e airth and Miss Cora isn't found

ulged in an inc

ra or had iver heard her speak," said Teddy, as his eyes filled with

; "I've l'arned years ago what that business is. The copperskins robbed me of a p

e a swa

do no good to speak of it no

w she can't be

eyes-ain't that enough?" dema

e impression they had run away wit

I'd have chased 'em to the Pacific oce

self intends to do

lments, and therefore, it's my private opine, instead of get

id me?" asked Teddy, in a deeply earn

this night and had my traps set. Yer see I'm compelled to be in

the same token, that has abundance of it, and you'd find it paid you bitte

to be in St. Louey at the time I was tellin' you, and it'

doing that, and th

usiness afore, and know what it is. Me and three others once chased a band of Blackfeet, that had carried off an old man, till we coul

rsue the subjac

tains, and that if we wanted to keep our ha'r, we'd only got to undertake to

, as this be for me, barring yees was hunting f

e tops of two, three hills we got a glimpse on 'em on thar horses. We traveled all night a good many times, but it done no good as they done the same thing, and we found we war further away, if anything, next morning than we war at sundown. If we'd ever lost

in we tried to the bist of our in

other, and the same way down-stream. Yer don't s'pose that feller was able to keep paddlin' forever in the river, do yer? and j

ees had only th

very one of 'em did think of that same thing, but they didn't try it for fe

did not comprehend the me

was at the bottom of the hull business, and it's like as not

honest, for ivery one of them same chocolate-colored gintlemen would have done their bist f

it!" said the hunter, with an

e give up the s'

mall, and ye'd better go west with me, and spend the

might resul

as I kn

e nomination. I'll jist elict meself to the office of sheriff an' go about these region

this are the first time you've got as fur north, I'll sa

reason for that?" e

Thar's a tribe of copperskins about a hundred miles to the no

t token would they b

stayed among 'em two winters and found 'em a harmless lot o' simpletons that would

what they could be d

took the gal up among them Injins, and they're both living thar. If that be so, you needn't be afeard t

in the branches of some tree, fishing for awhile in some stream, or hunting for game-impelled onward all the time by his unconquerable resolve to find Cora Richter and return her to her husband. On the night that the five Sioux returned to the village, and announced their abandonment of the pursuit, Teddy told the missionary that he should never see him again, until he had gained some tidings of his beloved mistress, or had becom

elaying his visit any longer, as the northern winter was almost upon them, and should he be locked in the wilderness by it, it would be almost impossible for him to survive its rigor; but if he should be among the tri

feet, rekindling the fire. Finding, after this was completed, that Teddy still slu

'aming jist thin of a blast of powder in a stone quarry, which exploded under me feet, an' sint me up in the ship's rigging, an' there I hung by the eaves u

ddy's gaping and rubbing of his eyes with his fists, and, finally, his stre

'd tried ef lammin' yer over th

plaised, fur me sconce got used to being

allers lived in

I may niver live here long enough to forgit owld Irelan

mp-fire, had paused suddenly and stood gazing at th

yees have

ye may s

o' w

d-head! What el

wood-craft had been considerably increased during the past month or tw

y of the warmints about, whin we took sich pains with our fire. Why the chap didn't send a piece of

fornenst the night, and that it's

manded the trapper, savagely. "Them tracks w

followed it a rod or two, an

nough it leads to the village that you want to find; so if yer'd like one of 'em to introduce yer to

ook of the morning meal with the trapper, exchanged a plea

friendly Indian with whom a desperate collision must inevitably take place, or some friendly member of the tribe, of whom the trapper had told him, that would prove a boon companion to him. All at once he reached a small

robability of overtaking him. It caused his heart to throb violently to reflect how close he was upon the

s within its confines, where perhaps the beloved Cora was imprisoned, a miserable and pining captive. The thought maddened him, and he pressed forward so rashly that he soon found himself completely entrapped in a network of briers and brambles. Carefully withdrawing into the open wood, it suddenly occurred to him, that if the hun

at first supposed. It was full an hour before he was fairly upon the opposite side. Here he made a careful search and was soon re

ly git into the thicket, and he might have saved his hide by making

upon the hunter, who must have traveled without intermission to have eluded him

ame upon the edge of a bank or declivity, where he believed the strange hunter had laid down to rest. The footprints were visible upon the edge of the bank

. Teddy was sure, in his enthusiasm, that he had obtained a glimpse of the hunter's clothes through the interstices of the leaves, so that he could d

f expediency. The hunter was alone, and, if slain, all clue to the whereabouts of Mrs. Richter would be irrecoverably lost. What tidings that might ever be received regarding her, must come from the lips of him who ha

y upon the face of the hunter, pin him to the ground and then force the confession from his lips, under a threat of hi

involuntary bath in the river. He therefore held his knife firmly in his right hand. No

by the panther when about to spring upon its prey

mass that he attempted to inclose in his arms, told Teddy that inste

re. The brute, after freeing itself from its incubus, sprung off and made all haste into the woods, leaving Teddy gazing after it in stu

! it's meself that can't

as his countenance, as he stood, at the close of the day, looking into the forest, as if he expected that it would speak and reveal what it knew of his beloved partner, who was somewhere concealed withi

efore him. The face of the Irishman was as dejected as his own,

eard anythi

ving that nothing

d the missionary, reverently, and yet with a wailin