Indications known only to Indians and
backwoodsmen; and after braving dangers and hardships enough to
break down any spirit but that of a western pioneer, arrived safe
at the solitary post in question. * (* Bradbury, Travels in
America, p. 17.)
Such is a sample of the rugged experience which Colter had to
relate of savage life; yet, with all these perils and terrors
fresh in his recollection, he could not see the present band on
their way to those regions of danger and adventure, without
feeling a vehement impulse to join them. A western trapper is
like a sailor; past hazards only stimulate him to further risks.
The vast prairie is to the one what the ocean is to the other, a
boundless field of enterprise and exploit. However he may have
suffered in his last cruise, he is always ready to join a new
expedition; and the more adventurous its nature, the more
attractive is it to his vagrant spirit.
Nothing seems to have kept Colter from continuing with the party
to the shores of the Pacific but the circumstances of his having
recently married. All the morning he kept with them, balancing in
his mind the charms of his bride against those of the Rocky
Mountains; the former, however, prevailed, and after a march of
several miles, he took a reluctant leave of the travellers, and
turned his face homeward.
