While We
Were Discussing These Matters, The Doorway Was Darkened By A Tall,
Shambling Fellow, Who Stood With His Hands In His Pockets Taking A
Leisurely Survey Of The Premises Before He Entered.
He wore brown
homespun pantaloons, much too short for his legs, and a pistol and
bowie knife stuck in his belt.
His head and one eye were enveloped
in a huge bandage of white linen. Having completed his observations,
he came slouching in and sat down on a chest. Eight or ten more of
the same stamp followed, and very coolly arranging themselves about
the room, began to stare at the company. Shaw and I looked at each
other. We were forcibly reminded of the Oregon emigrants, though
these unwelcome visitors had a certain glitter of the eye, and a
compression of the lips, which distinguished them from our old
acquaintances of the prairie. They began to catechise us at once,
inquiring whence we had come, what we meant to do next, and what were
our future prospects in life.
The man with the bandaged head had met with an untoward accident a
few days before. He was going down to the river to bring water, and
was pushing through the young willows which covered the low ground,
when he came unawares upon a grizzly bear, which, having just eaten a
buffalo bull, had lain down to sleep off the meal. The bear rose on
his hind legs, and gave the intruder such a blow with his paw that he
laid his forehead entirely bare, clawed off the front of his scalp,
and narrowly missed one of his eyes.
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