He Was Armed With An Old United States
Yager, Which Redoubtable Weapon, Though He Could Never Hit His Mark
With It, He Was Accustomed To Cherish As The Very Sovereign Of
Firearms.
The first two men belonged to a party who had just come from
California with a large band of horses, which they had disposed of at
Bent's Fort.
Munroe, the taller of the two, was from Iowa. He was
an excellent fellow, open, warm-hearted and intelligent. Jim Gurney,
the short man, was a Boston sailor, who had come in a trading vessel
to California, and taken the fancy to return across the continent.
The journey had already made him an expert "mountain man," and he
presented the extraordinary phenomenon of a sailor who understood how
to manage a horse. The third of our visitors named Ellis, was a
Missourian, who had come out with a party of Oregon emigrants, but
having got as far as Bridge's Fort, he had fallen home-sick, or as
Jim averred, love-sick - and Ellis was just the man to be balked in a
love adventure. He thought proper to join the California men and
return homeward in their company.
They now requested that they might unite with our party, and make the
journey to the settlements in company with us. We readily assented,
for we liked the appearance of the first two men, and were very glad
to gain so efficient a re-enforcement. We told them to meet us on
the next evening at a spot on the river side, about six miles below
the fort.
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