Rocky Mountain Sam — page 32: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAM. 23 ke had returned the stone bottle after drinking from it, re- produced it, and set it, together with a tin cup, before the unbidden guest. _ The latter poured out an unconscionable dram, drained 1t almost without taking breath; and then, seizing a tin platter and rude fork with his left hand, and drawing his ,bowie-knife with his right, he set to work at the viands be- fore him with an appetite that more than equaled our hero’s, though he had had no balloon-yoyage to whet it. hey were evidently well used to his ways, for after notic- ing his first entrance, Sam went on chatting to his sweet- heart as though nothing had interrupted him; the White Hermit stood at the door smoking unconcernedly, and look- ing out over the peaceful valley; and the ancient squaw resumed her kitchen duties, as though oblivious of the presence of any one at all. Big Horn was one of the most noted hunters, trappers, and Indian fighters in the Territory of Montana. He had been among the mountains in the neighborhood of Fort Benton and the headwaters of the Missouri River for years, took his name from the noted branch of the Yellowstone of the same name, was familiar with almost every Indian diaiect in the region, and was considered unequaled as hunter, scout, or fighter, though often dreaded by white almost as much as by red men, from a certain moroseness of disposition, which had gained for him an unenviable reputation for ferocity and coarse brutality, which, perhaps, he did not deserve. He was not a tall man for that country of superlatively big men, perhaps five feet nine or ten, but his frame was of Hereulean proportions, with a depth of chest and breadth of shoulders so vast as to amount almost to a deformity. His face—heavy, stolid-featured, with short, stubby nose, and large, heavy jaws and lips, and a thin, straggling beard—at the first glance gave one the impression of coarse, ugly stupidity, and nothing more; but a more careful study, especially, if the full, piercing gray eyes were turned sud- denly upon you, revealeda latent force and alertness, not unmixed with kindness, which surprised you. His hunter’s garb was tattered, dirty, and dusty, as by long travel. He held his rifle between his knees as he ate; and the belt that bound his burly waist was garnished with a formidable array of pistols, knives, and other accouterments. Having finished a meal which would have laid more GComichboo €oO