Ben, The Trapper

THE TRAPPER’S CAMP.

In
a deep defile among the Black Hills, far out on the western plains, three men had made a camp. They were of that wonderful race who have done more to develop the resources of the western world than any other, the trappers of the North-west. Their great aid in this cause has never been allowed by us as a people. We hear of great discoveries of gold, or of a new pass through the mountains, and in the
discovery
lose sight of the
agent
, who, in nine cases out of ten, is one of the class of whom this book is written. Their wandering, perilous life is full of hardships, of which we have no conception. The cold of winter, the savage foe, the yet more savage employees of the Hudson Bay Company, the grizzly bear, the snow-slide, all these are their enemies. They toil hard to pluck from the hand of stern old winter a precarious livelihood, happy in the possession of a few traps, a rifle, ammunition, and a blanket. With these they lead as happy lives as any, and as useful as most. Hundreds of tales of individual daring have been told of these men, and yet the truth is not half known. Their creed is simple as that of the border chiefs of Scotland:

“That they should take who have the power,

And they should keep who
can
!”

To hate an Indian, or an employee of the Hudson Bay Company. It was in the days when the rivalry between the American Fur Company and the Hudson Bay was at its height, and the rancor between them equaled that of Whig and Tory during the Revolution. Each claimed the country, and many a bleaching skeleton on the western streams remains
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to this day, attesting the fact that the men fought for the right of possession to the last.

The men in the pass were types of different nationalities. One, a tall, supple, wiry old fellow, dressed in a greasy buckskin hunting-shirt and leggings, with moccasins of moose-hide, showed himself to be a lifelong rover of the hills and plains. He was piling brush on the fire, and smoking placidly, puffing the smoke from his nose in clouds. His face was a study, covered though it was by a beard of nearly seven months’ growth. It showed the character of the man. Brave to a fault, an unrelenting foe, a steadfast friend—one on whom great reliance could be placed in time of need. His rifle, carefully covered with a buckskin sheath, was propped against a rock near at hand. A huge knife hung in his belt, by the side of a shot-pouch and powder-flask.

The man on his right hand was a Frenchman—a keen-eyed, vivacious fellow, dressed very much like his companion, and armed, in addition to the knife and rifle, with a pair of handsome pistols. His name was Jules Damand, and he had been a voyageur, trained to the business at Saint Ann’s, on the St. Lawrence.

The third was a Dutchman! A simple glance at his broad, stolid face told his nationality. He was a stout fellow, of tremendous girth, with a smiling blue eye, an expressionless face while in repose, and a foot that looked much like a young trunk. He was smoking placidly, and suffering his companions to attend to the fire, and cook the food hanging over it. The last duty was the Frenchman’s, who, like nearly all the men of his nation, had a theory in regard to cookery which he was always ready to explain by example.

“Look here, Jan,” said the first-named trapper, “why don’t ye lend a hand at takin’ care of the fire?”

“So help me, as I never know I vas vanted to help you mit de fire,” said Jan. “I vas sit here, mit mine shmoke-pipe, unt I vas dinking auver the times ven I vas in Yarmany. Yaw; dat is vat I dinks.”

“I s’pose it’s considerable of a kentry,” said the old trapper.

“Consider’ble mit a coonthry! Mein Cott! Dere is no such coonthry mit all the earth. Vat! Ish dere any vere
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you kin find such vine ash ve have dere? Now I dells you. Ven you coes to St. Louis, you vas co to Yawcob Post’s saloon av you vants goot Rhine vine. Dere ish goot many blaces mit St. Louis vere dey says dey keeps goot Rhine vine. Put I dells you dat ish no more ash von lie! Dere ish no more ash your blaces in dat town vere you can get goot vine, unt mein frent Yawcob’s ish von, I dells you drue.”

“It’s mighty poor stuff to drink,” said the trapper. “Fer me now, when I drink, I take a little good rye whisky.
That’s
good enough fer me.”

“Boor shtuff! Penn Miffin, av it vash not dat I know you too vell, I vould hit you mit your nose av you says dat vonce more. I dells you dere ish nottings so goot ash Rhine vine.”

“Yes, for a
Dutchman
,” said Ben.

“But you ish voolin’. Dere, I seen you laff. Don’t say dat no more,” said Jan.

“What does ye think about it, Jule?” said Ben, looking at the Frenchman.

“That it is very bad drink,” said the Frenchman. “Peste! The first time I drank it, it was so sour I thought it would make me turn myself inside out to get rid of it. The Rhine grape is very bad. In la belle France they make wine that is good.”

“Vy den you ask him?” blustered Jan. “Vat ish he more ash a Vrenchman? Unt I ask you now, aff you vas dell me, vat ish de goot over a man vat eats vrogs? So help me gracious, dey is no more goot to eat dan snakes. Unt dey ish p’ison.”

“I reckon yer wrong, Jan,” said the trapper. “They do say thet snakes ain’t very bad eatin’ when a chap is hard druv’. I don’t say I want to try ’em, but ef I c’u’d ’a’ got snakes the time I cum nigh to starvin’ up yer in the Black Hills, durn my hide ef I wouldn’t hev eat snakes or any thing else. I kem of a queer race. I ken eat any thing, and lick my weight in wildcats. I’m death on grizzlys. I ken wipe out an Injun as fur as I ken see him, and I calculate thet’s a good ways.”

“You talks a goot deal mit yer
mout
,” said Jan. “Put aff a man says to me dat snakes unt frogs is goot to eat, den
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I dinks he ish no more ash von vool. Aff ever I get vere I can no more get nottings to eat, so help me gracious ash I vill
not
eat snakes unt vrogs, aff day vash to come to me in hundreds unt t’ousands, ready cooked, unt beg me on dere knees to eat dem.”

“Did you ever see a snake on his knees, Jan?” said Ben.

“Yaw! Ven you poke dem mit a stick, dey gits up on dere tails. Dat’s de vay dey vould do ven dey vash ask me to eat dem. Unt I vash say, No, py tam!”

The Frenchman said nothing, but stooped to stir some soup in an iron pan placed on the coals, glancing up at the Dutchman with a queer smile as he did so. The blood of the Teuton was up, and he dropped off into low mutterings, like distant thunder, until a fresh grievance caused him to break out again. He found this grievance in Ben Miffins’ manner of smoking.

“Dere,” he said, “shpose you look at dat, eh? Ven a man ash ought to know petter, unt ve know ash he
knows
petter, shmokes hish pipe drue hish nose, like dat, he ish von tam vool. See him. Puff! puff! puff! like a shteampoat mit a vire in her pelly. Now I dells you dat ish not the vay to shmoke.”

“It’s
my
way,” said Ben. “Look yer, Dutchy, ef ye don’t like my way of smokin’, does ye know what ye ken do? Ye ken take the back track to the forts.”

“Vy don’t you shmoke like a Christian den?” grunted Jan.

“’Cause I don’t want to. Never told ye how I learned to smoke this yer way, did I? No? I’ll tell ye then. When I was quite a young man I was taken by the Crows. Durn ’em ef they didn’t keep me among ’em more then three years. Made me a chief, and what not. Wal, they all smoke this yer way, and I took it up. Don’t rile me up, Dutchy. I’m the Big Buffalo of the Crow nation. Rile me, and I light on ye pooty heavy. Smooth me down and I’m
ile
; but slick me the wrong way and I’m a p’ison critter. Look out fer me when I flop my wings and crow.”

“Look at the hills,” said Jan, prudently changing the course of the conversation. “Vat you dinks ven I dells you I’ve seen hills all made up mit ice, unt dey so pig ash dese hills, eh?”

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“I should think your story was like the hills,” said Jules.

“How vash dat?”

“
Made up
mit a lie,” said the Frenchman, laughing and turning again to his soup.

“Den you ish von tam vool,” said Jan, in a rage. “It ish no more as vive years since I cooms from Yarmany mit a backet. I vas very pad ven I cooms avay. I vish I vash stay at home. Put it vash near spring ven I cooms avay, unt the vind drive us up north. Unt den cooms von of dese hills made up mit ice.”

“It’s true,” said Ben. “I’ve seen ’em myself off the mouth of the Columby. They call ’em icebergs.”

“Dat’s it. Dat’s the name!” said Jan. “Vell, I stands on the deck mit the packet, unt I sees it coom. I goes to the captain unt I dells him America has proke loose, unt vash cooming down on the sheep, unt would sink her. He laugh at me, unt said it vash an iceberg. Unt I vatched it very close, unt py unt py it tipped oop, unt turned auver, unt I dinks we ish gone. But it not strike the sheep.”

“Lucky fer you,” said Ben.

“Vat vash you dink auver an iceberg ash vash so pig ash it vash tip auver on the sheep, unt sink the sheep. Now I ask you not for to pelieve all dis unless you vash a mind to. You must do ash you blease. Put dis is vat I sees myself. Vat is your opinion mit dese tam icebergs?”

“Oh, they say that they break away from the hills up north and float down yer. That’s all I know.”

“Yaw. Put vat makes dem tip auver? Dat ish vat I vants to know.”

“How kin I tell?”

“Vell, I dells you my opinion mit dese tam ole icebergs. Dey ish very pig. Put, vat vas you dink mit a
vale
(whale) ash vas so pig as he vash go unther an iceberg, unt lift the iceberg oop on his pack, unt tip her auver on the sheep, unt sink the sheep. Dat ish my opinion mit dese tipping icebergs.”

“Ye don’t mean to tell me thet you think a whale goes under an iceberg and tips it over?”

“Yaw. De vale goes unther the iceberg, unt lifts it oop on
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his pack, and tips it auver on de sheep. Dat ish vat I dinks.”

“He couldn’t do it,” said Ben. “Darn it. I’ve seen icebergs, and I’ve seen whales, but I never seen a whale big enough to do thet, nor you either.”

“I shpose you dinks dish ish von lie. All right. You may dink vat you blease, put dis is vat I sees myself. I ton’t care nottings now vat you dinks, only ven a man vill not pelieve goot sense ven he hears him, he is von very much vool. Vat you got in the pan, Shule?”

“Soup,” said Jules.

“Vat you makes him off?”

“Grouse,” said Jules, smiling.

“Ven he ish reaty, let us have somet’ings to eat. I ish hoongry. Vy does ve coom here pefore it ish dime to set our traps, Penn?”

“I’ll tell ye. Ef we ain’t on hand ’arly, all the places will be taken up. And I know a place whar we kin make our fortun’s, sure. I’ve got a beaver-dam thet beats the world. But come, Jule, I’m like Dutchy. I want something to eat. Ef it’s ready, dish it up.”

Each man had a tin cup among his other property, and Jules filled three of them from the pan on the fire. For a few moments nothing was heard but the clicking of spoons and smacking of lips over the savory mess, for Jules was a good cook. Jan shoveled down the contents of his cup first, and held it out for more.

“Like it?” said Jules.

“Goot!” said Jan, smacking his lips again. “Pest I ever eats. Gif me more of it.”

Jules filled the cup again, and then replenished his own and that of Ben Miffin, who was not far behind the others in disposing of the food. At last Jan was satisfied, and drawing his hand across his mouth slowly, he proceeded to fill his pipe for a smoke.

Jules cleared away the pan, put another stick of wood on the fire, and got away from the reach of the ponderous hand of the Dutchman, and then said:

“I s’pose you know what you have been eating, Jan?” There was very little, except in the accent of the young man, to
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show that he was a Frenchman, and the occasional use of the pronoun “him” in the place of “it.”

“Didn’t you say it vash grouse?” said Jan. “’Twas goot, anyvay.”

“Yer mighty right,” said Ben. “’Twas the best grub I’ve had fer a long time. But ’twa’n’t no grouse. I knew it as soon as I put it in my mouth. Ye gev me some once before, ye remember.”

“It’s a pity Jan don’t like it. I think it’s durned good.”

“Vat I peen eating?” cried Jan, in great alarm. “Off you vash not dell me now, dis very dime, vat it vas, I vill raise my hand oop unt let it fall on your cophf (cope), unt it vill kill you!”

“It was something you said to-day you would not eat if you were starving.”

“Snakes!” screamed Jan, starting to his feet, with both hands pressed on his stomach.

“No, not so bad as
that
,” said Jules. “It was frog soup.”

Jan sat down again to consider over the matter. For full five minutes he neither moved nor spoke, but sat with his head resting on his hand. At last he looked up.

“Pring me dat pan,” he said.

Ben reached over to where the pan stood and handed it to him. He took up his spoon and devoured all that was left, not deigning a word to the repeated demands of Jules that he should leave a little for him. His jaws never ceased their action until he had deposited the whole in his cavernous stomach.

“Dere,” he said. “I veels petter. Unt so dat ish vrog, eh?”

“I should think so,” said Jules. “You old cormorant!”

“Vat ish dat?”

“A bird that eats every thing he can get his claws on,” said Jules. “Why didn’t you leave some?”

“I vas brought oop to love mine neighbor ash myself. I dinks it ish not right to eat vrogs. Put I dink so mooch more off my neighbor dat I vill not leaf vrog soup vor a demptation.”

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“Sacrifice yourself for the public good, you old hog?” said Jules.

“Yaw. Dat ish drue. I sees dat if I does not eat him you vould do it, unt I dink so mooch off mine frent dat I vould not leaf it. Dat ish all apout it.”

“Do you mean to eat any more if I make him?” demanded Jules.

“Yaw. Venever you makes vrog soup I vill not leaf any of him vor you. Dat ish vat I dinks apout it.”

“Perhaps you’ll get a good chance,” said the Frenchman. “And perhaps you won’t. But you’ve finished it. Perhaps you will go out with me and catch some more of them.”

“Nein!” said Jan.

“Why not? You eat them fast enough.”

“Yaw. I alvays eat dem fast enough. I know vat ish goot for mine frent, unt I dinks vrog soup very pad vor him.”

“That’s enough,” said Ben. “You’ve taught Jan to eat frogs, and he has taught you that if a Dutchman is slow, he is sure, and that you can’t fool him wuth a cent. Scatter the brands and pick up your dunnage. It’s time to be on the way.”

“How far is it?” said Jules.

“A matter of five miles or so,” said the trapper. “But we’ll get our pay for the long journey we’ve made ef we ar’ a little footsore at the end. Come on!”

They shouldered their pieces and strode off into the hills, the Dutchman sauntering in the rear, leading his horse by the bridle.

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