He was a good deal younger nor I was, but he was the sharer of all my boyish joys an' sorrows.

We had hunted together, an' slept under the same blanket ever since we were big enough to walk.

Oh! I was happy then! This earth seemed to me a paradise.

Now look at me--alone in the world, not one livin' bein' to claim me as a relation; an' all this was brought upon me in a single day.' "Here the ole man stopped, an' buried his face in his hands; but, suddenly arousin' himself, he continued, "'One day, when the ice were a'most out of the river, father an' me concluded it was about time to start on our usual tradin' expedition; so we went to work an' got all our goods--which consisted of beads, hatchets, lookin'-glasses, blankets, an' such like--into the big canoe, an' were goin' to start 'arly in the mornin' to pay a visit to the Osage Injuns, an' trade our things for their furs.

That night, while we were eatin' our supper, a party of horsemen came gallopin' an' yellin' down the bank of the river, an', ridin' up to the door of the cabin, dismounted, an', leavin' their horses to take care of themselves, came in without ceremony.