Out West

e arrived at the trading post just before sunset and set up camp in one of the walled off over-hangs on the back of the building the owner had built just for this purpose. It cost a wolf skin for the night but included dinner; which was beef stew and water, anything else was extra. I traded all my skins and trappings with the owner, a William Duran, who was ¼ Indian as his mother had been a half-breed traded to his father. I had $117 after all the trading was complete and began to reverse the situation as I started to buy items that we needed. First on my list were the three Bowie knives at $2 each, the extra dollar got all three sheaths for the knives. I saw a .44 caliber Navy revolver twin pistol set, in a wooden box with the powder flask and cleaning tools, along with two spare cylinders and the bullet making tool. For $10 they were mine. A .44 caliber Kentucky short carbine and matching pistol with the bullet maker, powder horn, cap holding ring, and shooters hip bag for Bear Claw was $5. A .50 caliber Hawkins pistol giving me two for $3; 10 pounds of lead and 10 pounds of powder along with 200 caps cost $5; 10 pounds of salt, flour, corn meal, sugar, coffee, baking powder, 100 pound of beans, and a few tins of spices cost $10; 10 new traps of various sizes cost $5; two horses with tack and a second mule $12; some glass beads, tin mirrors, hair brushes, skinning knives, and several bolts of cloth for trading $15; 2 flintlock .36 caliber rifles and a flintlock .36 caliber pistol with powder horns and bullet makers for each and the pistol had a holster too cost $5. That night, William let us stay for free, but we cooked our own meal. The next morning we loaded both mules, Bob and as it turns out, Bobbie. The horses were named Smoke and Cloud since they were both grayish in color. I rode the bigger, darker horse, Smoke and Bear Claw rode the lighter, smaller horse, Cloud. Taking leather, Bear Claw made a holster for her pistol in a cross draw position, on her left hip and kept her new Bowie along the small of her back, at a slight angle with the handle on her right side. I adjusted my belt to hold one of the Navy revolvers on each hip and the two .50 caliber pistols butts out, barrel together, at the small of my back. The Bowie still rode on the side of my right calf and the tomahawk on the left calf. William threw in a very soft, colorful blanket as he bid us farewell.

Bear Claw cooked a wonderful meal that night. Afterwards, I scouted around camp before we settled down to sleep. The terrible sound of animals fighting woke me a few hours later. I pulled my boots on and took all four pistols with me as I went out to see what the fight was. Bear Claw dressed and put her moccasins on, setting all the rifles out and checking to make sure they were ready to shoot. I found a coyote den that had been attacked by a mountain lion. It was dragging off the mother of the den. I heard a sound and looked to see one pup was still alive.

I picked up the pup and carried it back to camp to ask Bear Claw what to do. Bear Claw said that it would die soon unless we took care of it. I said we could try and see if it would live. We got back into bed and found the pup climbed right in between us and dropped off to sleep. We just laughed and did the same. Two days later we were at my summer cabin, which really was just a solid log wall that I built across the front of a natural cave. I had added a two-foot high stone wall across the front to protect from diggers and weather. There was a natural spring inside that provided fresh water. Near the back of the cave, there was a crack in the wall that went up to the ceiling, where there was a small hole that would let smoke out but nothing larger than a cricket in.

This is where the fire was kept, to heat the cave and cook on. On the left side of the cabin was a steep draw that I corralled off to keep the horses and mules in. I had built a barrier over the top to deter predators from jumping down onto the animals. The window in the cabin wall looked right at the gate to the corral. Bear Claw liked the cabin and I loved the fact that I was not alone anymore.