An'
now I'll tell you all.'
"He paused a moment, an', wipin' the perspiration from his forehead
with his coat-sleeve, continued, a'most in a whisper,
"'Dick, I was not allers as you see me now--all alone in the world.
Once I was the happiest boy west of the mountains. My father was a
trader, livin' on the Colorado River, I had a kind mother, two as
handsome sisters as the sun ever shone on, an' my brother was one of
the best trappers, for a boy, I ever see. 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.
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