I seized my rifle and issued from camp alone, feeling so reduced in strength that my mind involuntarily reverted to the extremity I had been brought to by my youthful folly in coming into such a desert waste.  About three hundred yards from the camp I saw two teal ducks; I levelled my rifle, and handsomely decapitated one.  This was a temptation to my constancy; appetite and conscientiousness had a long strife as to the disposal of the booty.  I reflected that it would be but an inconsiderable trifle to the mess of four hungry men, while to roast and eat him myself would give me strength to hunt for more.  A strong inward feeling remonstrated against such an invasion of the rights of my starving messmates; but if, by fortifying myself, I gained ability to procure something more substantial than a teal duck, my dereliction would be sufficiently atoned for, and my overruling appetite at the same time gratified.

Had I admitted my messmates to the argument, they might possibly have carried it adversely.  But I received the conclusion as valid; so, roasting it without ceremony in the bushes, I devoured the duck alone, and felt greatly invigorated by the meal.

Passing up the stream, I pushed forward to fulfil my obligation.  At the distance of about a mile from the camp, I came across a narrow deer-trail through some bushes, and directly across the trail, with only the centre of his body visible (his two extremities being hidden by the rushes), not more than fifty yards distant, I saw a fine large buck standing.  I did not wait for a nearer shot.  I fired, and broke his neck.  I despatched him by drawing my knife across his throat, and, having partially dressed him, hung him on a tree close by.  Proceeding onward, I met a large wolf, attracted, probably, by the scent of the deer.  I shot him, and, depriving him of his meal, devoted him for a repast to the camp.  Before I returned, I succeeded in killing three good-sized elk, which, added to the former, afforded a pretty good display of meat.

I then returned near enough to the camp to signal them to come to my assistance.  They had heard the reports of my rifle, and, knowing that I would not waste ammunition, had been expecting to see me return with game.  All who were able turned out at my summons, and, when they saw the booty awaiting them, their faces were irradiated with joy.

Each man shouldered his load, but there was not one capable of carrying the weight of forty pounds.  The game being all brought into camp, the fame of Jim Beckwourth was celebrated by all tongues.  Amid all this gratulation, I could not separate my thoughts from the duck which had supplied my clandestine meal in the bushes.  I suffered them to appease their hunger before I ventured to tell my comrades of the offence of which I had been guilty.  All justified my conduct, declaring my conclusions obvious.  As it turned out, my proceeding