Although unidentified in the earlier version of this scene (CR# 117B), the main protagonist here is Stewart’s best hunter, Antoine. He has just killed a buffalo, perhaps one of the 120 such animals he had reputedly dispatched during the westward journey alone. With the help of three Indians, he has propped the beast up on its belly and is proceeding to extract the hump rib, the trappers’ favorite morsel. Antoine has tossed his hat, one of his powder horns, and his rifle on the ground and proceeds, with a smile of satisfaction on his face, to labor at his task of butchering. Perched on their haunches in the distance, “Wolves impatiently await their share of the entertainment.” (Bell, 84)
