When
The Trapper Returned To The Camp, In Such Sorry Plight, He Was
Greeted With Peals Of Laughter From His Comrades And Seemed More
Mortified By The Style In Which He Had Been Dismissed, Than
Rejoiced At Escaping With His Life.
A circumstance which he
related to Captain Bonneville, gave some insight into the cause
of this extreme jocularity on the part of the Crows.
They had
evidently had a run of luck, and, like winning gamblers, were in
high good humor. Among twenty-six fine horses, and some mules,
which composed their cavalcade, the trapper recognized a number
which had belonged to Fitzpatrick's brigade, when they parted
company on the Bighorn. It was supposed, therefore, that these
vagabonds had been on his trail, and robbed him of part of his
cavalry.
On the day following this affair, three Crows came into Captain
Bonneville's camp, with the most easy, innocent, if not impudent
air imaginable; walking about with the imperturbable coolness and
unconcern, in which the Indian rivals the fine gentleman. As they
had not been of the set which stripped the trapper, though
evidently of the same band, they were not molested. Indeed,
Captain Bonneville treated them with his usual kindness and
hospitality; permitting them to remain all day in the camp, and
even to pass the night there. At the same time, however, he
caused a strict watch to be maintained on all their movements;
and at night, stationed an armed sentinel near them. The Crows
remonstrated against the latter being armed. This only made the
captain suspect them to be spies, who meditated treachery; he
redoubled, therefore, his precautions. At the same time, he
assured his guests, that while they were perfectly welcome to the
shelter and comfort of his camp, yet, should any of their tribe
venture to approach during the night, they would certainly be
shot; which would be a very unfortunate circumstance, and much to
be deplored. To the latter remark, they fully assented; and
shortly afterward commenced a wild song, or chant, which they
kept up for a long time, and in which they very probably gave
their friends, who might be prowling round the camp, notice that
the white men were on the alert. The night passed away without
disturbance. In the morning, the three Crow guests were very
pressing that Captain Bonneville and his party should accompany
them to their camp, which they said was close by. Instead of
accepting their invitation, Captain Bonneville took his departure
with all possible dispatch, eager to be out of the vicinity of
such a piratical horde; nor did he relax the diligence of his
march, until, on the second day, he reached the banks of the
Sweet Water, beyond the limits of the Crow country, and a heavy
fall of snow had obliterated all traces of his course.
He now continued on for some few days, at a slower pace, round
the point of the mountain toward Green River, and arrived once
more at the caches, on the 14th of October.
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