While The Party Was Thus Reposing In The Neighborhood Of The Wind
River Mountains, A Solitary Free Trapper Rode One Day Into The
Camp, And Accosted Captain Bonneville.
He belonged, he said, to a
party of thirty hunters, who had just passed through the
neighborhood, but whom
He had abandoned in consequence of their
ill treatment of a brother trapper; whom they had cast off from
their party, and left with his bag and baggage, and an Indian
wife into the bargain, in the midst of a desolate prairie. The
horseman gave a piteous account of the situation of this helpless
pair, and solicited the loan of horses to bring them and their
effects to the camp.
The captain was not a man to refuse assistance to any one in
distress, especially when there was a woman in the case; horses
were immediately dispatched, with an escort, to aid the
unfortunate couple. The next day they made their appearance with
all their effects; the man, a stalwart mountaineer, with a
peculiarly game look; the woman, a young Blackfoot beauty,
arrayed in the trappings and trinketry of a free trapper's bride.
Finding the woman to be quick-witted and communicative, Captain
Bonneville entered into conversation with her, and obtained from
her many particulars concerning the habits and customs of her
tribe; especially their wars and huntings. They pride themselves
upon being the "best legs of the mountains," and hunt the buffalo
on foot. This is done in spring time, when the frosts have thawed
and the ground is soft. The heavy buffaloes then sink over their
hoofs at every step, and are easily overtaken by the Blackfeet,
whose fleet steps press lightly on the surface. It is said,
however, that the buffaloes on the Pacific side of the Rocky
Mountains are fleeter and more active than on the Atlantic side;
those upon the plains of the Columbia can scarcely be overtaken
by a horse that would outstrip the same animal in the
neighborhood of the Platte, the usual hunting ground of the
Blackfeet. In the course of further conversation, Captain
Bonneville drew from the Indian woman her whole story; which gave
a picture of savage life, and of the drudgery and hardships to
which an Indian wife is subject.
"I was the wife," said she, "of a Blackfoot warrior, and I served
him faithfully. Who was so well served as he? Whose lodge was so
well provided, or kept so clean? I brought wood in the morning,
and placed water always at hand. I watched for his coming; and he
found his meat cooked and ready. If he rose to go forth, there
was nothing to delay him. I searched the thought that was in his
heart, to save him the trouble of speaking. When I went abroad on
errands for him, the chiefs and warriors smiled upon me, and the
young braves spoke soft things, in secret; but my feet were in
the straight path, and my eyes could see nothing but him.
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