Here They Found Mr.
Cerre, And The Detachment Of Hunters Sent With Him To Accompany
The Hunting Party Of The Nez Perces.
After remaining some time at the village, until they supposed the
Blackfeet to have left the neighborhood, they set off with some
of Mr. Cerre's men for the cantonment at Salmon River, where they
arrived without accident.
They informed Captain Bonneville,
however, that not far from his quarters they had found a wallet
of fresh meat and a cord, which they supposed had been left by
some prowling Blackfeet. A few days afterward Mr. Cerre, with the
remainder of his men, likewise arrived at the cantonment.
Mr. Walker, one of his subleaders, who had gone with a band of
twenty hunters to range the country just beyond the Horse
Prairie, had likewise his share of adventures with the
all-pervading Blackfeet. At one of his encampments the guard
stationed to keep watch round the camp grew weary of their duty,
and feeling a little too secure, and too much at home on these
prairies, retired to a small grove of willows to amuse themselves
with a social game of cards called "old sledge," which is as
popular among these trampers of the prairies as whist or ecarte
among the polite circles of the cities. From the midst of their
sport they were suddenly roused by a discharge of firearms and a
shrill war-whoop. Starting on their feet, and snatching up their
rifles, they beheld in dismay their horses and mules already in
possession of the enemy, who had stolen upon the camp
unperceived, while they were spell-bound by the magic of old
sledge. The Indians sprang upon the animals barebacked, and
endeavored to urge them off under a galling fire that did some
execution. The mules, however, confounded by the hurly-burly and
disliking their new riders kicked up their heels and dismounted
half of them, in spite of their horsemanship. This threw the rest
into confusion; they endeavored to protect their unhorsed
comrades from the furious assaults of the whites; but, after a
scene of "confusion worse confounded," horses and mules were
abandoned, and the Indians betook themselves to the bushes. Here
they quickly scratched holes in the earth about two feet deep, in
which they prostrated themselves, and while thus screened from
the shots of the white men, were enabled to make such use of
their bows and arrows and fusees, as to repulse their assailants
and to effect their retreat. This adventure threw a temporary
stigma upon the game of "old sledge."
In the course of the autumn, four Iroquois hunters, driven by the
snow from their hunting grounds, made their appearance at the
cantonment. They were kindly welcomed, and during their sojourn
made themselves useful in a variety of ways, being excellent
trappers and first-rate woodsmen. They were of the remnants of a
party of Iroquois hunters that came from Canada into these
mountain regions many years previously, in the employ of the
Hudson's Bay Company.
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