He Made Several Efforts To Coax Himself Into A Belief That
He Might Still Continue Forward; But At Length, Shook His Head
Despondingly, And Said, That "As He Had But One Leg," It Was All
In Vain To Attempt A Passage Of The Mountain.
Every one grieved to part with so boon a companion, and under
such disastrous circumstances.
He was once more clothed and
equipped, each one making him some parting present. He was then
helped on a horse, which Captain Bonneville presented to him; and
after many parting expressions of good will on both sides, set
off on his return to his old haunts; doubtless, to be once more
plucked by his affectionate but needy cousins.
36.
The difficult mountain A smoke and consultation The captain's
speech An icy turnpike Danger of a false step Arrival on Snake
River Return to Portneuf Meeting of comrades
CONTINUING THEIR JOURNEY UP the course of the Immahah, the
travellers found, as they approached the headwaters, the snow
increased in quantity, so as to lie two feet deep. They were
again obliged, therefore, to beat down a path for their horses,
sometimes travelling on the icy surface of the stream. At length
they reached the place where they intended to scale the
mountains; and, having broken a pathway to the foot, were
agreeably surprised to find that the wind had drifted the snow
from off the side, so that they attained the summit with but
little difficulty. Here they encamped, with the intention of
beating a track through the mountains. A short experiment,
however, obliged them to give up the attempt, the snow lying in
vast drifts, often higher than the horses' heads.
Captain Bonneville now took the two Indian guides, and set out to
reconnoitre the neighborhood. Observing a high peak which
overtopped the rest, he climbed it, and discovered from the
summit a pass about nine miles long, but so heavily piled with
snow, that it seemed impracticable. He now lit a pipe, and,
sitting down with the two guides, proceeded to hold a
consultation after the Indian mode. For a long while they all
smoked vigorously and in silence, pondering over the subject
matter before them. At length a discussion commenced, and the
opinion in which the two guides concurred was, that the horses
could not possibly cross the snows. They advised, therefore, that
the party should proceed on foot, and they should take the horses
back to the village, where they would be well taken care of until
Captain Bonneville should send for them. They urged this advice
with great earnestness; declaring that their chief would be
extremely angry, and treat them severely, should any of the
horses of his good friends, the white men, be lost, in crossing
under their guidance; and that, therefore, it was good they
should not attempt it.
Captain Bonneville sat smoking his pipe, and listening to them
with Indian silence and gravity. When they had finished, he
replied to them in their own style of language.
"My friends," said he, "I have seen the pass, and have listened
to your words; you have little hearts. When troubles and dangers
lie in your way, you turn your backs. That is not the way with my
nation. When great obstacles present, and threaten to keep them
back, their hearts swell, and they push forward. They love to
conquer difficulties. But enough for the present. Night is coming
on; let us return to our camp."
He moved on, and they followed in silence. On reaching the camp,
he found the men extremely discouraged. One of their number had
been surveying the neighborhood, and seriously assured them that
the snow was at least a hundred feet deep. The captain cheered
them up, and diffused fresh spirit in them by his example. Still
he was much perplexed how to proceed. About dark there was a
slight drizzling rain. An expedient now suggested itself. This
was to make two light sleds, place the packs on them, and drag
them to the other side of the mountain, thus forming a road in
the wet snow, which, should it afterward freeze, would be
sufficiently hard to bear the horses. This plan was promptly put
into execution; the sleds were constructed, the heavy baggage was
drawn backward and forward until the road was beaten, when they
desisted from their fatiguing labor. The night turned out clear
and cold, and by morning, their road was incrusted with ice
sufficiently strong for their purpose. They now set out on their
icy turnpike, and got on well enough, excepting that now and then
a horse would sidle out of the track, and immediately sink up to
the neck. Then came on toil and difficulty, and they would be
obliged to haul up the floundering animal with ropes. One, more
unlucky than the rest, after repeated falls, had to be abandoned
in the snow. Notwithstanding these repeated delays, they
succeeded, before the sun had acquired sufficient power to thaw
the snow, in getting all the rest of their horses safely to the
other side of the mountain.
Their difficulties and dangers, however, were not yet at an end.
They had now to descend, and the whole surface of the snow was
glazed with ice. It was necessary; therefore, to wait until the
warmth of the sun should melt the glassy crust of sleet, and give
them a foothold in the yielding snow. They had a frightful
warning of the danger of any movement while the sleet remained. A
wild young mare, in her restlessness, strayed to the edge of a
declivity. One slip was fatal to her; she lost her balance,
careered with headlong velocity down the slippery side of the
mountain for more than two thousand feet, and was dashed to
pieces at the bottom. When the travellers afterward sought the
carcass to cut it up for food, they found it torn and mangled in
the most horrible manner.
It was quite late in the evening before the party descended to
the ultimate skirts of the snow.
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