"Soon After They Returned, Our Two Huntsmen Came In With No Better Success.
Captain Lewis Therefore Made A Little Paste
With the flour,
and the addition of some berries formed a very palatable repast.
Having now secured the good will
Of Cameahwait, Captain Lewis informed
him of his wish that he would speak to the warriors, and endeavor
to engage them to accompany him to the forks of Jefferson River;
where by this time another chief [Clark], with a large party
of white men, was awaiting his [Lewis'] return; that it would be
necessary to take about thirty horses to transport the merchandise;
that they should be well rewarded for their trouble; and that,
when all the party should have reached the Shoshonee camp, they would
remain some time among them to trade for horses, as well as concert plans
for furnishing them in future with regular supplies of merchandise.
He readily consented to do so, and after collecting the tribe together,
he made a long harangue. In about an hour and a half he returned,
and told Captain Lewis that they would be ready to accompany him
in the morning."
But the Indians were suspicious and reluctant to take the word of
the white man. Captain Lewis, almost at his wits' end, appealed to
their courage. He said that if they were afraid of being led into a trap,
he was sure that some among them were not afraid.
"To doubt the courage of an Indian is to touch the tenderest string of
his mind, and the surest way to rouse him to any dangerous achievement.
Cameahwait instantly replied that he was not afraid to die,
and mounting his horse, for the third time harangued the warriors.
He told them that he was resolved to go if he went alone,
or if he were sure of perishing; that he hoped there were
among those who heard him some who were not afraid to die,
and who would prove it by mounting their horses and following him.
This harangue produced an effect on six or eight only of the warriors,
who now joined their chief. With these Captain Lewis smoked a pipe;
and then, fearful of some change in their capricious temper,
set out immediately."
The party now retraced the steps so lately taken by Captain Lewis
and his men. On the second day out, one of the spies sent forward by
the Indians came madly galloping back, much to the alarm of the white men.
It proved, however, that the spy had returned to tell his comrades
that one of the white hunters [Drewyer] had killed a deer. An Indian
riding behind Captain Lewis, fearful that he should not get his share
of the spoil, jumped off the horse and ran for a mile at full speed.
The journal says: -
"Captain Lewis slackened his pace, and followed at a sufficient
distance to observe them. When they reached the place where
Drewyer had thrown out the intestines, they all dismounted in
confusion and ran tumbling over each other like famished dogs.
Each tore away whatever part he could, and instantly began to eat it.
Some had the liver, some the kidneys - in short, no part on
which we are accustomed to look with disgust escaped them.
One of them, who had seized about nine feet of the entrails,
was chewing at one end, while with his hand he was diligently
clearing his way by discharging the contents at the other.
It was indeed impossible to see these wretches ravenously feeding
on the filth of animals, the blood streaming from their mouths,
without deploring how nearly the condition of savages approaches
that of the brute creation. Yet, though suffering with hunger,
they did not attempt, as they might have done, to take by force
the whole deer, but contented themselves with what had been thrown
away by the hunter. Captain Lewis now had the deer skinned,
and after reserving a quarter of it gave the rest of the animal
to the chief, to be divided among the Indians, who immediately
devoured nearly the whole of it without cooking. They now went
toward the [Prairie] creek, where there was some brushwood
to make a fire, and found Drewyer, who had killed a second deer.
The same struggle for the entrails was renewed here, and on giving
nearly the whole deer to the Indians, they devoured it even
to the soft part of the hoofs. A fire being made, Captain Lewis
had his breakfast, during which Drewyer brought in a third deer.
This too, after reserving one-quarter, was given to the Indians,
who now seemed completely satisfied and in good humor."
They now approached the forks of the Jefferson, where they
had expected to meet Clark and his party with the canoes.
Not seeing any signs of them, the Lewis party were placed in a
critical position. The Indians were again alarmed and suspicious.
Here Captain Clark's journal says: -
"As they went on towards the point, Captain Lewis, perceiving how
critical his situation had become, resolved to attempt a stratagem,
which his present difficulty seemed completely to justify.
Recollecting the notes he had left at the point for us, he sent Drewyer
for them with an Indian, who witnessed his taking them from the pole.
When they were brought, Captain Lewis told Cameahwait that, on leaving
his brother chief at the place where the river issues from the mountains,
it was agreed that the boats should not be brought higher than the next
forks we should meet; but that, if the rapid water prevented the boats
from coming on as fast as they expected, his brother chief was to send
a note to the first forks above him, to let him know where they were:
that this note had been left this morning at the forks, and mentioned
that the canoes were just below the mountains, and coming up slowly
in consequence of the current. Captain Lewis added that he would stay
at the forks for his brother chief, but would send a man down the river;
and that if Cameahwait doubted what he said, one of their young men
could go with him, while he and the other two remained at the forks.
This story satisfied the chief and the greater part of the Indians;
but a few did not conceal their suspicions, observing that we told
different stories, and complaining that their chief exposed them to
danger by a mistaken confidence.
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