In This Way They Were Alternately Pursued Backward
And Forward, Till At Length, Notwithstanding The Skill Of The Hunters,
They All Escaped And The Party, After Running For Two Hours, Returned Without
Having Caught Anything, And Their Horses Foaming With Sweat.
This chase,
the greater part of which was seen from the camp, formed a beautiful scene;
but to the
Hunters it is exceedingly laborious, and so unproductive,
even when they are able to worry the animal down and shoot him, that forty
or fifty hunters will sometimes be engaged for half a day without obtaining
more than two or three antelope.
"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.
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