He Dropped The Gun And Was Going
Slowly Off When Drewyer Came Out And Asked Permission To Kill Him;
But
This Captain Lewis forbade, as he had not yet attempted to shoot us.
But finding that the Indians were now
Endeavoring to drive off all
the horses, he ordered all three of us to follow the main party,
who were chasing the horses up the river, and fire instantly upon
the thieves; while he, without taking time to run for his shot-pouch,
pursued the fellow who had stolen his gun and another Indian,
who were driving away the horses on the left of the camp.
He pressed them so closely that they left twelve of their horses,
but continued to drive off one of our own.
"At the distance of three hundred paces they entered a steep niche
in the river-bluffs, when Captain Lewis, being too much out of breath
to pursue them any further, called out, as he had done several
times before, that unless they gave up the horse he would shoot them.
As he raised his gun one of the Indians jumped behind a rock and
spoke to the other, who stopped at the distance of thirty paces.
Captain Lewis shot him in the belly. He fell on his knees and
right elbow; but, raising himself a little, fired, and then crawled
behind a rock. The shot had nearly proved fatal; for Captain Lewis,
who was bareheaded, felt the wind of the ball very distinctly.
Not having his shot-pouch, be could not reload his rifle; and, having only
a single charge also for his pistol, he thought it most prudent
not to attack them farther, and retired slowly to the camp.
He was met by Drewyer, who, hearing the report of the guns,
had come to his assistance, leaving the Fields to follow the
other Indians. Captain Lewis ordered him to call out to them to desist
from the pursuit, as we could take the horses of the Indians in place
of our own; but they were at too great a distance to hear him.
He therefore returned to the camp, and while he was saddling the horses
the Fields returned with four of our own, having followed the Indians
until two of them swam the river and two others ascended the hills,
so that the horses became dispersed."
The white men were gainers by this sad affair, for they had now in their
possession four of the Indians' horses, and had lost one of their own.
Besides these, they found in the camp of the Indians four shields,
two bows and their quivers, and one of their two guns.
The captain took some buffalo meat which be found in the camp,
and then the rest of their baggage was burned on the spot.
The flag given to one of the so-called chiefs was retaken;
but the medal given to the dead man was left around his neck.
The consequences of this unfortunate quarrel were far-reaching.
The tribe whose member was killed by the white men never forgave
the injury, and for years after there was no safety for white men
in their vicinity except when the wayfarers were in great numbers
or strongly guarded.
A forced march was now necessary for the explorers, and they set out as
speedily as possible, well knowing that the Indians would be on their trail.
By three o'clock in the afternoon of that day they had reached
Tansy River, now known as the Teton, having travelled sixty-three miles.
They rested for an hour and a half to refresh their horses,
and then pushed on for seventeen miles further before camping again.
Having killed a buffalo, they had supper and stopped two hours.
Then, travelling through vast herds of buffalo until two o'clock
in the morning, they halted again, almost dead with fatigue;
they rested until daylight. On awaking, they found themselves
so stiff and sore with much riding that they could scarcely stand.
But the lives of their friends now at or near the mouth of Maria's River
were at stake, as well as their own. Indeed, it was not certain
but that the Indians had, by hard riding and a circuitous route,
already attacked the river party left at the falls.
So Captain Lewis told his men that they must go on, and, if attacked,
they must tie their horses together by the head and stand together,
selling their lives as dearly as possible, or routing their enemies.
The journal now says: -
"To this they all assented, and we therefore continued our route
to the eastward, till at the distance of twelve miles we came near
the Missouri, when we heard a noise which seemed like the report of a gun.
We therefore quickened our pace for eight miles farther, and,
being about five miles from Grog Spring, now heard distinctly
the noise of several rifles from the river. We hurried to the bank,
and saw with exquisite satisfaction our friends descending the river.
They landed to greet us, and after turning our horses loose,
we embarked with our baggage, and went down to the spot where we
had made a deposite. This, after reconnoitring the adjacent country,
we opened; but, unfortunately, the cache had caved in,
and most of the articles were injured. We took whatever was still
worth preserving, and immediately proceeded to the point, where we
found our deposits in good order. By a singular good fortune,
we were here joined by Sergeant Gass and Willard from the Falls,
who had been ordered to come with the horses here to assist in procuring
meat for the voyage, as it had been calculated that the canoes
would reach this place much sooner than Captain Lewis's party.
After a very heavy shower of rain and hail, attended with violent
thunder and lightning, we started from the point, and giving a final
discharge to our horses, went over to the island where we had left
our red pirogue, which, however, we found much decayed, and we had
no means of repairing her.
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