No Sooner Were They Out Of Hearing, Than The Luckless Travellers
Held Another Council.
The security of their cabin was at an end
and with it all their dreams of a quiet and cozy winter.
They
were between two fires. On one side were their old enemies, the
Crows; on the other side, the Arapahays, no less dangerous
freebooters. As to the moderation of this war party, they
considered it assumed, to put them off their guard against some
more favorable opportunity for a surprisal. It was determined,
therefore, not to await their return, but to abandon, with all
speed, this dangerous neighborhood. From the accounts of their
recent visitors, they were led to believe, though erroneously,
that they were upon the Quicourt, or Rapid River. They proposed
now to keep along it to its confluence with the Missouri; but,
should they be prevented by the rigors of the season from
proceeding so far, at least to reach a part of the river where
they might be able to construct canoes of greater strength and
durability than those of buffalo skins.
Accordingly, on the 13th of December, they bade adieu, with many
a regret, to their comfortable quarters where for five weeks they
had been indulging the sweets of repose, of plenty, and of
fancied security. They were still accompanied by their veteran
pack-horse, which the Arapahays had omitted to steal, either
because they intended to steal him on their return, or because
they thought him not worth stealing.
CHAPTER L.
Rough Wintry Travelling - Hills and Plains.- Snow and Ice.-
Disappearance of Game.- A Vast Dreary Plain.- A. Second Halt for
the Winter.- Another Wigwam.- New Year's Feast.- Buffalo Humps,
Tongues, and Marrow-Bones.- Return of Spring.- Launch of Canoes.
- Bad Navigation. - Pedestrian March. - Vast Prairies. - Deserted
Camps.- Pawnee Squaws.- An Otto Indian.- News of War.- Voyage
Down the Platte and the Missouri.- Reception at Fort Osage. -
Arrival at St. Louis.
THE interval of comfort and repose which the party had enjoyed in
their wigwam, rendered the renewal of their fatigues intolerable
for the first two or three days. The snow lay deep, and was
slightly frozen on the surface, but not sufficiently to bear
their weight. Their feet became sore by breaking through the
crust, and their limbs weary by floundering on without firm
foothold. So exhausted and dispirited were they, that they began
to think it would be better to remain and run the risk of being
killed by the Indians, than to drag on thus painfully, with the
probability of perishing by the way. Their miserable horse fared
no better than themselves, having for the first day or two no
other fodder than the ends of willow twigs, and the bark of the
cotton-wood tree.
They all, however, appeared to gain patience and hardihood as
they proceeded, and for fourteen days kept steadily on, making a
distance of about three hundred and thirty miles. For some days,
the range of mountains which had been near to their wigwam kept
parallel to the river at no great distance, but at length
subsided into hills. Sometimes they found the river bordered with
alluvial bottoms, and groves with cotton-wood and willows;
sometimes the adjacent country was naked and barren. In one place
it ran for a considerable distance between rocky hills and
promontories covered with cedar and pitch pines, and peopled with
the bighorn and the mountain deer; at other places it wandered
through prairies well stocked with buffaloes and antelopes. As
they descended the course of the river, they began to perceive
the ash and white oak here and there among the cotton-wood and
willow; and at length caught a sight of some wild horses on the
distant prairies.
The weather was various; at one time the snow lay deep; then they
had a genial day or two, with the mildness and serenity of
autumn; then, again, the frost was so severe that the river was
sufficiently frozen to bear them upon the ice.
During the last three days of their fortnight's travel, however,
the face of the country changed. The timber gradually diminished,
until they could scarcely find fuel sufficient for culinary
purposes. The game grew more and more scanty, and, finally, none
were to be seen but a few miserable broken-down buffalo bulls,
not worth killing. The snow lay fifteen inches deep, and made the
travelling grievously painful and toilsome. At length they came
to an immense plain, where no vestige of timber was to be seen;
nor a single quadruped to enliven the desolate landscape. Here,
then, their hearts failed them, and they held another
consultation. The width of the river, which was upwards of a
mile, its extreme shallowness, the frequency of quicksands, and
various other characteristics, had at length made them sensible
of their errors with respect to it, and they now came to the
correct conclusion, that they were on the banks of the Platte or
Shallow River. What were they to do? Pursue its course to the
Missouri? To go on at this season of the year seemed dangerous in
the extreme. There was no prospect of obtaining either food or
firing. The country was destitute of trees, and though there
might be drift-wood along the river, it lay too deep beneath the
snow for them to find it.
The weather was threatening a change, and a snowstorm on these
boundless wastes might prove as fatal as a whirlwind of sand on
an Arabian desert. After much dreary deliberation, it was at
length determined to retrace their three last days' journey of
seventy-seven miles, to a place which they had remarked where
there was a sheltering growth of forest trees, and a country
abundant in game. Here they would once more set up their winter
quarters, and await the opening of the navigation to launch
themselves in canoes.
Accordingly, on the 27th of December, they faced about, retraced
their steps, and on the 30th, regained the part of the river in
question.
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