We Cannot Be
Surprised, Therefore, That Some Of The Resolute Of His Party
Should Feel Dismay At The Thoughts Of Adventuring Into This
Perilous Wilderness Under The Uncertain Guidance Of Three
Hunters, Who Had Merely Passed Once Through The Country And Might
Have Forgotten The Landmarks.
Their apprehensions were aggravated
by some of Lisa's followers, who, not being engaged in the
expedition, took a mischievous pleasure in exaggerating its
dangers.
They painted in strong colors, to the poor Canadian
voyageurs, the risk they would run of perishing with hunger and
thirst; of being cut off by war-parties of the Sioux who scoured
the plains; of having their horses stolen by the Upsarokas or
Crows, who infested the skirts of the Rocky Mountains; or of
being butchered by the Blackfeet, who lurked among the defiles.
In a word, there was little chance of their getting alive across
the mountains; and even if they did, those three guides knew
nothing of the howling wilderness that lay beyond.
The apprehensions thus awakened in the minds of some of the men
came well-nigh proving detrimental to the expedition. Some of
them determined to desert, and to make their way back to St.
Louis. They accordingly purloined several weapons and a barrel of
gunpowder, as ammunition for their enterprise, and buried them in
the river bank, intending to seize one of the boats, and make off
in the night. Fortunately their plot was overheard by John Day,
the Kentuckian, and communicated to the partners, who took quiet
and effectual means to frustrate it.
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