He Answered In The Affirmative, And Inquired Whether
The Other Were A Sioux.
To his great relief he found that he was
a Ponca.
By his time two other Indians came running up, and all
three laid hold of Mr. Bradbury and seemed disposed to compel him
to go off with them among the hills. He resisted, and sitting
down on a sand hill contrived to amuse them with a pocket
compass. When the novelty of this was exhausted they again seized
him, but he now produced a small microscope. This new wonder
again fixed the attention of the savages, who have more curiosity
than it has been the custom to allow them. While thus engaged,
one of them suddenly leaped up and gave a war-whoop. The hand of
the hardy naturalist was again on his gun, and he was prepared to
make battle, when the Indian pointed down the river and revealed
the true cause of his yell. It was the mast of one of the boats
appearing above the low willows which bordered the stream. Mr.
Bradbury felt infinitely relieved by the sight. The Indians on
their part now showed signs of apprehension, and were disposed to
run away; but he assured them of good treatment and something to
drink if they would accompany him on board of the boats. They
lingered for a time, but disappeared before the boats came to
land.
On the following morning they appeared at camp accompanied by
several of their tribe. With them came also a white man, who
announced himself as a messenger bearing missives for Mr. Hunt.
In fact he brought a letter from Mr. Manuel Lisa, partner and
agent of the Missouri Fur Company. As has already been mentioned,
this gentleman was going in search of Mr. Henry and his party,
who had been dislodged from the forks of the Missouri by the
Blackfeet Indians, and had shifted his post somewhere beyond the
Rocky Mountains. Mr. Lisa had left St. Louis three weeks after
Mr. Hunt, and having heard of the hostile intentions of the
Sioux, had made the greatest exertions to overtake him, that they
might pass through the dangerous part of the river together. He
had twenty stout oarsmen in his service and they plied their oars
so vigorously, that he had reached the Omaha village just four
days after the departure of Mr. Hunt. From this place he
despatched the messenger in question, trusting to his overtaking
the barges as they toiled up against the stream, and were delayed
by the windings of the river. The purport of his letter was to
entreat Mr. Hunt to wait until he could come up with him, that
they might unite their forces and be a protection to each other
in their perilous course through the country of the Sioux. In
fact, as it was afterwards ascertained, Lisa was apprehensive
that Mr. Hunt would do him some ill office with the Sioux band,
securing his own passage through their country by pretending that
he, with whom they were accustomed to trade, was on his way to
them with a plentiful supply of goods. He feared, too, that
Crooks and M'Lellan would take this opportunity to retort upon
him the perfidy which they accused him of having used, two years
previously, among these very Sioux. In this respect, however, he
did them signal injustice. There was no such thing as court
design or treachery in their thought; but M'Lellan, when he heard
that Lisa was on his way up the river, renewed his open threat of
shooting him the moment he met him on Indian land.
The representations made by Crooks and M'Lellan of the treachery
they had experienced, or fancied, on the part of Lisa, had great
weight with Mr. Hunt, especially when he recollected the
obstacles that had been thrown in his way by that gentleman at
St. Louis. He doubted, therefore, the fair dealing of Lisa, and
feared that, should they enter the Sioux country together, the
latter might make use of his influence with that tribe, as he had
in the case of Crooks and M'Lellan, and instigate them to oppose
his progress up the river.
He sent back, therefore, an answer calculated to beguile Lisa,
assuring him that he would wait for him at the Poncas village,
which was but a little distance in advance; but, no sooner had
the messenger departed, than he pushed forward with all
diligence, barely stopping at the village to procure a supply of
dried buffalo meat, and hastened to leave the other party as far
behind as possible, thinking there was less to be apprehended
from the open hostility of Indian foes than from the quiet
strategy of an Indian trader.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Camp Gossip.- Deserters.- Recruits.- Kentucky Hunters.- A Veteran
Woodman.- Tidings of Mr. Henry.-Danger From the Blackfeet. -
Alteration of Plans.- Scenery of the River.- Buffalo Roads.- Iron
Ore.- Country of the Sioux.- A Land of Danger.-apprehensions of
the Voyageurs.- Indian Scouts.- Threatened Hostilities.- A
Council of War.- An Array of Battle.-A Parley.- The Pipe of
Peace.- Speech-Making.
IT was about noon when the party left the Poncas village, about a
league beyond which they passed the mouth of the Quicourt, or
Rapid River (called, in the original French, l'Eau Qui Court).
After having proceeded some distance further, they landed, and
encamped for the night. In the evening camp, the voyageurs
gossiped, as usual, over the events of the day; and especially
over intelligence picked up among the Poncas. These Indians had
confirmed the previous reports of the hostile intentions of the
Sioux, and had assured them that five tribes, or bands, of that
fierce nation were actually assembled higher up the river, and
waiting to cut them off. This evening gossip, and the terrific
stories of Indian warfare to which it gave rise, produced a
strong effect upon the imagination of the irresolute; and in the
morning it was discovered that the two men, who had joined the
party at the Omaha village, and been so bounteously fitted out,
had deserted in the course of the night, carrying with them all
their equipments.
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