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. As it was
known that one of them could not swim, it was hoped that the banks of the Quicourt
River would bring them to a halt. A general pursuit was therefore instituted, but without
success.
On the following morning (May 26th), as they were all on shore, breakfasting on one of
the beautiful banks of the river, they observed two canoes descending along the
opposite side. By the aid of spy-glasses, they ascertained that there were two white
men in one of the canoes, and one in the other. A gun was discharged, which called the
attention of the voyagers, who crossed over. They proved to be the three Kentucky
hunters, of the true "dreadnought" stamp. Their names were Edward Robinson, John
Hoback, and Jacob Rizner. Robinson was a veteran backwoodsman, sixty-six years of
age. He had been one of the first settlers of Kentucky, and engaged in many of the
conflicts of the Indians on "the Bloody Ground." In one of these battles he had been
scalped, and he still wore a handkerchief bound round his head to protect the part.
These men had passed several years in the upper wilderness. They had been in the
service of the Missouri Company under Mr. Henry, and had crossed the Rocky
Mountains with him in the preceding year, when driven from his post on the Missouri by
the hostilities of the Blackfeet. After crossing the mountains, Mr. Henry had established
himself on one of the head branches of the Columbia River. There they had remained
with him some months, hunting and trapping, until, having satisfied their wandering
propensities, they felt disposed to return to the families and comfortable homes which
they had left in Kentucky. They had accordingly made their way back across the
mountains, and down the rivers, and were in full career for St. Louis, when thus
suddenly interrupted. The sight of a powerful party of traders, trappers, hunters, and
voyageurs, well armed and equipped, furnished at all points, in high health and spirits,
and banqueting lustily on the green margin of the river, was a spectacle equally
stimulating to these veteran backwoodsmen with the glorious array of a campaigning
army to an old soldier; but when they learned the grand scope and extent of the
enterprise in hand, it was irresistible; homes and families and all the charms of green
Kentucky vanished from their thoughts; they cast loose their canoes to drift down the
stream, and joyfully enlisted in the band of adventurers. They engaged on similar terms
with some of the other hunters. The company was to fit them out, and keep them
supplied with the requisite equipments and munitions, and they were to yield one half of
the produce of their hunting and trapping.
The addition of three such staunch recruits was extremely acceptable at this dangerous
part of the river. The knowledge of the country which they had acquired, also, in their
journeys and hunting excursions along the rivers and among the Rocky Mountains was
all important; in fact, the information derived from them induced Mr. Hunt to alter his
future course. He had hitherto intended to proceed by the route taken by Lewis and
Clarke in their famous exploring expedition, ascending he Missouri to its forks, and
thence going, by land, across the mountains. These men informed him, however, that,
on taking that course he would have to pass through the country invested by the
savage tribe of the Blackfeet, and would be exposed to their hostilities; they being, as
has already been observed, exasperated to deadly animosity against the whites, on
account of the death of one of their tribe by the hand of Captain Lewis. They advised
him rather to pursue a route more to the southward, being the same by which they had
returned. This would carry them over the mountains about where the head-waters of
the Platte and the Yellowstone take their rise, at a place much more easy and
practicable than that where Lewis and Clarke had crossed. In pursuing this course,
also, he would pass through a country abounding with game, where he would have a
better chance of procuring a constant supply of provisions than by the other route, and
would run less risk of molestation from the Blackfeet. Should he adopt this advice, it
would be better for him to abandon the river at the Arickara town, at which he would
arrive in the course of a few days. As the Indians at that town possessed horses in
abundance, he might purchase a sufficient number of them for his great journey
overland, which would commence at that place.
After reflecting on this advice, and consulting with his associates, Mr. Hunt came to the
determination to follow the route thus pointed out, to which the hunters engaged to pilot
him.
The party continued their voyage with delightful May weather. The prairies bordering on
the river were gayly painted with innumerable flowers, exhibiting the motley confusion
of colors of a Turkey carpet. The beautiful islands, also, on which they occasionally
halted, presented the appearance of mingled grove and garden. The trees were often
covered with clambering grapevines in blossom, which perfumed the air. Between the
stately masses of the groves were grassy lawns and glades, studded with flowers, or
interspersed with rose-bushes in full bloom. These islands were often the resort of the
buffalo, the elk, and the antelope, who had made innumerable paths among the trees
and thickets, which had the effect of the mazy walks and alleys of parks and
shrubberies. Sometimes, where the river passed between high banks and bluffs, the
roads made by the tramp of buffaloes for many ages along the face of the heights,
looked like so many well-travelled highways. At other places the banks were banded
with great veins of iron ore, laid bare by the abrasion of the river. At one place the
course of the river was nearly in a straight line for about fifteen miles. The banks sloped
gently to its margin, without a single tree, but bordered with grass and herbage of a
vivid green. Along each bank, for the whole fifteen miles, extended a stripe, one
hundred yards in breadth, of a deep rusty brown, indicating an inexhaustible bed of
iron, through the center of which the Missouri had worn its way. Indications of the
continuance of this bed were afterwards observed higher up the river. It is, in fact, one
of the mineral magazines which nature has provided in the heart of this vast realm of
fertility, and which, in connection with the immense beds of coal on the same river,
seem garnered up as the elements of the future wealth and power of the mighty West.
The sight of these mineral treasures greatly excited the curiosity of Mr. Bradbury, and it
was tantalizing to him to be checked in his scientific researches, and obliged to forego
his usual rambles on shore; but they were now entering the fated country of the Sioux
Tetons, in which it was dangerous to wander about unguarded.
This country extends for some days' journey along the river, and consists of vast
prairies, here and there diversified by swelling hills, and cut up by ravines, the
channels of turbid streams in the rainy seasons, but almost destitute of water during the
heats of summer. Here and there on the sides of the hills, or along the alluvial borders
and bottoms of the ravines, are groves and skirts of forest: but for the most part the
country presented to the eye a boundless waste, covered with herbage, but without
trees.
The soil of this immense region is strongly impregnated with sulphur, copperas, alum,
and glauber salts; its various earths impart a deep tinge to the streams which drain it,
and these, with the crumbling of the banks along the Missouri, give to the waters of that
river much of the coloring matter with which they are clouded.
Over this vast tract the roving bands of the Sioux Tetons hold their vagrant sway,
subsisting by the chase of the buffalo, the elk, the deer, and the antelope, and waging
ruthless warfare with other wandering tribes.
As the boats made their way up the stream bordered by this land of danger, many of
the Canadian voyageurs, whose fears had been awakened, would regard with a
distrustful eye the boundless waste extending on each side. All, however, was silent,
and apparently untenanted by a human being. Now and then a herd of deer would be
seen feeding tranquilly among the flowery herbage, or a line of buffaloes, like a
caravan on its march, moving across the distant profile of the prairie. The Canadians,
however, began to apprehend an ambush in every thicket, and to regard the broad,
tranquil plain as a sailor eyes some shallow and perfidious sea, which, though smooth
and safe to the eye, conceals the lurking rock or treacherous shoal. The very name of a
Sioux became a watchword of terror. Not an elk, a wolf, or any other animal, could
appear on the hills, but the boats resounded with exclamations from stem to stern,"voila
les Sioux! voila les Sioux!" (there are the Sioux! there are the Sioux!) Whenever it was
practicable, the night encampment was on some island in the center of the stream.
On the morning of the 31st of May, as the travellers were breakfasting on the right bank
of the river, the usual alarm was given, but with more reason, as two Indians actually
made their appearance on a bluff on the opposite or northern side, and harangued
them in a loud voice. As it was impossible at that distance to distinguish what they said,
Mr. Hunt, after breakfast, crossed the river with Pierre Dorion, the interpreter, and
advanced boldly to converse with them, while the rest remained watching in mute
suspense the movements of the parties. As soon as Mr. Hunt landed, one of the
Indians disappeared behind the hill, but shortly reappeared on horseback, and went
scouring off across the heights. Mr. Hunt held some conference with the remaining
savage, and then recrossed the river to his party.
These two Indians proved to be spies or scouts of a large war party encamped about a
league off, and numbering two hundred and eighty lodges, or about six hundred
warriors, of three different tribes of Sioux; the Yangtons Ahna, the Tetons Bois-brule,
and the Tetons Min-na-kine-azzo. They expected daily to be reinforced by two other
tribes, and had been waiting eleven days for the arrival of Mr. Hunt's party, with a
determination to oppose their progress up the river; being resolved to prevent all trade
of the white men with their enemies the Arickaras, Mandans, and Minatarees. The
Indian who had galloped off on horseback had gone to give notice of the approach of
the party, so that they might now look out for some fierce scenes with those piratical
savages, of whom they had received so many formidable accounts.
The party braced up their spirits to the encounter, and reembarking, pulled resolutely
up the stream. An island for some time intervened between them and the opposite side
of the river; but on clearing the upper end, they came in full view of the hostile shore.
There was a ridge of hills down which the savages were pouring in great numbers,
some on horseback, and some on foot. Reconnoitering them with the aid of glasses,
they perceived that they were all in warlike array, painted and decorated for battle.
Their weapons were bows and arrows, and a few short carbines, and most of them had
round shields. Altogether they had a wild and gallant appearance, and, taking
possession of a point which commanded the river, ranged themselves along the bank
as if prepared to dispute their passage.
At sight of this formidable front of war, Mr. Hunt and his companions held counsel
together. It was plain that the rumors they had heard were correct, and the Sioux were
determined to oppose their progress by force of arms. To attempt to elude them and
continue along the river was out of the question. The strength of the mid-current was
too violent to be withstood, and the boats were obliged to ascend along the river banks.
These banks were often high and perpendicular, affording the savages frequent
stations, from whence, safe themselves, and almost unseen, they might shower down
their missiles upon the boats below, and retreat at will, without danger from pursuit.
Nothing apparently remained, therefore, but to fight or turn back. The Sioux far
outnumbered them, it is true, but their own party was about sixty strong, well armed and
supplied with ammunition; and, beside their guns and rifles, they had a swivel and two
howitzers mounted in the boats. Should they succeed in breaking this Indian force by
one vigorous assault, it was likely they would be deterred from making any future attack
of consequence. The fighting alternative was, therefore, instantly adopted, and the
boats pulled to shore nearly opposite to the hostile force. Here the arms were all
examined and put in order. The swivel and howitzers were then loaded with powder
and discharged, to let the savages know by the report how formidably they were
provided. The noise echoed along the shores of the river, and must have startled the
warriors who were only accustomed to sharp reports of rifles. The same pieces were
then loaded with as many bullets as they would probably bear; after which the whole
party embarked, and pulled across the river. The Indians remained watching them in
silence, their painted forms and visages glaring in the sun, and their feathers fluttering
in the breeze. The poor Canadians eyed them with rueful glances, and now and then a
fearful ejaculation escaped them. "Parbleu! this is a sad scrape we are in, brother!" one
would mutter to the next oarsman. "Aye, aye!" the other would reply, "we are not going
to a wedding, my friend!"
When the boats arrived within rifle-shot, the hunters and other fighting personages on
board seized their weapons, and prepared for action. As they rose to fire, a confusion
took place among the savages. They displayed their buffalo robes, raised them with
both hands above their heads, and then spread them before them on the ground. At
sight of this, Pierre Dorion eagerly cried out to the party not to fire, as this movement
was a peaceful signal, and an invitation to a parley. Immediately about a dozen of the
principal warriors, separating from the rest, descended to the edge of the river, lighted
a fire, seated themselves in a semicircle round it, and, displaying the calumet, invited
the party to land. Mr. Hunt now called a council of the partners on board of his boat.
The question was, whether to trust to the amicable overtures of these ferocious
people? It was determined in the affirmative; for, otherwise, there was no alternative but
to fight them. The main body of the party were ordered to remain on board of the boats,
keeping within shot and prepared to fire in case of any signs of treachery; while Mr.
Hunt and the other partners (M'Kenzie, Crooks, Miller, and M'Lellan) proceeded to
land, accompanied by the interpreter and Mr. Bradbury. The chiefs, who awaited them
on the margin of the river, remained seated in their semicircle, without stirring a limb or
moving a muscle, motionless as so many statues. Mr. Hunt and his companions
advanced without hesitation, and took their seats on the sand so as to complete the
circle. The band of warriors who lined the banks above stood looking down in silent
groups and clusters, some ostentatiously equipped and decorated, others entirely
naked but fantastically painted, and all variously armed.
The pipe of peace was now brought forward with due ceremony. The bowl was of a
species of red stone resembling porphyry; the stem was six feet in length, decorated
with tufts of horse-hair dyed red. The pipe-bearer stepped within the circle, lighted the
pipe, held it towards the sun, then towards the different points of the compass, after
which he handed it to the principal chief. The latter smoked a few whiffs, then, holding
the head of the pipe in his hand, offered the other end to Mr. Hunt, and to each one
successively in the circle. When all had smoked, it was considered that an assurance
of good faith and amity had been interchanged. Mr. Hunt now made a speech in
French, which was interpreted as he proceeded by Pierre Dorion. He informed the
Sioux of the real object of the expedition of himself and his companions, which was, not
to trade with any of the tribes up the river, but to cross the mountains to the great salt
lake in the west, in search of some of their brothers, whom they had not seen for eleven
months. That he had heard of the intention of the Sioux to oppose his passage, and
was prepared, as they might see, to effect it at all hazards; nevertheless, his feelings
towards the Sioux were friendly, in proof of which he had brought them a present of
tobacco and corn. So saying, he ordered about fifteen carottes of tobacco, and as
many bags of corn, to be brought from the boat and laid in a heap near the council fire.
The sight of these presents mollified the chieftain, who had, doubtless, been previously
rendered considerate by the resolute conduct of the white men, the judicious
disposition of their little armament, the completeness of their equipments, and the
compact array of battle which they presented. He made a speech in reply, in which he
stated the object of their hostile assemblage, which had been merely to prevent
supplies of arms and ammunition from going to the Arickaras, Mandans, and
Minatarees, with whom they were at war; but being now convinced that the party were
carrying no supplies of the kind, but merely proceeding in quest of their brothers
beyond the mountains, they would not impede them in their voyage. He concluded by
thanking them for their present, and advising them to encamp on the opposite side of
the river, as he had some young men among his warriors for whose discretion he could
not be answerable, and who might be troublesome.
Here ended the conference: they all arose, shook hands, and parted. Mr. Hunt and his
companions re-embarked, and the boats proceeded on their course unmolested.