The Great Salt Trail | Page 9

to offend him with
such a suggestion.
Quiet being restored to the forlorn encampment, each one sought

repose. Mr. Stuart, however, was so exhausted by the agitation of the
past scene, acting upon his emaciated frame, that he could scarcely
crawl to his miserable bed, where, notwithstanding his fatigues, he
passed a sleepless night, reflecting upon their dreary situation and the
desperate prospect before them.
At daylight the next morning they were up and on their way; they had
nothing to detain them, no breakfast to prepare, and to linger was to
perish. They proceeded, however, but slowly, for all were faint and
weak. Here and there they passed the skulls and bones of buffaloes.
This showed that these animals must have been hunted there during the
past season, and the sight of the bones served only to mock their misery.
After travelling about nine miles along the plain, they ascended a range
of hills, and had scarcely gone two miles farther, when, to their great
joy, they discovered a superannuated buffalo bull which had been
driven from some herd and had been hunted and harassed through the
mountains. They all stretched themselves out to encompass and make
sure of this solitary animal, for their lives depended on their success.
After considerable trouble and infinite anxiety, they at length
succeeded in killing him. He was instantly flayed and cut up, and so
ravenous were they that they devoured some of the flesh raw.
When they had rested they proceeded, and after crossing a mountain
ridge, and traversing a plain, they waded one of the branches of the
Spanish River. On ascending its bank, they met about a hundred and
thirty Indians of the Snake tribe. They were friendly in their demeanour,
and conducted the starving trappers to their village, which was about
three miles distant. It consisted of about forty lodges, constructed
principally of pine branches. The Snakes, like most of their nation,
were very poor. The marauding Crows, in their late excursion through
the country, had picked this unlucky band to the bone, carrying off their
horses, several of their squaws, and most of their effects. In spite of
their poverty, they were hospitable in the extreme, and made the hungry
strangers welcome to their cabins. A few trinkets procured from them a
supply of buffalo meat, together with leather for moccasins, of which
the party were greatly in need. The most valuable prize obtained from
them, however, was a horse. It was a sorry old animal in truth, and it
was the only one which remained to the poor fellows, after the fell
swoop of the Crows. They were prevailed upon to part with it to their

guests for a pistol, an axe, a knife, and a few other trifling articles.
By sunrise on the following morning, the travellers had loaded their old
horse with buffalo meat, sufficient for five days' provisions, and, taking
leave of their poor but hospitable friends, set forth in somewhat better
spirits, though the increasing cold weather and the sight of the snowy
mountains which they had yet to traverse were enough to chill their
very hearts. The country along the branch of the river as far as they
could see was perfectly level, bounded by ranges of lofty mountains,
both east and west. They proceeded about three miles south, where they
came again upon the large trail of the Crow Indians, which they had
crossed four days previously. It was made, no doubt, by the same
marauding band which had plundered the Snakes; and which, according
to the account of the latter, was now camped on a stream to the
eastward. The trail kept on to the southeast, and was so well beaten by
horse and foot that they supposed at least a hundred lodges had passed
along it. As it formed, therefore, a convenient highway, and ran in a
proper direction, they turned into it, and determined to keep it as long
as safety would permit, as the Crow encampment must be some
distance off, and it was not likely those savages would return upon their
steps. They travelled forward, all that day, in the track of their
dangerous predecessors, which led them across mountain streams, and
along ridges, through narrow valleys, all tending generally to the
southeast. The wind blew cold from the northeast, with occasional
flurries of snow, which made them camp early, on the sheltered banks
of a brook. In the evening the two Canadians, Vallee and Le Clerc,
killed a young buffalo bull which was in good condition and afforded
them an excellent supply of fresh beef. They loaded their spits,
therefore, and filled their camp kettle with meat, and while the wind
whistled and the snow whirled around them, they huddled round a
rousing fire, basked in its