The Adventures of Captain Bonneville

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The ravens and wolves soon came in for their share of the good cheer.
These constant attendants of the hunter gathered in vast numbers as
the winter advanced. They might be completely out of sight, but at the
report of a gun, flights of ravens would immediately be seen hovering
in the air, no one knew whence they came; while the sharp visages of
the wolves would peep down from the brow of every hill, waiting for the
hunter's departure to pounce upon the carcass.

Besides the buffaloes, there were other neighbors snow-bound in the
valley, whose presence did not promise to be so advantageous. This was a
band of Eutaw Indians who were encamped higher up on the river. They
are a poor tribe that, in a scale of the various tribes inhabiting these
regions, would rank between the Shoshonies and the Shoshokoes or Root
Diggers; though more bold and warlike than the latter. They have but few
rifles among them, and are generally armed with bows and arrows.

As this band and the Shoshonies were at deadly feud, on account of
old grievances, and as neither party stood in awe of the other, it was
feared some bloody scenes might ensue. Captain Bonneville, therefore,
undertook the office of pacificator, and sent to the Eutaw chiefs,
inviting them to a friendly smoke, in order to bring about a
reconciliation. His invitation was proudly declined; whereupon he
went to them in person, and succeeded in effecting a suspension of
hostilities until the chiefs of the two tribes could meet in
council. The braves of the two rival camps sullenly acquiesced in the
arrangement. They would take their seats upon the hill tops, and watch
their quondam enemies hunting the buffalo in the plain below, and
evidently repine that their hands were tied up from a skirmish. The
worthy captain, however, succeeded in carrying through his benevolent
mediation. The chiefs met; the amicable pipe was smoked, the hatchet
buried, and peace formally proclaimed. After this, both camps united
and mingled in social intercourse. Private quarrels, however, would
occasionally occur in hunting, about the division of the game, and blows
would sometimes be exchanged over the carcass of a buffalo; but the
chiefs wisely took no notice of these individual brawls.

One day the scouts, who had been ranging the hills, brought news of
several large herds of antelopes in a small valley at no great distance.
This produced a sensation among the Indians, for both tribes were in
ragged condition, and sadly in want of those shirts made of the skin
of the antelope. It was determined to have "a surround," as the mode of
hunting that animal is called. Everything now assumed an air of mystic
solemnity and importance. The chiefs prepared their medicines or charms
each according to his own method, or fancied inspiration, generally
with the compound of certain simples; others consulted the entrails of
animals which they had sacrificed, and thence drew favorable auguries.
After much grave smoking and deliberating it was at length proclaimed
that all who were able to lift a club, man, woman, or child, should
muster for "the surround." When all had congregated, they moved in rude
procession to the nearest point of the valley in question, and there
halted. Another course of smoking and deliberating, of which the Indians
are so fond, took place among the chiefs. Directions were then issued
for the horsemen to make a circuit of about seven miles, so as to
encompass the herd. When this was done, the whole mounted force dashed
off simultaneously, at full speed, shouting and yelling at the top of
their voices. In a short space of time the antelopes, started from
their hiding-places, came bounding from all points into the valley. The
riders, now gradually contracting their circle, brought them nearer and
nearer to the spot where the senior chief, surrounded by the elders,
male and female, were seated in supervision of the chase. The antelopes,
nearly exhausted with fatigue and fright, and bewildered by perpetual
whooping, made no effort to break through the ring of the hunters, but
ran round in small circles, until man, woman, and child beat them down
with bludgeons. Such is the nature of that species of antelope hunting,
technically called "a surround."




47.

A festive winter--Conversion of the Shoshonies--Visit of two
free trappers--Gayety in the camp--A touch of the tender
passion--The reclaimed squaw--An Indian fine lady--An
elopement--A pursuit--Market value of a bad wife.

GAME continued to abound throughout the winter, and the camp was
overstocked with provisions. Beef and venison, humps and haunches,
buffalo tongues and marrow-bones, were constantly cooking at every fire;
and the whole atmosphere was redolent with the savory fumes of roast
meat. It was, indeed, a continual "feast of fat things," and though
there might be a lack of "wine upon the lees," yet we have shown that a
substitute was occasionally to be found in honey and alcohol.

Both the Shoshonies and the Eutaws conducted themselves with great
propriety. It is true, they now and then filched a few trifles from
their good friends, the Big Hearts, when their backs were turned; but
then, they always treated them to their faces with the utmost deference
and respect, and good-humoredly vied with the trappers in all kinds of
feats of activity and mirthful sports. The two tribes maintained toward
each other, also a friendliness of aspect which gave Captain Bonneville
reason to hope that all past animosity was effectually buried.

The two rival bands, however, had not long been mingled in this social
manner before their ancient jealousy began to break out in a new form.
The senior chief of the Shoshonies was a thinking man, and a man of
observation. He had been among the Nez Perces, listened to their new
code of morality and religion received from the white men, and attended
their devotional exercises. He had observed the effect of all this, in
elevating the tribe in the estimation of the white men; and determined,
by the same means, to gain for his own tribe a superiority over their
ignorant rivals, the Eutaws. He accordingly assembled his people, and
promulgated among them the mongrel doctrines and form of worship of the
Nez Perces; recommending the same to their adoption. The Shoshonies were
struck with the novelty, at least, of the measure, and entered into it
with spirit. They began to observe Sundays and holidays, and to have
their devotional dances, and chants, and other ceremonials, about
which the ignorant Eutaws knew nothing; while they exerted their usual
competition in shooting and horseracing, and the renowned game of hand.

Matters were going on thus pleasantly and prosperously, in this motley
community of white and red men, when, one morning, two stark free
trappers, arrayed in the height of savage finery, and mounted on steeds
as fine and as fiery as themselves, and all jingling with hawks' bells,
came galloping, with whoop and halloo, into the camp.

They were fresh from the winter encampment of the American Fur Company,
in the Green River Valley; and had come to pay their old comrades of
Captain Bonneville's company a visit. An idea may be formed from the
scenes we have already given of conviviality in the wilderness, of the
manner in which these game birds were received by those of their
feather in the camp; what feasting, what revelling, what boasting,
what bragging, what ranting and roaring, and racing and gambling, and
squabbling and fighting, ensued among these boon companions. Captain
Bonneville, it is true, maintained always a certain degree of law and
order in his camp, and checked each fierce excess; but the trappers, in
their seasons of idleness and relaxation require a degree of license and
indulgence, to repay them for the long privations and almost incredible
hardships of their periods of active service.

In the midst of all this feasting and frolicking, a freak of the tender
passion intervened, and wrought a complete change in the scene. Among
the Indian beauties in the camp of the Eutaws and Shoshonies, the free
trappers discovered two, who had whilom figured as their squaws. These
connections frequently take place for a season, and sometimes continue
for years, if not perpetually; but are apt to be broken when the free
trapper starts off, suddenly, on some distant and rough expedition.

In the present instance, these wild blades were anxious to regain
their belles; nor were the latter loath once more to come under their
protection. The free trapper combines, in the eye of an Indian girl, all
that is dashing and heroic in a warrior of her own race--whose gait, and
garb, and bravery he emulates--with all that is gallant and glorious
in the white man. And then the indulgence with which he treats her, the
finery in which he decks her out, the state in which she moves, the sway
she enjoys over both his purse and person; instead of being the drudge
and slave of an Indian husband, obliged to carry his pack, and build his
lodge, and make his fire, and bear his cross humors and dry blows.
No; there is no comparison in the eyes of an aspiring belle of the
wilderness, between a free trapper and an Indian brave.

With respect to one of the parties the matter was easily arranged. 'The
beauty in question was a pert little Eutaw wench, that had been taken
prisoner, in some war excursion, by a Shoshonie. She was readily
ransomed for a few articles of trifling value; and forthwith figured
about the camp in fine array, "with rings on her fingers, and bells
on her toes," and a tossed-up coquettish air that made her the envy,
admiration, and abhorrence of all the leathern-dressed, hard-working
squaws of her acquaintance.

As to the other beauty, it was quite a different matter. She had become
the wife of a Shoshonie brave. It is true, he had another wife, of
older date than the one in question; who, therefore, took command in his
household, and treated his new spouse as a slave; but the latter was
the wife of his last fancy, his latest caprice; and was precious in his
eyes. All attempt to bargain with him, therefore, was useless; the
very proposition was repulsed with anger and disdain. The spirit of
the trapper was roused, his pride was piqued as well as his passion. He
endeavored to prevail upon his quondam mistress to elope with him. His
horses were fleet, the winter nights were long and dark, before daylight
they would be beyond the reach of pursuit; and once at the encampment
in Green River Valley, they might set the whole band of Shoshonies at
defiance.

The Indian girl listened and longed. Her heart yearned after the ease
and splendor of condition of a trapper's bride, and throbbed to be free
from the capricious control of the premier squaw; but she dreaded the
failure of the plan, and the fury of a Shoshonie husband. They parted;
the Indian girl in tears, and the madcap trapper more than ever, with
his thwarted passion.

Their interviews had, probably, been detected, and the jealousy of
the Shoshonie brave aroused: a clamor of angry voices was heard in his
lodge, with the sound of blows, and of female weeping and lamenting. At
night, as the trapper lay tossing on his pallet, a soft voice whispered
at the door of his lodge. His mistress stood trembling before him. She
was ready to follow whithersoever he should lead.

In an instant he was up and out. He had two prime horses, sure and swift
of foot, and of great wind. With stealthy quiet, they were brought up
and saddled; and in a few moments he and his prize were careering over
the snow, with which the whole country was covered. In the eagerness of
escape, they had made no provision for their journey; days must elapse
before they could reach their haven of safety, and mountains and
prairies be traversed, wrapped in all the desolation of winter. For the
present, however they thought of nothing but flight; urging their horses
forward over the dreary wastes, and fancying, in the howling of every
blast, they heard the yell of the pursuer.

At early dawn, the Shoshonie became aware of his loss. Mounting his
swiftest horse, he set off in hot pursuit. He soon found the trail of
the fugitives, and spurred on in hopes of overtaking them. The winds,
however, which swept the valley, had drifted the light snow into the
prints made by the horses' hoofs. In a little while he lost all trace of
them, and was completely thrown out of the chase. He knew, however, the
situation of the camp toward which they were bound, and a direct course
through the mountains, by which he might arrive there sooner than the
fugitives. Through the most rugged defiles, therefore, he urged his
course by day and night, scarce pausing until he reached the camp. It
was some time before the fugitives made their appearance. Six days had
they traversed the wintry wilds. They came, haggard with hunger and
fatigue, and their horses faltering under them. The first object that
met their eyes on entering the camp was the Shoshonie brave. He rushed,
knife in hand, to plunge it in the heart that had proved false to him.
The trapper threw himself before the cowering form of his mistress,
and, exhausted as he was, prepared for a deadly struggle. The Shoshonie
paused. His habitual awe of the white man checked his arm; the trapper's
friends crowded to the spot, and arrested him. A parley ensued. A kind
of crim. con. adjudication took place; such as frequently occurs
in civilized life. A couple of horses were declared to be a fair
compensation for the loss of a woman who had previously lost her heart;
with this, the Shoshonie brave was fain to pacify his passion. He
returned to Captain Bonneville's camp, somewhat crestfallen, it is true;
but parried the officious condolements of his friends by observing that
two good horses were very good pay for one bad wife.




48.

Breaking up of winter quarters--Move to Green River--A
trapper and his rifle--An arrival in camp--A free trapper
and his squaw in distress--Story of a Blackfoot belle.

THE winter was now breaking up, the snows were melted, from the hills,
and from the lower parts of the mountains, and the time for decamping
had arrived. Captain Bonneville dispatched a party to the caches, who
brought away all the effects concealed there, and on the 1st of April
(1835), the camp was broken up, and every one on the move. The white
men and their allies, the Eutaws and Shoshonies, parted with many
regrets and sincere expressions of good-will; for their intercourse
throughout the winter had been of the most friendly kind.

Captain Bonneville and his party passed by Ham's Fork, and reached the
Colorado, or Green River, without accident, on the banks of which they
remained during the residue of the spring. During this time, they were
conscious that a band of hostile Indians were hovering about their
vicinity, watching for an opportunity to slay or steal; but the vigilant
precautions of Captain Bonneville baffled all their manoeuvres. In such
dangerous times, the experienced mountaineer is never without his rifle
even in camp. On going from lodge to lodge to visit his comrades, he
takes it with him. On seating himself in a lodge, he lays it beside him,
ready to be snatched up; when he goes out, he takes it up as regularly
as a citizen would his walking-staff. His rifle is his constant friend
and protector.

On the 10th of June, the party was a little to the east of the Wind
River Mountains, where they halted for a time in excellent pasturage, to
give their horses a chance to recruit their strength for a long journey;
for it was Captain Bonneville's intention to shape his course to the
settlements; having already been detained by the complication of his
duties, and by various losses and impediments, far beyond the time
specified in his leave of absence.

While the party was thus reposing in the neighborhood of the Wind River
Mountains, a solitary free trapper rode one day into the camp, and
accosted Captain Bonneville. He belonged, he said, to a party of thirty
hunters, who had just passed through the neighborhood, but whom he had
abandoned in consequence of their ill treatment of a brother trapper;
whom they had cast off from their party, and left with his bag and
baggage, and an Indian wife into the bargain, in the midst of a desolate
prairie. The horseman gave a piteous account of the situation of this
helpless pair, and solicited the loan of horses to bring them and their
effects to the camp.

The captain was not a man to refuse assistance to any one in distress,
especially when there was a woman in the case; horses were immediately
dispatched, with an escort, to aid the unfortunate couple. The next day
they made their appearance with all their effects; the man, a stalwart
mountaineer, with a peculiarly game look; the woman, a young Blackfoot
beauty, arrayed in the trappings and trinketry of a free trapper's
bride.

Finding the woman to be quick-witted and communicative, Captain
Bonneville entered into conversation with her, and obtained from
her many particulars concerning the habits and customs of her tribe;
especially their wars and huntings. They pride themselves upon being the
"best legs of the mountains," and hunt the buffalo on foot. This is done
in spring time, when the frosts have thawed and the ground is soft. The
heavy buffaloes then sink over their hoofs at every step, and are easily
overtaken by the Blackfeet, whose fleet steps press lightly on the
surface. It is said, however, that the buffaloes on the Pacific side
of the Rocky Mountains are fleeter and more active than on the Atlantic
side; those upon the plains of the Columbia can scarcely be overtaken by
a horse that would outstrip the same animal in the neighborhood of the
Platte, the usual hunting ground of the Blackfeet. In the course of
further conversation, Captain Bonneville drew from the Indian woman her
whole story; which gave a picture of savage life, and of the drudgery
and hardships to which an Indian wife is subject.

"I was the wife," said she, "of a Blackfoot warrior, and I served
him faithfully. Who was so well served as he? Whose lodge was so well
provided, or kept so clean? I brought wood in the morning, and placed
water always at hand. I watched for his coming; and he found his meat
cooked and ready. If he rose to go forth, there was nothing to delay
him. I searched the thought that was in his heart, to save him the
trouble of speaking. When I went abroad on errands for him, the chiefs
and warriors smiled upon me, and the young braves spoke soft things,
in secret; but my feet were in the straight path, and my eyes could see
nothing but him.

"When he went out to hunt, or to war, who aided to equip him, but I?
When he returned, I met him at the door; I took his gun; and he entered
without further thought. While he sat and smoked, I unloaded his horses;
tied them to the stakes, brought in their loads, and was quickly at his
feet. If his moccasins were wet I took them off and put on others which
were dry and warm. I dressed all the skins he had taken in the chase.
He could never say to me, why is it not done? He hunted the deer, the
antelope, and the buffalo, and he watched for the enemy. Everything else
was done by me. When our people moved their camp, he mounted his horse
and rode away; free as though he had fallen from the skies. He had
nothing to do with the labor of the camp; it was I that packed the
horses and led them on the journey. When we halted in the evening,
and he sat with the other braves and smoked, it was I that pitched his
lodge; and when he came to eat and sleep, his supper and his bed were
ready.

"I served him faithfully; and what was my reward? A cloud was always on
his brow, and sharp lightning on his tongue. I was his dog; and not his
wife.

"Who was it that scarred and bruised me? It was he. My brother saw how
I was treated. His heart was big for me. He begged me to leave my tyrant
and fly. Where could I go? If retaken, who would protect me? My brother
was not a chief; he could not save me from blows and wounds, perhaps
death. At length I was persuaded. I followed my brother from the
village. He pointed away to the Nez Perces, and bade me go and live in
peace among them. We parted. On the third day I saw the lodges of the
Nez Perces before me. I paused for a moment, and had no heart to go on;
but my horse neighed, and I took it as a good sign, and suffered him to
gallop forward. In a little while I was in the midst of the lodges. As
I sat silent on my horse, the people gathered round me, and inquired
whence I came. I told my story. A chief now wrapped his blanket close
around him, and bade me dismount. I obeyed. He took my horse to lead him
away. My heart grew small within me. I felt, on parting with my horse,
as if my last friend was gone. I had no words, and my eyes were dry. As
he led off my horse a young brave stepped forward. 'Are you a chief of
the people?' cried he. 'Do we listen to you in council, and follow
you in battle? Behold! a stranger flies to our camp from the dogs of
Blackfeet, and asks protection. Let shame cover your face! The stranger
is a woman, and alone. If she were a warrior, or had a warrior at her
side, your heart would not be big enough to take her horse. But he is
yours. By right of war you may claim him; but look!'--his bow was
drawn, and the arrow ready!--'you never shall cross his back!' The arrow
pierced the heart of the horse, and he fell dead.

"An old woman said she would be my mother. She led me to her lodge; my
heart was thawed by her kindness, and my eyes burst forth with tears;
like the frozen fountains in springtime. She never changed; but as the
days passed away, was still a mother to me. The people were loud in
praise of the young brave, and the chief was ashamed. I lived in peace.

"A party of trappers came to the village, and one of them took me for
his wife. This is he. I am very happy; he treats me with kindness, and
I have taught him the language of my people. As we were travelling this
way, some of the Blackfeet warriors beset us, and carried off the horses
of the party. We followed, and my husband held a parley with them. The
guns were laid down, and the pipe was lighted; but some of the white
men attempted to seize the horses by force, and then a battle began.
The snow was deep, the white men sank into it at every step; but the
red men, with their snow-shoes, passed over the surface like birds, and
drove off many of the horses in sight of their owners. With those that
remained we resumed our journey. At length words took place between the
leader of the party and my husband. He took away our horses, which had
escaped in the battle, and turned us from his camp. My husband had one
good friend among the trappers. That is he (pointing to the man who had
asked assistance for them). He is a good man. His heart is big. When he
came in from hunting, and found that we had been driven away, he gave up
all his wages, and followed us, that he might speak good words for us to
the white captain."




49.

Rendezvous at Wind River--Campaign of Montero and his
brigade in the Crow country--Wars between the Crows and
Blackfeet--Death--of Arapooish--Blackfeet lurkers--Sagacity
of the horse--Dependence of the hunter on his horse--Return
to the settlements.

ON the 22d of June Captain Bonneville raised his camp, and moved to the
forks of Wind River; the appointed place of rendezvous. In a few days he
was joined there by the brigade of Montero, which had been sent, in the
preceding year, to beat up the Crow country, and afterward proceed to
the Arkansas. Montero had followed the early part of his instructions;
after trapping upon some of the upper streams, he proceeded to Powder
River. Here he fell in with the Crow villages or bands, who treated
him with unusual kindness, and prevailed upon him to take up his winter
quarters among them.

The Crows at that time were struggling almost for existence with their
old enemies, the Blackfeet; who, in the past year, had picked off the
flower of their warriors in various engagements, and among the rest,
Arapooish, the friend of the white men. That sagacious and magnanimous
chief had beheld, with grief, the ravages which war was making in
his tribe, and that it was declining in force, and must eventually
be destroyed unless some signal blow could be struck to retrieve its
fortunes. In a pitched battle of the two tribes, he made a speech to his
warriors, urging them to set everything at hazard in one furious charge;
which done, he led the way into the thickest of the foe. He was
soon separated from his men, and fell covered with wounds, but his
self-devotion was not in vain. The Blackfeet were defeated; and
from that time the Crows plucked up fresh heart, and were frequently
successful.

Montero had not been long encamped among them, when he discovered that
the Blackfeet were hovering about the neighborhood. One day the hunters
came galloping into the camp, and proclaimed that a band of the enemy
was at hand. The Crows flew to arms, leaped on their horses, and dashed
out in squadrons in pursuit. They overtook the retreating enemy in the
midst of a plain. A desperate fight ensued. The Crows had the advantage
of numbers, and of fighting on horseback. The greater part of the
Blackfeet were slain; the remnant took shelter in a close thicket of
willows, where the horse could not enter; whence they plied their bows
vigorously.