ine what was to be done. No time was to be lost; he had twenty men
and more in his own party, to provide for, and Mr. Crooks and his men to
relieve. To linger would be to starve. The idea of retracing his steps
was intolerable, and, notwithstanding all the discouraging accounts of
the ruggedness of the mountains lower down the river, he would have been
disposed to attempt them, but the depth of the snow with which they were
covered deterred him; having already experienced the impossibility of
forcing his way against such an impediment.

The only alternative, therefore, appeared to be, return and seek the
Indian bands scattered along the small rivers above the mountains.
Perhaps, from some of these he might procure horses enough to support
him until he could reach the Columbia; for he still cherished the hope
of arriving at that river in the course of the winter, though he was
apprehensive that few of Mr. Crooks's party would be sufficiently strong
to follow him. Even in adopting this course, he had to make up his mind
to the certainty of several days of famine at the outset, for it would
take that time to reach the last Indian lodges from which he had parted,
and until they should arrive there, his people would have nothing to
subsist upon but haws and wild berries, excepting one miserable horse,
which was little better than skin and bone.

After a night of sleepless cogitation, Mr. Hunt announced to his men the
dreary alternative he had adopted, and preparations were made to take
Mr. Crooks and Le Clerc across the river, with the remainder of the
meat, as the other party were to keep up along the opposite bank.
The skin canoe had unfortunately been lost in the night; a raft was
constructed therefore, after the manner of the natives, of bundles of
willows, but it could not be floated across the impetuous current.
The men were directed, in consequence, to keep on along the river by
themselves, while Mr. Crooks and Le Clerc would proceed with Mr. Hunt.
They all, then, took up their retrograde march with drooping spirits.

In a little while, it was found that Mr. Crooks and Le Clerc were so
feeble as to walk with difficulty, so that Mr. Hunt was obliged
to retard his pace, that they might keep up with him. His men grew
impatient at the delay. They murmured that they had a long and desolate
region to traverse, before they could arrive at the point where they
might expect to find horses; that it was impossible for Crooks an