ct
him. A shot from a rifle brought him to the earth; in his agony he
called upon the others not to desert him. Two of them, Le Roy and Ross,
after fighting desperately, were captured by the savages; the remaining
two vaulted into their saddles and saved themselves by headlong flight,
being pursued for nearly thirty miles. They got safe back to Matthieu's
camp, where their story inspired such dread of lurking Indians that the
hunters could not be prevailed upon to undertake another foray in quest
of provisions. They remained, therefore, almost starving in their camp;
now and then killing an old or disabled horse for food, while the
elk and the mountain sheep roamed unmolested among the surrounding
mountains.

The disastrous surprisal of this hunting party is cited by Captain
Bonneville to show the importance of vigilant watching and judicious
encampments in the Indian country. Most of this kind of disasters to
traders and trappers arise from some careless inattention to the state
of their arms and ammunition, the placing of their horses at night,
the position of their camping ground, and the posting of their night
watches. The Indian is a vigilant and crafty foe, by no means given
to hair-brained assaults; he seldom attacks when he finds his foe
well prepared and on the alert. Caution is at least as efficacious a
protection against him as courage.

The Indians who made this attack were at first supposed to be Blackfeet;
until Captain Bonneville found subsequently, in the camp of the
Bannecks, a horse, saddle, and bridle, which he recognized as having
belonged to one of the hunters. The Bannecks, however, stoutly denied
having taken these spoils in fight, and persisted in affirming that the
outrage had been perpetrated by a Blackfoot band.

Captain Bonneville remained on Snake River nearly three weeks after the
arrival of Matthieu and his party. At length his horses having recovered
strength sufficient for a journey, he prepared to return to the Nez
Perces, or rather to visit his caches on Salmon River; that he might
take thence goods and equipments for the opening season. Accordingly,
leaving sixteen men at Snake River, he set out on the 19th of February
with sixteen others on his journey to the caches.

Fording the river, he proceeded to the borders of the deep snow, when he
encamped under the lee of immense piles of burned rock. On the 21st he
was again floundering through the snow, on the great Snake River
plain