on Salmon River, he
made, with the few that remained faithful to him, for the neighborhood
of Tullock's Fort, on the Yellowstone, under the protection of which he
went into winter quarters.

He soon found out that the neighborhood of the fort was nearly as bad
as the neighborhood of the Crows. His men were continually stealing
away thither, with whatever beaver skins they could secrete or lay their
hands on. These they would exchange with the hangers-on of the fort for
whiskey, and then revel in drunkeness and debauchery.

The unlucky partisan made another move. Associating with his party a
few free trappers, whom he met with in this neighborhood, he started off
early in the spring to trap on the head waters of Powder River. In the
course of the journey, his horses were so much jaded in traversing a
steep mountain, that he was induced to turn them loose to graze during
the night. The place was lonely; the path was rugged; there was not the
sign of an Indian in the neighborhood; not a blade of grass that had
been turned by a footstep. But who can calculate on security in the
midst of the Indian country, where the foe lurks in silence and secrecy,
and seems to come and go on the wings of the wind? The horses had scarce
been turned loose, when a couple of Arickara (or Rickaree) warriors
entered the camp. They affected a frank and friendly demeanor; but their
appearance and movements awakened the suspicions of some of the veteran
trappers, well versed in Indian wiles. Convinced that they were spies
sent on some sinister errand, they took them in custody, and set to work
to drive in the horses. It was too late--the horses were already gone.
In fact, a war party of Arickaras had been hovering on their trail for
several days, watching with the patience and perseverance of Indians,
for some moment of negligence and fancied security, to make a successful
swoop. The two spies had evidently been sent into the camp to create a
diversion, while their confederates carried off the spoil.

The unlucky partisan, thus robbed of his horses, turned furiously on his
prisoners, ordered them to be bound hand and foot, and swore to put them
to death unless his property were restored. The robbers, who soon
found that their spies were in captivity, now made their appearance on
horseback, and held a parley. The sight of them, mounted on the very
horses they had stolen, set the blood of the mountaineers in a ferment;
but it was useless to attack