he Missouri, in 1825, to
protect the fur trade, he held a conference with the Crow nation,
at which Rose figured as Indian dignitary and Crow interpreter. The
military were stationed at some little distance from the scene of the
"big talk"; while the general and the chiefs were smoking pipes and
making speeches, the officers, supposing all was friendly, left the
troops, and drew near the scene of ceremonial. Some of the more knowing
Crows, perceiving this, stole quietly to the camp, and, unobserved,
contrived to stop the touch-holes of the field-pieces with dirt. Shortly
after, a misunderstanding occurred in the conference: some of the
Indians, knowing the cannon to be useless, became insolent. A tumult
arose. In the confusion, Colonel O'Fallan snapped a pistol in the face
of a brave, and knocked him down with the butt end. The Crows were all
in a fury. A chance-medley fight was on the point of taking place, when
Rose, his natural sympathies as a white man suddenly recurring, broke
the stock of his fusee over the head of a Crow warrior, and laid so
vigorously about him with the barrel, that he soon put the whole throng
to flight. Luckily, as no lives had been lost, this sturdy rib roasting
calmed the fury of the Crows, and the tumult ended without serious
consequences.

What was the ultimate fate of this vagabond hero is not distinctly
known. Some report him to have fallen a victim to disease, brought on by
his licentious life; others assert that he was murdered in a feud
among the Crows. After all, his residence among these savages, and
the influence he acquired over them, had, for a time, some beneficial
effects. He is said, not merely to have rendered them more formidable
to the Blackfeet, but to have opened their eyes to the policy of
cultivating the friendship of the white men.

After Rose's death, his policy continued to be cultivated, with
indifferent success, by Arapooish, the chief already mentioned, who
had been his great friend, and whose character he had contributed
to develope. This sagacious chief endeavored, on every occasion, to
restrain the predatory propensities of his tribe when directed against
the white men. "If we keep friends with them," said he, "we have nothing
to fear from the Blackfeet, and can rule the mountains." Arapooish
pretended to be a great "medicine man", a character among the Indians
which is a compound of priest, doctor, prophet, and conjurer. He carried
about with him a tame eagl