ed the hills among which it takes its rise. Here, while on the
march, he descried from the brow of a hill, a war party of about
sixty Blackfeet, on the plain immediately below him. His situation was
perilous; for the greater part of his people were dispersed in various
directions. Still, to betray hesitation or fear would be to discover his
actual weakness, and to invite attack. He assumed, instantly, therefore,
a belligerent tone; ordered the squaws to lead the horses to a small
grove of ashen trees, and unload and tie them; and caused a great bustle
to be made by his scanty handful; the leaders riding hither and thither,
and vociferating with all their might, as if a numerous force was
getting under way for an attack.

To keep up the deception as to his force, he ordered, at night, a number
of extra fires to be made in his camp, and kept up a vigilant watch. His
men were all directed to keep themselves prepared for instant action. In
such cases the experienced trapper sleeps in his clothes, with his rifle
beside him, the shot-belt and powder-flask on the stock: so that, in
case of alarm, he can lay his hand upon the whole of his equipment at
once, and start up, completely armed.

Captain Bonneville was also especially careful to secure the horses,
and set a vigilant guard upon them; for there lies the great object and
principal danger of a night attack. The grand move of the lurking savage
is to cause a panic among the horses. In such cases one horse frightens
another, until all are alarmed, and struggle to break loose. In camps
where there are great numbers of Indians, with their horses, a night
alarm of the kind is tremendous. The running of the horses that have
broken loose; the snorting, stamping, and rearing of those which remain
fast; the howling of dogs; the yelling of Indians; the scampering of
white men, and red men, with their guns; the overturning of lodges, and
trampling of fires by the horses; the flashes of the fires, lighting up
forms of men and steeds dashing through the gloom, altogether make
up one of the wildest scenes of confusion imaginable. In this way,
sometimes, all the horses of a camp amounting to several hundred will be
frightened off in a single night.

The night passed off without any disturbance; but there was no
likelihood that a war party of Blackfeet, once on the track of a camp
where there was a chance for spoils, would fail to hover round it. The
captain, therefore, continued to ma