BOURGEOIS - Toronto Public Library

THE MISSISSOURI INDIANS 367
" they were dealing with bad women and I have secured your
" property". I thanked the Chief and then expressed a wish to
cross in order to adopt steps for the punishment of these bad
white men. "No" said the Chief, "that will cause diffi­
" culties, for the Indians are bound to protect all strangers."
Seeing I could not do justice to my feelings without creating a
disturbance, I had, with the assistance of the Indians, all my
property transported to the upper village.
Two days after, I went down with Morrison to my deserted
residence, saw my men, tried to persuade them to return to
their duty, but they would not yield. I was therefore obliged
to leaye them and hire a free-man in their place. This was in
the month of February and, the first fine weather, we took Ollr
leave of the Missurie. We had ten horses loaded with returns,
including provisions.
The first day we travelled until dark in hopes of falling in
with a good spot of grass for our horses, but the plains having
been burnt in the fall and covered with buffaloes all winter, the
whole country was as bare as the palm of the hand; scarcely
a sprig of grass was to be seen in any direction. We encamped
in a swamp of dry rushes, cleared a small space from snow,
kindled a fire with small bits of dry wood provided for the purpose
and, after eating corn cakes and drinking snow water, we
laid down to rest. It snowed in the night and the air was raw,
still we had a comfortable rest under the new fallen snow, which
completely covered our beds.
In the morning, we discovered that seven of our horses were
missing and could not be found in the vicinity of the camp.
We, therefore, secm'ell our baggage under the snow, mounted
the three remaining horses and returned to the village. Here
we learned that the missing horses were in the possession of an
lndian who, on application, readily surrendered them. He gave
us lod$ing for the night and treated us with great kindness.