On the following morning, Captain Bonneville purchased a supply of
buffalo meat from his braggadocio friends; who, with all their vaporing,
were in fact a very forlorn horde, destitute of firearms, and of
almost everything that constitutes riches in savage life. The bargain
concluded, the Bannacks set off for their village, which was situated,
they said, at the mouth of the Portneuf, and Captain Bonneville and his
companions shaped their course toward Snake River.
Arrived on the banks of that river, he found it rapid and boisterous,
but not too deep to be forded. In traversing it, however, one of the
horses was swept suddenly from his footing, and his rider was flung from
the saddle into the midst of the stream. Both horse and horseman were
extricated without any damage, excepting that the latter was completely
drenched, so that it was necessary to kindle a fire to dry him. While
they were thus occupied, one of the party looking up, perceived
an Indian scout cautiously reconnoitring them from the summit of a
neighboring hill. The moment he found himself discovered, he disappeared
behind the hill. From his furtive movements, Captain Bonneville
suspected him to be a scout from the Blackfeet camp, and that he had
gone to report what he had seen to his companions. It would not do
to loiter in such a neighborhood, so the kindling of the fire was
abandoned, the drenched horseman mounted in dripping condition, and the
little band pushed forward directly into the plain, going at a smart
pace, until they had gained a considerable distance from the place of
supposed danger.
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