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<h2> CHAPTER VIII </h2>
<h3> TAKING FRENCH LEAVE </h3>
<p>On the 8th of June, at eleven o'clock, we reached the South Fork of the
Platte, at the usual fording place. For league upon league the desert
uniformity of the prospect was almost unbroken; the hills were dotted with
little tufts of shriveled grass, but betwixt these the white sand was
glaring in the sun; and the channel of the river, almost on a level with
the plain, was but one great sand-bed, about half a mile wide. It was
covered with water, but so scantily that the bottom was scarcely hidden;
for, wide as it is, the average depth of the Platte does not at this point
exceed a foot and a half. Stopping near its bank, we gathered bois de
vache, and made a meal of buffalo meat. Far off, on the other side, was a
green meadow, where we could see the white tents and wagons of an emigrant
camp; and just opposite to us we could discern a group of men and animals
at the water's edge. Four or five horsemen soon entered the river, and in
ten minutes had waded across and clambered up the loose sand-bank. They
were ill-looking fellows, thin and swarthy, with care-worn, anxious faces
and lips rigidly compressed. They had good cause for anxiety; it was three
days since they first encamped here, and on the night of their arrival
they had lost 123 of their best cattle, driven off by the wolves, through
the neglect of the man on guard. This discouraging and alarming calamity
was not the first that had overtaken them. Since leaving the settlements,
they had met with nothing but misfortune. Some of their party had died;
one man had been killed by the Pawnees; and about a week before, they had
been plundered by the Dakotas of all their best horses, the wretched
animals on which our visitors were mounted being the only ones that were
left. They had encamped, they told us, near sunset, by the side of the
Platte, and their oxen were scattered over the meadow, while the band of
horses were feeding a little farther off. Suddenly the ridges of the hills
were alive with a swarm of mounted Indians, at least six hundred in
number, who, with a tremendous yell, came pouring down toward the camp,
rushing up within a few rods, to the great terror of the emigrants; but
suddenly wheeling, they swept around the band of horses, and in five
minutes had disappeared with their prey through the openings of the hills.</p>
<p>As these emigrants were telling their story, we saw four other men
approaching. They proved to be R. and his companions, who had encountered
no mischance of any kind, but had only wandered too far in pursuit of the
game. They said they had seen no Indians, but only "millions of buffalo";
and both R. and Sorel had meat dangling behind their saddles.</p>
<p>The emigrants re-crossed the river, and we prepared to follow. First the
heavy ox-wagons plunged down the bank, and dragged slowly over the
sand-beds; sometimes the hoofs of the oxen were scarcely wetted by the
thin sheet of water; and the next moment the river would be boiling
against their sides, and eddying fiercely around the wheels. Inch by inch
they receded from the shore, dwindling every moment, until at length they
seemed to be floating far in the very middle of the river. A more critical
experiment awaited us; for our little mule-cart was but ill-fitted for the
passage of so swift a stream. We watched it with anxiety till it seemed to
be a little motionless white speck in the midst of the waters; and it WAS
motionless, for it had stuck fast in a quicksand. The little mules were
losing their footing, the wheels were sinking deeper and deeper, and the
water began to rise through the bottom and drench the goods within. All of
us who had remained on the hither bank galloped to the rescue; the men
jumped into the water, adding their strength to that of the mules, until
by much effort the cart was extricated, and conveyed in safety across.</p>
<p>As we gained the other bank, a rough group of men surrounded us. They were
not robust, nor large of frame, yet they had an aspect of hardy endurance.
Finding at home no scope for their fiery energies, they had betaken
themselves to the prairie; and in them seemed to be revived, with
redoubled force, that fierce spirit which impelled their ancestors, scarce
more lawless than themselves, from the German forests, to inundate Europe
and break to pieces the Roman empire. A fortnight afterward this
unfortunate party passed Fort Laramie, while we were there. Not one of
their missing oxen had been recovered, though they had remained encamped a
week in search of them; and they had been compelled to abandon a great
part of their baggage and provisions, and yoke cows and heifers to their
wagons to carry them forward upon their journey, the most toilsome and
hazardous part of which lay still before them.</p>
<p>It is worth noticing that on the Platte one may sometimes see the
shattered wrecks of ancient claw-footed tables, well waxed and rubbed, or
massive bureaus of carved oak. These, many of them no doubt the relics of
ancestral prosperity in the colonial time, must have encountered strange
vicissitudes. Imported, perhaps, originally from England; then, with the
declining fortunes of their owners, borne across the Alleghenies to the
remote wilderness of Ohio or Kentucky; then to Illinois or Missouri; and
now at last fondly stowed away in the family wagon for the interminable
journey to Oregon. But the stern privations of the way are little
anticipated. The cherished relic is soon flung out to scorch and crack
upon the hot prairie.</p>
<p>We resumed our journey; but we had gone scarcely a mile, when R. called
out from the rear:</p>
<p>"We'll camp here."</p>
<p>"Why do you want to camp? Look at the sun. It is not three o'clock yet."</p>
<p>"We'll camp here!"</p>
<p>This was the only reply vouchsafed. Delorier was in advance with his cart.
Seeing the mule-wagon wheeling from the track, he began to turn his own
team in the same direction.</p>
<p>"Go on, Delorier," and the little cart advanced again. As we rode on, we
soon heard the wagon of our confederates creaking and jolting on behind
us, and the driver, Wright, discharging a furious volley of oaths against
his mules; no doubt venting upon them the wrath which he dared not direct
against a more appropriate object.</p>
<p>Something of this sort had frequently occurred. Our English friend was by
no means partial to us, and we thought we discovered in his conduct a
deliberate intention to thwart and annoy us, especially by retarding the
movements of the party, which he knew that we, being Yankees, were anxious
to quicken. Therefore, he would insist on encamping at all unseasonable
hours, saying that fifteen miles was a sufficient day's journey. Finding
our wishes systematically disregarded, we took the direction of affairs
into our own hands. Keeping always in advance, to the inexpressible
indignation of R., we encamped at what time and place we thought proper,
not much caring whether the rest chose to follow or not. They always did
so, however, pitching their tents near ours, with sullen and wrathful
countenances.</p>
<p>Traveling together on these agreeable terms did not suit our tastes; for
some time we had meditated a separation. The connection with this party
had cost us various delays and inconveniences; and the glaring want of
courtesy and good sense displayed by their virtual leader did not dispose
us to bear these annoyances with much patience. We resolved to leave camp
early in the morning, and push forward as rapidly as possible for Fort
Laramie, which we hoped to reach, by hard traveling, in four or five days.
The captain soon trotted up between us, and we explained our intentions.</p>
<p>"A very extraordinary proceeding, upon my word!" he remarked. Then he
began to enlarge upon the enormity of the design. The most prominent
impression in his mind evidently was that we were acting a base and
treacherous part in deserting his party, in what he considered a very
dangerous stage of the journey. To palliate the atrocity of our conduct,
we ventured to suggest that we were only four in number while his party
still included sixteen men; and as, moreover, we were to go forward and
they were to follow, at least a full proportion of the perils he
apprehended would fall upon us. But the austerity of the captain's
features would not relax. "A very extraordinary proceeding, gentlemen!"
and repeating this, he rode off to confer with his principal.</p>
<p>By good luck, we found a meadow of fresh grass, and a large pool of
rain-water in the midst of it. We encamped here at sunset. Plenty of
buffalo skulls were lying around, bleaching in the sun; and sprinkled
thickly among the grass was a great variety of strange flowers. I had
nothing else to do, and so gathering a handful, I sat down on a buffalo
skull to study them. Although the offspring of a wilderness, their texture
was frail and delicate, and their colors extremely rich; pure white, dark
blue, and a transparent crimson. One traveling in this country seldom has
leisure to think of anything but the stern features of the scenery and its
accompaniments, or the practical details of each day's journey. Like them,
he and his thoughts grow hard and rough. But now these flowers suddenly
awakened a train of associations as alien to the rude scene around me as
they were themselves; and for the moment my thoughts went back to New
England. A throng of fair and well-remembered faces rose, vividly as life,
before me. "There are good things," thought I, "in the savage life, but
what can it offer to replace those powerful and ennobling influences that
can reach unimpaired over more than three thousand miles of mountains,
forests and deserts?"</p>
<p>Before sunrise on the next morning our tent was down; we harnessed our
best horses to the cart and left the camp. But first we shook hands with
our friends the emigrants, who sincerely wished us a safe journey, though
some others of the party might easily have been consoled had we
encountered an Indian war party on the way. The captain and his brother
were standing on the top of a hill, wrapped in their plaids, like spirits
of the mist, keeping an anxious eye on the band of horses below. We waved
adieu to them as we rode off the ground. The captain replied with a
salutation of the utmost dignity, which Jack tried to imitate; but being
little practiced in the gestures of polite society, his effort was not a
very successful one.</p>
<p>In five minutes we had gained the foot of the hills, but here we came to a
stop. Old Hendrick was in the shafts, and being the very incarnation of
perverse and brutish obstinacy, he utterly refused to move. Delorier
lashed and swore till he was tired, but Hendrick stood like a rock,
grumbling to himself and looking askance at his enemy, until he saw a
favorable opportunity to take his revenge, when he struck out under the
shaft with such cool malignity of intention that Delorier only escaped the
blow by a sudden skip into the air, such as no one but a Frenchman could
achieve. Shaw and he then joined forces, and lashed on both sides at once.
The brute stood still for a while till he could bear it no longer, when
all at once he began to kick and plunge till he threatened the utter
demolition of the cart and harness. We glanced back at the camp, which was
in full sight. Our companions, inspired by emulation, were leveling their
tents and driving in their cattle and horses.</p>
<p>"Take the horse out," said I.</p>
<p>I took the saddle from Pontiac and put it upon Hendrick; the former was
harnessed to the cart in an instant. "Avance donc!" cried Delorier.
Pontiac strode up the hill, twitching the little cart after him as if it
were a feather's weight; and though, as we gained the top, we saw the
wagons of our deserted comrades just getting into motion, we had little
fear that they could overtake us. Leaving the trail, we struck directly
across the country, and took the shortest cut to reach the main stream of
the Platte. A deep ravine suddenly intercepted us. We skirted its sides
until we found them less abrupt, and then plunged through the best way we
could. Passing behind the sandy ravines called "Ash Hollow," we stopped
for a short nooning at the side of a pool of rain-water; but soon resumed
our journey, and some hours before sunset were descending the ravines and
gorges opening downward upon the Platte to the west of Ash Hollow. Our
horses waded to the fetlock in sand; the sun scorched like fire, and the
air swarmed with sand-flies and mosquitoes.</p>
<p>At last we gained the Platte. Following it for about five miles, we saw,
just as the sun was sinking, a great meadow, dotted with hundreds of
cattle, and beyond them an emigrant encampment. A party of about a dozen
came out to meet us, looking upon us at first with cold and suspicious
faces. Seeing four men, different in appearance and equipment from
themselves, emerging from the hills, they had taken us for the van of the
much-dreaded Mormons, whom they were very apprehensive of encountering. We
made known our true character, and then they greeted us cordially. They
expressed much surprise that so small a party should venture to traverse
that region, though in fact such attempts are not unfrequently made by
trappers and Indian traders. We rode with them to their camp. The wagons,
some fifty in number, with here and there a tent intervening, were
arranged as usual in a circle; in the area within the best horses were
picketed, and the whole circumference was glowing with the dusky light of
the fires, displaying the forms of the women and children who were crowded
around them. This patriarchal scene was curious and striking enough; but
we made our escape from the place with all possible dispatch, being
tormented by the intrusive curiosity of the men who crowded around us.
Yankee curiosity was nothing to theirs. They demanded our names, where we
came from, where we were going, and what was our business. The last query
was particularly embarrassing; since traveling in that country, or indeed
anywhere, from any other motive than gain, was an idea of which they took
no cognizance. Yet they were fine-looking fellows, with an air of
frankness, generosity, and even courtesy, having come from one of the
least barbarous of the frontier counties.</p>
<p>We passed about a mile beyond them, and encamped. Being too few in number
to stand guard without excessive fatigue, we extinguished our fire, lest
it should attract the notice of wandering Indians; and picketing our
horses close around us, slept undisturbed till morning. For three days we
traveled without interruption, and on the evening of the third encamped by
the well-known spring on Scott's Bluff.</p>
<p>Henry Chatillon and I rode out in the morning, and descending the western
side of the Bluff, were crossing the plain beyond. Something that seemed
to me a file of buffalo came into view, descending the hills several miles
before us. But Henry reined in his horse, and keenly peering across the
prairie with a better and more practiced eye, soon discovered its real
nature. "Indians!" he said. "Old Smoke's lodges, I b'lieve. Come! let us
go! Wah! get up, now, Five Hundred Dollar!" And laying on the lash with
good will, he galloped forward, and I rode by his side. Not long after, a
black speck became visible on the prairie, full two miles off. It grew
larger and larger; it assumed the form of a man and horse; and soon we
could discern a naked Indian, careering at full gallop toward us. When
within a furlong he wheeled his horse in a wide circle, and made him
describe various mystic figures upon the prairie; and Henry immediately
compelled Five Hundred Dollar to execute similar evolutions. "It IS Old
Smoke's village," said he, interpreting these signals; "didn't I say so?"</p>
<p>As the Indian approached we stopped to wait for him, when suddenly he
vanished, sinking, as it were, into the earth. He had come upon one of the
deep ravines that everywhere intersect these prairies. In an instant the
rough head of his horse stretched upward from the edge and the rider and
steed came scrambling out, and hounded up to us; a sudden jerk of the rein
brought the wild panting horse to a full stop. Then followed the needful
formality of shaking hands. I forget our visitor's name. He was a young
fellow, of no note in his nation; yet in his person and equipments he was
a good specimen of a Dakota warrior in his ordinary traveling dress. Like
most of his people, he was nearly six feet high; lithely and gracefully,
yet strongly proportioned; and with a skin singularly clear and delicate.
He wore no paint; his head was bare; and his long hair was gathered in a
clump behind, to the top of which was attached transversely, both by way
of ornament and of talisman, the mystic whistle, made of the wingbone of
the war eagle, and endowed with various magic virtues. From the back of
his head descended a line of glittering brass plates, tapering from the
size of a doubloon to that of a half-dime, a cumbrous ornament, in high
vogue among the Dakotas, and for which they pay the traders a most
extravagant price; his chest and arms were naked, the buffalo robe, worn
over them when at rest, had fallen about his waist, and was confined there
by a belt. This, with the gay moccasins on his feet, completed his attire.
For arms he carried a quiver of dogskin at his back, and a rude but
powerful bow in his hand. His horse had no bridle; a cord of hair, lashed
around his jaw, served in place of one. The saddle was of most singular
construction; it was made of wood covered with raw hide, and both pommel
and cantle rose perpendicularly full eighteen inches, so that the warrior
was wedged firmly in his seat, whence nothing could dislodge him but the
bursting of the girths.</p>
<p>Advancing with our new companion, we found more of his people seated in a
circle on the top of a hill; while a rude procession came straggling down
the neighboring hollow, men, women, and children, with horses dragging the
lodge-poles behind them. All that morning, as we moved forward, tall
savages were stalking silently about us. At noon we reached Horse Creek;
and as we waded through the shallow water, we saw a wild and striking
scene. The main body of the Indians had arrived before us. On the farther
bank stood a large and strong man, nearly naked, holding a white horse by
a long cord, and eyeing us as we approached. This was the chief, whom
Henry called "Old Smoke." Just behind him his youngest and favorite squaw
sat astride of a fine mule; it was covered with caparisons of whitened
skins, garnished with blue and white beads, and fringed with little
ornaments of metal that tinkled with every movement of the animal. The
girl had a light clear complexion, enlivened by a spot of vermilion on
each cheek; she smiled, not to say grinned, upon us, showing two gleaming
rows of white teeth. In her hand, she carried the tall lance of her
unchivalrous lord, fluttering with feathers; his round white shield hung
at the side of her mule; and his pipe was slung at her back. Her dress was
a tunic of deerskin, made beautifully white by means of a species of clay
found on the prairie, and ornamented with beads, arrayed in figures more
gay than tasteful, and with long fringes at all the seams. Not far from
the chief stood a group of stately figures, their white buffalo robes
thrown over their shoulders, gazing coldly upon us; and in the rear, for
several acres, the ground was covered with a temporary encampment; men,
women, and children swarmed like bees; hundreds of dogs, of all sizes and
colors, ran restlessly about; and, close at hand, the wide shallow stream
was alive with boys, girls, and young squaws, splashing, screaming, and
laughing in the water. At the same time a long train of emigrant wagons
were crossing the creek, and dragging on in their slow, heavy procession,
passed the encampment of the people whom they and their descendants, in
the space of a century, are to sweep from the face of the earth.</p>
<p>The encampment itself was merely a temporary one during the heat of the
day. None of the lodges were erected; but their heavy leather coverings,
and the long poles used to support them, were scattered everywhere around,
among weapons, domestic utensils, and the rude harness of mules and
horses. The squaws of each lazy warrior had made him a shelter from the
sun, by stretching a few buffalo robes, or the corner of a lodge-covering
upon poles; and here he sat in the shade, with a favorite young squaw,
perhaps, at his side, glittering with all imaginable trinkets. Before him
stood the insignia of his rank as a warrior, his white shield of
bull-hide, his medicine bag, his bow and quiver, his lance and his pipe,
raised aloft on a tripod of three poles. Except the dogs, the most active
and noisy tenants of the camp were the old women, ugly as Macbeth's
witches, with their hair streaming loose in the wind, and nothing but the
tattered fragment of an old buffalo robe to hide their shriveled wiry
limbs. The day of their favoritism passed two generations ago; now the
heaviest labors of the camp devolved upon them; they were to harness the
horses, pitch the lodges, dress the buffalo robes, and bring in meat for
the hunters. With the cracked voices of these hags, the clamor of dogs,
the shouting and laughing of children and girls, and the listless
tranquillity of the warriors, the whole scene had an effect too lively and
picturesque ever to be forgotten.</p>
<p>We stopped not far from the Indian camp, and having invited some of the
chiefs and warriors to dinner, placed before them a sumptuous repast of
biscuit and coffee. Squatted in a half circle on the ground, they soon
disposed of it. As we rode forward on the afternoon journey, several of
our late guests accompanied us. Among the rest was a huge bloated savage
of more than three hundred pounds' weight, christened La Cochon, in
consideration of his preposterous dimensions and certain corresponding
traits of his character. "The Hog" bestrode a little white pony, scarce
able to bear up under the enormous burden, though, by way of keeping up
the necessary stimulus, the rider kept both feet in constant motion,
playing alternately against his ribs. The old man was not a chief; he
never had ambition enough to become one; he was not a warrior nor a
hunter, for he was too fat and lazy: but he was the richest man in the
whole village. Riches among the Dakotas consist in horses, and of these
The Hog had accumulated more than thirty. He had already ten times as many
as he wanted, yet still his appetite for horses was insatiable. Trotting
up to me he shook me by the hand, and gave me to understand that he was a
very devoted friend; and then he began a series of most earnest signs and
gesticulations, his oily countenance radiant with smiles, and his little
eyes peeping out with a cunning twinkle from between the masses of flesh
that almost obscured them. Knowing nothing at that time of the sign
language of the Indians, I could only guess at his meaning. So I called on
Henry to explain it.</p>
<p>The Hog, it seems, was anxious to conclude a matrimonial bargain. He said
he had a very pretty daughter in his lodge, whom he would give me, if I
would give him my horse. These flattering overtures I chose to reject; at
which The Hog, still laughing with undiminished good humor, gathered his
robe about his shoulders, and rode away.</p>
<p>Where we encamped that night, an arm of the Platte ran between high
bluffs; it was turbid and swift as heretofore, but trees were growing on
its crumbling banks, and there was a nook of grass between the water and
the hill. Just before entering this place, we saw the emigrants encamping
at two or three miles' distance on the right; while the whole Indian
rabble were pouring down the neighboring hill in hope of the same sort of
entertainment which they had experienced from us. In the savage landscape
before our camp, nothing but the rushing of the Platte broke the silence.
Through the ragged boughs of the trees, dilapidated and half dead, we saw
the sun setting in crimson behind the peaks of the Black Hills; the
restless bosom of the river was suffused with red; our white tent was
tinged with it, and the sterile bluffs, up to the rocks that crowned them,
partook of the same fiery hue. It soon passed away; no light remained, but
that from our fire, blazing high among the dusky trees and bushes. We lay
around it wrapped in our blankets, smoking and conversing until a late
hour, and then withdrew to our tent.</p>
<p>We crossed a sun-scorched plain on the next morning; the line of old
cotton-wood trees that fringed the bank of the Platte forming its extreme
verge. Nestled apparently close beneath them, we could discern in the
distance something like a building. As we came nearer, it assumed form and
dimensions, and proved to be a rough structure of logs. It was a little
trading fort, belonging to two private traders; and originally intended,
like all the forts of the country, to form a hollow square, with rooms for
lodging and storage opening upon the area within. Only two sides of it had
been completed; the place was now as ill-fitted for the purposes of
defense as any of those little log-houses, which upon our constantly
shifting frontier have been so often successfully maintained against
overwhelming odds of Indians. Two lodges were pitched close to the fort;
the sun beat scorching upon the logs; no living thing was stirring except
one old squaw, who thrust her round head from the opening of the nearest
lodge, and three or four stout young pups, who were peeping with looks of
eager inquiry from under the covering. In a moment a door opened, and a
little, swarthy black-eyed Frenchman came out. His dress was rather
singular; his black curling hair was parted in the middle of his head, and
fell below his shoulders; he wore a tight frock of smoked deerskin, very
gayly ornamented with figures worked in dyed porcupine quills. His
moccasins and leggings were also gaudily adorned in the same manner; and
the latter had in addition a line of long fringes, reaching down the
seams. The small frame of Richard, for by this name Henry made him known
to us, was in the highest degree athletic and vigorous. There was no
superfluity, and indeed there seldom is among the active white men of this
country, but every limb was compact and hard; every sinew had its full
tone and elasticity, and the whole man wore an air of mingled hardihood
and buoyancy.</p>
<p>Richard committed our horses to a Navahoe slave, a mean looking fellow
taken prisoner on the Mexican frontier; and, relieving us of our rifles
with ready politeness, led the way into the principal apartment of his
establishment. This was a room ten feet square. The walls and floor were
of black mud, and the roof of rough timber; there was a huge fireplace
made of four flat rocks, picked up on the prairie. An Indian bow and
otter-skin quiver, several gaudy articles of Rocky Mountain finery, an
Indian medicine bag, and a pipe and tobacco pouch, garnished the walls,
and rifles rested in a corner. There was no furniture except a sort of
rough settle covered with buffalo robes, upon which lolled a tall
half-breed, with his hair glued in masses upon each temple, and saturated
with vermilion. Two or three more "mountain men" sat cross-legged on the
floor. Their attire was not unlike that of Richard himself; but the most
striking figure of the group was a naked Indian boy of sixteen, with a
handsome face, and light, active proportions, who sat in an easy posture
in the corner near the door. Not one of his limbs moved the breadth of a
hair; his eye was fixed immovably, not on any person present, but, as it
appeared, on the projecting corner of the fireplace opposite to him.</p>
<p>On these prairies the custom of smoking with friends is seldom omitted,
whether among Indians or whites. The pipe, therefore, was taken from the
wall, and its great red bowl crammed with the tobacco and shongsasha,
mixed in suitable proportions. Then it passed round the circle, each man
inhaling a few whiffs and handing it to his neighbor. Having spent half an
hour here, we took our leave; first inviting our new friends to drink a
cup of coffee with us at our camp, a mile farther up the river. By this
time, as the reader may conceive, we had grown rather shabby; our clothes
had burst into rags and tatters; and what was worse, we had very little
means of renovation. Fort Laramie was but seven miles before us. Being
totally averse to appearing in such plight among any society that could
boast an approximation to the civilized, we soon stopped by the river to
make our toilet in the best way we could. We hung up small looking-glasses
against the trees and shaved, an operation neglected for six weeks; we
performed our ablutions in the Platte, though the utility of such a
proceeding was questionable, the water looking exactly like a cup of
chocolate, and the banks consisting of the softest and richest yellow mud,
so that we were obliged, as a preliminary, to build a cause-way of stout
branches and twigs. Having also put on radiant moccasins, procured from a
squaw of Richard's establishment, and made what other improvements our
narrow circumstances allowed, we took our seats on the grass with a
feeling of greatly increased respectability, to wait the arrival of our
guests. They came; the banquet was concluded, and the pipe smoked. Bidding
them adieu, we turned our horses' heads toward the fort.</p>
<p>An hour elapsed. The barren hills closed across our front, and we could
see no farther; until having surmounted them, a rapid stream appeared at
the foot of the descent, running into the Platte; beyond was a green
meadow, dotted with bushes, and in the midst of these, at the point where
the two rivers joined, were the low clay walls of a fort. This was not
Fort Laramie, but another post of less recent date, which having sunk
before its successful competitor was now deserted and ruinous. A moment
after the hills, seeming to draw apart as we advanced, disclosed Fort
Laramie itself, its high bastions and perpendicular walls of clay crowning
an eminence on the left beyond the stream, while behind stretched a line
of arid and desolate ridges, and behind these again, towering aloft seven
thousand feet, arose the grim Black Hills.</p>
<p>We tried to ford Laramie Creek at a point nearly opposite the fort, but
the stream, swollen with the rains in the mountains, was too rapid. We
passed up along its bank to find a better crossing place. Men gathered on
the wall to look at us. "There's Bordeaux!" called Henry, his face
brightening as he recognized his acquaintance; "him there with the
spyglass; and there's old Vaskiss, and Tucker, and May; and, by George!
there's Cimoneau!" This Cimoneau was Henry's fast friend, and the only man
in the country who could rival him in hunting.</p>
<p>We soon found a ford. Henry led the way, the pony approaching the bank
with a countenance of cool indifference, bracing his feet and sliding into
the stream with the most unmoved composure.</p>
<p>At the first plunge the horse sunk low,<br/>
And the water broke o'er the saddle-bow<br/></p>
<p>We followed; the water boiled against our saddles, but our horses bore us
easily through. The unfortunate little mules came near going down with the
current, cart and all; and we watched them with some solicitude scrambling
over the loose round stones at the bottom, and bracing stoutly against the
stream. All landed safely at last; we crossed a little plain, descended a
hollow, and riding up a steep bank found ourselves before the gateway of
Fort Laramie, under the impending blockhouse erected above it to defend
the entrance.</p>
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