camp, and whilst he was saddling the horses, the Fields returned with four of our own, having followed the Indians until two of them swam the river, two others ascended the hills, so that the horses became dispersed. We, however, were rather gainers by this contest, for we took four of the Indian horses, and lost only one of our own.

We had no doubt but that we should be immediately pursued by a much larger party, and that as soon as intelligence was given to the band near the Broken Mountains, they would hasten to the mouth of Maria's River to intercept us. We hope, however, to be there before them, so as to form a junction with our friends. We therefore pushed our horses as fast as we possibly could. At three o'clock we reached Rose River, five miles above where we had formerly passed it, and having now come by estimate sixty-three miles, halted for an hour and a half to refresh our horses; then pursued our journey seventeen miles further, when, as the night came on, we killed a buffalo, and again stopped for two hours. The sky was now overclouded, but as the moon gave light enough to show us the route, we continued, along through immense herds of buffalo for twenty miles, and then almost exhausted with fatigue, halted at two in the morning,

"July 28, to rest ourselves and the horses. At daylight we awoke sore and scarcely able to stand; but as our own lives as well as those of our companions depended on our pressing forward, we mounted our horses and set out. The men were desirous of crossing the Missouri, at the Grog Spring,

where Rose River approaches so near the river, and passing down the southwest side of it, and thus avoid the country at the junction of the two rivers, through which the enemy would most probably pursue us. But as this circuitous route would consume the whole day, and the Indians might in the meantime attack the canoes at the point, Captain Lewis told his party it was now their duty to risk their lives for their friends and companions; that he would proceed immediately to the point, to give the alarm to the canoes, and if they had not yet arrived, he would raft the Missouri, and after hiding the baggage, ascend the river on foot through the woods till he met them. He told them also that it was his determination, in case they were attacked in crossing the plains, to tie the bridles of the horses and stand together till they had either routed their enemies, or sold their lives as dearly as possible. To this they all assented, and we therefore continued our route to the eastward, till at the distance of twelve miles we came near the Missouri, when we heard a noise which seemed like the report of a gun. We therefore quickened our pace for eight miles further, and about five miles from the Grog Spring, now heard distinctly the noise of several rifles from the river. We hurried to the bank, and saw with exquisite satisfaction our friends coming down the river. They landed to greet us, and after turning our horses loose, we embarked with our baggage, and went down to the spot where we had made a deposit. This, after reconnoitring the adjacent country, we opened; but unfortunately the cache had

caved in, and most of the articles were injured. We took whatever was still worth preserving, and immediately proceeded to the point, where we found our deposits in good order. By a singular good fortune we were here joined by Sergeant Gass and Willard from the falls, who had been ordered to bring the horses here, to assist in collecting meat for the voyage, as it had been calculated that the canoes would reach this place much sooner than Captain Lewis's party. After a very heavy shower of rain and hail, attended with violent thunder and lightning, we left the point, and giving a final discharge to our horses, went over to the island where we had left our red pirogue, which however we found so much decayed that we had no means of repairing her; we, therefore, took all the iron work out of her, and proceeded down the river fifteen miles, and encamped near some cottonwood trees, one of which was of the narrow-leafed kind, and the first of that species we had remarked as we ascended the river."

While these incidents were happening, Captain Clark and his party had made their way to the Jefferson, and, pushing down the latter river and the Missouri into which it falls, succeeded in effecting a junction with the Lewis contingent and in time to reinforce it against the Indians that had menaced it.

CHAPTER XIII

THE LAST OF A LONG JOURNEY

THE force now reunited on the Missouri, a little below the junction of the Yellowstone, lost no time in proceeding on its way homewards. On reaching their old friends the Mandans (August 14), the Expedition found that tribe and the Minnetarees at war with the Ricaras, while the Assiniboines of the north were at strife with the Mandans. They received a hearty welcome, however, from the latter, but were unsuccessful in their efforts to reconcile the warring tribes, and so smoked the peace-pipe with them and continued their voyage down the river. Under safer and pleasanter circumstances, the explorers pushed on towards civilization, all of the Expedition members being hungry for home news, as well as for reunion with their respective families.

The "Journal" of the Expedition, at this point, gives an interesting account of the Yellowstone River and of its favorable site for trade. The party, it will be seen, was much annoyed by mosquitoes, and it also was a sufferer by the depredations of the Indians, in having stolen the horses, which necessitated the construction of extemporized canoes, made of the skins of wild beasts, for the voyage down the Yellowstone. The extract, which is here ap

pended, closes by an account of the meeting of two white men, hunters on the river, from whom the Expedition learned some welcome news of the outer world, with some information of Indian wars which was not so welcome to the party leaders.

“The Rochejaune, or Yellowstone River, according to Indian information, has its remote sources in the Rocky Mountains, near the peaks of the Rio del Norde, on the confines of New Mexico, to which country there is a good road during the whole distance along the banks of the Yellowstone. Its western waters are probably connected with those of Lewis's River, while the eastern branches approach the heads of Clark's River, the Bighorn, and the Platte; so that it waters the middle portion of the Rocky Mountains for several hundred miles from northwest to southeast. During its whole course from the point at which Captain Clark reached it to the Missouri, a distance which he computed at eight hundred and thirty-seven miles, this river is large and navigable for pirogues, and even batteaux, there being none of the moving sandbars which impede the navigation of the Missouri, and only a single ledge of rocks, which, however, is not difficult to pass. Even its tributary waters, the Bighorn, Clark's fork, and Tongue River, may be ascended in boats for a considerable distance. The banks of the river are low, but bold, and nowhere subject to be overflowed, except for a short distance below the mountains. The predominating color of the river is a yellowish-brown; that of the Missouri, which possesses more mud, is of a deep drab color; the bed of