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Show 36 AU'rOBIOGHAPHY UF dians had driven them all away. Before we left the settlements, our party made free use of the bee-hives, pigs, and poultry belonging to the settlers ; a mara~ding practice commonly indulged in by the m?untaineers, who well knew that the strength of their party secured them against any retaliation on the part of the sufferers. There were two Spaniards in our company, whom we one morning left behind us to catch some horses which had strayed away from the camp. The two men stopped at a house inhabited by a respectable white woman, and they, seeing her without protection, committed a disgraceful assault upon her person. They were pursued to the camp by a number of the settlers, who n1ade known to us the outrage committed upon the woman. We all regarded the crime with the utmost abhorrence, and felt mortified that any of our party should be guilty of conduct so revolting. The culprits were arrested, and they at once admitted their guilt. A council was called in the presence of the settlers, and the culprits offered their choice of two punishments : either to be hung to the . nearest tree, or to receive one hundred lashes each on the bare back. 'They chose the latter punishment, which was immedi~ tely inflicted upon them by four of our party. Having no cat-o'-nine-tails in our possession, the lashes were inflicted with hickory withes. Their backs were dreadfully lacerated, and the blood flowed in streams to the ground. The following morning the two Spaniards, and two of our best horses, were missing from the camp ; we did not pursue them, but, by the tracks we discovered of them, it was evident they had started for New Mexico. JAMES P. BECKWOURTH. 37 I CHAPTER IV. Severe Sufferings in the Camp.-Grand Island.-Platte River.-Up the South Fork of the Platte.-The Dog, the Wolf, and the fir~t Buffalo. ON our arrival at the upper camp, related in the preceding chapter, we found the men, twenty-six in number, reduced to short rations, in weakly condition, and in a discouraged state of mind. They had been expecting the arrival of a large company with abundant supplies, and when we rejoined them without any provisions, they were great! y disappointed. General Ashley exerted himself to infuse fresh courage into their disconsolate breasts, well knowing himself, however, that, unless we could find game, the chances were hard against us. We remained in camp three or four days, until we were well refreshed, and then deliberated upon our next proceeding. Knowing there must be game farther up the river, we moved forward. Our allowance was half a pint of flour a day per man, which we made into a kind of gruel ; if we happened to kill a duck or a goose, it was shared as fairly as possible. I recalled to mind the incidents of our Pawnee expedition. The third evening we made a halt for a few days. We had seen no game worth a charge of powder during our whole rnarch, and our rations were confined to the half pint of flour per day. We numbered thirty-four men, all told, and a duller encampment, I suppose, never was witnessed. No jokes, no fire-side stories, no fun; each man rose in I |