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Show ' 27~ AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF relatives, and return with us to the village. All did so except Stuart. I requested him also to mount. " No," said he, " I will get on behind no d-d rascal ; and any man that will live with such wretches is a cl-d rascal" "I thank you for your compliment," I returned; "but I have no time to attend to it here." " Captain Stuart," said Charles A. Wharfield, aftertward colonel in the United States army, "that's very unbecoming language to use at such a time." "Come, come, boys," interposed Dr. Harrison, "let us not be bandying words here. We will return with them, whether for better or for worse." After I had mounted the party, I borrowed a horse of one of my warriors, and led them back to the village. For temporary safety, I deposited the party in my father's lodge. Fitzpatrick inquired of me, "Jim, vvhat in the name of God are you going to do with us ?" "I don't know yet," I said; "but I will do the best possible for you." I then called the Dog Soldiers to me, and commanded them, together with the Little Wolves, to surround the village, and not suffer a single person to go out. They all repaired to their stations. I next took fifty faithful men, and made a thorough search throughout the vi~lage, beginning at the extreme row of lodges. By th1s means I recovered all the goods, once in the possession of Fitzpatrick, in good condition, except his scarlet and blue c!oths, which had been torn up for blankets and weanng apparel, but still not much injured for the Indian trade. I also recovered all his horses, with the exception of five, which had been taken to Bear's Tooth's camp. I had the goods well JAMEB P. BECKWOURTH. 279 secured, and a strong guard of my relatives placed over the1n. The reader may perhaps inquire what restrained the infuriated Crows frmn molesting the rescued party on their way to the village. Simply this: when an Indian has another one mounted behind him, the supposition is that he has taken him prisoner, and is conductinO' him to head-quarters. vVhile thus placed, the Indian° havino· him in charge is responsible with his b h. life for his security; if he fails to protect him, liD-self and all his kindrecl are disgraced; an outrage upon the prisoner is construed into pusillanimity on the part of the custodian. Prisoners are also safe while in custody in the village; their inviolability is then transferred to the responsibility of the chief. This is In-dian morals. I was informed subsequently that the Englishman, as soon as he approached 1ne, cocked his gun, intending to shoot me. It was well for him, as well as his party, that he altered his mind; for, if he .had harmed me, there would not have been a piece of him left the size of a five-penny bit. I was doing all that lay in my power to save the lives of the party from a parcel of ferocious and exasperated savages; his life depended by the slightest thread over the yawning abyss of death; the slightest misadventure would have proved fatal. At that moment he insulted me in the grossest manner. The language that he addressed to me extorted a look of contempt from me, but I had not time for anger. I was suspected of complicity with the Indians, or, rather, of having instigated the fiendish plot. No man of common sense could entertain such a suspicion, when he sees the part I took in the affair. Had I conspired the tragedy, I had but to rest in my becl • |
