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Show [ 23] 118 ca rn p fire·~ ·, wh·ich neror ligence having caused tfhf e <le1 sttncti·o n nf the pasture grounds, our anules w~uld w,:1r1der o , an< we frt'qllt'ntly lost much of the day in catch1ng ther~. It as 110 wonder that ~he Incfiart looks with hatred upon tile wh1te!':, who go ~hout spr_ead1ng dt·solation, by their shameful _wast_e of pasture grounds wh1ch the Great Bting has plante(l. Th1~ w1ntt'r the buffalo ha\·t' a'•ij.'•St _de. serted the river, because there .Isno grR!':sfor t!J t>m ; and the f~l<hant forced by the inclemencies ot the st>aS1)n to Set'l~ r- heltf:'r 1n the timber which grows only on the bank:-; of the rlvt-r, m~u:;t now travel 'a long way from l1is vill<1ge bt·fore he can obl~lln m(·at enounh for his subsistence. There should be some measures taken to tn~tect thE: prairi~·s from being sd. on fi re. Febrva1·y 5.-Wc hr~d scarcl'ly ·Jt:'ft camp, wh('n tl1e wolvr.s r~nd raveus clustered around th e ~llloking embt>rs of Jllr c;;m p fires. D u r i 11 g 1l e d a y L a i n g k i 11 e d a w o I f, a n d h e ~d s o k i 1 I e d a b a rl g ~~ r, "taxus labradoritu s." Continuing: nur llllHcb, we p s~t-·d ht')OOII the point where the road turns off whie1 got"S d ir t' ~ t to Pawnee Fork, and pass ing three miles be}ond Jad> ·on s grovt' , enc<~mped in the open prairie. For fu el, we used the" bois de vad1e," r1nd the pools of mf'ltrd snow near our camp supplit>d us with \·'•ater. ln tbe eveni~•g- we t w i c e h e a r d t h e rep o r t o f a g u n ; b u t , a s w t• h < d n o t i e e d d u r i n g 1 L e day fresh signs of wC~gons and ox en , we sup}!O"t'd W<' had OVt'rtakton a parly of teamsters who had gone on ft_' Oill lle11t's Fort, aud who had taken the direct road to Pawnee Fork. February 6.-This morning when we arose, the buffalo were numerous all around our camp. We bt>gan to gd «"Yt'ry thing rt·ady for the rn arch , a n cl sen t on· t h e g-uard f <v t h e m 1 Jl e 1" ; i t r l't u r n c d wItho u t them , a n d r P p o r t e d t h a t n o t o n e o f o u r a n i m a 1 s c n u I d b e I o u n rl. I no w sen t P i I k ::~ ; i n a f e w h o u r s h e ret u r n t' d , a n d r f p o r t e d t h t1 t the Indians had (·arri ed off nur mult s; he ha1l found tlrf'ir trail, which led off to the north. This trail was perfeetly ·st·rai g ht; there ~ere no signs of any mule having turned ::~side to crnr the lt>mptIng grass, through which their course somf~ times 1 'd. We no longer doubted th~t the mules had been earned off by thP 11Jdians. I questioned the guard, and learned that tht:> mules had r un i11to Ct!mp as .the da~ was dawning, but thty w·t>re driYen out again, flS d~t·y were teani.g the wagon covers with their tertb, alld 1hstro-' ing every thing they could get hold of. H:ui tht> guard bt·tn used to tra\'cl arnoug ludians, the co.nduct of the mules woult.l h ~ ve eaused them to have· caught them, and to have se1;11red them w t. be wagoi1s. What were we to do? To pursue the Indian s on foo t was vain. W·e ~~re now left with our wagons contn"ning ou r heddtn~ and prov1s1ons, and a sick man who had not ht·~n able to walk for the la~t wet'k .. What !•ow was to be done with Hll the geologit'al and ~lflE'ralogt,c_al !'pecunens, r.nrl the colle'cti.orr of objt'ctS of nntural h1story, wntch had been obtaint>rl in New J\ihxit·o? I thought of "caching" e~ery thin_g, and walking into the State~; hut what ~as t~ be t~one With tl~e. Sit.:k man?_ Sot!-H! of my rn(•n proposed lt·a~l"ff. h1~ Wtth the prov1s10ns, to abtde hts chauce on tbe prair11 ·; ''for~ sa1d they, "must we all uic for this one mau· is it not bt:tter that ' . 119 [ 23] one ~houhl cli.e ?" Bu. t. I determined not to !eave the poo f 11 1. h" r e ow wit bout certaw provlsJO_n or ts safety. \\" e Wf'fe off from th;. usually travelled road; 1t was necessary that we sh(Jull . 1 t · I h h · · · . · ' re urn o 1 t. 0 n c e t o u ~ t o t rem a 1n In g u n t d I co u I d r e c e i \' e m 1 f . Fort L e a \'en w o r t l1 , b u t 1· n b rt· n g 1· n g them to me they w · u es rom 0 u 1 d u a in be liable to be stoll'n by the Indians. g Near our cafmp we found two ~roken down oxen. We hitr:hecl them to one o the we1gon!", ~nd With the help of the men we mnved to a spot t?at would be t·astly ?efended, and where we would be sheltert·d /rom any storm that mtght come. February 7.-I now determined to proceed at any r"'to cle .J_ . h h. I .. _, pen u wg o 1 nf t ~ 1 resourct•s w 1~ 1 ;Yt't remaineu to me, without involving myst-> w1t 1 new uncerta1nt1rs. I again sent out a party to reconnoitre the country, wishing "to make assurance doubl.y sure." It was hard to believe that our evil stars h.ad been_ so domtnan~; not a trace of the lost mules could be seen, lor the l1 tt le spots ot snow which yesterday bore their vestig<' s had to-day melted away. .But n(~thing ann?yed me more than the irlea of losing my vari ·ous .~rectmens, w h1ch had a1 ready cost so much time, labor aud anxtet y. ' At last I cl~ termined to destroy one of the wagons, and to throw ·away everytht~g that we coultl possibly dispense with, and then to put ourse h'es In to th c traces and u rag the 1 igh test wagon as far as Pawnee fork; th ~re I should leave the sick man, with some persons to t <lk ~ c a r e o f lu m '· an u t h e : t s t o .f t h e p a r t y w o ul d p a de t h e i r provisions t!.ncl bedd1ng on their backs, and start for the settlements. Febru,ary 8.-We begun our preparations; the warm clo1hing that we had brought to protect. us from the rig-ors of winter was thrown away. The men destroyed thtir buffalo ro bt·s retaining on I Y one for every two men of the party. I p a r ted my' war cl robe arn~wgst my men, ?-nd no one reserved any apparel, eXCt'pt that wh1ch he had on hts ba ck; everything was uow disposed of exeept our powder an1l ll:'ad and our provisions. We now droye up the two steers which fortune had thrown in our way; we fed them bountifully with the corn we had treasured up so carefu!1y. Having fou·nd th at the oxen could not work in m_ule har_ness, we manufacturet.l a yoke, by driving- into a bar two pteces of .1·ood ; these pieces were in pairs and had holes iu the ends so that cord5 being passet.l through the holes, they Wt're ti ed unde; the ~hroats of the oxen. A Jong rope was attat.:hed to t '.e tongue of the wagon, and the men formed loops ot ropes or brit.:ol"'s w l idt th<'y passed over their shoulders and then attat:hed at iute vab t() a lor.g rope which was fastened to the eud of the tongue. h We now ~tarted amid the loud t-:xulling cheers of the men, as t ey thus tnurnphed over onr di tfic ultif:'s, whf'n we seemt>d to have reacht>d th e " ne plus ultra" of misfortune. To have seen u~, one. wweo u}ld Ih aveJ thoutrht that we were on some live!)' froli1: whl:'r.t>as o . ' to P.a1 un, enaken _to h_a.ul a_ loaded ~a~on. from .Jack ~ <~u's grove t! a wn"'e !o rk, w h tch Is a dt stan ce of u4 mdes by the rt v t!r ruu le,. Je one wluch we pursued. |