| OCR Text |
Show COL. FEEMONT'S JUSTICE. 91 evening we exposed our wares, viz.: blankets, knives, red cloth, vermilion, etc., etc., which we brought along to conciliate the Indians, and also to trade with them for horses and venison. We made several purchases, and traded for several small lots of fat venison. About nine o'clock, after placing double guard around our animals and while we were regaling on fat deer meat in Col. Fremont's lodge, we heard loud noises approaching the camp ; voices of women were heard in bitter bewailment. I thought it was a religious ceremony of Indian burial, or something of the kind. Col. Fremont requested me to see from what it proceeded. I found the whole Indian camp in procession assembled around our lodge. The warriors were all armed, headed by a half-breed, who had been some time in Mexico, and had acquired a smattering of the Spanish language; this man acted as interpreter. Understanding the Spanish language, I gleaned from him that the horse our Delawares had killed the evening before, some twenty miles away, belonged to one of the squaws then present, who valued it very highly, and demanded payment. On informing Col. Fremont, who denied himself to the Indians, he remarked that " we had no right to kill their horse without remunerating them for it." The man in charge of the baggage was deputed to give them what was a fair compensation for it. The Indians having seen our assortment, wanted a part of everything we had, including a keg of gunpowder. To this demand Col. Fremont gave an absolute refusal, and at the same time emphatically expressed his |
