nce more on the happy
hunting-grounds of the Great Plains. They found their caches
undisturbed. Early in July they separated for a time, Clark descending
the Yellowstone and Lewis the Missouri, until they met at the junction
of the two rivers. The party which went down the Yellowstone at one time
split into two, Clark taking command of one division, and a sergeant of
the other; they built their own canoes, some of them made out of
hollowed trees, while the others were bull boats, made of buffalo hides
stretched on a frame. As before they revelled in the abundance of the
game. They marvelled at the incredible numbers of the buffalo whose
incessant bellowing at this season filled the air with one continuous
roar, which terrified their horses; they were astonished at the
abundance and tameness of the elk; they fought their old enemies the
grizzly bears; and they saw and noted many strange and wonderful beasts
and birds.

The Adventure of Lewis and the Indians.

To Lewis there befell other adventures. Once, while he was out with
three men, a party of eight Blackfoot warriors joined them and suddenly
made a treacherous attack upon them and strove to carry off their guns
and horses. But the wilderness veterans sprang to arms with a readiness
that had become second nature. One of them killed an Indian with a knife
thrust; Lewis himself shot another Indian, and the remaining six fled,
carrying with them one of Lewis' horses, but losing four of their own,
which the whites captured. This was the beginning of the long series of
bloody skirmishes between the Blackfeet and the Rocky Mountain explorers
and trappers. Clark, at about the same time, suffered at the hands of
the Crows, who stole a number of his horses.

He is Shot by one of his Own Party.

None of the party were hurt by the Indians, but some time after the
skirmish with the Blackfeet Lewis was accidentally shot by one of the
Frenchmen of the party and suffered much from the wound. Near the mouth
of the Yellowstone Clark joined him, and the reunited company floated
down the Missouri. Before they reached the Mandan villages they
encountered two white men, the first strangers of their own color the
party had seen for a year and a half. These were two American hunters
named Dickson and Hancock, who were going up to trap the head-waters of
the Missouri on their own account. They had come from the Illinois
country a year before, to hunt and trap; they had been plun