ns as before; till at length a young man offered
to go, and the warriors all assented to it. But the character of
this man was known to be bad; and one of the party with Captain Clark
informed him that at the moment he (this Indian) had in his possession
a knife which he had stolen. Captain Clark therefore told the chief of
this theft, and ordered the knife to be given up. This was done with
a poor apology for having it in his possession, and Captain Clark then
reproached the chiefs for wishing to send such a fellow to see and hear
so distinguished a person as their Great Father. They all hung down
their heads for some time, till Black Cat apologized by saying that
the danger was such that they were afraid of sending any one of their
chiefs, as they considered his loss almost inevitable."

Although there was so much reluctance on the part of the Indians to
leave their roving life, even for a few months, there were some white
men among the explorers who were willing to give up their home in "the
States." The journal says:--

"In the evening Colter applied to us for permission to join the two
trappers who had accompanied us, and who now proposed an expedition up
the river, in which they were to find traps and to give him a share of
the profits. The offer was a very advantageous one; and as he had
always performed his duty, and his services could be dispensed with, we
consented to his going upon condition that none of the rest were to ask
or expect a similar indulgence. To this they all cheerfully assented,
saying that they wished Colter every success, and would not apply for
liberty to separate before we reached St. Louis. We therefore supplied
him, as did his comrades also, with powder and lead, and a variety of
articles which might be useful to him, and he left us the next day. The
example of this man shows how easily men may be weaned from the habits
of civilized life to the ruder, though scarcely less fascinating,
manners of the woods. This hunter had now been absent for many years
from the frontiers, and might naturally be presumed to have some
anxiety, or at least curiosity, to return to his friends and his
country; yet, just at the moment when he was approaching the frontiers,
he was tempted by a hunting scheme to give up all those delightful
prospects, and to go back without the least reluctance to the solitude
of the wilds."

The two captains learned here that the Minnetarees had sent out a
war-party against t