by his servant York, Chaboneau and his wife with her young
child. On his arrival there he observed a very dark cloud rising in the
west which threatened rain, and looked around for some shelter, but
could find no place where they would be secure from being blown into the
river if the wind should prove as violent as it sometimes does in the
plains. At length about a quarter of a mile above the falls he found a
deep ravine where there were some shelving rocks, under which he took
refuge. They were on the upper side of the ravine near the river,
perfectly safe from the rain, and therefore laid down their guns,
compass, and other articles which they carried with them. The shower
was at first moderate, it then increased to a heavy rain, the effects of
which they did not feel: soon after a torrent of rain and hail
descended; the rain seemed to fall in a solid mass, and instantly
collecting in the ravine came rolling down in a dreadful current,
carrying the mud and rocks, and every thing that opposed it. Captain
Clarke fortunately saw it a moment before it reached them, and springing
up with his gun and shotpouch in his left hand, with his right clambered
up the steep bluff, pushing on the Indian woman with her child in her
arms; her husband too had seized her hand and was pulling her up the
hill, but he was so terrified at the danger that but for captain Clark,
himself and his wife and child would have been lost. So instantaneous
was the rise of the water, that before captain Clark had reached his gun
and began to ascend the bank, the water was up to his waist, and he
could scarce get up faster than it rose, till it reached the height of
fifteen feet with a furious current, which had they waited a moment
longer would have swept them into the river just above the great falls,
down which they must inevitable have been precipitated. They reached the
plain in safety, and found York who had separated from them just before
the storm to hunt some buffaloe, and was now returning to find his
master. They had been obliged to escape so rapidly that captain Clarke
lost his compass and umbrella. Chaboneau left his gun, shotpouch, and
tomahawk, and the Indian woman had just time to grasp her child, before
the net in which it lay at her feet was carried down the current. He now
relinquished his intention of going up the river and returned to the
camp at Willowrun. Here he found that the party sent this morning for
the baggage, had all return