ir enemies the
Pahkees, and had come only to draw them into ambuscade, but that he
himself did not believe it: captain Lewis felt uneasy at this
insinuation: he knew the suspicious temper of the Indians, accustomed
from their infancy to regard every stranger as an enemy, and saw that if
this suggestion were not instantly checked, it might hazard the total
failure of the enterprise. Assuming therefore a serious air, he told the
chief that he was sorry to find they placed so little confidence in him,
but that he pardoned their suspicions because they were ignorant of the
character of white men, among whom it was disgraceful to lie or entrap
even an enemy by falsehood; that if they continued to think thus meanly
of us they might be assured no white men would ever come to supply them
with arms and merchandize; that there was at this moment a party of
white men waiting to trade with them at the forks of the river; and that
if the greater part of the tribe entertained any suspicion, he hoped
there were still among them some who were men, who would go and see with
their own eyes the truth of what he said, and who, even if there was any
danger, were not afraid to die. To doubt the courage of an Indian is to
touch the tenderest string of his mind, and the surest way to rouse him
to any dangerous achievement. Cameahwait instantly replied, that he was
not afraid to die, and mounting his horse, for the third time harangued
the warriors: he told them that he was resolved to go if he went alone,
or if he were sure of perishing; that he hoped there were among those
who heard him some who were not afraid to die, and who would prove it by
mounting their horses and following him. This harangue produced an
effect on six or eight only of the warriors, who now joined their chief.
With these captain Lewis smoked a pipe, and then fearful of some change
in their capricious temper set out immediately. It was about twelve
o'clock when his small party left the camp, attended by Cameahwait and
the eight warriors; their departure seemed to spread a gloom over the
village; those who would not venture to go were sullen and melancholy,
and the woman were crying and imploring the Great Spirit to protect
their warriors as if they were going to certain destruction: yet such
is the wavering inconstancy of these savages, that captain Lewis's party
had not gone far when they were joined by ten or twelve more warriors,
and before reaching the creek which they