cked in vain to furnish men worse fitted to meet the
dangers of the prairie. Many of them were mere boys, fresh from the
plow, and devoid of knowledge and experience. In respect to the state
of the trail, they confirmed all that the Santa Fe men had told us.
In passing between the Pawnee Fork and the Caches, their sentinels had
fired every night at real or imaginary Indians. They said also that
Ewing, a young Kentuckian in the party that had gone down before us, had
shot an Indian who was prowling at evening about the camp. Some of them
advised us to turn back, and others to hasten forward as fast as we
could; but they all seemed in such a state of feverish anxiety, and so
little capable of cool judgment, that we attached slight weight to what
they said. They next gave us a more definite piece of intelligence;
a large village of Arapahoes was encamped on the river below. They
represented them to be quite friendly; but some distinction was to be
made between a party of thirty men, traveling with oxen, which are of
no value in an Indian's eyes and a mere handful like ourselves, with a
tempting band of mules and horses. This story of the Arapahoes therefore
caused us some anxiety.

Just after leaving the government wagons, as Shaw and I were riding
along a narrow passage between the river bank and a rough hill that
pressed close upon it, we heard Tete Rouge's voice behind us. "Hallo!"
he called out; "I say, stop the cart just for a minute, will you?"

"What's the matter, Tete?" asked Shaw, as he came riding up to us with a
grin of exultation. He had a bottle of molasses in one hand, and a large
bundle of hides on the saddle before him, containing, as he triumphantly
informed us, sugar, biscuits, coffee, and rice. These supplies he had
obtained by a stratagem on which he greatly plumed himself, and he was
extremely vexed and astonished that we did not fall in with his views of
the matter. He had told Coates, the master-wagoner, that the commissary
at the fort had given him an order for sick-rations, directed to the
master of any government train which he might meet upon the road. This
order he had unfortunately lost, but he hoped that the rations would
not be refused on that account, as he was suffering from coarse fare and
needed them very much. As soon as he came to camp that night Tete Rouge
repaired to the box at the back of the cart, where Delorier used to
keep his culinary apparatus, took possession of a saucepan, and