hey yelled awfully,
and abused us not a little, calling us by all the names their rage could
find: squaws, dogs of Pale-faces, cowards, thieves, &c. At last,
however, they retired in the direction of the river, hoping yet to have
us in their power; but so little had we to fear, that we determined to
pass a few days on the island, that we might repose from our fatigues.

When we decided upon continuing our route, Gabriel and Roche were
obliged to leave their saddles and bridles behind, as the canoe was too
small for ourselves and luggage. This was a misfortune which could be
easily repaired at the settlement, and till then, saddles, of course,
were useless. We went on merrily from forty-five to fifty miles every
day, on the surface of the most transparent and coolest water in the
world. During the night we would land and sleep on the shore. Game was
very plentiful, for at almost every minute we would pass a stag or a
bull drinking; sometimes at only twenty yards, distance.

During this trip on the Ogden river, we passed four other magnificent
lakes, but not one of them bearing any marks of former civilization, as
on the shores of the first one which had sheltered us. We left the river
two hundred and forty miles from where we had commenced our navigation,
and, carrying our canoe over a portage of three miles, we launched it
again upon one of the tributaries of the Buona Ventura, two hundred
miles north-east from the settlement.

The current was now in our favour, and in four days more we landed among
my good friends, the Shoshones, who, after our absence of nine months,
received us with almost a childish joy. They had given us up for dead,
and suspecting the Crows of having had a hand in our disappearance,
they had made an invasion into their territory.

Six days after our arrival our three horses were perceived swimming
across the river; the faithful animals had also escaped from our
enemies, and found their way back to their masters and their
native prairies.

CHAPTER XV.

During my long absence and captivity among the Arrapahoes, I had often
reflected upon the great advantages which would accrue if, by any
possibility, the various tribes which were of Shoshone origin could be
induced to unite with them in one confederacy; and the more I reflected
upon the subject, the more resolved I became, that if ever I returned to
the settlement, I would make the proposition to our chiefs in council.

The numbers c