and cruel a foe. All these counsels were lost upon his easy and simple-minded hearers. A carelessindifference reigned throughout their encampments, and their horses were permitted to range thehills at night in perfect freedom. Captain Bonneville had his own horses brought in at night, andproperly picketed and guarded. The evil he apprehended soon took place. In a single night aswoop
was made through the neighboring pastures by the Blackfeet, and eighty-six of the finest horsescarried off. A whip and a rope were left in a conspicuous situation by the robbers, as a taunt tothe
simpletons they had unhorsed.
Long before sunrise the news of this calamity spread like wildfire through the differentencampments. Captain Bonneville, whose own horses remained safe at their pickets, watched inmomentary expectation of an outbreak of warriors, Pierced-nose and Flathead, in furious pursuitof
the marauders; but no such thing -- they contented themselves with searching diligently over hilland
dale, to glean up such horses as had escaped the hands of the marauders, and then resignedthemselves to their loss with the most exemplary quiescence.
Some, it is true, who were entirely unhorsed, set out on a begging visit to their cousins, asthey called them, the Lower Nez Perces, who inhabit the lower country about the Columbia, andpossess horses in abundance. To these they repair when in difficulty, and seldom fail, by dint ofbegging and bartering, to get themselves once more mounted on horseback.
Game had now become scarce in the neighborhood of the camp, and it was necessary,according to Indian custom, to move off to a less beaten ground. Captain Bonneville proposedthe
Horse Prairie; but his Indian friends objected that many of the Nez Perces had gone to visit theircousins, and that the whites were few in number, so that their united force was not sufficient toVenture upon the buffalo grounds, which were infested by bands of Blackfeet.
They now spoke of a place at no great distance, which they represented as a perfecthunter's
elysium. It was on the right branch, or head stream of the river, locked up among cliffs andprecipices where there was no danger from roving bands, and where the Blackfeet dare not enter.
Here, they said, the elk abounded, and the mountain sheep were to be seen trooping upon therocks
and hills. A little distance beyond it, also, herds of buffalo were to be met with, Out of range ofdanger. Thither they proposed to move their camp.
The proposition pleased the captain, who was desirous, through the Indians, of becomingacquainted with all the secret places of the land. Accordingly, on the 9th of December, theystruck
their tents, and moved forward by short stages, as many of the Indians were yet feeble from thelate
malady.
Following up the right fork of the river they came to where it entered a deep gorge of themountains, up which lay the secluded region so much valued by the Indians. Captain Bonnevillehalted and encamped for three days before entering the gorge. In the meantime he detached fiveof
his free trappers to scour the hills, and kill as many elk as possible, before the main body shouldenter, as they would then be soon frightened away by the various Indian hunting parties.
While thus encamped, they were still liable to the marauds of the Blackfeet, and CaptainBonneville admonished his Indian friends to be upon their guard. The Nez Perces, however,notwithstanding their recent loss, were still careless of their horses; merely driving them to somesecluded spot, and leaving them there for the night, without setting any guard upon them. Theconsequence was a second swoop, in which forty-one were carried off. This was borne withequal
philosophy with the first, and no effort was made either to recover the horses, or to takevengeance
on the thieves.
The Nez Perces, however, grew more cautious with respect to their remaining horses,driving
them regularly to the camp every evening, and fastening them to pickets. Captain Bonneville,however, told them that this was not enough. It was evident they were dogged by a daring andpersevering enemy, who was encouraged by past impunity; they should, therefore, take morethan
usual precautions, and post a guard at night over their cavalry. They could not, however, bepersuaded to depart from their usual custom. The horse once picketed, the care of the owner wasover
for the night, and he slept profoundly. None waked in the camp but the gamblers, who, absorbedin
their play, were more difficult to be roused to external circumstances than even the sleepers.
