第91章

But about this time Neeshnepahkeeook and Turmachemootoolt (Broken-arm), who, as we passed, were on a war-party against the Shoshonees on the south branch of Lewis' River, returned; and becoming jealous of him, because the horses had been confided to his care, were constantly quarrelling with him. At length, being an old man and unwilling to live in perpetual dispute with these two chiefs, he had given up the care of the horses, which had consequently become very much scattered.

The greater part of them were, however, still in the neighborhood; some in the forks between the Chopunnish and Kooskooskee, and three or four at the village of Broken Arm, about half a day's march higher up the river. He added, that on the rise of the river in the spring, the earth had fallen from the door of the cache, and exposed the saddles, some of which had probably been lost; but that, as soon as be was acquainted with the situation of them, he had them buried in another deposit, where they now were.

He promised that, if we would stay the next day at his house, a few miles distant, he would collect such of the horses as were in the neighborhood, and send his young men for those in the forks, over the Kooskooskee. He moreover advised us to visit Broken Arm, who was a chief of great eminence, and he would himself guide us to his dwelling.

"We told him that we would follow his advice in every respect; that we had confided our horses to his care, and expected he would deliver them to us, on which we should cheerfully give him the two guns and the ammunition we had promised him.

With this he seemed very much pleased, and declared he would use every exertion to restore the horses.

We now sent for Neesbnepahkeeook, or Cut Nose, and, after smoking for some time, began by expressing to the two chiefs our regret at seeing a misunderstanding between them.

Neeshnepahkeeook replied that Twisted Hair was a bad old man, and wore two faces; for, instead of taking care of our horses, he had suffered his young men to hunt with them, so that they had been very much injured, and it was for this reason that Broken Arm and himself had forbidden him to use them.

Twisted Hair made no reply to this speech, and we then told Neeshnepahkeeook of our arrangement for the next day.

He appeared to be very well satisfied, and said he would himself go with us to Broken Arm, who expected to see us, and had TWO BAD HORSES FOR US; by which expression we understood that Broken Arm intended to make us a present of two horses."

Next day, the party reached the house of Twisted-hair, and began to look for their horses and saddles. The journal gives this account of the search:--"Late in the afternoon, Twisted-hair returned with about half the saddles we had left in the autumn, and some powder and lead which were buried at the same place. Soon after, the Indians brought us twenty-one of our horses, the greater part of which were in excellent order, though some had not yet recovered from hard usage, and three had sore backs.

We were, however, very glad to procure them in any condition.

Several Indians came down from the village of Tunnachemootoolt and passed the night with us. Cut-nose and Twisted-hair seem now perfectly reconciled, for they both slept in the house of the latter.

The man who had imposed himself upon us as a brother of Twisted-hair also came and renewed his advances, but we now found that he was an impertinent, proud fellow, of no respectability in the nation, and we therefore felt no inclination to cultivate his intimacy.

Our camp was in an open plain, and soon became very uncomfortable, for the wind was high and cold, and the rain and hail, which began about seven o'clock, changed in two hours to a heavy fall of snow, which continued till after six o'clock [May 10th], the next morning, when it ceased, after covering the ground eight inches deep and leaving the air keen and cold. We soon collected our horses, and after a scanty breakfast of roots set out on a course S. 35'0 E."

They were now following the general course of the Kooskooskee, or Clearwater, as the stream is called, and their route lay in what is now Nez Perce County, Idaho. They have passed the site of the present city of Lewiston, named for Captain Lewis. They have arrived in a region inhabited by the friendly Chopunnish, or Nez Perce, several villages of which nation were scattered around the camp of the white men.

The narrative says:

"We soon collected the men of consideration, and after smoking, explained how destitute we were of provisions. The chief spoke to the people, who immediately brought two bushels of dried quamash-roots, some cakes of the roots of cows, and a dried salmon-trout; we thanked them for this supply, but observed that, not being accustomed to live on roots alone, we feared that such diet might make our men sick, and therefore proposed to exchange one of our good horses, which was rather poor, for one that was fatter, and which we might kill.

The hospitality of the chief was offended at the idea of an exchange; he observed that his people had an abundance of young horses, and that if we were disposed to use that food we might have as many as we wanted. Accordingly, they soon gave us two fat young horses, without asking anything in return, an act of liberal hospitality much greater than any we have witnessed since crossing the Rocky Mountains, if it be not in fact the only really hospitable treatment we have received in this part of the world. We killed one of the horses, and then telling the natives that we were fatigued and hungry, and that as soon as we were refreshed we would communicate freely with them, began to prepare our repast.

"During this time a principal chief, called Hohastillpilp, came from his village, about six miles distant, with a party of fifty men, for the purpose of visiting us. We invited him into our circle, and he alighted and smoked with us, while his retinue, with five elegant horses, continued mounted at a short distance.