“I’m highly oblaiged to ye,” grinned Teddy, “for me arms have been waxin’ tired ever sin’ I l’arned the Injin way of driving a canoe through the water.  When ye gets out o’ breath jist ax another red-skin to try his hand, while I boss the job.”

The canoes were pulled rapidly up-stream.  This settled that the whites were being carried to the village which was their original destination.  Both Harvey and his wife were rather pleased than otherwise with this, although the missionary would have preferred an interview or conversation in order to make himself and intentions known.  He was surprised at the knowledge they displayed of the English language.  He overheard words exchanged between them which were as easy to understand as much of Teddy’s talk.  They must be, therefore, in frequent communication with white men.  Their location was so far north that, as Richter plausibly inferred, they were extensive dealers in furs and peltries, which must be disposed of to traders and the agents of the American Fur and Hudson Bay Companies.  The Selkirk or Red river settlement also, must be at an easily accessible distance.

It may seem strange that it never occurred to the captives that the savages might do them harm.  In fact, nothing but violence itself would have convinced the missionary that such was contemplated.  He had yielded himself, heart and soul, to his work; he felt an inward conviction that he was to accomplish great good.  Trials and sufferings of all imaginable kinds he expected to undergo, but his life was to be spared until the work was accomplished.  Of that he never experienced a moment’s doubt.

Our readers will bear in mind that the period of which we write, although but a little more than forty years since, was when the territory west of the Mississippi was almost entirely unknown.  Trappers, hunters and fur-traders in occasional instances, penetrated into the heart of the mighty solitude.  Lewis and Clarke had made their expedition to the head-waters of the Columbia, but the result of all these visits, to the civilized world, was much the same as that of the adventurers who have penetrated into the interior of Africa.

It was known that on the northwest dwelt the warlike Blackfeet, the implacable foes of every white man.  There, also, dwelt other tribes, who seemed resolved that none but their own race should dwell upon that soil.  Again, there were others with whom little difficulty was experienced in bartering and trading, to the great profit of the adventurous whites, and the satisfaction of the savages; still, the shrewd traders knew better than to trust to Indian magnanimity or honor.  Their reliance under heaven, was their tact in managing the savages, and their own goodly rifles and strong arms.  The Sioux were among the latter class, and with them it was destined that the lot of Harvey Richter and his wife should be cast.