The dangers to be apprehended from the Crow Indians had not been overrated by the camp gossips.  These savages, through whose mountain haunts the party would have to pass, were noted for daring and excursive habits, and great dexterity in horse stealing.  Mr. Hunt, therefore, considered himself fortunate in having met with a man who might be of great use to him in any intercourse he might have with the tribe.  This was a wandering individual named Edward Rose, whom he had picked up somewhere on the Missouri—­one of those anomalous beings found on the frontier, who seem to have neither kin nor country.  He had lived some time among the Crows, so as to become acquainted with their language and customs; and was, withal, a dogged, sullen, silent fellow, with a sinister aspect, and more of the savage than the civilized man in his appearance.  He was engaged to serve in general as a hunter, but as guide and interpreter when they should reach the country of the Crows.

On the 18th of July, Mr. Hunt took up his line of march by land from the Arickara village, leaving Mr. Lisa and Mr. Nuttall there, where they intended to await the expected arrival of Mr. Henry from the Rocky Mountains.  As to Messrs. Bradbury and Breckenridge, they had departed some days previously, on a voyage down the river to St. Louis, with a detachment from Mr. Lisa’s party.  With all his exertions, Mr. Hunt had been unable to obtain a sufficient number of horses for the accommodation of all his people.  His cavalcade consisted of eighty-two horses, most of them heavily laden with Indian goods, beaver traps, ammunition, Indian corn, corn meal and other necessaries.  Each of the partners was mounted, and a horse was allotted to the interpreter, Pierre Dorion, for the transportation of his luggage and his two children.  His squaw, for the most part of the time, trudged on foot, like the residue of the party; nor did any of the men show more patience and fortitude than this resolute woman in enduring fatigue and hardship.

The veteran trappers and voyageurs of Lisa’s party shook their heads as their comrades set out, and took leave of them as of doomed men; and even Lisa himself gave it as his opinion, after the travellers had departed, they would never reach the shores of the Pacific, but would either perish with hunger in the wilderness, or be cut off by the savages.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Summer Weather of the Prairies.—­Purity of the Atmosphere—­ Canadians on the March.—­Sickness in the Camp.—­Big River.—­ Vulgar Nomenclature.—­Suggestions About the Original Indian Names.—­Camp of Cheyennes.—­Trade for Horses.—­Character of the Cheyennes.—­Their Horsemanship.—­Historical Anecdotes of the Tribe.

The course taken by Mr. Hunt was at first to the northwest, but soon turned and kept generally to the southwest, to avoid the country infested by the Blackfeet.  His route took him across some of the tributary streams