it. This done, my companion and I proceeded to deliber- ate on our future course of proceeding; first, however, Shaw acquainted me with some incidents which had occurred at the fort during my absence.
About a week before, four men had arrived from beyond the mountains: Sublette, Reddick, and two others. Just before reaching the fort they had met a large party of In- dians, chiefly young men. All of them belonged to the village of our old friend Smoke, who, with his whole band of adherents, professed the greatest friendship for the whites. The travellers therefore approached and began to converse without the least suspicion. Suddenly, however, their bridles were seized, and they were ordered to dis- mount. Instead of complying, they lashed their horses, and broke away from the Indiana. As they galloped off they heard a yell behind them, with a burst of derisive laughter, and the reports of several guns. None of them were hurt, though Reddick's bridle-rein was cut by a bullet within an inch of his hand. After this taste of Indian man- ners, they felt for the moment no disposition to encounter farther risks. They intended to pursue the route south- ward along the foot of the mountains to Bent's Fort; and as our plans coincided with theirs, they proposed to join forces. Finding, however, that I did not return, they grew impatient of inaction, forgot their late danger, and set out without us, promising to wait our arrival at Bent's Fort. From thence we were to make the long journey to the settlements in company, as the path was not a little dangerous, being infested by hostile Pawnees and Camanches.
We expected, on reaching Bent's Fort, to find there still another reinforcement. A young Kentuckian had come out to the mountains with Russel's party of California emi-
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Publication Information: Book Title: The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life. Contributors: Francis Parkman - author, Frederic Remington - illustrator. Publisher: Little Brown. Place of Publication: Boston. Publication Year: 1892. Page Number: 307.
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