that the band of Indians, whose trail they had discovered in the
neighborhood of the stray horse, had been lying in wait for them in some
secret fastness of the mountains; and were about to attack them on
the open plain, where they would have no shelter. Preparations
were immediately made for defence; and a scouting party sent off to
reconnoitre. They soon came galloping back, making signals that all was
well. The cloud of dust was made by a band of fifty or sixty mounted
trappers, belonging to the American Fur Company, who soon came up,
leading their pack-horses. They were headed by Mr. Fontenelle, an
experienced leader, or "partisan," as a chief of a party is called in
the technical language of the trappers.

Mr. Fontenelle informed Captain Bonneville that he was on his way from
the company's trading post on the Yellowstone to the yearly rendezvous,
with reinforcements and supplies for their hunting and trading parties
beyond the mountains; and that he expected to meet, by appointment, with
a band of free trappers in that very neighborhood. He had fallen
upon the trail of Captain Bonneville's party, just after leaving the
Nebraska; and, finding that they had frightened off all the game, had
been obliged to push on, by forced marches, to avoid famine: both men
and horses were, therefore, much travel-worn; but this was no place to
halt; the plain before them he said was destitute of grass and water,
neither of which would be met with short of the Green River, which was
yet at a considerable distance. He hoped, he added, as his party
were all on horseback, to reach the river, with hard travelling, by
nightfall: but he doubted the possibility of Captain Bonneville's
arrival there with his wagons before the day following. Having imparted
this information, he pushed forward with all speed.

Captain Bonneville followed on as fast as circumstances would permit.