Stephens was severely wounded, but escaped, to die five days afterward.
The survivors returned to the camp of Captain Sublette, bringing tidings
of this new disaster. That hardy leader, as soon as he could bear the
journey, set out on his return to St. Louis, accompanied by Campbell. As
they had a number of pack-horses richly laden with peltries to convoy,
they chose a different route through the mountains, out of the way, as
they hoped, of the lurking bands of Blackfeet. They succeeded in making
the frontier in safety. We remember to have seen them with their band,
about two or three months afterward, passing through a skirt of woodland
in the upper part of Missouri. Their long cavalcade stretched in single
file for nearly half a mile. Sublette still wore his arm in a sling.
The mountaineers in their rude hunting dresses, armed with rifles
and roughly mounted, and leading their pack-horses down a hill of the
forest, looked like banditti returning with plunder. On the top of some
of the packs were perched several half-breed children, perfect little
imps, with wild black eyes glaring from among elf locks. These, I was
told, were children of the trappers; pledges of love from their squaw
spouses in the wilderness.




7.

Retreat of the Blackfeet--Fontenelle's camp in danger--
Captain Bonneville and the Blackfeet--Free trappers--Their
character, habits, dress, equipments, horses--Game fellows
of the mountains--Their visit to the camp--Good fellowship
and good cheer--A carouse--A swagger, a brawl, and a
reconciliation