and make sure of this solitary animal, for their lives depended on
their success. After considerable trouble and infinite anxiety,
they at length succeeded in killing him. He was instantly flayed and
cut up, and so ravenous were they that they devoured some of the
flesh raw.

When they had rested they proceeded, and after crossing a mountain
ridge, and traversing a plain, they waded one of the branches of
the Spanish River. On ascending its bank, they met about a hundred
and thirty Indians of the Snake tribe. They were friendly in their
demeanour, and conducted the starving trappers to their village,
which was about three miles distant. It consisted of about forty
lodges, constructed principally of pine branches. The Snakes,
like most of their nation, were very poor. The marauding Crows,
in their late excursion through the country, had picked this unlucky
band to the bone, carrying off their horses, several of their squaws,
and most of their effects. In spite of their poverty, they were
hospitable in the extreme, and made the hungry strangers welcome to
their cabins. A few trinkets procured from them a supply of buffalo
meat, together with leather for moccasins, of which the party were
greatly in need. The most valuable prize obtained from them,
however, was a horse. It was a sorry old animal in truth, and it
was the only one which remained to the poor fellows, after the fell
swoop of the Crows. They were prevailed upon to part with it to
their guests for a pistol, an axe, a knife, and a few other trifling
articles.

By sunrise on the following morning, the travellers had loaded their
old horse with buffalo meat, sufficient for five days' provisions,
and, taking leave of their poor but hospitable friends, set forth