Mr. Stuart
kept them well supplied with choice bits, for it was his policy to
overfeed them, and keep them from leaving the hut, where they served
as hostages for the good conduct of their followers. Once, only, in the
course of the day, did the chief sally forth. Mr. Stuart and one of his
men accompanied him, armed with their rifles, but without betraying any
distrust. The chieftain soon returned, and renewed his attack upon the
larder. In a word, he and his worthy coadjutor, the lieutenant, ate
until they were both stupefied.
Towards evening the Indians made their preparations for the night
according to the practice of war parties. Those outside of the hut threw
up two breastworks, into which they retired at a tolerably early hour,
and slept like overfed hounds. As to the chief and his lieutenant, they
passed the night in the hut, in the course of which, they, two or three
times, got up to eat. The travellers took turns, one at a time, to mount
guard until the morning.
Scarce had the day dawned, when the gormandizing was renewed by the
whole band, and carried on with surprising vigor until ten o'clock, when
all prepared to depart. They had six days' journey yet to make, they
said, before they should come up with the Crows, who, they understood,
were encamped on a river to the northward.
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