Rough Wintry Travelling--Hills and Plains.--Snow and Ice.--
Disappearance of Game.--A Vast Dreary Plain.--A. Second Halt
for the Winter.--Another Wigwam.--New Year's Feast.--Buffalo
Humps, Tongues, and Marrow-Bones.--Return of Spring.--Launch
of Canoes.--Bad Navigation.--Pedestrian March.--Vast
Prairies.--Deserted Camps.--Pawnee Squaws.--An Otto
Indian.--News of War.--Voyage Down the Platte and the
Missouri.--Reception at Fort Osage.--Arrival at St. Louis.
THE interval of comfort and repose which the party had enjoyed in their
wigwam, rendered the renewal of their fatigues intolerable for the first
two or three days. The snow lay deep, and was slightly frozen on the
surface, but not sufficiently to bear their weight. Their feet became
sore by breaking through the crust, and their limbs weary by floundering
on without firm foothold. So exhausted and dispirited were they, that
they began to think it would be better to remain and run the risk of
being killed by the Indians, than to drag on thus painfully, with the
probability of perishing by the way. Their miserable horse fared no
better than themselves, having for the first day or two no other fodder
than the ends of willow twigs, and the bark of the cotton-wood tree.
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