All hands, therefore, were set busily to work, and they were
employed in this labor for several days. In the mean time no less than
twenty-four of their horses were missing, and they strongly suspected
had been stolen by the Indians, for they were unable to find them,
notwithstanding they made the most diligent search."
"July 23. A piece of a robe and a moccasin," says the journal, "were
discovered this morning not far from the camp. The moccasin was worn out
in the sole, and yet wet, and had every appearance of having been left
but a few hours before. This was conclusive that the Indians had taken
our horses, and were still prowling about for the remainder, which
fortunately escaped last night by being in a small prairie surrounded by
thick timber. At length Labiche, one of our best trackers, returned from
a very wide circuit, and informed Captain Clark that he had traced
the horses bending their course rather down the river towards the open
plains, and from their tracks, must have been going very rapidly. All
hopes of recovering them were now abandoned. Nor were the Indians the
only plunderers around our camp; for in the night the wolves or dogs
stole the greater part of the dried meat from the scaffold. The wolves,
which constantly attend the buffalo, were here in great numbers, as this
seemed to be the commencement of the buffalo country. . . .
"At noon the two canoes were finished. They were twenty-eight feet long,
sixteen or eighteen inches deep, and from sixteen to twenty-four inches
wide; and, having lashed them together, everything was ready for setting
out the next day, Gibson having now recovered.
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