Captain Clark visited the
village of Black Cat, and that worthy savage made the same excuse that
Le Borgne (One-eye) had already put forth; he was afraid of the Sioux.
The journal adds:--
"Captain Clark then spoke to the chiefs and warriors of the village.
He told them of his anxiety that some of them should see their Great
Father, hear his good words, and receive his gifts; and requested them
to fix on some confidential chief who might accompany us. To this they
made the same objections as before; till at length a young man offered
to go, and the warriors all assented to it. But the character of
this man was known to be bad; and one of the party with Captain Clark
informed him that at the moment he (this Indian) had in his possession
a knife which he had stolen. Captain Clark therefore told the chief of
this theft, and ordered the knife to be given up. This was done with
a poor apology for having it in his possession, and Captain Clark then
reproached the chiefs for wishing to send such a fellow to see and hear
so distinguished a person as their Great Father. They all hung down
their heads for some time, till Black Cat apologized by saying that
the danger was such that they were afraid of sending any one of their
chiefs, as they considered his loss almost inevitable."
Although there was so much reluctance on the part of the Indians to
leave their roving life, even for a few months, there were some white
men among the explorers who were willing to give up their home in "the
States.
Pages:
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378