This, however, did not prevent Smith from returning again after a visit to the northern rendezvous.
But while crossing the Colorado, the Mohaves, who had meanwhile been instigated to harass Americans by the Spaniards (so it is said), attacked the expedition, killing ten men and capturing everything.

Smith escaped to be afterwards killed on the Cimarron by the Comanches.
Pattie and his father again entered the Gila country in the autumn of 1827, with permission from the governor of New Mexico to trap.

After they had gone down the Gila a considerable distance the party split up, each band going in different directions, and after numerous adventures the Patties and their adherents arrived at the Colorado, where their horses were stampeded by the tribe living at the mouth of the Gila, the "Umeas." They were left without a single animal, a most serious predicament in a wild country.

The elder Pattie counselled pursuit on foot to recapture the horses or die in the attempt.

But the effort was fruitless.