By this means, they would always be in shape to meet their sworn foes, while the real business which brought them into the country would not be neglected.
The hunters were confident they would not be left alone very long.

The Blackfeet would resent the invasion of their hunting grounds, and to say the least, would take measures to prevent the time hanging heavily on the hands of the pale faces.
But, to the astonishment of the trappers, the days passed without bringing a glimpse of the savages.

No hostile shot awoke the impressive stillness of the wilderness.

Could it be the Blackfeet were seeking to throw the whites off their guard?
Did they expect to induce a degree of carelessness that would enable the Blackfeet to gather their warriors and overwhelm them before they could reply?
It was not reasonable to suppose that the sagacious tribe held any such belief, for they could not have failed to know that any such hope was idle.
But the explanation came one day by a party of friendly Crow Indians, who stated that the small pox was raging with such awful virulence among the Blackfeet that they were dying by hundreds and thousands.

Indeed, the havoc was so dreadful that there was reason to believe the whole tribe would be swept away.
It would not be the first time that such an annihilation has taken place among the American Indians.