They could indulge in no rest, till they got beyond the territory of the Blackfeet.
A march of one or two hundred miles brought them to the banks of the Big Snake river.

It was the month of November.

In those northern latitudes winter was setting in with much severity.

The hill-tops were covered with snow; the streams were coated with ice; freezing blasts from the mountains swept the bleak plains and the narrow defiles.

It was necessary to go into winter quarters for a couple of months.