He reached camp as best he could, and, telling his men to arm themselves, he explained that he had been shot by Indians.

But when Cruzatte came into camp, mutual explanations satisfied all hands that a misunderstanding had arisen and that Cruzatte's unlucky shot was accidental.

As an example of the experience of the party about this time, while they were on their way down the Missouri, we take this extract from their journal:-- "We again saw great numbers of buffalo, elk, antelope, deer, and wolves; also eagles and other birds, among which were geese and a solitary pelican, neither of which can fly at present, as they are now shedding the feathers of their wings.

We also saw several bears, one of them the largest, except one, we had ever seen; for he measured nine feet from the nose to the extremity of the tail.

During the night a violent storm came on from the northeast with such torrents of rain that we had scarcely time to unload the canoes before they filled with water.