Sioux let us leave our village here till our return; let every man able to march follow our father. All agreed in the old man's opinion; it was decided that only a few should remain to protect the women; all the rest would accompany me. I was notified of the result of the council; word was sent throughout the village to warn every one to be ready to march the day after tomorrow, the 30th of the month,[1] thus making a little longer delay among the Mandans, who knew how to profit by it by the sale of their grain, tobacco, peltry and painted plumes, which they know the Assiniboines greatly value, who had brought and now gave i,n exchange muskets, axes, kettles, powder, balls, knives and awls. They are much craftier in trade than the Assiniboines and others, who are constantly their dupes.
We left on the morning of the 30th, about 600 men, several women without children, the best walkers. On the evening of the third day of our march, about seven leagues from the first fort of the Mandans, I was informed that an Assiniboine had taken the bag from my slave on the road, under pretext of relieving him, and had returned to the village. My box, in which were my papers, and many things of use to me, were in the bag. I immediately engaged two young men to run after him, whom I paid, making them promise to bring the bag to the Mandans, where I would wait for them. They set out during the night, overtook the rascal, who had already decamped from the village, made him return everything and came back to their village to keep the whole, hoping to restore it to me on my return, not daring to come after me, being afraid of the Sioux. I saw myself deprived of many things which were of daily use. The orator gave notice that we must leave before four in the morning in order to arrive early at the fort. I found at a league and a half, about noon, near a small river, a number of people who had come to meet us had lighted fires, expecting us,
- ↑ November.
