barge was adrift. The captains cried loudly, ordering the oars to be manned and the barge held until a cable could be passed ashore—and instantly the two Indians in the pirogue shouted excitedly, in the Sioux tongue, summoning the village.
"Here! Quick!" they called. "To the boats! Come!"
The whole village burst into an uproar; the warriors poured forth to the water's edge. It was very plain that they feared the white men were leaving. The captains could pay little attention until a cable had been carried from the barge and fastened to a tree on the bank, and the barge pulled in out of the current. Then
"Ask Tor-to-hon-ga what's the meaning of all this alarm," bade Captain Lewis, tersely, of Drouillard. Tor-to-hon-ga was one of the two guests.
"He say de Tetons 'fraid de 'Maha warriors haf come up an' attack de boats of de great white father," interpreted Drouillard.
"Nonsense!" muttered Captain Lewis.
And anybody might see how foolish was this excuse of the Tetons: that the Omahas would attack boats defended by guns, when the Sioux were the real enemies. After the village was quiet again, at least sixty Teton warriors remained there on the bank, all night, ready for action.
"I t'ink," commented Drouillard, "mebbe we have leetle trouble, in mornin'."
