in which the warriors had evidently crossed the river, and at night the sky was red with the reflection of huge fires, showing that the prairies had been set on fire by the combatants. Ignoring as much as possible all these terrible omens, Hunt, fresh from his last run back to St. Louis, carefully examined the face of the country on either side of the Nebraska; the naturalists of the party made their notes on the flora and fauna of the new districts; and on the 10th May, the village of Omaha, about eight hundred and thirty miles above the mouth of the Missouri, was reached in safety.
Hospitably received by the little remnant of the once powerful Omaha tribe, who had been in the habit of considering themselves superior to all other created beings till the smallpox had swept half of them away, Hunt rested here awhile before commencing his great journey westward, which rivals in its terrors, and the courage with which they were met, some of the more famous African expeditions.
At Omaha, the fame of the great chief Blackbird, who has figured in so many romances, still lived, and Hunt and his party were among the last white men to look upon the sacred mound beneath which his body reposes, with its ghastly trophies of scalps still displayed on its summit, suspended upon the staff of the hero's banner. The mound itself is still pointed out to the modern traveler, but the scalps, with so many other relics of the olden time, are gone.
A little below the Great Bend of the Missouri, the first encounter took place with the Indians. A scout was seen galloping wildly to and fro on the opposite bank as the traders were at breakfast, and at once divining the meaning of his appearance, the canoes were brought out, and ready for all contingencies, the white men pulled boldly up the stream. Their suspense did not last long. An hour's row brought them suddenly face to face with the enemy. An island intervening had at first hidden them from sight, but, as the canoes shot past it, the banks beyond were revealed, crowded with warriors painted and decorated for battle.
To advance appeared certain death, to retreat scarcely less perilous, as the savages could easily have followed the canoes down the river. To pull into mid-stream appeared at first a feasible compromise, but it was found that the current was too strong. A momentary pause, a few hurried questions of each other, and the white men resolved to fight. The boats were pulled to the shore opposite the Sioux; the guns were examined, and fire was opened on the enemy.
