Glad to have won friends on both sides among the hostile Indians, Hunt now pushed rapidly on up the Missouri, halting here and there to trade with the natives, and on the 18th July reached the most northerly point on his voyage, an Aricara village, from which he proposed striking across country to the Black Mountains on the west.
Now began the most arduous part of this great journey. The vast prairies to be crossed were practically unknown to the white man, though they had probably been scoured by many an adventurous hunter, of whose experience no record exists. On one side dwelt the Cheyenne, on the other the Blackfeet Indians—at war with each other, as most Indian tribes appear to have been at this time. It was doubtful whether either or both would care for the white men to pass through their territory.
On the second day's march, some of the leader's anxieties were allayed by his cordial reception in a Cheyenne camp, the owners—cleanly, civil, decorous fellows—placing all they had at his disposal, and eagerly purchasing the trinkets offered to them for sale. On the 6th August, the friendly Cheyennes were left behind and the Crow country entered, where a subtle danger awaited the travelers, of which Hunt received warning just in time.
A short time previously, a man named Edward Rose had been engaged as interpreter for the passage of the Crow districts, he having been known to have spent many years among its wild inhabitants. That he had married a Crow woman, and identified himself with the interests of her tribe, was not known until afterward; but on the eve of the entry into his adopted country, Rose was overheard proposing to some of Hunt's followers that they should desert to the Crow camp with all the horses they could carry off, where he (Rose) would join them, and show them how to entice other unsuspecting travelers from the right way to the coast.
Sending for Rose to his own tent, Hunt, showing no knowledge of his nefarious schemes, informed him that he should not require his services beyond the Crow country, but that, in consideration of his faithfulness, he should have a horse, three beaver traps and other valuable accessories to a hunter's equipment, when the Canadians were safely through the passes of the Black Mountains.
Surprised at this liberality, which made it really scarcely worth his while to play traitor, Rose resolved to undo what he had begun. A message was conveyed to his allies, the Crows, instructing them to treat his white friends courteously; it was resolved in council by the chieftains that no harm
