his present, and go to our lodges, and there tell to our children how kind the Long-knife is to the red man."
The speech was received in silence, —no one expressing either approbation or dissent, as the old man resumed his seat. The Brave Bear hung his head sullenly, but said nothing. The talk had evidently come to a close. At last, Bull Tail arose, and, shaking hands with the commandant and each of the company, took
the tobacco and left for the village. The others soon after, one by one, followed his example, and we were finally rid of their unwelcome presence; not, however, until they had stolen an axe and several other articles, despite the strictness of our vigilance.
CHAPTER VII.
The Chimney. A bet. Spur of the Rocky Mountains. Scott's Bluff. Romantic scenery. Mimic city. A pyramid. A monument. An elevated garden. Mountain sheep. An Eden. Death in camp. The wanderer's grave. Horse creek and gold. Goche's hole. Arrival at Fort Platte. Remarks by the way. Prairie travel. Locality and description of the Fort. Indian lodges. Migratory habits of mountain and prairie tribes. Scenes at Fort. Drunken Indians. Tragical event. Indian funeral. Speech of Etespa-huska on the death of his father.
Oct. 26th. RAISING camp at daylight we resumed our way, and soon afterwards arrived opposite the " Chimney," an extraordinary natural curiosity that had continued in view and excited our admiration for some four days past.
This singular formation surmounts a conical eminence which rises, isolated and lonely, in the open prairie, reaching a height of three hundred feet. It is composed of terrene limestone and marl, quadrangularly shaped, like the spire of some church, six feet by ten at its base, with an altitude of more than two hundred feet, —making, together with the mound, an elevation of five hundred feet.9 A grand and imposing spectacle, truly;—a wonderful display of the eccentricity of Nature!
How came such an immense pile so singularly situated? What causes united their aid to throw up this lone column, so majestic in its solitude, to overlook the vast and unbroken plains that surround it?
The "Chimney" is situated about three miles to the left of the mountain trail, though it seems no more than eight hundred yards distant. Upon this question our party entertained no small diversity of opinion. Some of the less knowing were confident it could not exceed a half mile; and one fellow offered to bet five dollars he could run to it in fifteen minutes.
The banter was promptly accepted, and the "greenhorn," doffing his coat and hat, started in full expectation of winning the wager. But, instead of fifteen, it took him forty-five minutes to reach the spot!
The day after passing the "Chimney," we entered a broad defile of lofty ridges, and made camp. This locality is known as Scott's Bluff, which is, properly speaking, a wing of the Rocky Mountains.
From Ash creek to this place, an almost precipitous wall of arenaceous rock, limestone, and marl, shuts the high prairie from the river bottoms. As the traveller proceeds, this wall or ledge gradually increases in height, and recedes from the
9 Formerly the "Chimney" was much higher than at present, and could be distinctly seen in a clear day as far as Ash creek. The wind and the rain are continually reducing it; and it is said to be full fifty feet less than it was nine years ago. Calculating from this datum, what must have been its altitude no longer remote than a couple of centuries!
