Their provisions were exhausted;
there was no game to be seen, and they did not dare to use their
rifles, through fear of drawing upon them the Blackfeet.
The picture thus presented was too true to be contradicted, and
made a deep impression on the mind of Mr. Stuart; but the idea of
abandoning a fellow being, and a comrade, in such a forlorn
situation, was too repugnant to his feelings to be admitted for
an instant. He represented to the men that the malady of Mr.
Crooks could not be of long duration, and that, in all
probability, he would be able to travel in the course of a few
days. It was with great difficulty, however, that he prevailed
upon them to abide the event.
CHAPTER XLVII.
Ben Jones and a Grizzly Bear.- Rocky Heights- Mountain Torrents.
-Traces of M'Lellan.- Volcanic Remains- Mineral Earths.- Peculiar
Clay for Pottery.- Dismal Plight of M'Lellan.- Starvation.-
Shocking Proposition of a Desperate Man.- A Broken-Down Bull.- A
Ravenous Meal.-Indian Graves- Hospitable Snakes.-A Forlorn
Alliance.
AS the travellers were now in a dangerous neighborhood, where the
report of a rifle might bring the savages upon them, they had to
depend upon their old beaver-trap for subsistence.
