After the excitement of this affair had somewhat subsided, and the messengers had left us to visit remoter bands, I went with a large party of Indians to some of the upper branches of Red River to hunt beaver. I know not whether it was that we were emboldened by the promise of the prophet, that we should be invisible to the Sioux, but we went much nearer than we had formerly ventured to their country. It was here, in a border region, where both they and ourselves had been afraid to hunt, that we now found beaver in the greatest abundance. Here, without the aid of my gun, I took one hundred large beavers in a single month, by trapping merely. My family was now ten in number, six of whom were orphan children, and although there was no one but myself to hunt or trap, I was able for some time to supply all their wants. At length, beaver began to grow scarce, and I was compelled to shoot an elk. My family had been so long unaccustomed to hear guns, that at the sound of mine they left the lodge and fled to the woods, believing the Sioux had fired upon me. I was compelled to carry my traps to a greater distance, and to visit them only in the middle of the day. My gun was constantly in my mind. If I had occasion to do any thing, I held my gun in one hand and labored with the other. I slept a little by day, but during the night, and every night, I watched around my lodge. Being again out of meat, I went to the woods to hunt moose, and in one day killed four. I butchered and cut them open without laying down my gun. As I was cleaning the last, I heard a gun not more than two hundred yards from me. I knew that I had advanced nearer to the frontier of the Sioux than any Ojibbeway, and I did not believe there were any of the latter tribe living near me. I therefore believed this must be the gun of a Sioux, and immediately called out to him, as I supposed he must have heard my firing, but no answer was returned. I watched about me more anxiously than before, and at the approach of night stole toward home as silently and as cautiously as I could. On the following day, I ventured to examine in the direction of the place where I had heard the gun, and found the tracks which proved to be those of an Ojibbeway, who had fired upon a bear which he was pursuing, probably with too much eagerness to hear me call. Soon after this, I found many tracks, and ascertained that I was not far distant from a place where the Ojibbeways had built and fortified a camp. Three times I received messages from the chiefs of the band living in this camp, stating that my situation was too exposed and dangerous, and urging me to come in. I disliked to live in a crowded place, and it was not until I discovered the tracks of some Sioux that had been reconnoitering my camp, that I determined to fly into this work. The night before my departure was one, at my lodge, of terror and alarm, greater even than is commonly felt among the Indians. I had mentioned the tracks that I had seen, and I did not doubt that a party of the Sioux were in my immediate neighbourhood, and would fall upon me before morning. More than half the night had passed, and not one of us had slept, when we heard a sudden rushing without, and our dogs came running in in evident alarm. I told my children that the time was come for us all to die together. I placed myself in the front part of my lodge, and raising the door a little, put out the muzzle of my gun, and sat in momentary expectation of the approach of the enemy. Footsteps were distinctly audible, but the night being dark, I could as yet see nothing. At length a little black object, not larger in appearance than a man’s head, came slowly and directly towards my lodge. Here again I experienced how much fear influences the power of sight, for this little object, as it came near, seemed at one instant to shoot up to the height of a man, and at the next, to be no larger than it really was. When I was entirely convinced that it was nothing but a small animal, I stepped out, and finding it to be a porcupine, killed it with a tomahawk. The remainder of the night was spent in the same manner as the beginning. Early next morning, I fled to the fortified camp. On my arrival, the chiefs councilled, and sent two young men to look after the property left in my lodge, but as I knew the Sioux were lurking in that direction, and that should the young men be killed, or injured, their friends would consider me the cause of their misfortune, I went before them, but by a circuitous route, determining that if any thing happened, I would be present and have a part in it. I found my lodge safe, and we experienced no molestation in removing my baggage to the fort.
The Sioux, from time to time, came near and looked at our work, but never ventured to attack it. When the spring arrived, all the Ojibbeways left it in one day, but I was compelled to remain, having taken care of some packs for a trader who was then absent, and which I could not remove. The chiefs remonstrated, telling me it was little better than throwing myself away, to remain, as the Sioux would immediately know when the main body left, and would not lose the opportunity of falling on me when I should be left alone. The saddening and alarming effect of these admonitions was somewhat increased by the many instances they related of men, women, and children, that had been killed on this very spot by the Sioux, but I was compelled to remain. At night I closed the entrances to the camp as effectually as I could, and cautioning my family to remain entirely silent, I stationed myself by the wall to watch. The night was but little advanced, when by the light of the moon, which then shone brightly, I discovered two men, who came directly towards the usual entrance, and finding it closed, began to walk around and look at the wall. Fear strongly prompted me to shoot them without hailing but recollecting that they might not be Sioux, I took an opportunity when I could aim my gun directly at them with out being much exposed, and called out. They proved to be the trader on whose account I had stayed back, and a Frenchman. I gladly opened my fort to let them in, and with this addition of strength, spent a pretty quiet night. Next morning we moved, taking the trader’s packs, and following the path of the Ojibbeways.
I did not wish to rejoin this band, but went to live for some time by myself in the woods. Afterwards I joined some Red River Ojibbeways, under a chief called Be-gwa-is, (he that cuts up the beaver lodge.) All the hunters of this band had been for some days trying to kill an old buck moose, who had become notorious among them for his shyness and cunning. The first day that I went to hunt, I saw this moose, but could not kill him. I however killed another, and next day returned to the pursuit, with the full determination to kill him if possible. It so happened, that the weather and wind were favourable, and I killed the buck moose. My success was attributable in a great measure to accident, or to circumstances beyond my control, but the Indians gave me credit for superior skill, and I was thenceforth reckoned the best hunter in that band.
We now started, twelve men in number under Be-gwa-is, to go to the Sioux country to hunt beaver, leaving our women behind. On this hunt all the Indians became snowblind, and I being the only one able to hunt, fed and took care of them for several days. As soon as the snow went off in the spring, they began to get better. We then separated into three parties, one of which being four in number went to Buffalo River, where they were attacked by the Sioux, had one man killed, and another wounded and made prisoner.
I had wounded myself by accident in my ankle bone with a tomahawk, and became in consequence unable to travel fast. About this time my companions became panic struck, supposing the Sioux to be near us and on our trail. They paid not the least regard to my situation, but fled with all the speed they could make. It was now early in the spring. Rain and snow had been falling throughout the day, and at night the wind began to blow from the north-west, and the water to freeze. I followed my companions, though at a distance, and came up with them late at night when I found them perishing in their comfortless camp, they being the disciples of the prophet, and not having ventured to strike a fire. Wa-me-gon-a-biew was one of these men, and he, as well as the rest of them, was willing to desert me whenever there was any apprehension of danger. Next morning ice was strong enough in the river to walk upon, and as this cold had been preceded by warm weather, we suffered severely. We spent four days at the sugar camp of our women, and then started to return to the Sioux country. On our way we met the two who had escaped, of the party on which the Sioux had fallen. Their appearance was that of extreme misery and starvation.