A day or two before their arrival Brother Terry had killed a large buffalo and they packed the whole of it into our camp.
I remember about the first thing I did after shaking hands, was to drink a pint of strong salty broth, where some salt pork had been boiled.
When Hickman's company arrived, some of our boys were getting the pack saddle soaked up ready for cooking the hide covering. Boyd always calls me the man that ate the pack saddle. But this is slander. The kindness of him and others prevented me from eating my part of it. I think if they had not arrived, probably I would have taken a wing or leg, but don't think I would have eaten the whole of it. As it was, the saddle was allowed to dry up again, and may be in existence yet and doing well so far as I know.
In Hickman's book he says he found us starving with plenty of provisions in store houses, but did not dare to take them; that on his arrival he burst open the store houses and told us to help ourselves. Can anyone believe such stuff? If all his book is like this for truth, one would do well to believe the reverse. Hickman left about the 6th of March, going on east.
Ben Hampton and myself started to go on to Platte bridge with this party, intending to get some supplies if possible. Hickman left us two animals and with one of ours (the other three had long since been eaten by the wolves) found nearby we felt ourselves rich.
We had gone but a few miles when we met some men from the Platte bringing us some beef. They had heard in some way that we were still alive. I think the Indians must have passed the word. They could not get buffalo meat, so had killed some cattle and were bringing them to us. They had been four days on the road, tramping snow and working through drifts, expecting to find us starving. I often think of these old pioneers, who were always so ready to help a fellowman in need.
We bade good-by to Hickman and party and returned to the fort with the meat. We paid for it in goods from Brother Van Cott's boxes, paying mostly calico and domestic. They charged us ten cents per pound, which was very cheap considering.
With our animals and meat we felt quite well fitted out; for we had now become so used to taking what we could get thankfully, that we looked upon these two mules left us as sure food when all else failed.
While Jesse Jones was in camp, one of his men gave me a small book of words in the Snake language. I expected the Indians around and studied hard every day. Soon they commenced coming in to see us. There were over one hundred lodges of Snakes and Bannocks came in from the Wind river country and camped about fifteen miles from us. Small bands camped around us in different directions. They soon learned we were short of provisions.
The first party that brought meat to us wanted to charge an unreasonable price for it. I talked with them quite a while before they would consent to sell it cheaper. They said that they themselves were hungry, showing us their bare arms, how lean they were. But I told them it was not just to take advantage of our circumstances. I weighed up a dollar's worth of meat on a pair of spring balances, marked the scales plainly and told them I would give no more. They consented, and we bought hundreds of pounds afterwards without more trouble. In buying we had to weigh one dollar's worth at a time, no matter how much they sold us.