Col. Bent asked me how many hides I thought I could pack on the horses. I told him I could put twenty hides on each horse, and that would make four hundred and forty hides in all. He said, "That would be a big load, and I am afraid you cannot do it. Besides, it is early in the season for the Indians to have so many robes. But do the best you can, and I shall be satisfied." I bid the Col. and Capt. McKee good bye, and we were off.
The second night out we camped near a little village. I told the boys to get supper, and I would go over to the village, and have a talk with the Indians. As soon as the Indians saw me, they thought I had come to trade with them. I told them that I was on the way to the main village and for them to come there tomorrow, and I would be ready to trade with them.
[Illustration: The next morning we struck the trail for Bent's Fort.]
We landed at the main village about noon the next day, making the trip in a half a day less than I had planned to do. We camped near the old Chief's lodge. The boys commenced to get dinner, and I took the two knives that I had promised the Chief and went to his wigwam. I greeted him with a handshake and handed him the knives wrapped in a paper. He opened the package, and I never saw such a smile on a face before as the one that beamed on that Indian's. He examined the knives carefully, and then he told me how proud he was of them and said in his own language he would always be white brother's friend.
I told him that I would be ready to trade with his people the next morning and asked him to inform them of the fact.
The boys had dinner ready when I went back to our camp. I told the boys when I would commence to trade with the Indians, and that I wanted them to be in readiness to begin packing the robes as soon as the Indians gave them to me.
That afternoon I went around among the wigwams and visited the Indians, and they seemed as pleased to see me as children are with a new toy. I showed the squaws the rings and beads I had with me, and I showed the knives to the braves also, and they could hardly wait until morning to trade their Buffalo robes for them.
The squaws showed me the robes they had dressed since I was there the last time, and I saw that they were in a fine condition.
The next morning they commenced coming very early, hardly giving me time to eat my breakfast, and I fixed my price when I bought the first robe, which was one string of beads for one robe, or two rings or one butcher knife, and the reader can rest assured that the Indians kept me busy handing out my goods and taking the robes in payment for them.
About noon one of the packers came to me and said, "Will, I think you have all the robes the horses can carry." I told him to count them, and then we would know, and in a short time he came back with the report that we had bought four hundred and eighty-nine robes. I said, "That is a few more than we can find a place for, isn't it?"