JOHN COLTER — FREE TRAPPER 251 



his hunters. Perhaps it was the last look of despair ; but it spurred 

 the jaded racer to redoubled efforts. All the Indians had been left 

 to the rear but one, who was only a hundred yards behind. 



There was, then, a racing chance of escape ! Colter let out 

 in a burst of renewed speed that brought blood gushing over his 

 face, while the cactus spines cut his naked feet like knives. The 

 river was in sight. A mile more, he would be in the wood ! But 

 the Indian behind was gaining at every step. Another backward 

 look ! The savage was not thirty yards away ! He had poised his 

 spear to launch it in Colter's back, when the white man turned, 

 fagged and beaten, threw up his arms and stopped ! 



This is an Indian ruse to arrest the pursuit of a wild beast. By 

 force of habit it stopped the Indian too, and disconcerted him so 

 that instead of launching his spear, he fell flat on his face, breaking 

 the shaft in his hand. With a leap, Colter had snatched up the 

 broken point and pinned the savage through the body to the earth. 



That intercepted the foremost of the other warriors, who stopped 

 to rescue their brave and gave Colter time to reach the river. 



In he plunged, fainting and dazed, swimming for an island in 

 mid-current where driftwood had formed a sheltered raft. Under 

 this he dived, coming up with his head among branches of trees. 



All that day the Blackfeet searched the island for Colter, running 

 from log to log of the drift ; but the close-grown brushwood hid 

 the white man. At night he swam downstream like any other 

 hunted animal that wants to throw pursuers off the trail, went 

 ashore and struck across country, seven days' journey for the 

 Missouri Company's fort on the Bighorn River. 



Naked and unarmed, he succeeded in reaching the distant fur 

 post, having subsisted entirely on roots and berries. 



Chittenden says that poor Colter's adventure only won for 

 him in St. Louis the reputation of a colossal liar. But traditions 

 of his escape were current among all hunters and Indian tribes on 



