368 The Winning of the West 



In July he was again sent out, this time on a far 

 more dangerous and important trip. He was to 

 march west to the Rocky Mountains, and explore 

 the country toward the head of the Rio Grande, 

 where the boundary line between Mexico and Louisi- 

 ana was very vaguely determined. His party num- 

 bered twenty-three all told, including Lieutenant J. 

 B. Wilkinson, a son of the general, and a Dr. J. H. 

 Robinson, whose special business it was to find out 

 everything possible about the Spanish provinces, 

 or, in plain English, to act as a spy. The party was 

 also accompanied by fifty Osage Indians, chiefly 

 women and children who had been captured by the 

 Pottawatomies, and whose release and return to their 

 homes had been brought about by the efforts of the 

 United States Government. The presence of these 

 redeemed captives of course kept the Osages in good 

 humor with Pike's party. 



The party started in boats, and ascended the Osage 

 River as far as it was navigable. They then pro- 

 cured horses and traveled to the great Pawnee vil- 

 lage known as the Pawnee Republic, which gave its 

 name to the Republican River. Before reaching the 

 Pawnee village they found that a Spanish military 

 expedition, several hundred strong, under an able 

 commander named Malgares, had anticipated them, 

 by traveling through the debatable land, and seeking 

 to impress upon the Indians that the power of the 

 Spanish nation was still supreme. Malgares had 

 traveled from New Mexico across the Arkansas into 

 the Pawnee country ; during much of his subsequent 



