Expedition to John Day River 199 



tain as to what it all meant. The dogs had gone 

 under the stoop and the chickens to roost. The air 

 was motionless, and an unusual stillness was over 

 everything. The men welcomed us in hushed 

 voices. 



I sprang from my horse and asked Perkins 

 whether he had any pieces of broken glass. He said 

 that there were plenty under the west window, and 

 I went and got a supply, followed by all the men, 

 who were greatly relieved by my explanation of the 

 phenomenon. We got a candle and blackened 

 the pieces of glass, and watched the progress of 

 the eclipse through them. 



It had a more disquieting effect upon the hostile 

 Indians. It seems that the soldiers had cut them 

 off from crossing the Columbia by capturing all the 

 small boats and patrolling the river night and day; 

 so that with Howard's troops on the trail behind 

 them, troops from Walla Walla on their flanks, and 

 the river in front, they were in a bad way. More- 

 over, the French brothers and the governor of Ore- 

 gon had offered a reward of two thousand dollars 

 for Egan's head. 



The Umatilla Indians were accused of pretending 

 to help the whites in the daytime, and really helping 

 the Snakes at night. So the commander sent out a 

 party of soldiers to capture the squaws and little 

 children of Homely and the other chiefs and hold 



