42 THE RENDEZVOUS. 



the passage, when they entertain the slightest 

 hope that their marauduigs will be laid to 

 others. They seldom venture further, how- 

 ever, than to seize upon an occasional stray 

 animal, which they frequently do with the 

 view alone of obtaining a reward for return- 

 ing it to its owner. As to the Pawnees, tlie 

 most experienced traders were well aware 

 that they had not been known to frequent 

 those latitudes since the commencement of 

 the Santa Fe trade. But what contributed 

 as niuch as anything else to lull the fears of 

 the timid, was an accession to our forces of 

 seventeen wagons which we overtook the 

 same evening. 



Early on the 26th of May we reached the 

 long looked-for rendezvous of Council Grove, 

 where we jomed the main body of the cara- 

 van. Lest this imposing title suggest to the 

 reader a snug and thriving village, it should 

 be observed, that, on the day of our departure 

 from Lidependence, we passed the last hu- 

 man abode upon our route ; therefore, from 

 the borders of Missouri to those of New Mex- 



ej 



Lidian settlement greeted 



This place is about a hundred and fifty 

 miles from Independence, and consists of a 

 continuous stripe of timber nearly half a mile 

 m width, comprising the richest varieties of 

 trees ; such as oak, walnut, ash, elm, hickory, 

 etc., and extending all along the valleys of a 

 small ^ stream known as ' Council Grove 

 creek,' the pruicipal branch of the Neosho 



