THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 495 



which I clung, and which, being iierpendicular and of clay and three or four feet 

 higher than the water, was an insurmountable difiQculty to Charley, and I led the 

 poor fellow at least a mile, as I walked on the top of the bank with the bridle in my 

 hand, holding his head above the water, as he was swimming, and I at times almost 

 inextricably entangled in the long grass, that was often higher than my head and 

 hanging over the brink, filled and woven together with ivy and wild pea vines. I 

 at length (and just before I' was ready to drop the rein of faithful Charley in hopeless 

 despair) came to an old buffalo ford, where the banks were graded down, and the poor, 

 exhausted animal at last got out, and was ready and willing to take me and my lug- 

 gage (after I had dried them in the sun) on the journey again. 



CROSSES THE OSAGE EIVER. 



The Osage River, which is a powerful stream, I struck at a place which seemed to 

 stagger my courage very much. There had been heavy rains but a few days before, 

 and this furious stream was rolling along its wild and turbid waters with a freshet 

 upon it that spread its waters in many places over its banks, as was the case at the 

 place where I encountered it. There seemed to be but little choice in places with this 

 stream, which, with its banks full, was sixty or eighty yards in width, with a current 

 that was sweeping along at a rapid rate. I stripped everything from Charley and 

 tied him with his lasso until I traveled the shores up and down for some distance 

 and collected drift-wood enough for a small raft, which I constructed, to carry my 

 clothes and saddle and other things safe over. This being completed, and my clothes 

 taken off, and they with other things laid upon the raft, I took Charley to the bank 

 and dr«ve him in and across, where he soon reached the opposite shore and went to 

 feeding on the bank. Next was to come the great white m edicine, and with him 

 saddle, bridle, saddle-bags, sketch-book, gun and pistols, coffee and coffee-pot, pow- 

 der, and his clothes, all of which were placed upon the raft and the raft pushed into 

 the stream, and the medicine-man swimming behind it and pushing it along before 

 him until it reached the opi^osite shore at least half a mile below. From this his 

 things were carried to the top of the bank, and in a little time Charley was caught 

 and dressed and straddled and on the way again. 



ARRIVES AT BOONVILLE, MISSOURI. 



These are a few of the incidents of that journey of five hundred miles, which I per- 

 formed entirely alone, and which at last brought me out at Boonville, on the western 

 bank of the Missouri. While I was crossing the river at that place I met General Ar- 

 buckle, with two surgeons, who were to start the next day from Boonville for Fort 

 Gibson, traveling over the route that I had just passed. I instantly informed them of 

 the condition of poor Wharton, and the two surgeons were started off that afternoon 

 at fullest speed, with orders to reach him in the shortest time possible, and do every- 

 thing to save his life. I assisted in purchasing for him several little things that he 

 had named to me, such as jellies, acids, apples, &c., and saw them start; and, God 

 knows, I shall Impatiently hope to hear of their timely assistance and of his recovery.* 



From Boonville, which is a very pretty little town, building up with the finest style 

 of brick houses, I crossed the river to New Franklin, where I laid by several days on 

 account of stormy weather, and from thence proceeded with success to the end of my 

 journey, where I now am, under the roof of kind and hospitable friends, with my 

 dear wife, who has patiently waited one year to receive me back, a wreck, as I now 

 am, and who is to start in a few days with mo to the coast of Florida, fourteen hun- 

 dred miles south of this, to spend the winter in patching up my health and fitting me 

 for future campaigns. — Pages 90-95, vol. 2, Catlin's Eight Years. 



*I have gi'eat satisfaction in informinj; the reader that I learned a year or so afte r the ahovo date 

 that those two skillful surgeons hastened on with all possible speed to the assistance of this excellent 

 gentleman, and had the satisfaction of conducting him to his post after he had entirely and perma- 

 nently recovered his health. 



