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Rh Galpin's sharp-eyed wife, an Indian woman, discovered armed Indians skulking in the underbrush, and she gave the alarm in time. Her husband cut the painter by which he had tied the boat, with a single blow of the hatchet, and received a fusillade of bullets from the bank without damage. While the boat was still within hearing, a white woman ran down to the river bank and informed the boatmen that there were a party of white captives in the Indian camp. Galpin spread this news as he passed down the river.

The first point that Galpin reached, where he could give information, was Fort Pierre, where there was a trading store. There he found a party of young Indians, eleven in number, under the leadership of a mixed-blood Indian named Martin Charger, grandson of Captain Meriwether Lewis the explorer, who were known to their people as the crazy band, or fool soldier band, because they had taken an oath to help the whites at any cost to themselves. This band immediately set out on their ponies to reach the hostile camp up the river, and, if possible, effect the rescue of the captives. Their names were Martin Charger, Kills Game and Comes Back, Four Bear, Mad Bear, Pretty Bear, Sitting Bear, Swift Bird, One Rib, Strikes Fire, Red Dog, and Charging Dog. Before starting they had traded their furs to the trader for sugar and other Indian delicacies. They crossed the river at Pierre, going north on the east side. The second day they found a party of Yanktonais encamped at the mouth of Swan Creek, and were joined in their enterprise by two Yanktonais, Don't Know How and Fast Walker.