Page:California Digital Library (IA openingwestwithl00sabirich).pdf/175

 At two o'clock Captain Lewis arrived from above. He was enthusiastic over the falls, but he had had several narrow escapes from death, according to Drouillard.

He had been seriously ill, and only choke-cherry tea had cured him. When he had neglected to reload his rifle after shooting a buffalo, a huge "white bear" had charged him, driven him into the river, but had retreated before the captain's leveled pike or spontoon. That same day three buffalo bulls at once had run at him, heads down, until he fortunately had turned on them, whereat they also turned. And that night he slept with a rattlesnake over four feet long coiled on a log just above his head.

"I t'ink de cap'n haf plenty excitement, in one day," declared Drouillard.