Page:Hugh Pendexter--Kings of the Missouri.djvu/171

 carcasses. Bridger examined them carefully and was unable to find a wound.

"Boys, these fellers was killed by a bolt of lightning"," he informed. "See how they fell with their noses close together. Their jackets will do for a bull-boat. Simons, Porker and Rummy, git their hides off. Papa Clair, take some men and git some willow boughs."

In what Lander considered to be a miraculously brief period of time the framework of willow was constructed and the green hides stretched over it. The result was a huge, awkward, buoyant craft, floating the water as gently as a bubble and drawing less than ten inches of water when loaded with three tons of supplies. By aid of this the company crossed the south fork to continue up the south side of the north fork. It was an ideal boat for shallow streams like the Platte, the Cheyenne and the Niobrara, but helpless in deep water where poles could not be used, and dangerous in swift waters where snags were thick, as the covering was easily punctured.

As in other things the white man had improved on the bull-boat of the Missouri tribes, which was nearly circular in shape and propelled by paddles, every stroke causing them to revolve