This glimpse made everything plain to the practical mind of Baldy
Bicknell. He comprehended that the red-skins had laid a plan to entrap
the steam man. More than to entrap themselves, and that, so far as he
could judge, they had succeeded completely.
It was the tightest fix in which he had ever been caught, and his
mind, fertile as it was in expedients at such crises, could see no way
of meeting the danger.
He knew the Indians had horses somewhere at command, while neither he
nor his comrades had a single one. The steam man would be unable to
pass that formidable wall, as it was not to be supposed that he had
been taught the art of leaping.
Whatever plan of escape was determined upon, it was evident that the
steamer would have to be abandoned; and this necessitated, as an
inevitable consequence, that the whites would have to depend upon
their legs. The Missouri river was at no great distance, and if left
undisturbed they could make it without difficulty, but there was a
prospect of anything sooner than that they would be allowed to depart
in peace, after leaving the steam man behind.
The trapper, as had been his invariable custom, had carefully noted
the contour of the surrounding prairie, before they had committed the
important act of encamping in the gorge or hollow.
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