"We marvel," they said, "that our brothers should give us drink
which will make us fools. No man can be our friend who would lead
us into such folly."
Until the end of October the expedition kept on, always following
the course of the Missouri, north-west. But the weather now became
very cold; ice began to form on the river, and the explorers
determined to camp for the winter. Not far from what is now the town
of Bismarck, North Dakota, they built themselves a little village
of log huts and called it Fort Mandan, for the country belonged to
the Mandan Indians.
Here they met both French and British fur traders, who in spite of
the bitter weather came from Assiniboia, about a hundred and fifty
miles north, to trade for furs with the Indians.
The weather was bitterly cold, but the men were fairly comfortable
in their log huts, and they had plenty to do. They went upon hunting
expeditions to get food, they built boats, and they set up a forge.
This last greatly interested the Indians who brought their axes
and kettles to be mended, and in return gave the white men grain.
Soon the smith was the busiest man in the whole company, the bellows
particularly interesting the Redmen.
Indeed everything about the white strangers was so interesting to
the Indians that they were nearly always in their huts. On Christmas
Day the travelers only got rid of their inquisitive visitors by
telling them that it was a great medicine day with the white people,
when no strangers were allowed near them, and they must keep away.
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