all shook hands with me. I made them a present of a big twist of tobacco and everybody sat down in a circle and smoked the pipe of peace and friendship."
Their further entertainment by these Indians was full of interest and it was an introduction to the Sioux nations which neither the Indians nor Father De Smet ever forgot. Although he never had the satisfaction of founding a mission in their midst he made many efforts to do so, and these Indians never ceased while he lived to send messages to him asking him to send them a teacher.
Thus the little party made their way onward amid danger and never-ending surprises. They stopped at Forts Pierre and Vermillion, and at the latter place took a canoe, under the guidance of an Iroquois half-breed. They reached St. Joseph Mission, at Council Bluffs, November 24th, and the river closed with ice the next day. The rest of the journey was made by land, and Father De Smet arrived among his brethren at the St. Louis University on the last day of the year.
Full of enthusiasm over the results of his journey and eager to commence preparations for the return, Father De Smet was not prepared for the deep disappointment that awaited him. "On my arrival at St. Louis," he writes, under date of May 1, 1841, "I gave an account to my superior of my journey and of the flattering prospects which a mission beyond the Rocky Mountains held out. You will easily believe me when I tell you that my heart sank within me on learning from him that the funds at his disposal for missionary purposes would not enable him to afford me scarcely half of what was necessary for the outfit and other expenses of an expedition. The thought that the undertaking would have to be given up, that I would not be able to redeem my promise to the poor Indians, pierced my very heart and filled me with the deepest sorrow. I would have desponded had I not already experienced the visible protection of the Almighty in the prosecution of this great work.
My confidence in Him was unabated. Whilst in this state