that the country I was about to enter was yet more dangerous than that which we had just traveled together, since it was ranged incessantly by war-parties of the Blackfeet, Assiniboins, Grosventres, Aricaras and Sioux, nations which had always been hostile to them; that I durst not expose their lives further; that I entrusted my own preservation to Providence, and that aided by that divine protection I had nothing to fear. I exhorted them at the same time to continue to serve the Great Spirit with fervor; and reiterating my promises of a prompt return, accompanied by other missionaries, I embraced them all and wished them a fortunate journey.
My Fleming and I set out with courage upon the solitary and dangerous trip of several hundred miles that we had to make together across an unknown desert, in which there was no trail, nor any other guide than the compass. For a long time we followed the course of the Yellowstone [left bank], except in some places where chains of rocks intercepted our march and obliged us to make long circuits, crossing rough hills four or five hundred feet high. At every step we were aware of the forts that warparties put up for their times of raid, murder and pillage; they might contain lurking enemies at the moment we passed them. Such a solitude, with all its horrors and dangers, has notwithstanding one very real advantage; it is a place where one is constantly looking Death in the face, and where he presents himself incessantly to the imagination in the most hideous forms. There one feels in a very special manner that he is wholly in God's hands. It is then easy to offer him the sacrifice of a life which belongs less to you than to the first savage who may see fit to take it; and to form the most generous resolutions a man is capable of. That was, in fact, the best " retreat " that I have ever made in my life. hfy only consolation was the object for which I had undertaken the journey; my guide, my support, my refuge, was the fatherly Providence of my God.