259



WAR UPON HORSE THIEVES.



  It was now Christmas; and the festivities which took
place at the Fort were attended with a good deal of ruin
drinking, in which Meek, according to his custom, joined,
and as a considerable portion of their stock in trade
consisted of this article, it may fairly be presumed that
the home consumption of these two " lone traders"
amounted to the larger half of what they had with so
much'trouble transported from Fort Hall. In fact, "times
were bad enough" among the men so suddenly thrown
upon their own resources among the mountains, at a time
when that little creature, which had made mountain life
tolerable, or possible, was fast being exterminated.
  To make matters more serious, some of the worst of the
now unemployed trappers had taken to a life of thieving
and mischief which made enemies of the friendly Indians,
and was likely to prevent the better disposed from enjoy-
ing security among any of the tribes. A party of these
renegades, under a man named Thompson, went over to
Snake River to steal horses from the Nez Perces. Not
succeeding in this, they robbed the Snake Indians of about
forty animals, and ran them off to the Uintee, the Indians
following and complaining to the whites at Fort Crockett
that their people had been robbed by white trappers, and
demanding restitution.
   According to Indian law, when one of a tribe offends,
the whole tribe is responsible. Therefore if whites stole
their horses they might take vengeance on any whites they
met, unless the property was restored. In compliance
with this well understood requisition of Indian law, a party
was made up at Fort Crockett to go and retake the horses,
and restore them to their rightful owners. This party
consisted of Meek, Craig, Newell, Carson, and twenty-five
others, under the command of Jo Walker.
   The horses were found on an island in Green River, the