In one of these affairs, where a trader of less principle than Long Knife, sold some liquor to the Indians about the fort, there followed a drunken brawl and Susa-chiecha was killed, and around the body of their chief that night the Indians revelled in their frightful orgies.

LTntil Captain Bonneville went into the mountains, and for some time afterward, the Cheyennes were totally averse to drinking, but, says the Missionary Merrill in his diary, April 14, 1837: "A trader named Gant sweetened the liquor and made them fond of it, and now they are a nation of drunkards."

This reference was made no doubt to the band of Cheyennes, that traded at Fort Laramie, and mingled with a similar band of Ogallalas, known as the "Laramie Loafers."

Gant was one of the unprincipled traders from New Mexico and he had a trading post in the Arkansas Valley, coming into the north only on occasional trips.

BELDEN, BRIDGER AND BAKER EPISODES

INDIANS

EARLY CONFERENCES WITH

One of the more famous of western characters, was James P. Belden, because he voluntarily went among the Indians and married a squaw, two of them in fact, and lived with the savages for a great many years. Yet in the struggles that later took place between the people of his tribe, and the people of his race, he sometimes was on one side and sometimes on the other. More often, his blood asserted itself, and on many occasions where he fought hard in a losing battle, where all his companions were killed. The Indians would single him out and spare him, and they seemed to understand and respect his position.