Possessing a remarkable memory of places, he easily recalled the location of the pass which he and his companions had used when on their journey eastward. Naturally he planned to utilize it again on his return with his three friends. He did not forget that during his visit to Black Elk, on the former occasion, he had described the route by which he crossed the formidable mountain range. The Shoshone chieftain praised his skill and wisdom in making use of the pass, which he himself had traversed more than once. It followed, therefore, that Black Elk would expect his old acquaintance to guide the youths over the same course. He had therefore signaled to the Shoshones in the mountains to cut off the little party, and the most promising place for that was in the pass which was familiar to both. Consequently, the prudent thing for Mul-tal-la to do was to mislead Black Elk as to his time of entering the pass. It has been said that the entrance could be reached by the close of the afternoon, but the first intention of the Blackfoot was to camp at this entrance until the following morning, arranging to make the passage by daylight. You must not form the idea that when a mountain pass is referred to, it is in the nature of a road which can be followed without trouble and that few difficulties are met. The great South Pass through the Rockies is twenty miles wide in many places, and a party of emigrants have often entered and tramped it for a long way before learning they were journeying over an old route that has been used by thousands of persons in crossing the plains. A mountain pass as understood in the West may be described as a means of getting across or through a range. It often involves steep climbing and descent, winding past wild and dangerous precipices, with the hardest work conceivable. It requires several days and sometimes a week or more to traverse. It has happened that a party, after penetrating to a long distance, has discovered that they have been following a blind path, and they are obliged to turn back and hunt for a new one. The most experienced mountaineers sometimes go astray. On one of Fremont’s exploring expeditions his guide lost his way and the most disastrous results followed. Many of the hardiest scouts and all of the mules froze to death, and the explorer himself had a narrow escape from a similar fate. It would have been impossible for the two Blackfeet to find their way through the range had they been forced to depend upon themselves, but the trail had been used for years by hunters and wild animals, and was so clearly marked that, traveling only by daylight, it was easy to avoid going wrong.