Satisfied that Moore belonged to the gang, yet confiding in the truthfulness of his disclosure, Broadwater mounted his horse early in the evening, and at two o’clock the next morning was at the crossing of the Big Hole River. There he intended to rest, but fearful that his horse might be stolen by some Pend d’Oreille Indians camped near, he rode on, six miles, to Willow Creek. Fastening the lariat firmly to his wrist, and relying upon the sagacity of his horse to warn him of the approach of any of his red neighbors, he lay down upon the grass, and fell asleep. An hour before daylight he was aroused by a sudden plunge and snort of his horse, which, with braced feet, was gazing intently at a patch of wild rye growing near. He retained his prostrate position, and, with his eyes riveted in the same direction, and his faithful revolver grasped ready for use, quietly awaited further developments. At length a slowly creeping object became dimly visible in the morning twilight. He delayed no longer, but taking deliberate aim, fired. Instantly an Indian rose above the rye stalks, and with a fearful yell, sped away into darkness. More frightened than the redskin, whom he afterwards learned he had severely wounded, he mounted his horse with the least possible delay, and hurried away from the dangerous neighborhood. His route now lay directly over the main range of the Rocky Mountains, by a pass whose ascent and descent are so imperceptible, that persons unacquainted with its peculiarities can never determine where the one ends, or the other begins. It is covered with bunch-grass for its entire distance, and its very summit is crowned with one of the finest cattle ranges in the mountains. The waters of the creek, flowing naturally along its summit down its eastern slope to the Big Hole River, are carried by ditches and races over its western slope, for mining purposes, into the beautiful valley of the Deer Lodge, thus contributing to swell on the one side the volume of the Missouri, and on the other, that of the Columbia. The broad savannas which spread away on either side of this remarkable passage lend enchantment to a shifting and ever-varying scene of mountain beauties not excelled upon the continent.