About noon
After two hours ' hard riding they over-hauled two of the savages who had Mrs. Duncan in charge , and she was borne back triumphantly to camp . She could give no account of her children , not having seen them since their capture , but thought they had gone in a more westerly direction . Every art was used to persuade the Crows taken to give some intelligence of them , but they were obstinate , and were finally placed , bound , into the hands of the Arapahoes , who had charge of the camp , for safe keeping . About noon they came up with two more Indians having Martin in charge ; but he knew nothing further ; the two that carried him off having separated from the rest , the more easily to escape detection ; and the Crows , like those that had charge of his mother , refused to give any intelligence , and were placed with the others in custody . The pursuers were again bewildered and were obliged to find a new trail , before they could proceed further , which they succeeded in doing as the evening shades were setting in ; but as it was impossible to follow it in the dark they reluctantly returned to camp to spend the night . At the first dawn of light they were again in the saddle , provisioned for a number of days , as they anticipated a long chase , from the fact that the fugitives had a long start of them , and they could scarcely hope to overtake them the first day . But the other pursuers were more sanguine ; they knew not the stratagems of the Indians so well as the trapper .