Howard reluctantly took the whole delegation along, and on August 29 they joined Cowan in the Lower Geyser Basin. Arnold said Cowan was a "most pitiful looking object. He was covered with blood, which had dried on him, and he was as black as a negro." Here Cowan learned of his wife's safety, and that news, together with his friend Arnold's "unremitting attentions," pulled him through. The army surgeon ministered to the physical wounds of the men but no sympathy was forthcoming. The Radersburg men desired to return home by way of Henrys Lake, but they were bundled along with the command, over roads that were:
simply horrible and almost impassable for wagons. At times we were compelled to lower them over precipices with ropes, and again we would hitch a rope to a wagon and pull it up the hill by man power.[202]
In the meantime Frank Carpenter, along with Lieutenant Doane's command, pressed toward the Park. They found Henderson's ranch buildings in flames. A band of renegade Nez Percé were spreading terror in their wake. Camp was established there anyway, and a courier arrived, directing Lieutenant Doane to mark time until joined by Colonel Charles C. Gilbert and the Seventh Infantry. Carpenter's plan to return and bury Cowan was again frustrated. A promise to perform that function, given by a frontiersman named Houston induced Carpenter to return to Bozeman. There he learned that all members of the party were safe and accounted for except Cowan. The news that Cowan was still alive reached him a few days later when he met the two scouts who had found Cowan just a week before. Perhaps no one else could have convinced him his friend was alive.
[Illustration: M. D. Beal Detail map showing Nez Percé movements in Yellowstone Park.]
- - - - - - Route of main band of Nez Percé Indians. x x x x x x Route of marauding band to the north and back to main band. X Cowan party camp west of Fountain Geyser. 1 Nez Percé camp in lower Geyser Basin. 2 Where Cowan party was attacked and Cowan shot. 3 Mary Lake and Mary Mountain. 4 Nez Percé camp and crossing of Yellowstone River near Mud Volcano. 5 Helena party camp on Otter Creek where Indians attacked. 6 Mammoth Hot Springs. 7 Baronett's Bridge across Yellowstone River.