And his father. Smith and Thomas first rode to Platte Bridge Station to meet Peddler. Peddler was heading north into Powder River country to trade with the Sioux, pulling his cart, and Smith wanted to escort him. Smith thought Peddler was mad to be traveling alone. It made no difference to him that the old Jew never seemed to have a speck of trouble. Smith made no pretense of keeping Thomas prisoner. It felt too ridiculous. He just wanted to get Thomas home, and to talk about his new infatuation. He’d gotten his head turned by the white man’s science. Smith spoke of an elementary science demonstration he and Thomas had seen at school in St. Louis. The teacher had put an acid and a base together in solution and grown beautiful blue crystals of copper sulfate. He’d even done the same thing with spirits of niter—grown crystals as if by magic, and then ground them into gunpowder. Traveling north along the Powder River, Smith told Peddler and Thomas how Doc Lang back at Fort Laramie amazed him.
