432 The Wilderness Htmter, 



had this been accomplished before the man who had gone 

 down the river appeared, out of breath with his desperate 

 run, having been surprised by several Indians, and just 

 succeeding in making his escape by dodging from bush 

 to bush, threatening his pursuers with his rifle. 



These proved to be but the forerunners of a great 

 war party, for when the sun rose the hills around seemed 

 black with Sioux. Had they chosen to dash right in on 

 the camp, running the risk of losing several of their men 

 in the charge, they could of course have eaten up the 

 three hunters in a minute ; but such a charge is rarely 

 practised by Indians, who, although they are admirable 

 in defensive warfare, and even in certain kinds of 

 offensive movements, and although from their skill in 

 hiding they usually inflict much more loss than they sufl"er 

 when matched against white troops, are yet very reluctant 

 to make any movement where the advantage gained must 

 be offset by considerable loss of life. The three men 

 thought they were surely doomed, but being veteran 

 frontiersmen and long inured to every kind of hardship 

 and danger, they set to work with cool resolution to 

 make as effective a defence as possible, to beat off their 

 antagonists if they might, and if this proved impracticable, 

 to sell their lives as dearly as they could. Having 

 tethered the horses in a slight hollow, the only one which 

 offered any protection, each man crept out to a point of 

 the triangular brush patch and lay down to await events. 



In a very short while the Indians began closing in on 

 them, taking every advantage of cover, and the-n, both 

 from their side of the river and from the opposite bank, 



