28 ADVENTURES OF DR. ALLEN. 



sight. I vowed that I would be one to follow that trail of 

 blood until we had avenged the death of these emigrants. 

 One after another, with blanched, but set faces, we put 

 down our names on a paper, until twenty had volunteered to 

 avenge the innocent people who had met such a fearful 

 death. It was a determined party that left our camp. The 

 trail of blood was two hours old, but our horses were in 

 good condition and we sped down the valley of death. We 

 came soon to the dreadful field of carnage. The wagon had 

 been burned, the horses killed and the harnesses cut to pieces. 

 The ground was' covered with clothes and stained with 

 blood from the innocent sufferers. 



The Indians' trail led off in the direction of lower Red 

 Water and Hay Creek, and on this track we started at a 

 swift gallop. After a few miles of silent travel, we passed 

 through a wooded canyon. Here the Indians had watered 

 their ponies and left a few articles of no value. We dis- 

 mounted and held a short council while the horses drank 

 from the rivulet. We decided to follow and surprise the sav- 

 ages at their camp for the night. We selected two of our 

 lightest riders to skirt the stream and the eastern and western 

 hills, in order to get the course they were traveling. The 

 remainder of our party kept the trail, which we followed at 

 a rapid gait. 



About twelve o'clock our west side man signalled from 

 a butte. We were soon at his side and in plain view of a 

 small band of Indians. From the direction from which they 

 came we could not determine them to be the band of assas- 

 sins whom we were trailing. However, they quartered on 

 the same creek which we were following and, as they dis- 

 appeared over the steep bank, we started in pursuit. On 

 nearing the water, the Indians must have heard the thunder 

 of our horses' hoofs as we rode swiftly down the valley, for 



