THE STORY OF THE BLACK PACER. 211 



painted band of savages, hiding their advance in a 

 ravine. Their purpose was to strike and cut off the 

 rear of the train, the length of which promised unu- 

 sual success to their undertaking, as the white men 

 were too much scattered to oppose any resistance to 

 a sudden onset. At length, nearly the entire train had 

 filed by, and the foremost of the last half dozen wag- 

 ons approached the ravine. At the signal, out from 

 it burst the troop of red horsemen, and crossed the 

 road like a dash of dust from the hand of a hurricane, 

 every savage spreading his blanket and uttering the 

 war whoop. The startled teams fled in stampede over 

 the plains, dragging the wagons after them. Some 

 of the drivers were thrown out and others jumped. 

 Two or three were killed, and by the time the other 

 teams and the guards had taken the alarm, and turned 

 back for a rescue, the savages had cut the traces of 

 the frightened mules, and were on the return with 

 them to their distant villages. Instead of stopping 

 the animals to release them from the wagons, the In- 

 dians urged them to wilder speed, and leaning from 

 their saddles, cut the fastenings at full run. Among 

 the booty taken, was a valuable race horse and fifteen 

 hundred dollars in greenbacks, belonging to an offi- 

 cer who was on his way from New Mexico to the East. 

 Meanwhile, our friend, the owner of the black pacer, 

 with his outfit, was moving quietly along two or three 

 miles in the rear, entirely unaware of affairs at the 

 front. Some of the savages, while escaping with the 

 booty, espied him, and coveting the noble animal 

 which he rode, they made a detour and surprised 

 him as he sat jogging along a hundred yards or so 



