54 IN THE OLD WEST 



the two trappers that their destination was the 

 Bayou Salade,* a mountain valley which is a 

 favorite resort of the buffalo in the winter sea- 

 son, and which, and for this reason, is often fre- 

 quented by the Yuta Indians as their wintering 

 ground. That the Rapahos were on a war ex- 

 pedition against the Yutas, there was little doubt ; 

 and Killbuck, who knew every inch of the ground, 

 saw at once, by the direction the trail had taken, 

 that they were making for the Bayou in order to 

 surprise their enemies, and, therefore, were not 

 following the usual Indian trail up the canon of 

 the Boiling Spring river. Having made up his 

 mind to this, he at once struck across the broken 

 ground lying at the foot of the mountains, steer- 

 ing a course a little to the eastward of north, or 

 almost in the direction whence he had come; and 

 then, pointing westward, about noon he crossed 

 a mountain-chain, and descending into a ravine 

 through which a little rivulet tumbled over its 

 rocky bed, he at once proved the correctness of 

 his judgment by striking the Indian trail, now 

 quite fresh, as it wound through the canon along 

 the bank of the stream. The route he had fol- 

 lowed, impracticable to pack-animals, had saved 

 at least half-a-day's journey, and brought them 

 within a short distance of the object of their pur- 

 suit; for, at the head of the gorge, a lofty bluff 

 presenting itself, the hunters ascended to the sum- 

 * The old name of South Park, Colorado. (Ed.) 



