112 LIFE IN THE FAB WEST 



of it. He was in the act of fighting the battle over 

 again to one of his companions, and was saying that the 

 Indian had as much life in him as a buffalo bull, when, 

 to the horror of all present, the savage, who had received 

 wounds sufficient for twenty deaths, suddenly rose to a 

 sitting posture, the fire shedding a glowing light upon 

 the horrid spectacle. The face was a mass of clotted 

 blood, which flowed from the lacerated scalp, whilst 

 gouts of blood streamed from eight gaping wounds in 

 the naked breast. 



Slowly this frightful figure rose to a sitting posture, 

 and, bending slowly forward to the fire, the mouth was 

 seen to open wide, and a hollow gurgling owg-h-h 

 broke from it. 



" H ! " exclaimed the trapper and jumping up, he 

 placed a pistol to the ghastly head, the eyes of which 

 sternly fixed themselves on his, and pulling the trigger, 

 blew the poor wretch's skull to atoms. 



The Gila passes through a barren sandy country, 

 with but little game, and sparsely inhabited by several 

 different tribes of the great nation of the Apache. Un- 

 like the rivers of this western region, this stream is, in 

 most parts of its course, particularly towards its upper 

 waters, entirely bare of timber, and the bottom, through 

 which it runs, affords but little of the coarsest grass. 

 Whilst on this stream, the trapping party lost several 

 animals for want of pasture, and many more from the 

 predatory attacks of the cunning Indians. These losses, 

 however, they invariably made good whenever they 

 encountered a native village taking care, moreover, to 



