100 THE STORY OF THE TRAPPER 



Blackfeet about. Vanderburgh refused to believe there 

 was any danger of Blackfeet. Calling for volunteers, 

 he rode forward with six men. 



First they found a fire. The marauders must be 

 very near. Then a dead buffalo was seen, then fresh 

 tracks, unmistakably the tracks of Indians. But buf 

 falo were pasturing all around undisturbed. There 

 could not be many Indians. 



Determined to quiet the fears of his men, Vander 

 burgh pushed on, entered a heavily wooded gulch, 

 paused at the steep bank of a dried torrent, descried 

 nothing, and jumped his horse across the bank, fol 

 lowed by the six volunteers. 



Instantly the valley rang with rifle-shots. A hun 

 dred hostiles sprang from ambush. Vanderburgh s 

 horse went down. Three others cleared the ditch at a 

 bound and fled; but Vanderburgh was to his feet, aim 

 ing his gun, and coolly calling out : &quot; Don t run ! Don t 

 run ! &quot; Two men sent their horses back over the ditch 

 to his call, a third was thrown to be slain on the spot, 

 and Vanderburgh s first shot had killed the nearest In 

 dian, when another volley from the Blackfeet exacted 

 deadly vengeance for the warrior Vanderburgh had 

 slain years before. 



Panic-stricken riders carried the news to the wait 

 ing brigade. Eefuge was taken in the woods, where sen 

 tinels kept guard all night. The next morning, with 

 scouts to the fore, the brigade retreated cautiously 

 towards some of their caches. A second night was 

 passed behind barriers of logs; and the third day a 

 band of friendly Indians was encountered, who were 

 sent to bury the dead. 



The Frenchman they buried. Vanderburgh had 



