INDIAN CAMPAIGNING. 301 



"out," then, either you will discover your toil and hard- 

 ship end with the disappointment of failure, with finding 

 but the cold embers of the fires, and old sticks of the 

 wickee-ups of an abandoned camp, or your mistake or 

 misfortune will entail a more unfortunate result, perhaps a 

 disaster. While entangled in some narrow, tortuous, and 

 rugged defile, where formations are impracticable, and 

 mutual support impossible, you may suddenly find yourself 

 surrounded by an unseen foe; the air thick with their 

 flying arrows, and ringing with their yells, mingled with 

 the scream and " ping " of rifle-balls, and the sharp crack of 

 rifles ; your men falling fast ; your enemy invisible and 

 inaccessible ; and yourself in total ignorance whether it 

 is safer to push on or to fall back. Nevertheless, I will 

 give an account of one expedition, and the incidents 

 thereof, as it was so thoroughly out of the common run of 

 such things, that, if at all properly told, it ought to prove 

 interesting. 



A large party of well-armed frontiersmen, out "pros- 

 pecting " for gold, were searching for that " root " in what 

 was known as the Black Canon country a chaotic tract of 

 granite mountains, igneous rocks, and lava beds. One day 

 an Indian appeared on a rocky point overlooking their 

 camp, and made signs that he wished to communicate 

 with them. One of the prospectors went out to meet the 

 Indian, and it was ascertained that a chief of the Apache- 

 Yumayas and some of his braves wished to pay a visit to 

 the prospecting camp under truce and have a talk with 

 a view to proposing a treaty of peace. It was arranged 

 such visit should take place the following day, but that 



