CHAPTER XXXI. 



Face to Face Pah-Squal A joint Breakfast Wood-rats On the Qui Vive 

 An Ancient The Terms An unwelcome Invitation Winchester's 

 Henry's A good Shot A Chat with Pah-Squal. 



OUR early march was made without accident ; and, as the 

 morning star commenced to pale, we cautiously descended 

 the path down into the Black Canon on our surefooted 

 Californian "cayuses," dashed at a gallop to the front of 

 a large wickee-up, and sprang to the ground in the midst 

 of a startled group of bucks, squaws, and papooses, who had 

 leaped to their feet at the sound of our rush. The children 

 howled, the women wailed, the men yelled ; and all scattered 

 in every direction ; the women and children to hide like so 

 many partridges and their broods, and the men to get their 

 arms. Quickly as his feet struck the ground, every man of 

 us threw his right arm in the air and made the peace sign. 

 Our conjecture as to the probable whereabouts of the chief 

 we sought proved correct. The one Indian who had stood 

 his ground and was face to face with us, answering our sign 

 of peace with a like gesture, was Pah-Squal ! Calling out 

 to his men to come back, and to the women and children 



