THE PRAIRIE WOLF. 179 



pleased. We found the Indians in stronger numbers than 

 we expected, considering their movements the previous 

 day; but as every man of our party seemed to be actu- 

 ally mad for revenge, their numerical superiority availed 

 them little, and they were pushed backward gradually, 

 notwithstanding the fact that they took advantage of ev- 

 ery bit of cover, and seemed to rise out of the ground 

 like grasshoppers. They tried to surround us two or 

 three times inside of an hour, but a vigorous charge scat- 

 tered them like chaff, and the survivors were glad to beat 

 a hasty retreat to their own lines. Their yells and shouts, 

 when circling around us, were fairly demoniacal in their 

 intensity; but these had little effect on the pioneers who 

 opposed them, as they had heard them too often to care 

 much for them. After they were driven back to the 

 wooded hill, they made a most determined stand, and 

 poured out a deadly fire that killed several horses and 

 wounded a few men. A party of our men on the left, 

 who were on open, rolling ground, attempted to stop this 

 by making a vigorous charge ; but they were met by such 

 a volley that they were compelled to halt and seek cover 

 wherever they could find it. A few of the more advanced, 

 who had their horses killed under them, used their trusty 

 steeds as breastworks, and kept up the fight with a vigor 

 and determination that only Western pioneers can display; 

 and their fire was so destructive that a body of the Indians 

 charged them several times on horseback, in order to cap- 

 ture them, but they were driven back with heavy loss each 

 time. 



The detachment which I accompanied worked around 

 to the right until we reached a wooded knoll, and, under 

 cover of this most welcome shelter, we reached the flank 

 of the Indians and opened a fierce fire, which soon caused 

 them to give way in the most precipitous manner. Our 

 lusty cheers, on seeing this, were answered by the others, 

 and, a minute later, by a rattling volley and a wild hurrah 

 from the mountain side. The latter seemed to have fairly 

 demoralized our foes, for they broke away from our front 



