IN COWBOY LAND. 



2 3 I 



closing in on them, taking every advantage of 

 cover, and then, both from their side of the 

 river and from the opposite bank, opened a 

 perfect fusillade, wasting their cartridges with 

 a recklessness which Indians are apt to show 

 when excited. The hunters could hear the 

 hoarse commands of the chiefs, the war-whoops 

 and the taunts in broken English which some 

 of the warriors hurled at them. Very soon all 

 of their horses were killed, and the brush was 

 fairly riddled by the incessant volleys ; but the 

 three men themselves, lying flat on the ground 

 and well concealed, were not harmed. The 

 more daring young warriors then began to 

 creep toward the hunters, going stealthily 

 from one piece of cover to the next ; and now 

 the whites in turn opened fire. They did not 

 shoot recklessly, as did their foes, but coolly 

 and quietly, endeavoring to make each shot 

 tell. Said Woody : " I only fired seven times 

 all day ; I reckoned on getting meat every time 

 *I pulled trigger." They had an immense ad- 

 vantage over their enemies, in that whereas 

 they lay still and entirely concealed, the Indians 

 of course had to move from cover to cover in 

 order to approach, and so had at times to 

 expose themselves. When the whites fired at 

 all they fired at a man, whether moving or 

 motionless, whom they could clearly see, while 

 the Indians could only shoot at the smoke, 

 which imperfectly marked the position of their 

 unseen foes. In consequence the assailants 

 speedily found that it was a task of hopeless 

 danger to try in such a manner to close in on 



