180 SI'ORTINO ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



panic-stricken, and fled beyond the range of our rifles in 

 a few moments. When we saw this we returned to our 

 horses, and, mounting them in the twinkling of an eye, 

 dashed to the left, and got several shots at some braves 

 who were trying to escape from the forest, and these 

 forced them back again, when they were received by other 

 volleys delivered by concealed foes. Every Indian who 

 was killed on foot was no sooner struck than he gave a 

 wild yell, jumped high into the air, then fell back dead. 

 These preliminaries to dying are, I believe, peculiar to the 

 red race. 



This attack decided the fate of the day ; for the Indians 

 fled in every direction, while we pursued them over hill 

 and dale, dropping one every now and then. We were 

 in hopes of reaching their camp before they could get it 

 away, but in this we were disappointed; and, when we 

 reached there, nothing was left of it but a few old tepees, 

 and some poles and peltries which they could not carry 

 off in the hurry of their flight. The noise of the firing 

 had evidently warned the squaws of their danger, and, 

 while the warriors were fighting, they took time by the 

 forelock and escaped to safer quarters. 



When our party had assembled once more, we found 

 that the ten men who had been sent back to the valley re- 

 turned on hearing the continuous fusillade, and, getting in 

 rear of the enemy — a feat easily performed owing to the 

 wooded character of the hill — had opened such a destruc- 

 tive fire on him from cover that he was compelled to re- 

 treat in a panic. Our loss in this affair was two men 

 killed and eight wounded, while that of the Indians must 

 have been four or five times as much, as our rifles were 

 far superior to theirs, and our shooting was certainly far 

 more accurate. 



As soon as we felt sure that our foe had fled for good, 

 a party was sent back to the mining village with the dead 

 and wounded, while the remainder started toward the south 

 to see what damage had been committed, and to learn if 

 the tribe we had been fighting was that which had been 



