THE ELK, OS WAPITI. 287 



could not check ns in that direction, they opened on us 

 from every quarter, and bullets went whizzing or droning 

 past us, while the fierce screams of the prairie braves were 

 fairly demoniacal in their intensity. Had they been less 

 careful of their persons they could have annihilated us in 

 a few moments, but, Indian- like, they wished to destroy 

 us without any injury to themselves; hence they kept 

 beyond the range of our rifles except for a few minutes 

 at a time, when they tried their useless system of charg- 

 ing. The stirring combat was kept up uninterruptedly, 

 however, until we saw the gap that yawned in the moun- 

 tain and offered us our only refuge. This caused a thrill 

 of joy to pass through both body and mind, and we, for 

 the first time, answered the screams of our foes by hearty 

 shouts. A few of the more daring and best mounted 

 warriors made a bold and determined attempt to charge 

 us, but they were glad to relinquish that system of fight- 

 ing in a very short time. A little later, and we wei'e 

 dashing into the rocky pass or chasm, and, once inside, we 

 halted, and climbing promptly to an eminence, gave our 

 pursuers as defiant a shout as ever issued from human 

 throats. We were horror-struck, however, to see a group 

 of the fiends dancing and yelling about some object; and 

 on inquiring if any of the party were missing, found that a 

 man named Evans was not seen after the head of our col- 

 umn entered the pass, he being the last in the line. This 

 loss affected us very much, and we were almost enraged 

 when we saw the way in which he was being tortured ; for 

 the cowards Avere evidently wreaking their revenge and 

 losses on him. Much as we felt inclined to save him or 

 his remains from the mutilating hands of his captors, we 

 felt that we were powerless to do so, and that we might be 

 risking our own lives to no purpose. The Indians did not, 

 of course, dare to follow us into the pass, so we pursued 

 our journey unmolested. We subsequently learned from 

 friendly Indians that our foes were some of Red Cloud's 

 renegade band, and that we had killed and wounded fifteen 

 of them. They captured our camp, however, but the men 



