150 IN THE OLD WEST 



he had been engaged in the struggle with the In- 

 dian chief, whose body was lying within a few 

 paces of it. He was in the act of fighting the bat- 

 tle over again to one of his companions, and was 

 saying that the Indian had as much life in him 

 as a buffalo bull, when, to the horror of all pres- 

 ent, the savage, who had received wounds sufficient 

 for twenty deaths, suddenly rose to a sitting pos- 

 ture, the fire shedding a glowing light upon the 

 horrid spectacle. The face was a mass of clotted 

 blood, which flowed from the lacerated scalp, whilst 

 gouts of blood streamed from eight gaping wounds 

 in the naked breast. 



Slowly this frightful figure rose to a sitting pos- 

 ture, and, bending slowly forAvard to the fire, the 

 mouth was seen to open wide, and a hollow gurgling 

 — owg-h-h — broke from it. 



" 11 — ! " exclaimed the trapper — and jumping 

 up, he placed a pistol to the ghastly head, the eyes 

 of which sternly fixed themselves on his, and, pull- 

 ing the trigger, blew the poor wretch's skull to 

 atoms. 



The Gila passes through a barren sandy coun- 

 try, with but little game, and sparsely inhabited 

 by several different tribes of the great nation of 

 the Apache. Unlike the rivers of this western re- 

 gion, this stream is, in most parts of its course, 

 particularly towards its upper waters, entirely 

 bare of timber, and the bottom, through which it 

 runs, affords but little of the coarsest grass. 



