IN THE OLD WEST 231 



at sundown with thirteen scalps dangling from 

 their rifles, in payment for the loss of their unfor- 

 tunate companion.* 



In their further advance, hunger and thirst 

 were their daily companions : they were compelled 

 to kill several of their animals for food, but were 

 fortunate enough to replace them by a stroke of 

 good-luck in meeting a party of Indians return- 

 ing from an excursion against one of the Cali- 

 fornian settlements with a tolerably large band of 

 horses. Our hunters met this band one fine morn- 

 ing, and dashed into the midst at once; half-a- 

 dozen Indians bit the dust, and twenty horses 

 were turned over from red to white masters in as 

 many seconds, which remounted those whose ani- 

 mals had been eaten, and enabled the others to 

 exchange their worn-out steeds for fresh ones. 

 This fortunate event was considered a coup, and 

 the event was celebrated by the slaughter of a fat 

 young horse, which furnished an excellent supper 

 that night — a memorable event in these starve- 

 ling regions. 



* In Fremont's expedition to California, on a somewhat 

 similar occasion, two mountaineers — one the celebrated 

 Kit Carson, the other a St. Louis Frenchman named Godcy, 

 and both old trappers — performed a feat surpassing the 

 one described above, inasmuch as they were but two. They 

 charged into an Indian village to rescue some stolen horses, 

 and avenge the slaughter of two New Mexicans who had 

 been butchered by the Indians; both which objects thej 

 effected, returning to camp with the lost animals and e 

 couple of propitiatory scalps. 



