A DISAPPOINTED SAVANT. 275 



That valorous chieftain we found limping around 

 outside our wagons, with a lance-cut in one of his 

 legs, while several of his warriors had arrow-wounds, 

 and one a pistol-shot, none of the injuries, however, 

 being dangerous. The Pawnees probably suffered 

 with equal severity ; and this was the sum total of 

 the dav's frightful carnage — the entire result of all 

 the fierce display that we had witnessed. 



Not long afterward, in front of a Government fort, 

 and in plain sight of the garrison, a battle occurred 

 between two large parties of rival tribes, about equal 

 in numbers. Back and forth, amid furious cries and 

 clouds of arrows, the hostile savages charged, rioon 

 saw r the affair commenced, and sunset scarcely beheld 

 its ending. The Government report states, if my 

 memory serves me correctly, that one Indian and 

 two horses were killed; and a shade of doubt still ex- 

 ists among the witnesses whether that one unlucky 

 warrior did not break his neck by the fall of his 

 pony ! 



These savages fight on horseback, and are neither 

 bold nor successful, except when the attacking party 

 is overwhelming in numbers, and then the affair be- 

 comes a massacre. All this knowledge came to us 

 afterward, but our first introduction to it was a sur- 

 prise. Kind-hearted man though he was, I think the 

 resultless ending of the battle disconcerted even the 

 Professor. Having nerved one's self to expect hor- 

 rors, it is natural to seek, on the gloomy mirror of 

 fate, some rays of glimmering light which can be 

 turned to advantage. I think the Professor's rays. 



had the contest proved as sanguinary as we first antici- 

 15 



