134 THRILLING ADVENTURES. 



the trappers, galloping up on his horse, cut off their retreat, 

 and drove them like sheep before him back to their village. 

 A few of these wretched creatures came into camp at sundown, 

 and were regaled with such meat as the larder afforded. 

 They appeared to have no other food in their village but bags 

 of dried ants and their larvse, and a few roots of the yampah 

 Their huts were constructed of a few bushes of grease-wood, 

 piled up in a sort of bre kwind, in which they huddled in 

 their filthy skins. During the night, they crawled up to the 

 camp and stole two of the horses, and the next morning not 

 a sign of them was visible. Now La Bonte witnessed a case 

 of mountain law, and the practical effects of the "lex talionis" 

 of the Far West." 



The trail of the runaway Diggers bore to the northwest, 

 or along the skirts of a barren waterless desert, which 

 stretches far away from the southern shores of the Salt Lake 

 to the borders of Upper California. La Bonte, with three 

 others, determined to follow the thieves, recover their ani- 

 mals, and then rejoin the other two (Luke and Rube) on a 

 creek two days' journey from their present camp. Starting 

 at sunrise, they rode on at a rapid pace all day, closely fol- 

 lowing the trail, which led directly to the northwest, through 

 a wretched sandy country, without game or water. From 

 the appearance of the track, the Indians must have still been 

 several hours ahead of them, when the fatigue of their horses, 

 suffering from want of grass and water, compelled them to 

 camp near the head of a small water-course, where they luckly 

 found a hole containing a little water, whence a broad Indian 

 trail passed, apparently frequently used. Long before day- 

 light they were again in the saddle, and, after proceeding a 

 few miles, saw the lights of several fires a short distance ahead 

 of them. Halting here, one of the party advanced on foot 

 to reconnoitre, and presently returned with intelligence that 

 the party they were in pursuit of had joined a village numbering 

 thirty or forty huts. 



