136 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 



unable to drive the trappers from their position, they retired from 

 the mountain and the firing suddenly ceased. In their retreat 

 they were forced to expose themselves, and again the w^hites dealt 

 destruction among them. As the Indians retired, yelling loudly, 

 the hunters thought they had given up the contest ; but presently 

 a cloud of smoke rising from the bottom immediately below them, 

 at once discovered the nature of their plans. A brisk wind was 

 blowing up the canon ; and favored by it, they fired the brush on 

 the banks of the stream, knowing that before this the hunters 

 must speedily retreat. 



Against such a result, but for the gale of wind which drove the 

 fire roaring before it, they could have provided — for your mount- 

 aineer never fails to find resources on a pinch. They would have 

 fixed the brush to leeward of their position, and also carefully 

 ignited that to windward, or between them and the advancing 

 flame, extinguishing it immediately when a sufficient space had 

 thus been cleared, over which the flame could not leap, and thus 

 cutting themselves off from it both above and below their position. 

 In the present instance they could not profit by such a course, as 

 the wind was so strong that, if once the bottom caught fire, they 

 would not be able to extinguish it ; besides which, in the attempt, 

 they would so expose themselves that they would be picked ofi' by 

 the Indians without difficulty. As it was, the fire came roaring 

 before the wind with the speed of a race-horse, and, spreading 

 from the bottom, licked the mountain sides, the dry grass burning 

 like tinder. Huge volumes of stifling smoke rolled before it, and, 

 in a very few minutes, the trappers were hastily mounting their 

 animals, driving the packed ones before them. The dense clouds 

 of smoke concealed every thing from their view, and, to avoid this, 

 they broke from the creek and galloped up the sides of the canon 

 on to the more level plateau. As they attained this, a band of 

 mounted Indians charged them. One, waving a red blanket, 

 dashed through the cavallada, and was instantly followed by all 



