64 • ELDORADO 



small parties even when smoking the "pipe of peace" 

 with them. Their principal weapons were bows and 

 arrows. They had a few guns, but the lack of am- 

 munition prevented their use to any great extent. A 

 small party having selected an encampment some dis- 

 tance from the traveled route in order to obtain food 

 for their stock, were attacked by quite a large force of 

 Indians. One of the party related the circumstances 

 as follows: "T was standing near some sage bushes 

 when I heard a rustling among them, and going in the 

 direction of the noise, saw an Indian creeping along, 

 who, seeing that he was discovered, let fly an arrow 

 that just grazed my ear. He then gave a whoop and 

 ran, but tumbled down before he could draw another 

 arrow from his quiver. One of the boys coming to 

 my aid and having a hatchet in his hand, rushed for- 

 ward and buried it in his skull, killing him instantly 

 The whoop of the now dead Indian brought the 

 whole force, and a shower of arrows fell among us. 

 I was the first to answer with a rifle shot which 

 brought one of the foremost savages off his horse to 

 the ground. In the meantime my companions were 

 using their rifles to good effect. We were able to get 

 behind a row of willows that afforded us some pro- 

 tection from the arrows of our assailants, which were 

 in most cases turned aside by the branches. After 

 firing the second volley of rifie shots the smoke cleared 

 awav and I could see we had made more than one 

 savage bite the dust. I had my eye on an old man 

 who leaped from his pony and took in his arms one 

 of his wounded companions who had been shot 

 through the leg. Placing him on a horse, he mounted 

 his own led the other and rode awav. I could easily 



