266 EI.DORADO 



of the fort. Behind hnn, no less brave nor deter- 

 mined, came tearing along his firm friend and ally, 

 Yellow Bear, the great Arapaho chief and strung out 

 in single file behind him, came fiercely onward a few 

 of his truest braves, any one of whom would have 

 gone cheerfully to his death at the word of Bent or 

 Yellow Bear. 



The wagon train came steadily along, its men 

 marching, fully armed, alongside, and all well closed 

 up, and it reached the fort in safety. Here they found 

 Bent getting everything ready in order to give a warm 

 welcome to the braves, who were evidently bent on an 

 assault. They would have met with a hot reception, 

 but their numbers must have eventually triumphed, 

 when an unforeseen event occurred. The look-out, 

 the next morning after Bent's arrival, beheld afar to 

 the East a slight cloud of dust, and after a while, a 

 few black specks became visible beneath its shadow. 

 As these approached they grew in size and were seen 

 to be Indian videttes, with their ponies on a dead run. 



On their arrival at the Indian encampment — for the 

 Indians had ostensibly come to demand their annui- 

 ties, and had brought along their families, goods and 

 lodges — a curious scene was enacted. The squaws at 

 once began taking down their lodges, adjusting and 

 packing their travais, and soon the entire Indian camp 

 was in full retreat. Amidst the insulting yells of the 

 warriors, the yelping of dogs, the squalling of babies 

 and the rattle of pots and kettles, piled upon the 

 travais, the savage besiegers crossed the Arkansas 

 and disappeared from view. 



The mystery of this unaccountable move upon the 

 part of the allied Indians was explained when, late on 



