372 INDIANS. 



making short feints of charges, yelling with intense fury, 

 and once in a while firing a shot. 



Occasionally a young buck, anxious to signalise nis 

 bravery, will dash, well covered by his position on the 

 side of his horse, up to within 200 or 300 yards of 

 the enemy, fire off his gun in mid career, and circle 

 back to his own party. A youngster from the other side 

 will then try his hand with the same result. This goes on 

 until one party show^s evidence of weakness, when the 

 feints of charges on the other side become real, and the 

 whipped band gets away as it can. This is not at all 

 usual. Generally the affair is kept up until the ponies 

 give out, when each party draws off to try to achieve by 

 superior craft and cunning what it failed to do in open 

 fight. 



I have been told of a desperate fight, which lasted 

 four days, in which the bucks on each side displayed pro- 

 digies of valour, and in which one man was killed. If 

 one party is greatly superior in numbers, it dashes at once 

 into the others, relying on the demoralisation of the 

 weaker side to prevent its doing much damage. Then it 

 is Indian against Indian, pony against pony ; and, unless the 

 ground be partially unfavourable, the beaten force break- 

 ing up, each man for himself, will get away without nearly 

 so much loss as might be expected. 



The first impulse of the Indian, on being surprised in 

 his camp, is that most natural to all animals to scuttle 

 away as fast as his legs will carry him. He does not, 

 however, forget his arms, nor lose his head to such an 

 extent as to fail to take the direction to the nearest cover. 

 While under this terror, or ' stampede,' as it is called on 

 the plains, he is by no means to be feared, his shooting 

 being wild in the extreme ; and it is only when wounded 

 that he recovers his presence of mind, and becomes again 

 the really dangerous animal that he is. Indeed he is then 

 ten times more dangerous than when unwounded, for in 

 the latter condition he will always sacrifice a chance to 



