124 OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD GETS TOO WARM. 



at two old watercourses, at which I had to hunt for a crossing, 

 whereas they crossed Avherever they came to them. On mount- 

 ing the ridge above camp I emptied my revolver rapidly a 

 signal we had agreed upon and three of the men ran out to 

 meet me and fired at my pursuers, who turned and rode off, 

 making insulting gestures at us. 



It had been a very close thing ; for although the mare held 

 out nobly, she was nearly done when I jumped off and loosened 

 the girths. 



The Indians had no doubt calculated on capturing me alive, 

 or they would have used their rifles when I first saw them, and 

 had I been mounted on any other horse in camp, they would 

 most likely have succeeded. As this was only my second trip 

 on the plains, I may be excused for having made the mistake I 

 did in galloping away from camp thinking I was going towards 

 it ; the whole thing, too, was so sudden that there had been no 

 time to think. 



As this neighbourhood was getting too warm for us, we 

 hitched up at once, crossed the river, and, carrying water with 

 us, camped on a high ridge, cutting grass for the animals, all 



of which we tied to the waggon ; M 's rein-eater being 



fastened with a trace-chain to the end of the pole. 



The Indians could only have been a small party, as we saw 

 nothing more of them ; and on the second evening we reached 

 our old camp on White Rock. 



Fortunately the buffalo had come north again and there 

 were thousands on the creek, making it easy to supply camp, 

 as we dare not now hunt at any distance from it, and always 

 went in couples, as in those days very few Indians had rifles, 

 and two men could keep off a number of them. This being 



