144 BATTLE WTTH INDIANS. 



that he had only returned from a scout on the Republican 

 River a few days before, and that he had been driven in by the 

 Sioux, the following being his account of the affair : 



It seems that he was out with about a hundred and fifty of 

 his men, when he came upon a band of some six hundred 

 Sioux under White Cloud, the great Sioux war chief, who 

 immediately attacked him and drove him into a ravine, the 

 sides of which North lined with two thirds of his men, one 

 third of them being detailed to hold the horses. 



The Sioux he said fought well, riding up to the edges of the 

 ravine, and firing as calmly as if shooting game, though they 

 were falling fast, the Pawnees being much better armed ; they 

 were, however, gradually driven back, having more than a 

 hundred killed and wounded, and at last they drew off, when 

 North retreated to the Fort as fast as he could go, having lost 

 sixteen men and many more being wounded. He told me 

 that all White Cloud's men were drilled by that chief and 

 always charged like cavalry, using their rifles and revolvers, as 

 they had no sabres. 



The fight made it very unlikely that the Sioux would remain 

 in the same neighbourhood, as after a loss of this magnitude 

 they generally return for a time to their villages to mourn for 

 the dead, so that I should only run the risk of meeting small 

 parties, and I was willing to take my chance with them. 

 Bidding my friends adieu, I rode back to Martin's and 

 remained there one day, trying to get a pony ; but he had 

 none to spare, and I had not been able to get one at the Post ; 

 so as my horse was already much improved by unlimited grain, 

 I determined to take him back again, carrying a bushel of corn 

 behind the saddle. 



