PURSUED BY INDIANS. 2Q5 



from its position under a high cliff, we concluded was Phantom 

 Hill, as it had a very ghostly appearance, especially at night. 

 It was a beautiful moonlight night, and everywhere else it was 

 almost as light as day, but here the cliff threw a dark shadow 

 over the post, which, with its empty door and window-frames 

 and its fallen-in roof, looked as if it might well be the abode of 

 ghosts. A branch of the Brazos River ran close to it, and here 

 we camped, thinking that we were near enough now to begin 

 the hunt for the wood roads running into Belknap and intending 

 to remain some days and do so. 



On the morning after our arrival, F , H , and I rode 



off in different directions, I going north-east, following for 

 some miles the Brazos River. For several hours I saw nothing 

 but some turkeys and antelope, and had eaten my dinner and 

 started again, riding along a low bluff, about two hundred 

 yards from the river, when I heard a shout, and looking into 

 the bottom I saw a party of seven Indians, evidently camped 

 for a meal on the bank, as their horses were tied near them. 

 From the rush which they made to their horses I knew that they 

 would very soon be after me, and that I had no time to lose if 

 I wished to save my hair. I was riding a very slow grey pony, 

 but I put the spurs into him and got him along at a pace 

 which he had never before equalled, I am sure, and was about 

 half a mile from the bluff, when I saw the Indians ride up on 

 to it. There was no cover of any kind to hide me, so they 

 were after me at once, urging their horses along with yells and 

 blows. The ground was very rough, and at any other time I 

 should have hesitated to go over it at a trot, but I clattered 

 over it now at full speed, the stones flying in all directions ; but 

 I soon found that it was of no use trying to ride away from 



