THE COMANCHES ATTACK US. 217 



as otherwise forty Indians might hesitate to attack six well- 

 armed white men. I am speaking of twenty years ago, when 

 a rifle was very seldom seen in an Indian's hands, and when 

 the few they had were of a very old pattern, and the supply of 

 ammunition for those was scanty. 



In the meantime we started again, throwing out of the 

 waggon several sacks of flour to lighten the load, the Indians 

 remaining where they were for nearly an hour, two mes- 

 sengers being sent away at full speed, we feared for reinforce- 

 ments. About one o'clock, when we were thinking of halting 

 to rest the animals, the Indians appeared again, coming at a 

 gallop and, passing us at a distance of about four hundred 

 yards, fired as they passed, and several balls came unpleasantly 

 near, one of them going through the side of the waggon. On 

 this we gave them three or four volleys from the Winchesters, 

 the result being the wounding of a horse, which bolted, and 

 was only stopped after going about a mile, when the rider dis- 

 mounted and got up behind one of his companions. This 

 seemed to show them the range of our rifles and the rapidity 

 with which they could be fired (a Winchester rifle firing its 

 fourteen cartridges in less than as many seconds if in good 

 hands), and for some hours they contented themselves with 

 keeping us in sight. We drove on till nearly dark, filling 

 buckets and kettles at a pond we passed and watering all the 

 animals, so that we might camp in the middle of a prairie, 

 where there was no cover of any kind to hide a crawling man. 

 Here we had supper, and arranged that one half should keep 

 guard while the other half slept. 



The Indians let us know that they were near by firing now 

 and then, the bullets going far overhead, but they did not try 



