222 WE SEND FOR HELP. 



bough and struck off to the left, and we could see that he had 

 passed them -, but so near, that every moment we expected to 

 see the mare fall, struck by one of the bullets which were being 

 fired at her. A few seconds after this, the Comanches shut 

 him out from us, and an anxious time began. Would he 

 succeed in distancing them, and could the mare hold out, thin 

 as she was, and having had nothing but grass for so long ? 



We hitched up and went on again, all the Indians being out 

 of sight, and must have made three miles, when we saw some 

 of them coming back, the slow pace at which they came 'making 

 us feel sure that our messenger had got through, and very soon 

 they were all collected together, apparently consulting, about 

 half a mile from us. We knew that they would now do their 

 best to get us, as they could pretty well calculate how long it 

 would be before the arrival of the troops ; so we made all 

 preparations for a rush, loading every weapon we had and 

 laying ammunition handy. 



The country here was alternately wood and small prairies, 

 the former being open and not affording much cover, and 

 we were passing round one of these small woods when the 

 Comanches made a rush at us, coming on in a double line 

 and yelling their war-whoop. Our men were excited and fired 

 wildly, not a man dropping, till they were within about a 

 hundred yards of us, when the horses fell fast and the Indians 

 wavered. Our magazines were empty, but just at this moment 

 the cook gave them six ounces of buckshot, which, as they 

 were pretty close together, told well on the horses, many 

 becoming quite unmanageable, and the whole party turned 

 and galloped off into the timber, leaving seven horses and two 

 men on the ground. As they opened fire upon us from cover, 



