A TRAGEDY IN PROSPECT. 269 



but we now saw that the Cheyennes had faced toward 

 the hills, and, following their gaze, we beheld coming 

 down their trail, and upon the tracks of our wagon, 

 another band of mounted Indians. It soon became 

 clear to us that the Pawnees, the Wolf's failure to 

 find whom had made that noble red man feel " heap 

 bad," were coming to find him. We counted them 

 riding along, twenty-five in all inferior in numbers, 

 it was true, but superior to the Cheyennes in respect 

 to their arms, so that, upon the whole, the two forces 

 now about to come together were not' unevenly 

 matched. The Pawnees live beyond the Platte, and 

 for years have been friendly to the whites, even serv- 

 ing in the wars against the other tribes on several oc- 

 casions. 



What a stir there was in the late peaceful valley ! 

 The buffalo that were lately feeding along the brow 

 of the plateau had all fled, and here right before us 

 were sixty-five native Americans, bent upon killing 

 each other off, directly under the eyes of their tradi- 

 tional destroyer, the white man. The Professor said 

 it forcibly suggested to his mind some of the fearful 

 gladiatorial tragedies of antiquity. Sachem re- 

 sponded that he was n't much of a Roman himself, 

 but he could say that in this show he was -very glad 

 we, occupied the box-seat, the safest place anywhere 

 around there ; and we all decided that it must be a 

 face-to-face fight, in which neither party dare run, as 

 that would be disorganization and destruction. 



It was strange to see these wild Ishmaelites of the 

 plains warring against each other. Over the wide 

 territory, broad enough for thousands of such pitiful 



