IN THE FAR WEST. 239 



our forces, mount fresh horses, and fight for a passage 

 through the mountains in front. To attempt to reach camp, 

 which was left in charge of two men, he considered to be 

 a piece of folly, inasmuch as the Indians must have seen 

 whence we emerged into the valley, and made their prepara- 

 tions to check us in that direction, for the first principle with 

 a warrior is, that a white man retreats on the same line that he 

 advanced, so his first move is to block that route, and depend 

 on a surround and the demoralizing effect of yells and charges 

 to win a victory. Most of our men had little fear of our foes, 

 however, in anything like equal numbers, for they were used 

 to a rough and ready life among a lighting people with whom 

 a word too often meant death. 



While we were conversing together another member of the 

 expedition rode up, and he being made acquainted with the 

 condition of affairs, we resolved to summon our party together 

 at once, and fight the Indians in the copse, and if we defeated 

 them to dash for the mountains and reach the settlements if 

 possible. The Indians felt so sure of us that they were in no 

 hurry to open the battle ; and we wished them to infer that 

 their presence was not known, for fear of forcing the issue 

 before we were ready. We decided, accordingly, that we 

 should chase an antelope in the direction where our spare 

 horses were held, and there hold a council of war. Acting on 

 this idea, we tore away from the copse at our best pace, and 

 meeting hundreds, I might say thousands, of antelopes on 

 our way, we pretended to pursue them, but we took excellent 

 care that those we followed went in the direction we wished 

 to go. A run of two miles brought us to where our extra 

 horses were held, and pretending that we had done some- 

 thing extraordinary, which pretension we made manifest 

 by firing our rifles and revolvers, we shouted in our most 

 stentorian tones " hoo-oo-hoo-oo-oo-ah-oo-ah," as if we were 

 overjoyed at an unusual piece of success. 



I was sent out on the plain to fire my revolver in rapid 

 succession in order to attract the attention of the remainder of 

 our company, while our veteran leader rode in another direction 

 to watch the manoeuvres of the Indians. Our signal was 



