296 WILD SPORTS IN THE FAR WEST. 



would not appear ; but we resolved to wait till dark. 

 "We were fifteen in all, and decided not to fire till every 

 man was sure of his mark ; and, with beating hearts, 

 'we listened for the slightest sounds. We had almost 

 given up the hopes of seeing them, when a single 

 warrior appeared, in his blanket dress, and descended 

 the cliff. He was sent to reconnoitre, and had not the 

 slightest suspicion of danger ; for he passed close before 

 my uncle Ben, who, not able to resist the temptation, 

 or fancying that he was discovered, I know not which, 

 contrary to his usual caution, fired. The savage 

 leaped high in the air, and fell on his face without a 

 groan. 



"Now, whether the Indians thought that their spy 

 had shot something, or whether they thought them- 

 selves strong enough to disregard a single man, whom 

 chance might have brought to the spot, in less than five 

 minutes the whole troop were on the edge of the bluff, 

 about eighty paces from our hiding-place. They had 

 with them only the four horses which they had lately 

 stolen, and as we well knew that it would be vain to 

 seek them if once their suspicions were roused, we took 

 aim in sUence. The party consisted of nine men, four of 

 them on horseback ; we might easily have killed them 

 all, but were too eager to recover the horses ; so it hap- 

 pened that all aimed at the riders. I had not been in 

 quite such a hurry, and Avhen the others turned to fly 

 I aimed at one just as he w^as entering the thicket ; he 

 gave a spring and threw off his blanket ; I saw the 

 blood spurt out, but he was soon out of sight, and as 

 I could not find his body, I think he must have 

 escaped. 



