ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, ETC. 101 



passing his lair, he was equally willing to back out of an en- 

 gagement in which his fears suggested that he might come off 

 the loser. 



This evening, as we sat around the camp fire, cozily wrapped 

 in our blankets, some of our old hunters became garrulous, and 

 we had several good " yarns,^'' as a sailor would say. One told 

 of his having been shot by a Blackfoot Indian, who was disguised 

 in the skin of an elk, and exhibited, with some little pride, a 

 great cicatrix which disfigured his neck. Another gave us an 

 interesting account of an attack made by the Cumanche Indians 

 upon a party of Santa-Fee traders, to which he had been 

 attached. The white men, as is usual in general engagements 

 with Indians, gained a signal victory, not, however, without the 

 loss of several of their best hunters ; and the old man, who told 

 the story, — " uncle John," as he was usually called, — shed tears 

 at the recollection of the death of his friends ; and during that 

 part of his narrative, was several times so much affected as to 

 be unable to speak.* 



The best story, however, was one told by Richardson, of a 

 meeting he once had with three Blackfeet Indians. He had 

 been out alone hunting buffalo, and towards the end of the day 

 was returning to the camp with his meat, when he heard the 

 clattering of hoofs in the rear, and, upon looking back, observed 

 three Indians in hot pursuit of him. 



He immediately discharged his cargo of meat to lighten his 

 horse, and then urged the animal to his utmost speed, in an 

 attempt to distance his pursuers. He soon discovered, however, 

 that the enemy was rapidly gaining upon him, and that in a few 



♦ I have repeatedly observed these exhibitions of feeling in some of our people 

 upon particular occasions, and I have been pleased with them, as they seemed to 

 furnish an evidence, that amid all the mental sterility, and absence of moral 

 rectitude, which is so deplorably prevalent, there yet lingers some kindliness of 

 heart, some sentiments which ai-c not wholly depraved. 



