THE MISSOURI RIVER JOURNALS 135 



prairie, but they suddenly rushed upon us and compelled 

 us to retreat across the Maria. Then they had us in their 

 power; but for some reason, either lack of courage or 

 knowledge, they did not avail themselves of their opportu- 

 nity. They could have killed a great many of us when 

 we rushed into the water, which was almost deep enough 

 to swim our horses ; they were close upon us, but we suc- 

 ceeded in crossing before they fired. This foolish move 

 came near being attended with fatal consequences, which 

 we were aware of, but our efforts to stop it were unsuc- 

 cessful. We, however, did not retreat far before we turned 

 upon them again, with the determination of driving them 

 to the mountains, in which we succeeded. By this time 

 it was so dark that we could see no more, and we con- 

 cluded to return. During the day we lost seven killed, 

 and twenty wounded. Two of our dead the enemy had 

 scalped. It is impossible to tell how many of the enemy 

 were killed, but their loss must have been much greater 

 than ours, as they had little ammunition, and at the last 

 none. Our Indians took two bodies and burned them, 

 after scalping them. The Indians who were with us in 

 this skirmish deserve but little credit for their bravery, for 

 in every close engagement the whites, who were compar- 

 atively few, always were in advance of them. This, how- 

 ever, had one good effect, for it removed the idea they had 

 of our being cowards, and made them believe we were 

 unusually brave. Had it not been for the assistance we 

 gave the Piegans they would have been cut off, for I never 

 saw Indians behave more bravely than the enemy this day; 

 and had they been well supplied with powder and ball they 

 would have done much more execution. But necessity 

 compelled them to spare their ammunition, as they had 

 come a long way, and they must save enough to enable 

 them to return home. And on our side had we been posi- 

 tive they were enemies, even after they had surprised us 

 in the manner they did, we could have killed many of them 



