HUNTING AND HUNTED. 



407 



Mexican stuff, and their guns went off when 

 they got ready. 



Therefore, though the Indians outnum- 

 bered us many to one, they had a wholesome 

 dread of the deadly American rifle. They 

 would charge on us, whooping and yelling, 

 as they rode past, generally to lost one or 2 

 of their number. Finally, one of the chiefs, 

 who had been rather unseemly in his actions, 

 spanking significantly certain portions of 

 his hinder person, came charging up. " The 

 Scalper " said to me, " you try to kill the 

 horse, and I'll fix the man." This I did, 

 and before his comrades could help him to 

 get away, the chief went his long journey. 

 Then they drew off; as " The Scalper " said, 

 " concocting some deviltry." We were 

 given our stations to carefully watch. I had 

 got into a small gully, and watching 

 through a bush, saw something move be- 

 hind a tree 80 or 100 yards away. I carefully 

 poked my rifle through the bush, and was 

 sighting it, when I heard a shot. Blood 

 spattered in my face, and I knew I was hit 

 "but felt no pain. I wiped the blood out of 

 my eyes, and just then I caught sight and 

 fired. The Indian jumped up and fell like a 

 log. All at once.it came to me that I had 

 killed a human being, and a sad feeling of 

 regret and remorse swept over me. Then 

 I thought it was his life or mine, yet I felt sad. 

 I soon realized that the end of my right thumb 

 had been hit, and was bleeding freely. I tied 

 it up, and reloaded my rifle left handed. 

 I watched for a time, and then carefully 

 made my way up the gully to see what I 

 had killed. There lay a dead Indian, and tied 

 to his belt were the scalps of 2 white men 

 and the long, nearly white locks of a child. 

 Then all feeling of remorse left me, and it 

 seemed as if I could have exterminated the 

 whole Indian nation. I took the scalps and 

 returned to our party. I showed " The 

 Scalper " the scalps. He took them, looked 

 at the child's, and then sat down and cried. 

 Never do I want to see such bitter agony 

 again. A whole life had been risked and 

 wasted to recover that; there was no doubt 

 it was his own child's scalp. When we 

 afterward went back to the Indian, there, 

 tied to the string around his neck that held 

 his ornaments, was the wedding ring of 

 " The Scalper's " wife and the little child's 

 locket. The old man wanted me to take the 

 redskin's scalp, but I could not do it. I had 

 not graduated then; so he took it. When 

 he gave up to his great grief, I sat down by 

 him and tried to console him; but there is 

 sorrow no words can assuage. Wife, boy, 

 all the regrets of the past years, came up be- 

 fore him, as he afterward told me, and there 

 was but one cure — death. After a time 

 some of the men came up and he said, 

 " We have work to do. Two of you remain 

 here until everything is packed; the rest 

 come with me." We saddled up and packed 

 our jerky on the led horses, taking the best 



horses for our mounts, and then we were 

 given our orders. It was to be a running 

 fight to a camp where we could have a bet- 

 ter chance against night attacks. No sooner 

 did we leave the creek bed than there came 

 a big crowd of red devils after us, firing and 

 yelling as only Indians can. Occasionally 

 we would stop, dismount, and empty a 

 few saddles. Then load, mount, and ride as 

 if the devil was after us. The Indians' shoot- 

 ing at long range was ineffective. Only one 

 pack-horse was disabled before we got 

 safe to our new camp. There we remained 

 that afternoon and night. We expected 

 trouble before morning, but nothing came, 

 and about sun up, we were again in the 

 saddle. We saw no Indian signs, and some 

 of us thought they had left us, but the wiser 

 ones said, " No; we will hear from them 

 again." We traveled on till noon, and had 

 grown a little careless. All at once, on 

 nearing a small, timbered gully, a number of 

 shots were fired at us, and just below us 

 came riding out a gang of the painted devils. 

 Our leader was ready for the emergency, 

 and ordered us to charge on the gully and 

 clean it out, which we did. On the first fire 

 one of our comrades had been killed and 

 2 wounded. The dead man we picked up 

 and took with us; the wounded one man- 

 aged to follow. We found the gully a 

 splendid place for a stand, and soon drove 

 the Indians back, with some loss on their 

 side. They would charge, shoot, and re- 

 treat; but we kept well under cover and 

 made each shot count. When night came 

 the Indians disappeared. Guards were 

 placed, and the wounded carefully cared 

 for. '' The Scalper " had become an excel- 

 lent surgeon, and he bandaged and exam- 

 ined the wounded. One died that night. 

 The other got better and was able to go on 

 the next day. Before starting, 'we dug 

 graves as best we could, using sharp sticks 

 and our hands, and there buried the bodies 

 of our friends. To cover up all signs we 

 made the horses tramp over the ground. 

 This was to save the bodies from being 

 scalped and maltreated. After reconnoiter- 

 ing the next morning we broke camp. In- 

 stead of returning on our trail, our leader 

 deemed it best to strike off Westerly. The 

 wisdom of this we found later, as the 

 Indians prepared another surprise for us, 

 but we did not walk into it. About the mid- 

 dle of the afternoon we saw them coming, 

 but had ample time to get into a good posi- 

 tion. Seeing we were prepared for them, 

 they concluded they had had enough and re- 

 tired. This was the last we saw of them. 



We arrived at San Antonio, and soon af- 

 ter I joined a company of Texas Rangers 

 and went to Mexico. Our leader joined 

 the same company, and served till the tak- 

 ing of the Bishop's Palace, where he was 

 killed. We found him and gave him a 

 fitting burial. Peace to his ashes. 



