THE SHEEP EATER CAMPAIGN. 



439 



so be cheated of our entertainment. The 

 more blood Reddy saw the braver he be- 

 came; he was soon quite a warrior, taking 

 the lead, partly through his own bravery, 

 but chiefly through our courtesy. He car- 

 ried his knife in his boot, his revolver under 

 his belt in front of his body, and his carbine 

 at the position of " ready." We had fol- 

 lowed about half a mile, and were just about 

 to pass a fir tree, with branches thick about 

 the base, when suddenly these branches 

 parted, and out sprang the bear. 



Reddy promptly fired at nothing, then 

 dropped his carbine, turned and ran, at the 

 same time grasping at his revolver, which 

 he also dropped. Away he flew, the bear 

 weakly following him, paying no attention 

 to the rest of us. Evidently the bear was 

 willing to assist in our entertainment, but 

 Reddy was not, and he did not stop until he 

 had clambered to the top of a rock, about 

 ioo yards away. In vain we yelled at him to 

 lie down and carve him. The bear tried to 

 climb the rock, but was too weak. Reddy 

 shouted like a wild man, calling us to shoot, 

 and save him; but we were having too 

 much fun as matters stood. The bear fi- 

 nally concluded he could do nothing with 

 Reddy, and turning he came lumbering 

 toward us. 



This was not exactly what we were there 

 for, so we opened fire, finally knocking him 

 down when within a few feet of us. He was 

 almost gone, but got up and staggered 

 blindly away from us a few paces; when 

 we succeeded in getting him down to stay. 

 He was not a very large bear, weighing 

 probably not more than 500 pounds; but 

 he was a vicious beast. The scouts called 

 him a mongrel; his color was many shades 

 of brown, slightly grizzled. I have never 

 seen another like him. 



Reddy never afterward mentioned his 

 method of killing bear, and we never saw 

 his wonderful knife trick performed. 



Toward the middle of July we began to 

 find fruit, and from this time to the end of 

 our outing we were frequently treated to 

 wild currants, huckleberries, and one other 

 fruit that I have never heard named. The 

 plant that bore this fruit was an annual, hav- 

 ing a single stalk about 4 feet in height, and 

 covered with what looked like nettles, but 

 they were soft and harmless. The leaf was 

 large and like the grape leaf. The fruit 

 grew in clusters, and looked like large red 

 raspberries, and like raspberries, left a cone 

 on the stein when plucked. The flavor of 

 the fruit was very delicate and delicious, re- 

 sembling that of the strawberry. On first 

 discovering this fruit we feared it was poi- 

 sonous, and let it alone; but one of the men 

 concluded to test it, and after we had seen 

 him eat a quart or more oi the berries, with 

 evident relish, and without bad results, we 

 followed his good example as long as any 

 could be found. 



Toward the end of July we found our first 



sign of civilization. It was the residence of 

 a Chinaman on Salmon river, not far from 

 the town of Warrens, or Washington, as it 

 appears on some maps. This Chinaman 

 had a nice garden, and supplied us with the 

 first fresh vegetables we had that season. 

 Passing through the old mining town of 

 Warrens, on the Warrens and Florence 

 trail, I was detached with 2 men and sent to 

 look for Indians at Loon lake. 



My party left the trail at Secesh creek, 

 and turning up this stream, we traveled 

 about 15 miles over fallen timber when we 

 discovered our lake, a body of water hav- 

 ing an area of perhaps a little more than 2 

 square miles. Now, as we had been led to 

 believe there was a strong possibility of 

 finding Indians on this lake, and as we did 

 not wish to be found by them, I concealed 

 our horses, under charge of one man, and 

 sent one man around one side of the lake, 

 while I went round the other side. There 

 was a dense growth of timber about the 

 lake, and we had to proceed with some cau- 

 tion. We found some old signs of an In- 

 dian camp, but no fresh ones. After recon- 

 noitring the lake, we concealed ourselves 

 in a clump of pines and went into camp for 

 the night, picketing our horses after dark 

 on a clear grass plot near our thicket. 

 Toward midnight we were aroused by the 

 snorting of the horses. Grasping our car- 

 bines we crept to the edge of the thicket to 

 see what was going on. There in the moon- 

 light, not 50 yards off, stood a huge elk, 

 quietly looking at our frightened animals. 

 As we could not carry much meat, we re- 

 frained from shooting. The next morning 

 we saw several elk taking their morning 

 drinks within a quarter of a mile of us; but 

 we did not molest them. 



As we expected to find our command on 

 the trail not far from the crossing on Se- 

 cesh creek, we did not hurry our march to 

 that point, and it was about midday when 

 we reached it. Still thinking there was no 

 cause for hurry, we unsaddled and picketed 

 our horses out to graze while we smoked 

 and rested. We were soon aroused by rifle 

 shots, not far away, and upon investigating 

 we found the shooters were 2 civilians, who 

 said they had been directed to look out for 

 me, and to tell me our commander, having 

 learned that Lieutenant Farrow, with his 

 scouts, was on the trail of a band of Indians 

 who were going to Devil's mountain, would 

 march to that mountain on that day, and I 

 was to join him that evening. The distance 

 I was to tfivel, the men said, was 60 miles. 



Our horses were none too fresh, and I 

 had my doubts about being able to comply 

 with this order; but long experience had 

 taught me this particular commanding of- 

 ficer did not take much stock in impossibil- 

 ities, and I knew the effort must be made. 

 Mounting in haste we took the trot along a 

 good trail, and kept up the gait most of the 

 time for more than 3 hours, when to our joy 



