OCR Text |
Show 186 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF " Your words are true," said he, " and we will do as you say." "Then," added I, "turn your robes the hair side out, and follow In e." We wound our way down the trail through which they must necessarily pass to reach their village, and. kept on until we reached a place where there were three gullies worn by the passage of the water. Through the centre gully the trail passed, thus leaving a formidable position on each side, in which an ambuscade had ample concealment. · I divided my party, giving the command of one division to A-re-she-res. We took our stations in the ditches on each side the trail though not exactly opposite to each other. I directed' the opposite party not to fire a gun until they should hear ours, and then each man to take the enemy in the order of precedence. The unsuspecting Cheyennes, as soon as they had finished butchering and dressing the buffalo, began to approach us in parties of from three to eight or ten, their horses loaded with meat which they were bearing to the village. When ther; were about a dozen abreast of my party, I made a signal to fire, and nine Cheyennes fell before our balls and eight before those of A-re-she-res's party. Som~ few of the enemy who had passed on, hearing the guns, returned to see what the matter was, and three of them became victims to our bullets. We all rushed from our hiding-places then, and some· fell to scalping the prost~ate foe, and some to cutting the lashings of the ~eat In ord~r ~o secure the horses, the remainder keepmg the surviving enemy at bay. Having taken twenty scalps, we sprang upon the horses we had freed from their pac.ks, ~nd .retreated precipitately, for the enemy was commg In sight in great numbers. JAMES P. BECKWOURTH. 187 We made direct for the timber, and, leaving our horses, took refuge in a rocky place in. the mountain, where we considered ourselves protected for a while from their attacks. To storm us in front they had to advance right in the face of our bullets, and to reach us in the rear they had to take a circuitous route of .. several miles round the base of the mountain. The enemy evinced the utmost bravery, as they made repeated assaults right. up to the fortification that sheltered us. Their bullets showered around us without injury, but we could bring down one man at every discharge. To scalp them, however, was out of the question. During the combat a great Chey~nne brav~, named Leg-in-the-Water, charged directly 1nto our midst, and aimed a deadly thrust with his lance at one of our braves. The warrior assailed instantly shivered the weapon with his battle-axe, and i~flicted a ghastly wound in his assailant's shoulder With a second blow. He managed to escape, leaving his horse dead in our midst. By this time we were encompassed. with the enemy, which induced the belief in· our minds that retreat would be the safest course. None of our party was wounded except A-re-she-res, who had his arm broken with a bullet between the shoulder and elbow. He made light of the wound, only regretti?g that .he could no longer discharge his gun ; but he wielded his battleaxe with his left hand as well as ever. When night came on we evacuated o~r fortress, unperceived by our enemies. They,. deem:ng our escape impossible, were quietly ~esting, Inte?dmg to assaul: us with their whole force In the mornmg, and take oui scalps at all hazards. Moving with the stealth of. a cat, we proceeded along the summit of a rocky chff |