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Show 230 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF for us, and that we infallibly should be all "rubbed out." He addressed his son, a lad about sixteen years of age, in the following strain : " My son, we shall be all killed here. The Cheyennes are very brave, and they 1mve a cloud ·of warriors before us. It must never be Raid that my son was killed by them, therefore I must kill you myself before I die. Die, my son, first!" In an instant his son was a corpse, prostrate at the feet of his savage father. This, thought I, is the first time I ever saw a person killed to save his life. The actions of the old chief were wild throughout the whole proceeding. After killing his son, he rushed upon the top of the bank, and addressed himself to the enemy, an exposed mark to their arrows, as follows : '' Ho, Cheyennes ! here I am ! come and kill Ine ! I am the great chief of the Crows. Come and kill me first, and then you can easily kill my wa~riors. Many of your braves have fallen by my hand; their scalps darken my lodge. Come ! come and kill me!" I was astonished at such rashness, and still more astonished a: the enemy, who, on seeing him a fair mark for their bullets, even withdrew to a greater distance: and appeared to be perfectly par-alyzed. After a while, o~r ~ead chief descended, and took a long s.moke at his pipe. The enemy retired without troublmg us ~arther. In the night we decamped, and made all possible haste to our village, where we arrived in sa~ety wi:hout any molestation from the enemy. The chief attr~b.uted our escape to the interposition of the ~reat ~pint, whom the sacrifice of his son had propittated 1n our behalf. We killed fourteen of the enemy while in our intrenchment, making eighteen, and wounded a great JAMES P. BECKWOUR'fH. 231 number. We had eight killed, including the chief's son, and ten or eleven slightly wounded. When we arrived at home there was great mourning, and we all assumed paint on our faces as usual. But we wore it only a short time before we took ample revenge. Pine Leaf did not accompany us on this expedition. CHAPTER XVII. Victory over the Cheyennes.-Treachery of the Snake Indians.-Loss of six Crow Warriors.-Victory over the Snakes and Utahs.-A Mountaineer killed.-Trouble in the Wigwam.-! am disgraced.Great Sacrifice of my Father's Property.-Three Whippings for violating Crow Morals.-Great Battle with the Re-ka-ras. FouR days after our return, our chief, still smarting at the sacrifice he had made for the salvation of his people, burned for revenge. He selected a body of over two hundred warriors, and started forthwith in search of the enemy. The night following his departure, I also raised two hundred men, and started in a contrary direction. We proceeded on until we came to Laramie Forks, where Fort Laramie has since been built, and were in sight of a Cheyenne village. While we were surveying the village, eleven of their men, laden with meat, came up and encamped within a few hundred yards of where we were. We immediately threw ourselves flat upon the ground, resolved to wait until the coming of night, in order to make secure work of our attack on them, and prevent any of their number escaping to alarm the village. At a late hour we silently approached their camp when they were all sound asleep; a dozen guns were discharged at them in a moment, and we rushed |