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Show [ 243] 24 have put an end to him. Of course we took the side of Lite weaker parly;r. and nuncked the here], uut they were so bliud with rnge that they fotwht on, utterly regardless of our presence, although on foot and on hor'eback we were firing iu op n •·iew within twenty yards of th ·m. But th is <..lid not last long-. In a very few s conch! we cn:atcd a com motion among them. One or two \\ hich were knock<'d over by the ballH jumpl'd up mal ran ofl" into the ~tills, and they began to retreat slowly along a broad ravine to the· river, nghting furiou sly us they went. By the time they had rcnched the bottom we had pretty well uispcrs( d th em, and the old bull IIObhlctl off to lie down somewhere. 01w of his (·ncmic~ 1cnwined on the ground where we had first fired upon tltcm , nnd we stopprd there for a hort tiutc to cut from him some meat for our supper. '¥e hmJ ncglrrtcd to ecure our horse~, thinkin~ it an unnecessary precaution in thf•ir f~\l.igued collditiou ~ but our mule took it into his hcnd to start, and away he went, followed at full srwcd hy the pack- horse, with all the bnugnge and instruuwnts on his back. They were recovered and l.11ought back, after u chase of a mile. Fortunatrly ev ·ry thing was well securcu, so that nothing, rwt even the barometer, was in the least injured. 'file sun was getting- low, and some narrow lines of timber four or five miles distttrlt, promised us a pleasant camp, wher~, with plenty of wood for fire, and comfortable sh~ltcr, and rich grass for onr animals, we shonkl find clear cool spntJg-s, in~tcad of the warm water of the Platte. On on r arrival we fo1111d the bed of a strcnm iifty to one hundred feet wide, sunk somo thirty feet below the level of the prairie, with perpendicular banks, borderc<.J by a fringe of ~rren cottonwomJ, but not a drop of water. 'J11lcrc wer several small fork to the stream all in the ame condition. With the exception of the Platte bottom, the country scented to he of a clay format ion, ory, and perfectly devoid of any moisture, and bal\ed hard by the sun. 'rurning otT towards tile river, we reached the can!~ in abont a mile, nud were delighted to lind un old tree with thick foliage und sprcauing branche~, where we cncamperL At sunset the barometer was at 25,950, thermometer 8l 0 , with a strong wind from S. 20° E., ~nd the sky parr ially covered with heavy masse::; of cloud, which ettlcd a little towards the horizon hy 10 o'clock, leaving it sufficiently clear for astronomical observations, which placed us in lntitude 40° 3:3' 2G" aud longitude 104° 02' 13''. Ju~'l 8.-The lllornin!Z' \Yas very pleasant. The breeze was fresh from S. 50° E. with few clouds, the barometer at G o'clock standing at 25,970, and the th ermometer at 70°. Since leaving the forks our route had passed over n. couutry alteruately clay and sn.lld, each presenting the same naked ~vaste.. On leaving eamp th is mor11ing-, we struck agaiu a saudy rcgiou, In wluch the vegetation appeared somewhat more vigorous thnn that which we had ob erved for the last few duys, and on the opposite side of the river were some tolerably lar,{rc groves of timuer. Journeyi11g ~long, w{~ came smJdenly npon a place where the gTOUlHl :va~ covered With hor,cs tracks, which had been made siuce the rain, and 1nd•c~ttecl the immediate presence of 1diaus in our ncicrltborhood. Tl1e h.nmdo, too, which tiJC day before hml been ~o nnnwro11s~ were nowhere iu SH;ht, another snre indicatio11 that lherc were people ncar. Riuino- on W<} discovered the carcn.s of a hn tlido recently killed, pcrllnps the day before. We scanned tlt , horizon carefully with the gla1;:-:, but no living ohj<'Ct was to be f'll~<!ll. l:'or tlte ucxl rni le or two tlln g-rnu nd w :u~ d ottcd with lm flitlo cc.trcas ·us, wluch sho vcd that the ludiuns had made a surround here, au(t 25 [ 243] . . W nt on qnickly and cautionsly: kccpi?g-were 1n conslderoble force. e w~d . th . 1 i lis. bu 1 we met with no Ill-the river bottom, and careful I y nvot ~n~cn i~l 1 vV c had a I ready lost one of tcrmption, and began to. g.r?~v careless ~~!~l ~ m toms of giving out, t~nd our ho r~l'S and herr. Bas!l :s mnlc sho , Y dP. ·ll . . ·te He tl~ere- .' I b _. lu- what the Callil tans Cd 7£,, . finally rdtJS<·d to i.H vance, or.., L f h. uut this w·ts u very slow· fore di '11lOill1t~d, and drove ~w.r al~n~lll>c ~~~~ n~~~;t half a n~tJ~~ in ndvanco, way of trnvelllllg. We had ~~htrd•v~J~·cll ~ ~lilc or two in the rear, rcrnnincd but our Cheyenlles, who wcte 6tl,·ll~J,\ yl . l<r ol>jccts omontr the hill~, about with hin1. 'l'hcrc were !:=Orne< ,tt c 00 01 b · · · \ /'. h·tJ ::~cun for a tWO miles to the Jcft, here }ow lltl~l llll.cJnl:\~~~~t'l ~V;)l~~:ICL'~ U:lt happcuing Jittle tin1c, and snpposrd to be l;un~·~· co~~~~c~ whippitw ,;p furiou::;ly, and· to look behind, Maxwell sawbt. 1,~t · -~eye ~d them at ~1cc to be ludiaus nnothcr glance ut the datk o Je<.: s ~lOWe comlling- up at speed. . l . d of instrnnqents we mighc 't<i W<' heen well mounted and d.t~encu m )Cte . I l't 'lt ,, .. ts '"t<)<> ' · · , W<'te f.·ur y c1n1u- • . ', have set them a.l defi~mce, but.lns Jt wasl wcor •d to,wtin a clump of tirllhcr, Jnte to r )join Ollr fnends, nnu we CIH cav t"~' . d. , . " ,[ our u b;u t ha If " llli lc ahcnd, but t;te i n"~rnmc;•t~~~~:~~ ~~,~~~~•,rcau~·:\~c~ were ho.rs~s did not allow us fit~ gf asc\~~ n~~~~~;>car.\o lJe '.nor~ ! han ftf'tcc~t or gaJ ntng on us fnst. At 1 t t 1ey d ·ted into view at the top o( the twcllty in number, .bttt gro~tp nfter groupl .ar motion ·wd iu a few minutes hill~, unttl all tiJC llttle e~we;1ccs sc:rve~ l~ or thrcd l'-llwdred rtaked to the from the time they were l.rst < JscovcH;c' w. i ·i ~ In a few lu'wdrcd ytHds breech cloth, were w epmg nero~~ \I.e l~r'\ 1 a~orinrr to make, was ou tho we di:COV<!I'ed that t!IC llnlOd<.!fb\~C WeiC UH)~ fl''lCJt the uank down CillllC opposite side of the nver, an e1ore we cou •'- ' th~ :,·~~ ii::~ 8 1 /,:~~'\~~·~~ink that .in '.' fc w s1~c~11 ~~~e ~~ ~f0~1 ~ ,; c;~~~ "fu~~.n';~;~~~~ perhaps, some of Ius companions, w~u . cr~ · were on the tricrgers; had jerked the covers from ollr guns, dllC~ Ot J.r illloet d , lnrcrc frornb three Jnca· in such cases generally. act from mstmct,, an . ~.t ~ tl l, to romotc ~ hu ndred naked savages is a circumstance not} \vcllt ct,tl~ur~a ,..,.'tX\tell rcCOIY- . f · d t J Rt us he was a )Oll o 1J \-, H'J• n c~~ldexc,'rCils·~ o]. lJ<~l l~l~r~~~- an~~ sh~ut ·d to him in the Indian language, 111 c t 1c cac II .... ' , _ rz The souud of Ins own You're a fool, God damn yloul, don t you ~\rncol ws,IvtcJ'er~in<r his horse a little, he 1 , • d to shoe c t w c::ara(rc " 1 ~ t-~ . ] nnguagc ?em 1 I l ·17d' as I rode ont toward hun, anc gave passed u::; !Jke an arrow. e w lee c ' . . ., . 1 , t The proved me his hand, striking- his br?ast and excla;mmg:M~'·'~:;llol;ad resided ns n to lJe a villacre of that mltlon amoug w wrn. ldX}~e dJ.t1crly "\Vc ~ · l d rccocr111sc( lllll nccor - · trauor a year or t\~O prevtom• y, an ' .· :s well ·:ts we could a multi-were soon in the mHlst o.f tltc hand, as~verw<~ ~d f wh~t tribe were our Intude of questiolls, of whtch the v~·ry ~rst 'lv,t.' o . '1. 'l,hey srerncd disaJ)- . · , h vcre commcr tn t 1c rcn1 . · . dp•oainn t •c<1o ltiolp nktnHoOwll st hwat ot 1lC' Y were C.,~l 1 ?y e'n r.e s , .f or they bud fully antJcipated a g-rnnu dance aronnd a l~awr.lcc scalp that night. .· rr ix miles all ad, The ell ief showed us ills vii l.agc at a grove on s~~~~ ~~fvthe l;lattc i •mn tl i-ancl pointed Otlt a band of Buflalo, on the oth ~ r, c 1 Tiley had. ·lt('l o) ositc us, which he Si\id they were .gnt.ng· to r-ntroutH . ··ll<:i;Jcr ' ' y til pl . d c1 rJ y in 1 he mo1·n in or frorn the1r vII I ag0, and had been m. d " seelrl . tcc~t•l·tcllttl.t 'to '\void O'ivin<r tl\Cm the willd , when thry Ut~co.vcre u~. Ian <atr ,<.fr<e! w w·i llutcs t' he wo1m"- en rc ame gallopl· llg up, ustt.l· Je' Oll tbe1r horses |