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Show 1~2 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF "For what reason?" they inquired. " Because there is a village close by which we mean to assault at daybreak, and we do not wish our design to be known." "Oh," said they, "we should not communicate your designs, and we did not even know of the village." They then poured out before me a whole sea of misfortunes. They had been trapping-had met with very good success ; the Indians had stolen their horses ; in attempting to cross the river by means of a badly-constructed raft, the raft had fallen to pieces, and they hacl lost every thing-peltry, guns, and ammunition. They were now making their way to New Mexico, with nothing to eat and no gun to kill game with. They were among Indians, and were two or three hundred miles from the nearest settlements of New Mexico. I entertained them well while they staid, and, after our assault in the morning, I gave them two guns and twenty rounds of ammunition, and counseled them to take ad vantage of the surprise of the Indians to make good their escape. One of the four afterward informed me that they reached the settlements in safety, having killed a buffalo and a deer on the way. We made the assault as appointed. We were ~ounted ?n horses we had taken from the village durI~ g the mght, as Indians go on horse-stealing expeditiOns on foot. I divided my force into two bodies, giving my principal scout the command of one. I gave o~ders to ru?. off their horses without risking a battle, 1f no oppositiOn were offered ; but, if they showed fight, to kill whatever came in their way. The Arrap-a-hos are very poor warriors, but on this occasion they defended themselves with commendable zeal and bravery. We were, however, compelled to kill I , JAMES P. BECKWOURTH. 183 fourteen of them, for our own security, before we could get their horses well started. On our side we had four wounded; and if they had not delayed to scalp the fallen Indians, that might have been avoided. We succeeded in driving away over sixteen hundred horses, all well conditioned, with which we arrived safely at home. My father also returned about the same time with near three thousand head, all superior animals. The Bull's Robe family had certainly done wonders, and we were entertained to the greatest feast I had ever seen. The whole village was illuminated with numerous Jeux de joie, and such · dancing was never known before. I received another addition to my list of titles in commemoration of this event, Is-ko-chu-e-chu-re, the Enemy of Horses. A feud now broke out, which had been long brewing, between two different parties in our village, one of which worshiped foxes, and the other worshiped dogs. The warriors of the latter party were called Dog Soldiers, of which I was the leader ; the other party was led by Red Eyes. The quarrel originated about the prowess of the respective parties, and was fostered by Red Eyes, on the part of the rival company, and by Yellow Belly (in Indian A-re-she-res), a man in my company. This A-re-she-res was as brave an Indian as ever trod the plain, but he was also a very bad Indian-that is, he was disagreeable in his man.:. ners, and very insulting in his conversation. Red Eyes was equally brave, but of a different disposition. His was a reserved pride; the braggadocio of A-re-she-res offended him. This 1ivalry developed into an open rupture, and the pipe-men were obliged to interfer.e to prevent open hostilities. At length it was |