| Description |
Obispo Ranch, drove off a thousand of the best bred horses on the continent and also took saddles, blankets, bridles and spurs. The fts by other groups would increase the number of stolen horses to almost three thousand. The chief knew his pursuers would be faster than the drivers of the stolen horses, tie anticipated that the posse would stop at a certain watering place. He and a few men concealed themselves nearby. The posse camped as expected and turned their mounts loose to and his warriors rode into camp, shooting and whooping. The noise stampeded the grazing horses, which the Indians rounded up and took with them. The Californians had to walk home. Walkara knew horse-flesh and kept the best animals for himself; the remainder he traded for what he and his people wanted. Years later Pegleg told Major Horace Bell that he and his party had paid dearly for their horses: three lost her father, and he himself narrowly escaped. Periodically, Walkara had to replenish his to Old Mexico, he and his chaquetones went al oner, Jim and ?&crl e cr deemj.no the rn.sk of faei ncr caught and put in a Mexican jail too great. The expedition was a success until it reached the Colorado River on the return trip. The warned Walkara that the Mexican pursuers would soon catch up with the thieves. He hid most of his men and horses in the hills and retraced his tracks with the others. When the two parties met, the chief was leaning on his horse' s neck pretending to be exhausted and sick. He convinced the Mexican lawmen, in their language, that the "cruel Chief Walkara" had compelled him and those with him to steal believed him, but also gave him a few horses and permitted him to go his way. Napoleon of 75 |
