WHITE RUFFIANS.
May and Gertrude had now been for three days in the power of the Ute
chief, and so far, though closely watched and guarded, they had not
been badly treated.
He seemed to have complete control over his braves, and as band after
band joined him in answer to the signal smokes he sent up and the
scouts he sent out, until he had gathered a large party, this was very
remarkable. For discipline in an Indian tribe is as much to be expected
as it is in a newly recruited regiment of volunteers, where every
private feels as big as his captain, and sometimes bigger, having no
responsibility to settle him down.
But how long this kind treatment would last the poor girls did not
know, for the chief and his brother often spoke of them as their squaws
to be, when the present war trail was at an end.
For now, with his force augmented, the Ute chief was keener than ever
to hunt down his tribal enemies, the Snakes, and kill and scalp all of
their war party.
When he got within sight of the plains, upon a trail that led
nearly back to where he had emerged from them when he came upon his
expedition, only one great mass of hills intervening, the eyes of Bear
Killer flashed with a glad fire.
“Now the paleface girls shall see how the Ute warriors can fight!” he
cried. “The Snakes are seeking us, and they shall find us soon enough.”
He pointed away to a plain at the foot of the hill slope where they
were, and the girls saw that a large band of Indians were indeed
there, apparently well mounted and armed.
The keen eyes of the chief had detected at the instant he saw them that
they were not of his tribe, and he knew that the Snakes would be sure
to keep the warpath until the quarrel was fought out. They would be
just as keen for battle as he was himself.
“We are strong now, and we will make a big fight,” said Bear Killer.
“We will not leave a single Snake dog alive to bark. The paleface girls
shall see us fight. They shall see what brave men they will have for
their husbands.”
Bear Killer now chose four braves, and gave them strict orders to guard
the young girls and to allow no harm to come to them, but to keep them
safe until the fight was over. He posted them on the side of the hill
beneath a lofty cliff, down which a small stream wound its silvery way
in crystal beauty.
From this place they could look in safety over all the plains below,
and the coming fight would be decided before their eyes.
Perhaps there was, without his knowing it, a small vein of chivalry
in the savage nature of Bear Killer--hence his desire to do battle
and distinguish himself before the eyes of the beautiful girl whom he
destined to share his lodge.
The girls, guarded by braves who did not understand English, or, at
least, appeared not to do so, spoke to one another freely as the Utes
in column began to descend the hills, deploying farther down as they
were discovered by the Snakes.
“If our horses had been left we might escape now,” said May, whose mind
was ever busy in studying how to get away from her captors.
The wily chief had had all the horses taken out of reach of both the
captives and his enemies, excepting only those which he and his
warriors rode as they went down to fight.
The battle soon commenced.
The Utes, forming a scattered line as they went nearer to where the
Snakes were massed to receive them, closed but little more when within
rifle shot; but adopted the usual plan of circling around at a gallop
and picking off an enemy at every chance.
The Snakes soon met this maneuver by extending their lines and charging
here and there till the mêlée became so universal that the girls--now
anxious witnesses of the battle--could hardly tell one band from the
other, or know which was victorious.
All they could see was bands of mounted Indians whirling here and
there, striking and firing at one another in terrible confusion. Clouds
of dust rose constantly as they rode over some dry and sterile piece of
ground.
The braves who guarded them, in spite of the exciting nature of the
fight, stood stolid and calm at the posts assigned to them in front
of the girls, for the rear was a wall of solid rock. So far as the
expression on their faces went, it seemed as if it mattered nothing to
them how the fight went.
May would have questioned them if she could have done so, for she
thought that their experienced eyes told them which side was so far
victorious, but unfortunately she could not speak their language.
Suddenly one of the braves turned, and his face showed anxiety. He
seemed to have heard something to alarm him, for his eyes ranged back
to the rocks in their rear.
Almost at the same instant a sharp volley from unseen riflemen came
rattling from the back, and the four braves were stretched out dead on
the ground.
A band of white men, only six in number, with evil, repulsive faces,
which indicated that they were ruffians of the worst type, came rushing
forward from among the rocks at the point where the stream came
trickling from above.
“Gals! White gals--and beauties, my boys!” shouted their leader, as he
sprang forward.