When we reached Fort Worth, the news met us that the Indians were on the
war path in western Texas and were raiding all the white settlements,
killing the people and driving off their stock throughout all that part
of the state.
We laid in a supply of provisions and tobacco, enough to last three
months, and struck the trail for western Texas. The fourth day after
we left Fort Worth, we came to a settlement, and all the people were
natives of Tennessee, and as that was my native state, I soon made many
friends.
The people of the settlement had met together that morning to try to
plan some way to stop the depredations of the Indians, but they did not
know what to do or where to commence, and they were glad to see the
Capt., he being well known as an Indian fighter all over Texas.
When they asked him what he thought best to be done, he said that he
could not advise them what to do, but he had come to that part of the
State to protect the settlements from the outrages of the savages for
the next six months.
We rode to the edge of the settlement and went into camp, thinking we
would stay there until towards evening. We had just eaten our dinner
when two of the settlers came to our camp and in a very excited manner
told us that a small band of Indians had just gone into camp a few miles
from the settlement.
We asked them how they got the news. They said that two of the men had
been out hunting and saw the Indians when they went into camp.
We told these men to go and bring the men who'd seen the Indians' camp
so we could get all the particulars from them. In a few moments the
hunters were with us. I asked them how far the Indians' camp was from
the settlement.
"Not over five miles," one of them said. I asked which way the Indians
had come from and if there were any squaws with them. The answer was
that the Indians had come from an eastern direction and there were no
squaws with them, and they were driving quite a large band of horses.
Capt. McKee said to me, "What do you think of it?"
I said, "Capt., I am afraid they will move again before night, but I
want one of these men to go and show me where the Indians are, and I
will locate their camp tonight, and we can get every one of them and the
horses too."
Capt. McKee said, "That is a good idea. How many men do you want to go
with you?"
I said, "Give me the two men that went with me on the other Indian
hunt."
In a little while my men and I were off. I told the Capt. to stay in
that camp until he heard from me, which would be before dark.
We had ridden between four and five miles when we came to a little
ridge, and, stopping and pointing to a little bunch of timber, my guard
said, "The Indians' camp is there."
We dismounted, and, taking one man with me, I crawled to the top of the
hill and looked over, and sure enough, there was a small band of Indians
squatted around their camp fire, smoking and talking and apparently not
fearing any danger.
I told my companion to count them, and I would count too, and we might
find out how many there were. I crawled around in the brush keeping out
of sight, and I counted forty-eight, and my men made out fifty-one. We
crept along on the ridge to see if we could find out how many horses
the Indians had with them, but we could not count them, although I was
satisfied that there were at least a hundred horses feeding in the
valley. Some few of them were staked out, but the most of them were
feeding where they chose.
We went back to our horses, and I told the boys to take the horses to
a little ravine which was a short distance from us and to find a place
where they could not be seen and to stay with them until they heard from
me, for I intended to watch the Indians, and if they did not move before
sundown I would send one of them to the Capt.
I went back to the edge of the ridge where I could see the savages and
watch their movements. They sat and lay around on the grass until nearly
sunset when a few of them went to the horses that were staked out and
commenced to move them to fresh places to feed, which convinced me that
they intended to stay where they were that night. I crept down the ridge
to the ravine where the boys were with our horses and told one of them
to go back to Capt. McKee and tell him we had found the Indian camp, and
that the Indians intended to stay the night where they were, and that I
wanted him and the rest of the men to come to me, but not before ten or
eleven o'clock that night.
The other man and I led our horses further up the ridge and hitched
them, and we then crawled to the top, where we could watch the Indians
and not be seen by them. It was not nine o'clock before all the savages
had turned in for the night. Seeing that we could now leave the Indians
to their slumbers in safety, my companion and I now mounted our horses
and struck out to meet the Capt. and his men. We had ridden perhaps a
mile when we met the company. I told Capt. McKee how many Indians there
were in the band and how many horses they had with them. He said, "Can
we take as good advantage of this outfit as we did of the other one?"
I said, "I think we can, only there are more of them to fight in this
band, but as far as the ground is concerned we have all the advantage,
and we had better station ourselves around them just as we did before
and wait for daybreak, or until the Indians begin getting up."
"Shall we have a reserve on horseback as we did before?" he asked.
I told him I did not think it would be necessary in this case. We could
get between the Indians and their horses, and if they started to run for
their horses as they surely would, they would put themselves into our
clutches. And besides, this way would be more pleasing to the men, as
they all would have the same chance to shoot Indians alike and could
find no grounds to murmur, as they had the last fight.
We rode to within a quarter of a mile of the Indian camp, dismounted and
hitched our horses, and we all got near together, and I explained to all
the boys the position that all the Indians were in, and also where the
horses were.
I took the lead, and we crawled down and took our stations around the
sleeping Indians' camp. When every man was stationed and ready for the
Capt's. word to proceed to business, Capt. McKee crawled to the place
where I was waiting and whispered, "Why not make the charge at once?
I will go around and tell the boys, and we will begin the attack with
knives. I could kill a half a dozen Indians before the others are
aroused, and when the others begin getting up, pull our pistols and
finish them before they are fairly awake, and don't let any of them get
away. When you see me in among them it will be your time to begin."
He left me as silently as he had come, and I waited, hardly breathing,
till I saw his form outlined among the shadows, as the full moon
flickered through the branches of the trees.
As soon as the Capt. reached the Indians, every man sprang for the
nearest one, and it was a lively little fight for me at least. The first
two Indians I struck never gave a grunt, for I nearly severed their head
from their bodies. The third one, as I made for him, shouted, "Woughe,"
and sprang to his feet. I hit him on the back of the neck, but I gave
him the third blow before he went down. Just as he doubled up, I saw
another coming directly for me, running at full speed. I jerked my
pistol, and when he was in a few feet of me I fired, and he fell, and
now I could hear the pistols firing thick, and fast, but no more Indians
came near me, and the fight lasted but a few minutes longer. One of
our men had a hand-to-hand fight with an Indian. They both fought with
knives. I did not see the fight, although they must have been near me,
and he was the only man that was wounded in the fight, and he was only
slightly wounded. He told me that the first he saw of the Indian he was
right before him brandishing his long knife, and he said, "I had to work
lively for a little bit, you may rest assured, but I finally got a lick
at his short ribs, and then I gave him another on the back of the neck
and that got him."
As soon as the pistols ceased firing, Capt. McKee came to me and said,
"I think we have got them all."
I said, "Now Capt., call the boys together and see if any are wounded."
He stepped out a little ways and called to the men. "If anyone is hurt,
report to me at once, so we can attend to you."
No one came to us but the one I have spoken about. He was cut on one
arm and had a slight cut on one shoulder. The Capt. said, "Now boys, go
around to every dead Indian and take every knife and anything else that
you can find that is of any value and bring them here and lay them in a
pile," and then he gave me a title when he said, "The scout and I will
go and see about the horses."
Capt. McKee gave me this title in fun that night, but he little thought
that years after that night I would win the right to not only be called
a scout but would have the honor conferred on me of "Capt., Chief of
scouts."
We went to where the horses were feeding, but they were so mixed that we
could not count them. After we had looked at some of them, the Capt.,
said, "I wonder where the Indians stole them. Such fine horses are not
found every where. Perhaps after daylight we may discover some brand
that will show whom they belong to."
We went back to the Indians' camp and saw that the boys had gathered up
all that belonged to them. Each one of them had had a nice blanket and
nearly all of them had butcher knives. The Capt., said, "Now we will get
our horses and stake them out so they can feed, and we will get to our
blankets and try to get a few hours rest, for I am dead tired, and I
reckon the rest of you boys don't feel any better."
It was nearly sunrise when I opened my eyes in the morning, and there
were only a few others stirring, and I was not long in getting something
to eat, for I had not broken my fast since noon the day before. In a
short time all the men were cooking their breakfast and as soon as the
meal was over Capt. McKee asked me what we should do with those horses.
I told him, we could not fight Indians and care for a band of horses at
the same time. We must drive the horses some where and sell them, and I
think we had better go back to Fort Worth, and if we can not dispose of
them there we can take them to Dallas.
The Capt. then called four of the men to us and told them to go out
where the horses were and count them and to be sure and get the right
number. They were gone about an hour, and when they came back they said
there were one hundred and twenty horses out there, and one of the men
said, "Some of those horses are of the finest breed that I ever saw, and
nearly all of them have been broke to the harness, for I could see the
marks where the collars have rubbed the hair off their shoulders, and
I bet those Indians drove those horses hundreds of miles, maybe from
Kansas or Arkansas, and they and the horses being so tired was the
reason that the Indians stopped here to rest."
Capt. McKee and I went back and took another look at the horses, and we
found them to be much better horses than we had thought them to be, but
we could find no brand on them or any thing that would show whom they
belonged to. This convinced us that they had been stolen from farmers.
As the horses showed that they had been driven hard and we thought
a long distance, we decided to stay over one day as the grass was
plentiful and a stream of pure, cool water ran a few feet from where
they were feeding.
Three of the other men and myself went hunting, and we killed six
Antelope and were back in time to cook some for dinner. Capt. McKee
and I cooked dinner together that day, and while we ate he told me the
conditions he had hired the men to work under. He said he had guaranteed
them twenty-five dollars a month, and each man was to pay his portion
of the grub bill. "So you can see that the men have no share in these
horses, and what we can make out of the sale Of them belongs to you
and me alone. And I think we had better pull out for Fort Worth in the
morning, and try to dispose of them there."
So the next morning we pulled out, the Capt. and I taking the lead, and
the men driving the horses after us.
The evening of the fourth day we reached Fort Worth.
That night we camped a little south of where the Union depot now stands.
The next morning Capt. McKee and I rode into the town to see if we could
find a purchaser for our horses. We found a number of men who wanted
horses, but each man only wanted a few. Of course, the first question
was what price we asked for them. The Capt. and I had set the price at
one hundred and twenty-five dollars apiece, which we considered very
cheap for such fine stock.
We talked with a number of men, and a few of them said they would come
to our camp and look at the horses. So we rode back, and by noon we had
sold half of our horses. I heard one man say as he rode off leading four
horses that he had paid one hundred and twenty-five dollars apiece for,
that he had made a bargain, as he would not take two hundred dollars for
the worst-looking one.
After dinner that day a man came and looked at the horses we had left
and said, "You are selling your horses too cheap. If you can stay here a
few days and let your horses rest, and the people have time to find out
what good stock you have for sale, it would pay you well, and you will
have no trouble in selling your horses for a much higher price than you
have been asking."
The Capt. answered that we had other business to look after, and it was
very necessary for us to get rid of the horses as quickly as possible,
even if we had to sell them at a disadvantage. The man said, "Well, I
will send some men to you this afternoon, and perhaps you can make a
bargain with them."
Before the next night we had sold all of our horses at our own price.
Capt McKee said, "I think I will settle up with the boys, and then we
will see how we stand."
I said, "I think you had better lay in enough provisions to last three
months, Capt., for we do not know where we shall be or whether we can
get any as good as we can here. And besides, we may not always have such
good luck as we have been having the last few weeks."
Capt. McKee bought the grub and then settled with the boys, and then he
came to me and said, "Now we will settle between ourselves."
We walked a few yards away from camp and sat down under a large tree,
and he showed me a little book where he had everything set down in black
and white, and when all was reckoned up there were twenty two hundred
and eighty dollars to divide between us two.
As soon as we had divided the money, he said, "Now, are you willing to
do the scout work and take the lead of this company? You are the only
one in the outfit who understands the duties of a scout. I know this
work will very often place you in positions that will be anything but
pleasant, but someone must take the chances, and your knowledge of the
Indians and his ways of fighting makes you more suitable than any one
else in the company."
I said, "I will accept the position, Capt., if I can have the two men
that have been with me in the last two hunts, and one more man. And
another thing I want understood is that we four men will be exempt from
all camp duty and have the privilege of going and coming any time we
please without being interfered with."
He said, "All that suits me, and I will see that you are also exempt
from cooking. Your meals will be prepared for you from this on."
Capt. McKee now called the men I had selected, and one of the others to
come to him, and when they came, he told them of the arrangements we had
made and told them they must look to me for their instructions in the
future if they were willing to accept the positions as assistants. They
all said they were willing to undertake the job if I was willing to
teach them what I wanted them to do. One of them said, "Mr. Drannan,
when I make a mistake, I want you to tell me of it at once, for I want
to do right in everything as much as you will want me to."
I answered that we would commence by learning the private signals to
be used when in the Indian country, which I would teach them tomorrow
night.
After we went into camp the next morning, just as we were getting ready
to pull out, two men came and told us that the Indians were doing
a great deal of damage about seventy-five miles in a southwestern
direction from Fort Worth. He said they had been making raids on the
settlements every few days for several weeks and had killed several
people, and the settlers were kept in a constant fear day and night.
As the Capt. was well acquainted all over the country, he knew just
where to direct our course, and we pulled out in that direction making
as good time on the way as possible.
The second night after we left Fort Worth, we camped on the edge of one
of the settlements where the Indians had been making so much trouble. As
soon as we were settled in camp, I rode to a house that was perhaps a
half a mile from us to get some information regarding the Indians. The
man of the house said that the Indians had come every ten days and
sometimes oftener, and, said he, "The Indians do not try to kill the
people as much as they did to steal the stock or anything else that they
could get their hands on."
I asked him what direction the Indians came from, and he answered that
they invariably came from the west. I asked whether they were in large
or small bands. He said there were seldom more than thirty in a band,
and they always came up that river, and he pointed to a small stream not
far from us.
I rode back to camp and told Capt. McKee what I had learned. He said,
"The Indians must be very sure that no one will be after them now. What
do you think is the best plan to adopt?"
I told him that I thought we had better travel down the stream that the
Indians seemed to make a pathway of, for one day at least, and go into
camp at night, and I would scout around the country and find their main
trails, for I was satisfied that only a part of the band came to this
settlement. "And what we want to do, Capt., is to cripple them so they
would let this settlement alone, and we can do it if we can catch the
main band."
We pulled down this little stream and traveled in that direction.
All day we saw lots of Indian sign all the way, but none of them was
fresh. As we were going into camp that evening, I told Capt. McKee that
my scouts and I would take a circle around the camp and see if there
were any Indian camp fires to be seen.
We rode about three miles on top of a high ridge, and looking off to the
west we saw a large Indian camp. I knew this by the number of fires they
had burning. I pointed to the fires and said to the boys, "There they
are. We have found the main camp. But now the difficulty will be to get
to them without being discovered by them."
As the darkness was coming on, I could not see well enough to tell how
far the Indian camp was from where we stood, but we struck out towards
the fires. I told the boys to ride carefully and keep close together,
and for each man to keep a close watch in every direction.
We rode about two miles, and almost before we were aware of it, we were
close to the Indian camp. I tried my best to count them, but I could not
make out the number of Indians there were in the camp. Their horses were
staked all around them, and I could not count them either.
I said, "Now boys, we will go back and report to Capt. McKee and see
what he thinks is best to do."
It was late when we got back to camp, and they were awaiting our return.
Before turning in for the night, I told the Capt. what we had found, and
the position of the Indian camp, and that I thought they were about five
miles from us.
He sat in thought a few minutes and, turning to me, said, "What plan
have you in your mind about making an attack on that camp, Mr. Drannan?"
I said, "They are so scattered that in my opinion it would be impossible
to get them all, and I think the best way to make an attack on them
would be at daybreak, and for us all to be mounted on our horses. You
and your men make the attack, and me and my scouts make a dash for their
horses and cut them loose and run them off out of the Indians' reach.
Now Capt., I am satisfied that this fight will be no child's play,
but will be a nasty little fight, but if we can get the Indians on a
stampede and keep them from getting to their horses, I think we can run
them down and get the most of them."
The Capt. told the men that they had better not go to sleep that night.
"If we sit around the fire here until three or four o'clock in the
morning, you will all get over your scare and feel more like fighting."
One of the boys laughed and said, "It don't affect me in that way, Capt.
The more I study about a bad scrape that I expect to get into, the more
nervous it makes me."
Capt. McKee answered, "Perhaps you will fight better when you are
nervous than you would if you were cool. Anyway, we will take the
chances."
We sat around the fire and told stories and smoked until about one
o'clock in the morning, and then we saddled our horses and pulled out
for the Indian camp and arrived there in good time to look around and
see if we could take any advantage of the Indians in the coming fight.
The Capt. selected the place to make the attack and told his men that he
and they would sit on their horses and watch for the first Indian to get
up, and as soon as the first Indian attempted to get up, they must make
the charge, and every man must do all the shouting he could, "for," said
the Capt. "if we can get the Indians stampeded once, we will have as
good a thing as we want."
I told my scouts, that we would cut the horses loose and turn them in
the opposite direction from the one the Capt. was making the charge, and
I told the men to cut the horses loose as fast as they came to them, and
to pay no attention to the Indians unless they saw them coming towards
the horses, but if the Indians, one or many, seemed likely to get to the
horses, to pull their pistols and shoot them down before they caught
the horses, "for," I said, "every horse we drive away will be equal to
killing an Indian, for it will be putting him in the way of the other
boy's bullets."
We did not have to wait long before the sound of the guns and the yells
of the men as they made the attack on the half-awake Indians reached us,
and the din that the two noises made was something dreadful to listen to
as it broke on the stillness of the early morning, but my men and I had
too much to attend to to pay much attention to what the others were
doing.
After the fight had been going on a little while, one of my scouts came
to me and said, "I think we have got all the horses loose."
I answered, "Well, we will drive them all to the top of the hill, and
then they will be safe from their Indian masters."
We were not long in driving them there. I told one of the boys to stay
and look out for the horses, and I and the other two would go back and
see if any of the horses had been overlooked in our hurry.
When we reached the village again, we could only hear a shot once in a
while, and the yelling had ceased altogether.
We sat on our horses and waited for the pursuers to come back, and in a
half an hour the Capt. and all his men were back to the Indian camp.
I asked the Capt. if he got them all. He answered, "I think we did, and
I saw the bravest Indian that I ever saw before. After he had been shot
three times, he still fought and wounded two of my men."
While the Capt. was speaking, one of the men came near us and raising
his right arm said, "Look at that," and I saw where he had been shot
through the fleshy part of his arm with an arrow, and calling one of the
other men by name, he said, "And the same Indian shot him through the
leg, after he had shot the Indian twice, and then I got a hit at him,
and as he fell he gave me this wound in the arm. Either one of the three
shots we hit him with would have killed any ordinary man."
Capt. McKee now said, "Come, boys, we will scatter all over this little
valley and look carefully into every bunch of brush and see if there are
any of the Red skins left."
After they had searched a half an hour, all the men returned without
finding an Indian. The Capt. said to me, "Where shall we make our camp?
For we are very tired and need some sleep."
I answered, "Why not camp here? There is plenty of grass for the horses,
and that stream of water that we can hear gurgling through the stones is
as cool as I ever drank, and my men and I can go and drive the horses
down the hill again and relieve the man that is watching them."
Capt. McKee said, "All right, and the men can get breakfast while you
and I go and count the horses."
We counted them three times and made sixty-six each time.
The Capt. said, "I don't believe there were that many Indians in the
band. If there were that number and only two men wounded, and all the
Indians killed, it will be a wonderful story to tell.
"After we have had our breakfast, we will look around and find and count
all the dead Indians and see if the number tallies with the number of
horses they had."
In a few minutes the boys that were cooking called out that breakfast
was ready, and I was one of the crowd that was ready to eat it.
While we were eating I was amused at one of the boys who was telling of
the shines an Indian cut up after he had shot him.
He said he thought he had given the Indian a dead shot, but after he was
hit, the Indian rolled over just like a dog that had been whipped, and
that he did not think the Indian stopped rolling as long as the breath
was in him.
As soon as we had eaten our breakfast the Capt. and I and four others
started out to search for and count the dead Indians. We looked around
about an hour and a half, and we found forty-two Indian bodies, and they
were nearly all armed with bows and arrows, only a few having knives.
Capt. McKee said he thought that we were the luckiest men that ever
hunted Indians.
"Just think," said he, "what we have done in the last month, and we have
not lost a man. If we keep this kind of warfare up all summer, there
will be no Apache Indians left to bother the settlers. Besides, when
these warriors do not return, the rest of the tribe will think that
something is wrong, and they will take the hint, and we will be rid of
them in two or three months."
We now went back to camp, and we all turned in for a day's sleep. As we
were laying down, Capt. McKee said, "The first of you that is awake go
out and kill some deer, for we want some fresh meat to eat."
When I awoke it was near night, and the boys were cooking venison around
the fire. I inquired who had been hunting. They said no one, that the
deer came and hunted them, that when they awoke they saw a band of deer
out feeding near the horses, and they got four deer out of the band.
I went and found the Capt. fast asleep. I woke him, and we had supper.
I asked him what course we would take next. He said, "There are some
settlements up on the Colorado river that we have not heard from in
quite a while, and we will go and look after them."
I asked, "On what part of the Colorado river?" and he said, "At Austin."
We had a good night's sleep, and we were astir very early in the morning
and pulled out in the direction of Austin, Capt. McKee and I taking the
lead, and the boys following driving the horses we had captured from the
Indians.
Late that afternoon we struck the trail of a small band of Indians. I
did not go far before I saw that it was quite fresh. I told the Capt.
that he had better camp there, for there was plenty of grass and a nice
stream of water, and let my scouts and me follow the trail and see if we
could find them, to which he consented. My men and I left the main party
and started on the trail of the Indians. After trailing them four or
five miles in an almost eastern direction, the trail turned to the
southwest. We kept on for four or five miles more, and then we came to
where the Indians were in camp. I had kept the lay of the country and
the direction of our camp in my mind, and when I saw the Indians, I knew
that their camp was near ours.
They had a fire and were cooking meat around it. We counted them and
found that there were thirteen Indians in the band.
I said, "Now boys, we will go back to our own camp and report to the
Capt. at once," and I was really surprised to find it was so short a
distance between the Indians' camp and ours. It was not more than a mile
from one to the other.
When we reached camp, we found the Capt. and the men waiting for us and
very anxious to hear what we had found. I reported to the Capt., and he
asked when I thought it best to go after the Red wretches. I told him
there was so small a bunch of them I did not think it mattered, but as
his favorite time for an attack seemed to be at break of day, I supposed
we could wait until then for this one.
He laughed and said, "The break of day has been your time, not mine, Mr.
Drannan. You have done all the planning and led all the fights in this
campaign, but I am glad to admit that it has been a grand success, and
so far you have come out with flying colors."
I said, "Well, Capt., I think in this case we can take a little nap and
be up in time to take that outfit before they have time to wake up, for
it is no more than a mile from here to their camp."
Capt. McKee answered, "I reckon you are right. There are so few of them
that we shall not have to delay breakfast to get them."
We all turned in, and, although we knew that Indians were so near us, we
were not afraid to sleep without placing a guard over the camp.
When I awoke, I looked at my watch and saw it was two o'clock. I called
the Capt. and told him that it was time we were moving. He asked whether
we should go on horseback or on foot. I said, "We can walk there while
we would be saddling the horses, it is so short a distance." He said,
"All right, we will take twelve men with us," and in a few minutes we
were on the road. When we came in sight of the dimly burning campfires
of the Indians, I pointed to them and told the Capt. that was the place,
and I said, "We will be very careful and not make any noise, and I think
we can send them to the Happy hunting grounds while they sleep." But the
reader may imagine our surprise when we crept to the Indian camp to find
that there was not an Indian there. We looked around the camp where the
Indians had cooked their supper, and then we looked for their horses,
but they too had disappeared with their masters. Capt. McKee said,
"Doesn't this beat you? What do you suppose caused those Indians to
leave?"
I said, "This is one of the times that the Indians were smarter than we
and have out-generaled us. Probably they too had a scout out, and he saw
us before we discovered their trail and reported the fact to the others,
and they made themselves scarce, which was a very wise proceeding on
their part."
We turned and walked back to our own camp and found the boys we had left
there still asleep. I said, "Capt., I think you had better stay here
with your men and my scouts, and I will find the trail of those Indians
and see where they have gone. It may be that they are a part of a large
band and have gone to inform the main tribe of our being here. If this
is the case, we will be sure to have some trouble with them."
The Capt. woke the men, and they cooked breakfast from some of the deer
that was left over the night before, and in a short time my men and I
were off on the trail of the Indians. I told my men they had better take
something for a lunch, as it was no telling when we should come back.
We went to where the Indians had camped and soon found their trail
leading from it. It led us in a southwestern direction, and we followed
it until about twelve o'clock when all at once we came on the Indians
laying around a camp fire sound asleep.
I said, "Now boys, there are only two ways to choose from. We have
either got to tackle this outfit ourselves alone, or we must give up the
idea of getting them at all. Now I will leave it to you to choose which
to do."
They were all more than anxious to make the attack. I said, "Now boys,
ride slowly and easy until you get in the midst of them, and then don't
wait for each other, but turn loose, and each do our best, and let us
get every one of them if we possibly can," and it was surprising to me
to see how cool the whole three men were in attempting to kill these
Indians while they slept. There was not a sound until we were in the
midst of the sleeping Indians, and then it seemed as if every man shot
at once and aimed to kill, and there were only five Indians out of the
thirteen that had time to spring to their feet, and these did not try
to defend themselves, but made for their horses with the attempt to
get away. Only one of them reached his horse, and as he sprang on his
horse's back, I gave him a cut with my knife across the small of his
back and almost cut him in two. He tumbled to the ground without a word,
and as he did so, one of the boys shouted, "We have got them all. That
was the last one, and that was the easiest little fight that I was ever
in."
I asked if either of them was hurt. One man said, "Hurt? No, why durn
their shadows, they were not awake enough to hurt a fly if it had been
in their mouths."
I could not help laughing at his droll way of expressing his contempt
for the easily won battle if such it could be called when all the
fighting had been on our side.
We staked our horses out to let them eat the sweet grass that was so
abundant there, and we sat down and ate our own luncheon beneath a large
tree, and after we had satisfied our hunger, we laid around and rested
a while, and then we mounted our horses, I taking the lead and the boys
driving the Indians' horses after me.
We struck out for camp and reached the place where Capt. McKee and his
men were in camp a little after dark.
The Capt. was surprised indeed when we rode into camp with the band of
strange horses, and the men commenced to cheer us as soon as they saw
what we had with us.
One of my scouts said, "We don't want to go with you any more, Capt.
McKee, for you do your work at night and our boss does his work in the
daytime."
We dismounted and gave our horses to the man who had the care of the
horses and sat down to a supper of fried fish, and we surely did justice
to that meal, as we were very hungry.
After we had finished the meal, I told the Capt. all about our day's
work in trailing the Indians and surprising them as they slept, and how
we wiped the whole band out before they were awake.
The Capt. said, "Tomorrow morning we will keep on down toward the
southwestern settlements."
I asked him how far it was to the first settlement, and he answered, "We
will make it by tomorrow night."