Twenty miles out from Sweetwater Bridge, at the head of Horse Creek, we found an Indian trail running north towards Powder River, and we could see by the tracks that most of the horses had been recently shod and were undoubtedly our stolen stage stock.  Pushing rapidly forward, we followed this trail to Powder River; thence down this stream to within about forty miles of the spot where old Fort Reno now stands.  Here the trail took a more westerly course along the foot of the mountains, leading eventually to Crazy Woman’s Fork—­a tributary of Powder River.  At this point we discovered that the party whom we were trailing had been joined by another band of Indians, and, judging from the fresh appearance of the trail, the united body could not have left this spot more than twenty-four hours before.

Being aware that we were now in the heart of the hostile country and that we might at any moment find more Indians than we had “lost,” we advanced with more caution than usual, and kept a sharp lookout.  As we were approaching Clear Creek, another tributary of Powder river, we discovered Indians on the opposite side of the creek, some three miles distant; at least we saw horses grazing, which was a sure sign that there were Indians there.

The Indians thinking themselves in comparative safety—­never before having been followed so far into their own country by white men—­had neglected to put out any scouts.  They had no idea that there were any white men in that part of the country.  We got the lay of their camp, and then held a council to consider and mature a plan for capturing it.  We knew full well that the Indians would outnumber us at least three to one, and perhaps more.  Upon the advice and suggestion of Wild Bill, it was finally decided that we should wait until it was nearly dark, and then, after creeping as close to them as possible, make a dash through their camp, open a general fire on them, and stampede the horses.

This plan, at the proper time, was most successfully executed.  The dash upon the enemy was a complete surprise to them.  They were so overcome with astonishment that they did not know what to make of it.  We could not have astonished them any more if we had dropped down into their camp from the clouds.  They did not recover from the surprise of this sudden charge until after we had ridden pell-mell through their camp and got away with our own horses as well as theirs.  We at once circled the horses around towards the south, and after getting them on the south side of Clear Creek, some twenty of our men—­just as the darkness was coming on—­rode back and gave the Indians a few parting shots.  We then took up our line of march for Sweetwater Bridge, where we arrived four days afterwards with all of our own horses and about one hundred captured Indian ponies.