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.”