Feeling that further search before daybreak would be useless, we resolved to get a few hours’ sleep in the meantime; and, dismounting from our horses, secured them as well as we could, and placing our saddles on the ground, to serve as pillows, we wrapped our saddle-cloths round us, and were soon fast asleep.  Story and the lad Horry did first duty as sentinels.  While they were on guard I was wakened by a sharp tug at my leg, and while I was seizing hold of my rifle, I recognised Story’s voice calling me by name.  He told me that, after keeping a sharp look-out for about half-an-hour, he observed several fires on the hill-sides, apparently about half-a-mile off; he had been watching them for some time, and at last determined to wake one of the party.

I went with him outside the little willow copse where we had fixed ourselves, and true enough there were the fires, belonging, as we thought, to a camp of Indians—­very likely the same who had stolen our horses and attacked us in the morning.  We returned and woke the whole party; and, a consultation being held, it was decided, as we were well armed, and as the Indians had shown so much anxiety this morning to get beyond reach of our weapons, after tasting a few shots, to effect a surprise, and recover, if possible, our stolen horses.  We saddled and mounted as quickly as possible, and, after riding about a mile in the direction of the fires, found that we were getting tolerably close to our enemies.  On we went, taking every bush which crackled beneath our horses’ tread for a token of the movements of some Indian scout who had scented our approach.  When within a short distance of the camp-fires we dismounted, and tied our horses to some trees, leaving them in charge of the lad Horry, with directions for him to keep his ears well open, and, in the event of his hearing us retreat from the Indians, to give a few lusty shouts, so as to let us know where the means of flight wore to be found.

We advanced cautiously, Malcolm and Bradshaw preceding the main body, about twenty paces apart.  The arrangement was for the five (namely, Lacosse, Story, the Trapper, Jose, and myself) who composed the main body, to form a semicircle, of which the two scouts would compose the extreme points, and so to approach the Indians’ camp, on nearing which we were to fire a volley on them from our rifles, and, wheeling round, drive our horses off and retreat.  We were within two hundred paces of the camp-fires when we were startled by the report of a rifle.  A shrill whistle followed; but we still advanced, and in a few moments came up with Malcolm and Bradshaw, the sailor being supported in the arms of his companion, who called out that the man was shot, and begged me to look to him.  The remainder of the party, hearing this, moved a few paces forward, levelled their rifles, and were on the eve of firing, when we were suddenly saluted, in true British vernacular, with an exclamation of “D——­ your eyes, who goes there?” This so startled our party that it saved the lives, very probably, of the whole camp.  They halted for a moment, and consulted together as to the course to be adopted.  A shot had been fired from the camp, and one of our men injured.  They, therefore, concluded that we had stumbled on the camp of one of those gangs of ruffians which were known to infest the hills at the foot of the Sierra Nevada.