“It was at the gloomy season, when it rains night and day; the river was high, the earth damp, and our young braves shivering, even under their blankets.  It was evening, when, far to the south, above one of the windings of the stream, I saw a thick black smoke rising as a tall pine among the clouds, and I watched it closely.  It came towards us; and as the sky darkened and night came on, sparks of fire showed the progress of the strange sight.  Soon noises were heard, like those of the mountains when the evil spirits are shaking them; the sounds were awful, solemn, and regular, like the throbs of a warrior’s heart; and now and then a sharp, shrill scream would rend the air and awake other terrible voices in the forest.

“It came, and deer, bears, panthers were passing among us, madly flying before the dreaded unknown.  It came, it flew, nearer and nearer, till we saw it plainly with its two big mouths, spitting fire like the burning mountains of the West.  It rained very hard, and yet we saw all.  It was like a long fish, shaped like a canoe, and its sides had many eyes, full of bright light as the stars above.

“I saw no one with the monster; he was alone, breaking the waters and splashing them with his arms, his legs, or his fins.  On the top, and it was very high, there was a square lodge.  Once I thought I could see a man in it, but it was a fancy; or perhaps the soul of the thing, watching from its hiding-place for a prey which it might seize upon.  Happily it was dark, very dark, and being in a hollow along the banks, we could not be perceived; and the dreadful thing passed.

“The Caddoes uttered a loud scream of fear and agony, their hearts were melted.  We said nothing, for we were Comanches and warriors; and yet I felt strange, and was fixed to where I stood.  A man is but a man, and even a Red-skin cannot struggle with a spirit.  The scream of the Caddoes, however, frightened the monster; its flanks opened and discharged some tremendous Anim Tekis (thunders) on the village.  I heard the crashing of the logs, the splitting of the hides covering the lodges, and when the smoke was all gone, it left a smell of powder; the monster was far, far off and there was no trace of it left, except the moans of the wounded and the lamentation of the squaws among the Caddoes.

“I and my young men soon recovered our senses; we entered the village, burnt everything, and killed the warriors.  They would not fight; but as they were thieves, we destroyed them.  We returned to our own villages, every one of us with many scalps, and since that time the Caddoes have never been a nation; they wander from north to south, and from east to west; they have huts made with the bark of trees, or they take shelter in the burrows of the prairie dogs, with the owls and the snakes; but they have no lodges, no wigwams, no villages.  Thus may it be with all the foes of our great nation.”