shouted, “Indians!  Indians! to your guns, men!” and levelled my rifle at the foremost of them.  They held up their hands, saying, “Bueno! bueno!” meaning that they were good or friendly; at which my companions cried out to me, “Don’t fire! don’t fire! they are friendly—­they speak Spanish.”  But we were sorry afterward we did not all shoot.  Our horses had taken fright at the confusion and ran up the canyon.  Baptiste and myself went in pursuit of them.  When we came back with them we found sixteen Indians sitting around our camp smoking, and jabbering their own tongue, which none of us could understand.  They passed the night and next day with us in apparent friendship.  Thinking this conduct assumed, from the fact that they rather overdid the thing, we deemed it prudent to retrace our steps to the open prairie, where, if they did intend to commence an attack upon us, we should have a fairer chance of defending ourselves.  Accordingly we packed up and left, all the Indians following us.

The next day they continued to linger about the camp.  We had but slight suspicion of their motives, although, for security, we kept constant guard upon them.  From this they proceeded to certain liberties (which I here strictly caution all emigrants and mountaineers against ever permitting), such as handling our guns, except the arms of the guard, piling them, and then carrying them together.  At length one of the Indians shouldered all the guns, and, starting off with them ran fifty yards from camp.  Mentioning to my mates I did not like the manoeuvres of these fellows, I started after the Indian and took my gun from him, Baptiste doing the same, and we brought them back to camp.  Our companions chided us for doing so, saying we should anger the Indians by doubting their friendship.  I said I considered my gun as safe in my own hands as in the hands of a strange savage; if they chose to give up theirs, they were at liberty to do so.

When night came on, we all lay down except poor Le Brache, who kept guard, having an Indian with him to replenish the fire.  Some of the men had fallen asleep, lying near by, when we were all suddenly startled by a loud cry from Le Brache and the instant report of a gun, the contents of which passed between Baptiste and myself, who both occupied one bed, the powder burning a hole in our upper blankets.  We were all up in an instant.  An Indian had seized my rifle, but I instantly wrenched it from him, though I acknowledge I was too terrified to shoot.  When we had in some measure recovered from our sudden fright, I hastened to Le Brache, and discovered that a tomahawk had been sunk in his head, and there remained.  I pulled it out, and in examining the ghastly wound, buried all four fingers of my right hand in his brain.  We bound up his head, but he was a corpse in a few moments.

Not an Indian was then to be seen, but we well knew they were in the bushes close