Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/38

27 BULLETS VS. BOWS AND AKROWS. 27 were comely, which as you understand fired us with a desire for them that made us reckless. "As soon as it was decided to attack the enemy, we began our preparations. Every nail and scrap ol iron had been carefully collected which came from our boats. So we went to work and forged points for our arrows, and made a large number of cross-bows, so as to equip our men who had no harquebuses, and we also assisted the Indians to arm themselves with the new style of bow, it being much more effective than the ones they were using. When all was ready we started with about a hundred of our men, fifty of whom had firearms, the others having powerful bows and short knives, as the iron would not permit of our making swords. About 500 Indian warriors, the pick of the country, made ui^ the balance of the army. "It must have been about 200 mUes northeast be- fore we reached the city of the enemy. It was located near the mouth of a good sized river, (Red river, Louisiana), which emptied into the Ipj-gest stream I ever saw in my life, (Mississippi). "We attacked the city and found swarms of fight- ing men, but the thunder and lightning of our har- quebuses appalled them; they were mowed down in such large numbers by fire as well as by the superior ahooting power of our bows, for by reason of our arrows being tipped with sharpened iron, and as weU as by the superior workmanship of our shafts, we hav- ing iron tools instead of stone with which to dress and shape the wood. They saw^ the uselessness of fur- ther resistance; in fact, they were so astounded at the numerous things they saw used in the conflict