Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/799

748 the mounted force they began crossing to the south side of the Abiqua, as had been anticipated, and came upon the footmen concealed in a thicket awaiting them. An exchange of arrows and rifle-balls took place, when the natives hastily retreated up the creek with the loss of two of their number. Upon consultation it was decided that as the day was well spent, those who had families should return, and the rest of the men and lads should encamp at the nearest farmhouse to be ready to move in the morning, when the pursuit was begun, a part of the absentees having returned.

The savages were overtaken on the trail to Klamath, their rear being guarded by a few good marksmen, whose arrows flew about their pursuers, hitting one man in the breast, but without penetrating his body. The riflemen soon picked on these, and drove the rest before them to a spot where high cliffs intercepted their passage on the side of the stream they were travelling, and the current was too swift to permit them to cross. Here they were driven to bay, and compelled to fight, but they could do little to defend themselves against the fire of the white men's deadly rifles, by which seven warriors were killed and two women wounded.

When the volunteers came close enough to ascertain the results of the battle, it began to dawn upon them that they might have committed a sad blunder, the more disgraceful because one of the seven dead warriors proved to be a woman, with a strung bow in her hands, who had been killed by the same shot which pierced a male victim. In short, it was discovered that the real marauders had escaped or were never present, and that the Indians attacked were their wives, children, and a few guards left with the camp. The weather being cold and wet, with a drizzling snow, the white men built a large fire in the edge of the forest, and carrying the wounded women to a comfortable shelter, left them for their relatives to succor, and returned home. They