Page:Rocky Mountain life.djvu/307

 of his wife and little ones. What will he that I give him so they sorrow not?

Indian. Now, my heart blesses the pale face. If he would bestow his gifts, what better could I receive at his hand than a small present of tobacco, that my pipe may be filled to the undying friendship of him and his people.

A few pieces of tobacco were accordingly given, and the good-hearted Indian, after shaking hands with each one of our party, took his horse and departed to his village.

Where, let me ask, do we find, in civilized countries an instance of noble generosity equal to that of the poor savage?

The Arapaho village, as we learned from our visitors, had been camped in the vicinity several days, for the twofold purpose of awaiting the Cumanches and catching wild horses. This, by the way, reminds me of not having as yet described the manner of performing the latter feat.

In taking wild horses, two methods are resorted to, alike displaying considerable tact and ingenuity. Of these the following is the most common:

A large party of Indians, mounted on their fleetest chargers, having discovered a band of these animals, carefully approach from the leeward, scattering themselves to a distance of eight or ten miles along the course their intended captives are expected to run. This done, the chase is started at a given signal, by the nearest Indian, who is relieved by the next in succession, and he by the next, and so on (taking their cue from the strategy of wolves in their capture of the antelope) until these proud rangers of the prairie, exhausted by their long-continued and vain efforts to escape, cease to assert their native liberty, and fall easy prey to the lasso of their pursuers.

Another plan frequently adopted is, to erect a stout fence from side to side, between two impassable walls of rock. The unsuspicious band are then so started as necessarily to be driven within the enclosure, when their ready pursuers, closing in upon the rear, take them without the trouble of a long chase.

Great numbers of wild horses are annually captured by these means, which become domesticated in a very short time. But, as a general thing, they are less adapted to hard service than those reared in the ordinary way, and are far more disposed to re-assert their birthright of freedom at the first opportunity that occurs.

Our visitors communicated the important intelligence that a detachment of four hundred Mexicans had passed their village only two days previous, on its way to Arkansas; which statement was further corroborated by certain indications noticed in the trail. The enemy was evidently in pursuit of us, and, weak as we were numerically, none expressed any other feeling than that of a willingness to meet him.

From this camp, our course bore west-northwest for thirty or forty miles, during which distance we found no water, and suffered greatly from the agonizing effects of thirst. One of our pack-horses, also, took the "stampede," and ran off with his entire load, consisting principally of ammunition, and all our efforts to retake him proved abortive.

About noon the succeeding day, we reached our destination, where a junction was