Page:The Indian History of the Modoc War.djvu/62

 the charging forces. Men were falling all the time, while they charged. They were exposed all this time to the deadly fire of the Modocs. The fog now banked over the opposing parties more dense than ever. No man's eye could penetrate more than twenty yards. The Modoc chief with Ellen's man, a Modoc brave, decided to get the warriors together and charge the enemy, which they did with good results, as the enemy retreated with bad order, leaving their dead and wounded behind. It was getting late. The troops and volunteers withdrew to their camp, taking some of their wounded and dead with them that had fallen early in the day.

Just before sunset the bank of fog worked its way north like some live monster and settled over thte north part of Tule Lake. The Modoc warriors seeing that their enemy was retreating, went out in the battlefield, eager to find something. They found two Klamath Indians hid in a little cave. They took them both prisoners. In their search they found a few dead soldiers and also four or five dead volunteers. They found nine carbines and six belts pretty well filled with carbine cartridges. Some of the braves went to the grounds where the troops and volunteers had retreated in bad order. They were overjoyed when they saw all kinds of guns that had been in the hands of the brave Oregon volunteers or sirloin-eaters. The guns were composed of Spencer sporting rifles, old patent Henry rifles, Remington rifles, and Ballard rifles. They also found the next morning ammunition scattered all over the ground where the volunteers had made their hasty run for life. The soldier boys carried their guns with them.

The chief called his men together at the war-dance fire the night following the battle. Not one of his men was missing. Every brave answered to his name. They gave a big war dance that night in sight of their enemy. Some of them made speeches, saying they knew the white people were many, that they did not expect to whip the white men. One of the men said—it was Shaknasty Jim—"I can stand off twenty of them volunteers now, because I have got me a nice Henry rifle and plenty of cartridges. I also have plenty of volunteer hats."