Page:The life and adventures of James P. Beckwourth, mountaineer, scout, pioneer, and chief of the Crow nation of Indians (IA lifeadventuresof00beckrich).pdf/174

166 discovered buffalo, and we proceeded on our journey. Soon, however, I heard the yell again, and I became satisfied there was something more than buffalo astir. I rode to a small eminence close by, and descried a party of our hunters at a distance making signals for others to succour them. I turned back to my wives, and despatched two of them to the village for my war instruments, and then galloped on to ascertain the cause of the alarm. Not more than fifty of our warriors were then before me.

I then learned that they had before them a party of one hundred and sixty Black Foot warriors, who had thrown themselves into an apparently impregnable fortress. It was a stronghold manifestly thrown up in some of Nature's grand convulsions, it would seem, for the very purpose to which it was now applied. It was a huge mass of granite, forming a natural wall in front of a graduated height, varying from twenty-five feet to six feet, the lowest part; it was solid, and nearly perpendicular all round.

There was in our camp a young Kentuckian named Robert Mildrum, naturally a brave fellow, though he seldom went out in the war parties; but when the village was assaulted, he always fought like a tiger. He was a good trapper and a skilful blacksmith, and had been out in the employ of the American Fur Company. I met him while we were surveying the enemy's stronghold.

I said to him, "Mildrum, if the adage is true, there is policy in war. These Indians make no question of our bravery; had we not better resign to them the brunt of this encounter, and not expose our lives in a cause that we have no concern in? How do you intend to act?"

"As for me," said Mildrum, "I must be in the fray. If we are to see any fun, I want my share of the entertainment."

"Well," said I, "I shall endeavour to keep by you."

The Indians had by this time assembled to the number of from five to seven hundred, and were watching the fort indecisively, awaiting instructions from the chief. Many had succeeded in running and sheltering under the wall, while several had been shot in making the attempt. I ran to the wall to reconnoitre it, and soon saw there were two ways in