Page:The life and adventures of James P. Beckwourth, mountaineer, scout, pioneer, and chief of the Crow nation of Indians (IA lifeadventuresof00beckrich).pdf/202

192 When war is declared on any tribe, it is done by the council. If any party goes out without the authority of the council, they are all severely whipped; and their whipping is no light matter, as I can personally testify. It makes no difference how high the offender ranks, or how great his popularity with the nation—there is no favour shown; the man who disobeys orders is bound to be lashed, and if he resists or resents the punishment, he suffers death.

We raised a war-party of three hundred men to act against the Cheyennes, having one of the head chiefs as leader. We moved on foot toward their country, which was about two hundred and fifty miles from our village. In this expedition I acted in the capacity of head spy, and was of necessity continually in advance of the main party. Being near the enemy, according to our calculations, I was some distance ahead, with four other spies, when we discovered five of the Cheyenne warriors in the act of dressing a buffalo, which they had just killed. We crept slyly up within gunshot of them, and each singled out his man and fired. Four fell at the discharge: the other mounted his horse and fled. I mounted one of the other horses, and pursued him within sight of his village, when I wheeled and returned to the camp, well knowing that we should be pursued immediately after the fugitive communicated his news. I found the camp readily, and acquainted the chief with what had happened, although it is against orders for spies to commence any attack. I told him that we were compelled to fight them to save our own lives, as the enemy had discovered us. "That is all right," he said, "but they will be soon after us, and we must retreat as fast as we can."

We returned on our steps without losing a moment, and travelled all night. It was very cold, with considerable snow on the ground. In the morning we built a fire, and as soon as we had warmed ourselves we moved on. One man, who was lame, lingered by the fire after we had left, and he rejoined us in great alarm, telling us that the Cheyennes were on our trail in great force, and were but a short distance behind us. We then put our boys and horses into a deep gully close by, and also stepped in ourselves, as soon as we had discharged one