Page:Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains.djvu/90

68 struck me that the reason I missed the first time was because I didn't take good aim.

Uncle Kit had always taught me that it was not the fastest shooting" in an Indian fight that did the most execution, and that it was better to fire one shot with good aim than four at random.

I took a rest off of his back and fired.

When I went to shoot the second time, Uncle Kit was near me, and he said:

"Take good aim, Willie, before you fire."

I did take good aim and had the satisfaction of seeing the Indian tumble to the ground. But whether I killed him or some one else did, I could not say, for an abso- lute certainty, but I have always thought he belonged to my list.

The Indians were no match for Col. Fremont's men, being only armed with bows and arrows, and they beat a hasty retreat, closely followed for a distance by the soldiers, who, however, did not get any Indians on the run,

When the men returned to camp, and, as usual, after