Kiwatchee
said he thought he could whip the Utes in one day.
The following morning about sunrise, just as we were eating
breakfast, the two chiefs commenced beating their war-drums, which
was a signal to call their men together. The war-drum, or what the
Comanches call a "tum-tum," was made of a piece of hollow log
about eight inches long, with a piece of untanned deerskin
stretched over one end. This the war chief would take under one
arm and beat on it with a stick. When the tum-tums sounded the
first morning there was great commotion among the Indians. At the
first tap the war-whoop could be heard, and in a few moments both
tribes of Indians were down at the little stream, each formed in
line on his own side.
On arriving at the stream the tum-tums ceased and were not heard
again till the Indians were formed in line of battle and each war-
chief passed down in front of his men, after which they again
commenced beating on the tum-tums, and at that the arrows began
flying.
Now the fun had commenced in earnest, and of all the war-whoops I
ever heard they were there, and the more noise the Indians made
the harder they would fight.
After they had fought for about two hours they seemed to get more
cautious than at the start, and would look for some advantage to
take of the enemy.
They fought hard all day; sometimes the Comanches would cross over
to the same side with the Utes, and I saw many hand-to-hand fights
with tomahawks and knives.
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