In this charge we counted over forty Utes that were killed and
scalped.
After the Comanches had driven the Utes back, Johnnie West and I
went down within about fifty yards and sat there until the war was
ended. About the middle of the afternoon of the third day, the old
war-chief of the Comanches rushed up and commenced to shout, "Co-
chah! Co-chah!" which meant to go ahead, or, in other words, to
charge. Johnnie West, who understood the language, turned to me
and said:
"The Comanches are going to make another charge."
Sure enough, they did; crossing the creek and made a desperate
rush for the Utes, but the Utes could not stand the pressure and
retreated, the Comanches following them to the top of the hill
where the Utes were camped, it being understood between the two
chiefs that, when either army or tribe was driven back to the top
of the hill, they had lost the battle.
The Comanches now returned, singing and shouting at the top of
their voices, and in a short time a little squad of Comanches came
in with about one hundred head of Ute horses. We never learned
whether they had captured the horses or whether they had won them
in the battle.
That night the Comanches had another big war-dance, and while the
unfortunate squaws and children were weeping over the loss of
their fathers and husbands, the victorious warriors were dancing,
singing and shouting, and while dancing, each warrior would try to
show as near as he could the manner in which he killed and
scalped his enemy, and of all the silly maneuvers a white man ever
witnessed, it was there at that war-dance.
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