On our return we learned that shortly after starting out that
morning George had run on to a big Indian trail. Supposing it to
be the same band of Indians whose trail we had crossed when
returning from our other trip, he had reported to the command at
once, and the trail being fresh, he, taking four other men, had
started in pursuit, leaving word with Lieut. Jackson for me not to
be uneasy about him nor attempt to follow him, but to remain with
the command until I heard from him again.
While Lieut. Jackson was yet talking relative to the matter, I
received a message from George saying that he had the Indians
located some five miles from the road and wanted me to come and
look the ground over before the command should start.
I at once mounted, and piloted by the man who had brought the
message to me, rode to where George was. On arriving there I found
the Indians so situated that it was impossible to ascertain the
number from the fact that in this extraordinarily warm climate the
Indians do not use any wick-i-ups or lodges, so that the only
method by which we could make an estimate of their number was by
counting the number of fires they had end calculate each fire to
represent a certain number of Indians, this being our method of
estimating them when in wick-i-ups, we reckoned their number to be
one hundred and fifty.
Pages:
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404