After traveling about ten miles we heard shots in the direction
where I knew George was with his four assistants, and turning in
that direction, we put our horses down to their best speed, and
were soon at the scene of action, but owing to the roughness of
the ground we could not make as good time as we desired. When in
sight of the contestants I saw that George was on foot, a comrade
on each side of him, and they were firing as fast as they could
load and shoot. He had run into those Indians, about twenty in
number, hid in the rocks, and they had opened fire on the scouts,
killing two of his men the first shot, and shooting George's horse
from under him, leaving him afoot. When we arrived I ordered my
men to dismount and take to the rocks, leaving the horses to take
care of themselves, as the Indians were on foot and we could make
better time in that immediate vicinity than we could on our
horses. We had a hot little fight, but succeeded in driving the
savages back. After the battle was over we tied our dead comrades
on one horse and packed them to camp, changing off with George and
the scout whose horse the dead bodies were tied on, letting them
ride our horses part of the time. That night we dug graves and
gave the two comrades as decent a burial as circumstances would
permit. George felt very sorry over losing the two scouts because
they were in his charge, but he was not to blame in the least.
Pages:
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421