It being bright moonlight we could see each other very plainly,
and we crawled right in among them, there being no order whatever
in their camp. When I came to where there were two lying with
their backs together, I made up my mind that that was too good a
chance for me to let pass; so I looked around to see if the boys
had their men selected, and seeing that they had, and that they
were all watching me and the Indians also, I raised to my feet,
and placing my right foot between the two Indians, I aimed to
sever the first one's head from his body, which I came near doing,
for he only just quivered after I struck him. At that they all
began the work of blood and death.
The second one I attacked I had to deal the second blow, as I also
did the third one. Up to this time I had not heard a word from any
one of my companions, but there had been a continual ringing of
sabres all around me. Just as I had done up my last Indian George
sprang to my side and said: "Cap, we have got every one of them."
We counted them and found that we had killed twenty-two, and after
examining their blankets and other "traps," we knew that we had
got them all.
They had killed a fine buck deer during the day and had only
cooked enough of it for their supper, so we had plenty of fresh
meat, for a while, at least; so while George and some of the other
scouts went for our horses, which were about a quarter of a mile
from camp, the remainder of us built a fire and began roasting
venison.
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