of the Indians, a number of whom
were circling about us on the high ground, while others raced directly
upon us out of the dense groves of cottonwoods. All were afoot; which,
taken with the unmistakable cut of their hair and their red and black
paint, told us all too plainly that they were a war party of Pawnees
returning from an unsuccessful raid upon one of the Western tribes.

Knowing well how apt are the warriors to be evil-tempered after the
humiliation of a failure to strike their enemy, I prepared to sell my
life as dearly as might be. All the probabilities pointed to the
supposition that the party was made up of Skidis, or Loups, and I, for
one, had no desire to become a captive in their hands. It was enough to
have escaped in my boyhood from the stake and fire of the Shawnees. I
had no intention of now letting myself be crucified and mangled and
burned as a sacrifice to the morning star by these prairie savages.

But Pike, cool as ever, restrained Baroney and myself from firing, and
the Indians seemed to justify his moderation by flinging down their
weapons and running to us with outstretched arms. In a moment they were
all about us, in a jostling, jabbering crowd, patting and hugging us as
though we had been blood kinsmen. So urgent were they with their
friendly requests for us to dismount that we finally complied. On the
instant an Indian was upon each horse and riding off.

Still the others held to their friendly gestures, and upon looking back,
we could see the rest of their party making no less friendly
demonstrations among our soldiers. We were partly reassured when we
learned that the warriors were not Loups, but a party from the Grand
Pawnee. But the confirmation of our surmise that they were returning
from an unsuccessful raid upon the Tetans, or Ietans,--whom the
Spaniards call Comanches,--caused us to fall back upon our main party
and work it around to a camp in a little grove as speedily as possible.

During this man[oe]uvre more than one of our unwelcome visitors bent
their bows. But the firm insistence of our gallant leader won its way
with the savages. Soon all sixty were seated about us in a ring. The
Lieutenant then sat down opposite their chief, with the council pipe
laid out before him.

At his orders, gifts of tobacco, knives, and flints were placed beside
the chief. The present was greeted with guttural cries of
dissatisfaction, and the chief demanded with great insolence that we
shou