Zuni,
a Peublo town; thence they traveled to the head of Salt River, one
of the tributaries of the Rio Gila. Here they discovered the band of
Indians who had attacked and defeated the former party. As soon as the
Indians discovered the party of trappers, they became eager for the
affray. The usual preliminaries for such fights were, therefore,
quickly made on both sides. Young directed the greater part of his men
to lie in ambush, for he felt confident that the Indians did not know
his strength. The bands of savages who covered the hills round about
mistook the halt necessary to complete the ambush for cowardice and
fear on the part of the whites. At this their courage arose, to such
a degree, that they made a bold charge against, as they supposed,
the small party of white men who were visible. They were allowed to
advance well into the trap, until, by the position of the trappers
in ambush, they came under a cross fire. At the word of command, a
general volley was fired into the advance column. Fifteen warriors
fell dead, and many others were wounded. The Indians became
panic-stricken, and the trappers immediately following up their
advantage, advanced from cover. The warriors did not rally for a
second attack, but fled in every direction, leaving Young, with his
party, masters of the field. Strange as it has ever seemed, to the
inquiring mind, in those days and for many succeeding years, companies
of white men from fifty to sixty in number could wage successful war
against whole tribes of Indians, who could easily muster a thousand
fighting men. A reason often given for this is, that the trappers of
the western wilds are invariably "dead shots" with the rifle and
well versed in Indian strategy. On the other hand, the red men were,
comparatively speaking, poorly armed, and could not travel together
for any length of time in large parties, because they depended for
food chiefly upon hunting. Had there existed no other cause, the means
of obtaining provision being limited, must have compelled them to
separate. Very frequently whole tribes are reduced to depend upon
daily hunts. The bravery of the Indians is of a different stamp from
that which is exhibited by the whites, especially where the white man
is a Simon-pure western trapper. The white man on the prairie or in
the mountains, knows but too well that if attacked by Indians he
must conquer or die. It was, and is, seldom that a company out on an
expedition has any p