my rein, which made my horse
step back a few paces, and the arrow, aimed at my body, flew by in front
of his nose. I had refrained from firing. The Coomanche, for such I
concluded that he was, seeing that he was in my power--having shot
another arrow which in his flurry, he was prevented aiming truly--
galloped off to a distance.

I now shouted to him, threatening to kill his horse, and advising him to
take himself off. He seemed doubtful, apparently, what to do. He might
have hoped, that, should I execute my threat, he might still bring me
down with an arrow, and by mounting my steed make his escape; but he
must have been well aware there are many chances in warfare, and that I
might shoot him instead of his steed. He might have guessed, by my not
having fired, that I had my wits about me. I of course narrowly watched
his movements, and seeing him glance over his shoulder, the idea
occurred to me, that he was expecting others of his tribe to appear, in
which case I should have but little chance of escaping.

At length he decided how to act. Once more he made at me, shooting a
couple of arrows in rapid succession. One went through the sleeve of my
coat; another struck the saddle, narrowly missing my legs, but did not
pierce through the leather.

He might have half-a-dozen more arrows in his hand, and it was necessary
to be cautious. As he circled round, I kept turning so as always to
face him, when he was afraid of riding directly at me, for should he do
so, he would he knew inevitably expose himself, and I should scarcely
fail to miss him. His object was, I concluded, to keep me employed
until the arrival of his friends. It would be folly to do as he wished.
As long as I remained on the same spot, I could at any moment take a
steady aim at him. Though he was aware of this, he trusted to my not
firing, for fear of being unarmed should he charge me. At length he
came so near, that I resolved not to lose the opportunity of knocking
over his horse. I aimed just behind the animal's shoulder, and must
have shot it through the heart; for, giving one bound, it fell over
dead. The active Indian, however, in a moment extricating himself,
leapt to his feet, and came bounding towards me.

In a moment my trusty sword was out of its sheath, when, with a howl of
disappointed rage, the Coomanche, seeing it uplifted to cut him down,
turned tail and ran off as fast as his legs would carry him. I
immediately reloaded