commenced a retreat in the same
fashion as we had advanced, being quite as careful to conceal ourselves.
Their great object was to escape detection, so that their enemies might
not be aware that the position of their camp was known, and might
continue as unprepared for the reception of a foe as they appeared to be
at present.

Not until we regained our horses, did the Yellow Wolf speak. As we
galloped along on our return, he told me that the Coomanches would
remain at their present camp for a couple of days, and would then
proceed to the north-west in the hopes of coming up with the herds of
buffalo which were feeding in that direction. How he knew this is more
than I can say. I asked him whether he intended to attack the
Coomanches.

He replied that he must hold a council with his braves, and that if they
agreed to follow him, he proposed doing so the next morning in the hopes
of catching his foes off their guard. He inquired whether I and my
friends would assist. I replied that I could not give an answer without
consulting them; that we had come to the country, not to make war on the
Redskins, and that it was our practice to fight only when we were
attacked. This answer did not appear particularly to please him. I
said, however, that should he and his people be attacked, we would no
doubt fulfil our promise in assisting them.

"The pale-faces are wise," he remarked, "they fight only when they are
obliged; that is the reason why red man go down and they live."

Great excitement was produced in the camp by the news we brought, and
without loss of time a council was held. I told my friends what Yellow
Wolf had said, but they decided at once not to assist him in attacking
the Coomanche camp. "We shall have quite enough to do in making our way
through the country, without joining in quarrels not our own," observed
Armitage.

We waited with come anxiety, therefore, the result of our friends'
deliberations. At last Yellow Wolf came to our camp and announced that
his braves were unanimous in their resolution of attacking the
Coomanches; that they intended to set out that night so as to surprise
them just before daybreak. He invited us to accompany them; when Dick,
getting up, made him a speech in true Indian fashion, expressing our
gratitude for the treatment Charley and I had received from the "Flower
of the Prairies," and our affection for him and his; but at the same
time observing that we must decline to