to free herself. He was mounted on a
powerful animal which he evidently had under perfect command. Shouting
to his followers he galloped off, while they stood their ground boldly.
We dashed at them pistoling some and cutting down others; but not until
half their number lay dead on the ground or desperately wounded did they
attempt to escape; by which time the main body were almost up to us.
Leaving the first to be dealt with by the emigrants who had rallied, we
reloaded our rifles and charged the larger party of the enemy. They
received us with a shower of arrows, by which, wonderful as it seemed,
none of us were wounded. The odds, however, were fearfully against us;
for the Indians fought bravely, and rapidly wheeling their horses
attacked us now in front, now on our flanks, and we had to turn every
instant to defend ourselves. Several of their number had been shot.
Dick and Armitage were wounded, and Pierre's horse was killed. It was
with the greatest difficulty that we defended him until he managed to
make his escape towards the waggons. I shouted to him to send some of
the men to our assistance. We in the meantime having fired our rifles
and pistols had our swords alone to depend upon. They served us well,
and the Indians, as we approached, evidently showed their dread of them
by endeavouring to get out of their reach as we flashed them round our
heads. Still, numbers might prevail, unless we could speedily compel
the Indians to take to flight.

In the meantime, what had become of the female I had seen carried off!
I could not tell whether Armitage or the rest had witnessed the
occurrence; but, whether or not, it would be impossible to attempt her
rescue until we had defeated our present opponents. If we could have
retreated even to a short distance to reload our firearms, we would have
done so, but our agile foes gave us no time. I scarcely even dared to
look round to ascertain if any help was coming; probably the emigrants
had enough to do in keeping in check other parties of Indians who were
threatening them. The fight had not continued many minutes, though it
seemed to me as many hours, when an Indian charged at Armitage with a
long spear, the weapon pierced his side, and over rolled horse and man.
Another savage was coming on to repeat the blow, when Long Sam, dashing
up, cut down the first savage, and then engaged the second. Our friend,
notwithstanding, would speedily have been killed, had we no