ys liked to tell the "balance of the
story," as he termed it, and this is his version: "I had not slept
any the night before, for I stayed awake watching to get a shot at the
Pawnees that tried to stampede our animals, expecting they would return;
and I hadn't caught a wink all day, as I was out buffalo hunting, so
I was awfully tired and sleepy when we arrived at Pawnee Rock that
evening, and when I was posted at my place at night, I must have gone
to sleep leaning against the rocks; at any rate, I was wide enough awake
when the cry of Indians was given by one of the guard. I had picketed
my mule about twenty steps from where I stood, and I presume he had been
lying down; all I remember is that the first thing I saw after the alarm
was something rising up out of the grass, which I thought was an Indian.
I pulled the trigger; it was a centre shot, and I don't believe the mule
ever kicked after he was hit!"

The next morning about daylight, a band of Pawnees attacked the train in
earnest, and kept the little command busy all that day, the next night,
and until the following midnight, nearly three whole days, the mules all
the time being shut in the corral without food or water. At midnight of
the second day the colonel ordered the men to hitch up and attempt to
drive on to the crossing of Pawnee Fork, thirteen miles distant.[62]
They succeeded in getting there, fighting their way without the loss of
any of their men or animals. The Trail crossed the creek in the shape of
a horseshoe, or rather, in consequence of the double bend of the stream
as it empties into the Arkansas, the road crossed it twice. In making
this passage, dangerous on account of its crookedness, Kit said many
of the wagons were badly mashed up; for the mules were so thirsty that
their drivers could not control them. The train was hardly strung out on
the opposite bank when the Indians poured in a volley of bullets and
a shower of arrows from both sides of the Trail; but before they could
load and fire again, a terrific charge was on them, led by Colonel St.
Vrain and Carson. It required only a few moments more to clean out the
persistent savages, and the train went on. During the whole fight the
little party lost four men killed and seven wounded, and eleven mules
killed (not counting Kit's), and twenty badly wounded.

A great many years ago, very early in the days of the trade with New
Mexico, seven Americans were surprised by a large band of Pawnees