tongue, heard White Bird encouraging his men and urging them to
charge, assuring them that the white soldiers' ammunition was nearly
gone. But he was unable to raise their courage to the desired point,
and no assault was made. The troops held their ground nobly, wasting no
ammunition, and yet returning the fire of the savages with coolness,
accuracy, and regularity; and from the number of dead Indians and pools
of blood found on the hill-side the next day, learned that their work
here had not been in vain.

During the afternoon of the 8th the wagon-train and howitzer had been
brought down to within five miles of the Indian camp, parked, and
fortified by Hugh Kirkendall, the citizen wagonmaster in charge, aided
by the few men who had been left with him as train guard.

An amusing incident occurred that night, and yet one that came near
costing Kirkendall his life. Among the men left with the train was
William Woodcock, Lieutenant Jacobs' servant. He was armed with a
double-barreled shotgun and ordered to take his turn on guard.

During the still hours of the night the wagonmaster was making the
"rounds" to see if the men were on the alert. As he approached
William's post the latter called out to him to "halt"; and, without
waiting to learn whether his challenge had been heeded, blazed away at
the intruder, whom he took to be a prowling redskin. The charge of
buckshot tore up the ground and cut down the brush about the
wagonmaster, but fortunately none of them hit him. William showed
himself to be a vigilant sentry, but a poor shot, and it is supposed
that he will never hear the last of "Who goes there?--_bang!_" while
there is a survivor of the expedition.

At daylight on the morning of the 9th three non-commissioned officers,
and three men started to the front with the howitzer under the
direction of Joe Blodgett, the scout. They succeeded in getting it up
to within half a mile of the scene of action a little after sunrise.
They took it across Trail Creek and up on the bluff, where they were in
the act of putting it in position to open fire, when a body of about
thirty mounted Indians saw it, and ascertaining that only a few men
were with it charged with the intention of capturing it. Two of the
soldiers who were with the piece became panic-stricken and fled when
they saw the Indians coming, and did not stop until they reached the
settlement a hundred miles away, where they spread the news that
Gibbon's whole comm