warned of impending danger in some form in due time to have avoided a
meeting with Gibbon, but did not heed it. They tell us that on the
evening before the arrival of Gibbon's troops at the Indian camp, a
"medicine man" had cautioned the chiefs that death was on their trail.

"What are we doing here?" he asked. "While I slept, my medicine told me
to move on; that death was approaching us. Chiefs, I only tell you this
for the good of our people. If you take my advice you can avoid death,
and that advice is to speed through this country. If we do not there
will be tears in our eyes."

But the chiefs heeded not his warning. They held a feast and a
war-dance that night, and then lay down to sleep, feeling as safe as
they ever did on their own reservation.

They claim to have received news of Howard's coming in this way:

When the troops retired to the mouth of the gulch on the morning of the
9th, the warriors were examining the dead. Among them they found a
white man, a citizen, who was breathing; his eyes were closed and he
pretended to be dead, but they saw that he was not though he was
severely wounded. They took hold of him and raised him up. Finding that
his "possoming" would not work, he sprang to his feet. Looking Glass
was at hand and ordered the Indians not to kill him, reminding them
that he was a citizen and that they might obtain valuable information
from him. They then questioned him closely concerning the white
soldiers. He told them that Howard would be there in a few hours, and
that volunteers were coming from Virginia City to head the Indians off.
While he was talking with them, a squaw who had lost her brother and
some of her children in the fight, came up and slapped him in the face.
He gave her a vigorous kick in return, and one of the warriors, enraged
at this, killed him. The Indians having thus learned that
reinforcements were close at hand, ordered the squaws to move camp, and
the warriors remained to continue the fight, but in such light trim
that they could retreat rapidly whenever it should become necessary.

The departure of the squaws had been so hurried by flying bullets that
they left large quantities of buffalo robes, a considerable quantity of
dried meat and other plunder on the field. They took all the
pack-animals with them, however, so that the bucks were unable to take
the property with them when they left, and it subsequently fell into
the hands of the white men. One citizen volun