fully thanked our hospitable hosts, and retired to
rest in our rich and elegant dwelling.

The next morning, we awoke just in time to witness the ceremony of
departure; a war party, already on horseback, was waiting for their
chief. At the foot of our shield were one hundred lances, whose owners
belonged to the family and kindred of the Indians whom we had rescued
from the Cayugas. A few minutes afterwards, the owners of the weapons
appeared in the square, well mounted and armed, to place themselves at
our entire disposal. We could not put our authority to a better use
than by joining our friends in their expedition, so when the chief
arrived, surrounded by the elders of the tribe, Gabriel advanced towards
him.

"Chief," he said, "and wise men of a brave nation, you have conferred
upon us a trust of which we are proud. To Owato Wanisha, perhaps, it
was due, for he is mighty in his tribe; but I and the Shakanah are no
chiefs. We will not decline your favour, but we must deserve it. The
young beaver will remain in the village, to learn the wisdom of your old
men, but the eagle and the bear must and will accompany you in your
expedition. You have given them brave warriors, who would scorn to
remain at home; we will follow you."

This proposition was received with flattering acclamations, and the
gallant army soon afterwards left the village on its mission of revenge.

The Cayugas were, before that expedition, a powerful tribe, about whom
little or nothing had ever been written or known. In their customs and
manners of living, they resemble in every way the Club Indians of the
Colorado, who were destroyed by the small-pox. They led a wandering
prairie life, but generally were too cowardly to fight well, and too
inexpert in hunting to surround themselves with comforts, even in the
midst of plenty like the Clubs, they are cannibals, though, I suspect,
they would not eat a white man. They have but few horses, and these
only when they could be procured by stealth, for, almost always
starving, they could not afford to breed them, always eating the colts
before they could be useful.

Their grounds lie in the vicinity of the great fork of the Rio Puerco,
by latitude 35 degrees and longitude 105 degrees from Greenwich. The
whole nation do not possess half a dozen of rifles, most all of them
being armed with clubs, bows, and arrows. Some old Comanches have
assured me that the Cayuga country abounds with fine gold.