which shoes,
in these districts, are very valuable, as they cannot be replaced.
Having tried in vain to catch some of our horses, they had washed out
the tracks in the creek, and had fixed the horse-shoes to their own feet
with pieces of twine; after which, putting themselves in a line at the
required distance one from the other, they had started off, both with
the same foot, imitating thus the pacing of a swift horse.

The plan was cunning enough, and proved that the blackguards were no
novices in their profession, but they had not yet sufficiently acquired
that peculiar tact natural to savage life. Had they been Indians, they
would have fixed small pieces of wood into the holes of the shoe to
imitate the nails, and they would then have escaped. We returned to the
camp to arm ourselves, and the lawyers, wishing to recover our
confidence, entreated that they might be permitted to chase and
recapture the fellows. At noon they returned quite exhausted, but they
had been successful; the prisoners were now bound hand and foot, and
also tied by the waist to a young pine, which we felled for the purpose.
It was useless to travel further on that day, as the lawyers' horses
were quite blown, and having now plenty of ammunition, some of us went
in pursuit of turkeys and pheasants, for a day or two's provisions. All
my efforts to obtain information from the prisoners were vain. To my
inquiries as to what direction lay the settlements, I received no
answer.

Towards evening, as we were taking our meal, we were visited by a band
of dogs, who, stopping ten yards from us, began to bark most furiously.
Thinking at first they belonged to the band of robbers, who employed
them to follow travellers, we hastily seized our arms, and prepared for
a fight; but Gabriel asserting the dogs were a particular breed
belonging to the Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, and other tribes of
half-civilised Indians, established upon the Red River, we began
shouting and firing our rifles, so as to guide towards us the Indians,
whom we presumed could not be far behind their dogs. We did not wait
long, for a few minutes afterwards a gallant band of eighty Cherokees
dashed through the cover, and reined up their horses before us. All was
explained in a moment.

A system of general depredation had been carried on, for a long while
with impunity, upon the plantations above the great bend of the Red
River. The people of Arkansas accused the Texians, who,