16: The Crows are gallant horsemen; but although they have
assumed the manners and customs of the Shoshones, they are of the
Dahcotah breed. There is a great difference between the Shoshone tribes
and the Crows. The latter want that spirit of chivalry so remarkable
among the Comanches, the Arrapahoes, and the Shoshones--that nobility of
feeling which scorns to take an enemy at a disadvantage, I should say
that the Shoshone tribes are the lions and the Crows the tigers of these
deserts.]

We had been travelling eight days on a most awful stony
road, when at last we reached the head waters of the Colorado of the
West, but we were very weak, not having touched any food during the last
five days, except two small rattlesnakes, and a few berries we had
picked up on the way. On the morning we had chased a large grizzly bear,
but to no purpose; our poor horses and ourselves were too exhausted to
follow the animal for any time, and with its disappearance vanished away
all hopes of a dinner.

It was evening before we reached the river, and, by that time, we were
so much maddened with hunger, that we seriously thought of killing one
of our horses. Luckily, at that instant, we espied smoke rising from a
camp of Indians in a small valley. That they were foes we had no doubt;
but hunger can make heroes, and we determined to take a meal at their
expense. The fellows had been lucky, for around their tents they had
hung upon poles large pieces of meat to dry. They had no horses, and
only a few dogs scattered about the camp. We skirted the plain in
silence, and at dark we had arrived at three hundred yards from them,
concealed by the projecting rocks which formed a kind of belt around
the camp.

Now was our time. Giving the Shoshone war-whoop, and making as much
noise as we could, we spurred on our horses, and in a few moments each
of us had secured a piece of meat from the poles. The Crows (for the
camp contained fifteen Crows and three Arrapahoes), on hearing the
war-whoop, were so terrified that they had all run away without ever
looking behind them; but the Arrapahoes stood their ground, and having
recovered from their first surprise, they assaulted us bravely with
their lances and arrows.

Roche was severely bruised by his horse falling, and my pistol, by
disabling his opponent, who was advancing with his tomahawk, saved his
life. Gabriel had coolly thrown his lasso round his opponent, and had
already strangled him, while the