100 Apaches.

As the impending contest assumed a character more serious than our two
preceding skirmishes, I made some alteration in the command, taking
under my own immediate orders a body of 250 Shoshones, and the Mexican
company, who had brought four small field-pieces. The remainder of my
Indians were subdivided into squadrons of 100, commanded by their own
respective chiefs. Gabriel, Roche, and my old servant, with two or three
clever young Californians, I kept about me, as aides-de-camp. We
advanced to the pass, and found the enemy encamped on the plain below.
We made our dispositions; our artillery was well posted behind
breastworks, in almost an impregnable position, a few miles below the
pass, where we had already defeated the governor of Senora. We found
ourselves in presence of an enemy inferior in number, but well
disciplined, and the owners of four field-pieces heavier than ours. They
amounted to about 950, 300 of which were cavalry, and the remainder
light infantry, with a small company of artillery.

Of course, in our hilly position our cavalry could be of no use, and as
to attacking them in the plain, it was too dangerous to attempt it, as
we had but 600 rifles to oppose to their superior armament and military
discipline. Had it been in a wood, where the Indians could have been
under cover of trees, we would have given the war-whoop, and destroyed
them without allowing them time to look about them; but as it was,
having dismounted the Apaches, and feeling pretty certain of the natural
strength of our position, we determined to remain quiet till a false
movement or a hasty attack from the enemy should give us the opportunity
of crushing them at a blow.

I was playing now for high stakes, and the exuberancy of spirit which
had formerly accompanied my actions had deserted me, and I was left a
prey to care, and, I must confess, to suspicion; but it was too late to
retrace my steps, and, moreover, I was too proud not to finish what I
had begun, even if it should be at the expense of my life. Happily, the
kindness and friendship of Gabriel and Roche threw a brighter hue upon
my thoughts. In them I knew I possessed two friends who would never
desert me in misfortune, whatever they might do in prosperity; we had so
long lived and hunted together, shared the same pleasures and the same
privations, that our hearts were linked by the strongest ties.

The commander who opposed us was an old and experienced offic