from them; and at that distance it is
difficult to distinguish a white man from an Indian--I should rather say
impossible. Even at half the distance, the oldest prairie-men are
sometimes puzzled. The garments are often not very dissimilar, and
sun-bronze and dust confound the complexions.

Although Garey, at first sight of them, had pronounced the horsemen to
be Indians--the most probable supposition under the circumstances--it
was but a random conjecture, and for some time we remained in doubt.

"If they're Injuns," suggested Garey, "they're Comanche."

"An if thur Kimanch," added Rube, with ominous emphasis, "we've got to
fight. If thur Kimanch, thur on the war-trail, an thur'll be mischief
in 'em. Wagh! Look to yur flints an primin!"

Rube's counsel was instantly followed. Necessity quickened our
precautions. All of us well knew, that, should the approaching horsemen
turn out to be Comanches, we had no alternative but fight.

This warlike nation occupies the whole western area of Texas, ranging
from the Rio Grande on the south, to the Arkansas on the north. They
are to-day, with their kindred tribes, the most powerful Indian alliance
on the continent. They affect the ownership of all prairie-land,
styling themselves its "lords," though their sovereignty towards the
north is successfully disputed by the Pawnees, Sioux, Blackfeet, and
others as warlike as they. From the earliest times, they have been the
_fiend_ of the Texan settler; and a detailed account of their forays and
pillaging expeditions would fill a score of volumes. But from these
they have not gone back unscathed. The reprisals have outnumbered the
assaults, and the rifle of the border-ranger has done its work of
vengeance.

In Mexico they have found less puissant defenders of the hearth and
home; and into the north-eastern provinces of that unhappy country, the
Comanches have been for the last half-century in the habit of making an
annual expedition of war and plunder. In fact, plunder has become the
better part of their subsistence, as they usually return from these
rieving incursions laden with spoil, and carrying with them vast droves
of horses, mules, horned cattle, and _captive women_!

For a short time, these dusky freebooters were at peace with the
Anglo-American colonists of Texas. It was but a temporary armistice,
brought about by Houston; but Lamar's administration, of a less pacific
character, succeeded, and the settlers w