gain. We
were filled with apprehension--less from the report we had heard, than
from the fact that none of the men had come back to see what delayed us.
We still followed the track of the wagons. We saw that they must have
made a long march on the preceding day, for it was near sunset when we
entered among the hills, and as yet we had not reached their camp of the
night before. At length we came in sight of it,--and oh! horror! what a
sight! My blood runs cold when I recall it to my memory. There were
the wagons--most of them with their tilts torn off, and part of their
contents scattered over the ground. There were the cannons too, with
fires smouldering near them, but not a human being was in sight! Yes,
there were human beings--dead men lying over the ground! and living
things--wolves they were--growling, and quarrelling, and tearing the
flesh from their bodies! Some of the animals that had belonged to the
caravan were also prostrate--dead horses, mules, and oxen. The others
were not to be seen.

"We were all horror-struck at the sight. We saw at once that our
companions had been attacked and slaughtered by some band of savage
Indians. We would have retreated, but it was now too late, for we were
close in to the camp, before we had seen it. Had the savages still been
upon the ground, retreat would be of no avail. But I knew that they
must have gone some time, from the havoc the wolves had made in their
absence.

"I left my wife by our wagon, where Harry and Frank remained with their
little rifles ready to guard her, and along with Cudjo I went forward to
view the bloody scene. We chased the wolves from their repast. There
was a pack of more than fifty of these hideous animals, and they only
ran a short distance from us. On reaching the ground we saw that the
bodies were those of our late comrades, but they were all so mutilated
that we could not distinguish a single one of them. They had every one
been scalped by the Indians; and it was fearful to look upon them as
they lay. I saw the fragments of one of the shells that had burst in
the middle of the camp, and had torn two or three of the wagons to
pieces. There had not been many articles of merchandise in the wagons,
as it was not a traders' caravan; but such things as they carried, that
could be of any value to the Indians, had been taken away. The other
articles, most of them heavy and cumbersome things, were lying over the
ground, some of th