to take to the dreaded Reservation. Women gathering
roots for their half- starved children, children whose
parents had been slain, lost in the woods, and wan
dering they knew not whither, were about all they
thus far could capture.
Shots were exchanged. The cavalry dismounted and fought on foot. The Indians shot wildly, for they were poorly armed ; but the soldiers shot still more so, so that but little damage was done to either side. Now and then a soldier would be ^carried to the rear, and now and then they would charge up the hills or across the ravines, but that was all that marked the events of the day till almost nightfall. I was impa tient of all this. We could not reach the rear of the soldiers, resting against the river, nor offend the flanks.
Toward nightfall the Indians, now almost entirely out of ammunition, withdrew, leaving the soldiers, as usual, masters of the ground.
I had taken no active part in the skirmish. I was there as an eager and curious witness. I wished to see how the Indians would bear themselves in battle. I felt that on their conduct that day depended the fate of my plans. From first to last it was not encouraging. They were brave enough, and some were even reckless ; but I saw that dissen sion, impatience, envy, and ambition to be at the head, marked the conduct of many of the leading men. There was too much of the white man s nature here to make one confident of success in a long a
