friendly timber a short distance away, and lying down on their buffalo-robes, went to sleep.  When they set out for their animals they could not be found.  A trail, however, plainly discernible in the deep, dewy grass, was soon discovered, very fresh, leading across a low divide.  They also came upon several of the rawhide strips by which their horses had been hobbled.  These were not broken, but had evidently been unfastened, a circumstance that filled the minds of the party with the most painful anxiety.  They continued on the trail of the missing animals, to the top of a ridge, where they were suddenly confronted by a band of about sixty Indians.  The savages appeared to be busy preparing an attack upon the party, for when the Indians observed the white men they immediately mounted their ponies, and dashed right down the hill toward them, at the same moment making the hills echo with their diabolical whoops.  Captain Williams urged his men to make their escape to the timber, but before they could reach it five of them were overtaken, killed, and scalped!  The captain and one other man succeeded in reaching the clump of trees, though very closely pursued.  The remaining men who were left in camp, seeing the savages coming, snatched up their rifles, and each hiding himself behind the trunk of a tree opened fire upon them.  That movement caused the savages to wheel around and dash back, but they left several of their comrades dead and wounded upon the ground.  In a few moments the infuriated Indians made another charge, shouting and whooping as only savages can, and launched a shower of arrows into the timber.  The underbrush was very dense, which prevented them from riding into the timber, and also from seeing the exact whereabouts of Captain Williams and his men.  It was a most fortunate circumstance, for they would have been cut off if they had been out on the open prairie, but as they could plainly see the savages, they took careful aim, and at each report of the rifle a savage was brought to the ground.  The Indians made four successive charges, and discovering they were not able to dislodge the little band of brave white men, they finally abandoned the fight and rode away.  Nineteen of the Indians were killed by Captain Williams’ party, but it was a sad victory, for now only ten men were left of the original twenty, and they were without a single horse to ride or pack their equipage upon.

Certainly expecting that the savages would shortly return with re-enforcements, the sad little company hurriedly gathered up their furs and as many traps as the ten men could carry, and travelled about ten miles, keeping close to the timber.  When darkness came on they crept into a very dense growth of underbrush, where they passed the greater part of the night in erecting a scaffold upon which they cached their furs, traps, and other things which they found inconvenient to carry.

As the prospects of the company were now gloomy in the extreme, the spirits of the men drooped and their hearts became sad.  They were many hundreds of miles from any settlement, in the heart of a wilderness almost boundless, and beset on every side by lurking savages ready at any moment to dash in upon them when an opportunity offered.