The night passed without alarm; but the next morning we were sickened by a horrible scene which was passing about half a mile from us.  A party of the same Indians whom we had seen the evening before were butchering some of their captives, while several others were busy cooking the flesh, and many were eating it.  We were rooted to the spot by a thrill of horror we could not overcome; even our horses seemed to know by instinct that something horrible was acting below, for they snuffed the air, and with their ears pointed straight forward, trembled so as to satisfy us that for the present we could not avail ourselves of their services.  Gabriel crept as near as he could to the party, leaving us to await his return in a terrible state of suspense and anxiety.  When he rejoined us, it appeared our sight had not deceived us.  There were nine more prisoners, who would probably undergo the same fate on the following day; four, he said, were Comanches, the other five Mexican females,—­two young girls and three women.

The savages had undoubtedly made an inroad upon San Miguel or Taos, the two most northern settlements of the Mexicans, not far from the Green Mountains, where we were ourselves going.  What could we do?  We could not fight the cannibals, who were at least one hundred in number, and yet we could not go away, and leave men and women of our own colour to a horrible death, and a tomb in the stomach of these savages.  The idea could not be borne, so we determined to remain and trust to chance or Providence.  After their abominable meal, the savages scattered about the prairie in every direction, but not breaking up their camp, where they left their prisoners, under the charge of twelve of their young warriors.

Many plans did we propose for the rescue of the poor prisoners, but they were all too wild for execution; at last chance favoured us, although we did not entirely succeed in our enterprise.  Three or four deer galloped across the prairie, and passed not fifty yards from the camp.  A fine buck came in our direction, and two of the Indians who were left in charge started after him.  They rushed in among us, and stood motionless with astonishment at finding neighbours they had not reckoned upon.  We, however, gave them no time to recover from their surprise, our knives and tomahawks performed quickly and silently the work of death, and little remorse did we feel, after the scene we had witnessed in the morning.  We would have killed, if possible, the whole band, as they slept, without any more compunction than we would have destroyed a nest of rattlesnakes.

The deer were followed by a small herd of buffaloes.  We had quickly saddled and secured our horses to some shrubs, in case it should be necessary to rim for our lives, when we perceived the ten remaining Indians, having first examined and ascertained that their captives were well bound, start on foot in chase of the herd of buffaloes; indeed there were but about twenty horses in the whole band, and they had been ridden away by the others.  Three of these Indians we killed without attracting the attention of the rest, and Gabriel, without being discerned, gained the deserted encampment, and severed the thongs which bound the prisoners.