Nothing could have saved us, had the Flat-heads held out any longer; but the Black-feet, their irreconcilable enemies, seizing the opportunity, had entered their territory.  They sued to us for peace, and then detachments from both war-parties hastened to our help.  Of this we were apprised by our runners; and having previously concerted measures with my father, I started alone to meet these detachments, in the passes of the Mineral Mountains.  The returning warriors were seven hundred strong, and had not lost more than thirteen men in their two expeditions; they divided into three bands, and succeeded, without discovery, in surrounding the prairie in which the enemy were encamped; an Indian was then sent to cross the river, a few miles to the east, and carry a message to my father.

The moon rose at one in the morning.  It was arranged that, two hours before its rising, the garrison of the block-house, which had already suffered a great deal, during four days of a close siege, were to let off the fireworks that I had received from the Mexicans at Monterey, and to watch well the shore on their side of the river; for we were to fall upon the enemy during their surprise, occasioned by such an unusual display.  All happened as was intended.  At the first rocket, the Bonnaxes, Callapoos, and Umbiquas were on the alert; but astonishment and admiration very soon succeeded their fear of surprise, which they knew could not be attempted from their opponents in front.  The bombs burst, the wheels threw their large circles of coloured sparks, and the savages gazed in silent admiration.  But their astonishment was followed by fear of supernatural agency; confusion spread among them, and their silence was at last broken by hundreds of loud voices!  The moment had now come; the two Shoshone war-parties rushed upon their terrified victims, and an hour afterwards, when the moon rose and shone above the prairie, its mild beams were cast upon four hundred corpses.  The whole of the Bonnax and Umbiqua party were entirely destroyed.  The Callapoos suffered but little, having dispersed, and run towards the sea-shore at the beginning of the affray.

Thus ended the great league against the Shoshones, which tradition will speak of in ages yet to come.  But these stirring events were followed by a severe loss to me.  My father, aged as he was, had shown a great deal of activity during the last assault, and he had undergone much privation and fatigue:  his high spirit sustained him to the very last of the struggle; but when all was over, and the reports of the rifles no longer whizzed to his ears, his strength gave way, and, ten days after the last conflict, he died of old age, fatigue, and grief.  On the borders of the Pacific Ocean, a few miles inland, I have raised his grave.  The wild flowers that grow upon it are fed by the clear waters of the Nu eleje sha wako, and the whole tribe of the Shoshones will long watch over the tomb of the Pale-face from a distant land, who was once their instructor and their friend.