me time he
saw a party of Indians cutting him off from his men.

Then began a race seldom witnessed in Indian or any other kind of
warfare. Men on horseback fled for dear life, while others piled into
wagons and followed as fast as teams could travel. But Cummins was a
brave man and had a cool head. He succeeded in rallying a half dozen
horsemen and at points on the road made such a determined stand that the
wagons were enabled to escape. At one point Emil Scheutz was standing by
the side of Cummins, when some Indians that had worked around to the
side fired a volley, one of the bullets ripping a trench in Scheutz's
breast that one could lay his arm into. Scheutz staggered and told
Cummins he was shot. The latter helped him to mount his horse and amid a
rain of bullets fled for life. That was the last stand. But only for the
fact that Bernard had followed the Indians closely, preventing them from
scattering, all would have been massacreed. As it was most of the men
kept running until Canyon City was reached, each imagining the fellow
behind an Indian.

At the Cassner ranch many halted and were that evening joined by Col.
Bernard with his cavalry. Bernard was told that there were six hundred
Umatilla Indians at Fox Valley only a few miles from the John Day River,
and knowing that they were only waiting to be joined by the Bannocks,
determined to attack the latter before reaching them. He was told that
the Bannock's must pass through a canyon to reach Fox Valley. That was
his opportunity, and he had sounded "boots and saddles" when Gen.
Howard, surrounded by a strong body guard, rode up and ordered him to
remain where he was. This was an awful blunder, and cost the lives of a
number of settlers in Fox Valley. They, all unconscious of danger, were
resting in fancied security when the Bannocks arrived, fraternized with
the Umatillas and butchered them in cold blood.

But Gen. Howard had made a still more serious blunder. Gen. Grover was
coming into John Day Valley with 400 troops and had reached Prairie
City, south of Canyon City, and about 45 miles from the Cummins Ranch.
He was coming in ahead of the Indians and would have been in a position,
with the troops under Howard, to surround and destroy the savages. He
was, however, halted by orders from Howard and turned back to the
Malheur Reservation. In justice to Gen. Howard it should be said that he
claimed his aide misunderstood the orders, and caused the fatal blunder.