he would show me where a snake, a rat, and
a prairie dog had crossed the track. Nothing had followed or crossed the
track that the quick eye of Daloria did not detect. He gave an account
of the habits of all the animals that had left their footprints on the
track, also of the state of the weather since the elk passed, and the
effect of sunshine, winds, aridity, sand storms, and other influences
that had a bearing on these tracks."

CHAPTER XXXVII.

The Pursuit and Attack--Two O'clock.

When Kit Carson and the other scouts found the main trail, they eagerly
took up the pursuit. They had not gone far when all doubt was removed:
they were upon the track of a large hostile body of warriors and were
gaining steadily; but so rapid was the flight of the marauders that it
was not until the sixth day that the first glimpse of the Indians was
obtained. They were encamped on a mountain peak, devoid of trees, and
seemingly beyond the reach of danger; but such was the energy of the
attack that they reached camp before the Indians could collect their
animals and make off. The fight was a hot one for a few minutes during
which quite a number of warriors were killed and wounded.

When night came a squad of men hid themselves near the camp, from which
the Indians had fled, in the expectation that some of them would steal
back during the darkness to learn what had been done. The dismal hours
passed until near midnight, when one of the soldiers made the call which
the Apaches use to hail each other. The sound had hardly died out, when
two squaws and two warriors appeared and began groping silently around
in the gloom. The soldiers were cruel enough to fire upon the party, but
in the darkness only one was killed.

Dr. Peters states that on the morning of the day when the Apache
encampment was discovered Kit Carson, after diligently studying the
trail, rode up to Major Carleton and told him that if no accident
intervened, the Indians would be overtaken at two o'clock in the
afternoon. The officer smiled and said if the Agent proved a genuine
prophet, he would present him with the finest hat that could be bought
in the United States.

The pursuit continued for hours, and, when the watches in the company
showed that it was two o'clock, Carson triumphantly pointed to the
mountain peak, far in advance where the Indian encampment was in plain
sight. He had hit the truth with mathematical exactness.

Major Carleton kept his promis