d, distant about
half a mile from the breastwork, the arrival of the rest of the band.
It was three days before the whole force of the Indians had arrived.
They mustered about one thousand warriors. It was a sight which few
white men of the American nation have looked upon. Arrayed in their
fantastic war costume and bedaubed with paint, armed with lances, bows
and arrows, rifles, tomahawks, knives, etc., some mounted and some on
foot, they presented a wild and fearful scene of barbaric strength
and fancy. Soon after their last company had reported, the frightful
war-dance, peculiar to the American savages, was enacted in sight of
the trappers' position. The battle songs and shouts which accompanied
the dance reached the ears of the whites with fearful distinctness.
Any other than hearts of oak with courage of steel would have quailed
before this terrible display of savage enmity and ferocity. This
dance, to men so well skilled in the ways of the Indian warrior, was
a sure signal that the next day would be certain to have a fearful
history for one party or the other and doubtless for both. The odds,
most assuredly, were apparently greatly in favor of the savage host
and against the little band of hardy mountaineers.

The following day the expectations of the trappers were realized. The
Indians, at the first dawn of day, approached the breastwork,
eager for the battle. They were, evidently, very much astonished at
beholding the invincibility of the trappers' position. It was what
they had not calculated upon and seemed to cast a perfect damper upon
their courage. After firing a few shots which did no harm, and seeing
that nothing could be accomplished except by a charge, they commenced
a retreat. The trappers, though only sixty strong, were filled with
disappointment and chagrin at the course taken by their wary foes.
They began to shout to their enemies in derisive terms, hoping
the taunts would exasperate and draw them into an attack. Nothing,
however, would tempt them to face the danger, for they withdrew to a
spot about one mile from the little fort and sat down in council. The
speeches appeared to be generally opposed to risking an assault; for,
after the council was dissolved, the Indians divided into two nearly
equal parties and immediately marched off. One band took the direction
of the Crow country and the other shaped their course in the direction
from whence they came.

The trappers remained at their little f