e as far as any arrow could be thrown, the
battle was rather a source of amusement to us, than of terror. No Indian
could approach within arrow shot of our ranks, without meeting certain
death. It must be confessed that we had no more compunctions in shooting
an Indian than in shooting a bear or a wolf. As they dodged from tree to
tree, assailing us with their impotent arrows, our keen marksmen watched
their opportunity to strike them down with the invisible death-dealing
bullet.

Old Joe Walker practiced with our Hawkins' rifles and revolvers, as he
said, "just to keep his hand in." After an hour or two of this strange
battle, in which the Indians suffered fearful carnage, and we encountered
no loss, our foe in rage and despair retired. They left sixty of their
number dead, besides taking with them many wounded. We continued our march
without further molestation.

And now my friend, if you shall find anything interesting to you in this
short sketch, I shall be satisfied. I have written a great deal more than
I expected to write, when I began. And yet you have but a very brief
narrative of my adventures in California.

Yours truly,

(signed) William E. Goodyear.

CHAPTER XVII.

Frontier Desperadoes and Savage Ferocity.

Original Friendliness of the Indians.--The River Pirates, Culbert
and Magilbray.--Capture of Beausoliel.--His Rescue by the Negro
Cacasotte.--The Cave in the Rock.--The Robber Mason.--His
Assassination.--Fate of the Assassins.--Hostility of the Apaches.
Expedition of Lieutenant Davidson.--Carson's Testimony in his
Favor.--Flight of the Apaches.

We have occasionally alluded to the desperadoes who infested the
frontiers. They were often much more to be dreaded than the Indians.
Indeed the atrocities which these men perpetrated were the main cause of
the hostility of the savages. It is the uncontradicted testimony that the
natives were, at first, disposed to be friendly. It was only when
exasperated by unendurable wrongs that they appealed to arms. When
seemingly unprovoked assailants, they were seeking revenge for some great
outrage which they had already experienced, from the depraved vagabonds of
the wilderness.

When St. Louis was under Spanish rule, there had sprung up quite a brisk
commerce between that settlement and New Orleans. But the shores of the
majestic Mississippi were then infested by large bands of robbers,
watching to attack and plunder boat