which had impeded our journey during the preceding day, when we
fell in with a small creek. There we and our horses drank incredible
quantities of water, and as our position was not yet very safe, we again
resumed our march at a brisk trot. We travelled three or four more miles
along the foot of a high ridge, and discovered what seemed to be an
Indian trail, leading in a zigzag course up the side of it. This we
followed, and soon found ourselves on the summit of the ridge. There we
were again gratified at finding spread out before us a perfectly level
prairie, extending as far as the eye could reach, without a tree to
break the monotony of the scene.

We halted a few minutes to rest our horses, and for some time watched
what was passing in the valley we had left, now lying a thousand feet
below us. All we could perceive at the distance which we were, was that
all was in motion, and we thought that our best plan was to leave as
much space between us and the Cayugas as possible. We had but little
time to converse with the liberated Comanches, yet we gained from them
that we were in the right direction, and were not many days from our
destination.

At the moment we were mounting our horses, all was quiet again in the
valley below. It was a lovely panorama, and, viewing it from the point
where we stood, we could hardly believe that, some hours previous, such
a horrible tragedy had been there peformed. Softened down by the
distance, there was a tranquillity about it which appeared as if it
never had been broken. The deep brown skirting of bushes, on the sides
of the different water-courses, broke and varied the otherwise vast
extent of vivid green. The waters of the river, now reduced to a silver
thread, were occasionally brought to view by some turn in the stream,
and again lost to sight under the rich foliage on the banks.

We continued our journey, and towards evening we descried a large bear
within a mile of us, and Roche started in chase. Having gained the other
side of the animal, he drove it directly towards me. Cocking a pistol, I
rode a short distance in front, to meet him, and while in the act of
taking deliberate aim at the bear, then not more than eight yards from
me, I was surprised to see him turn a somerset and commence kicking with
his hind legs. Unseen by me, Gabriel had crept up close on the opposite
side of my horse, and had noosed the animal with his lasso, just as I
was pulling the trigger of my pistol