yugas. A few minutes afterwards, the owners of the weapons
appeared in the square, well mounted and armed, to place themselves at
our entire disposal. We could not put our authority to a better use than
by joining our friends in their expedition, so when the chief arrived,
surrounded by the elders of the tribe, Gabriel advanced towards him.

"Chief," he said, "and wise men of a brave nation, you have conferred
upon us a trust of which we are proud. To Owato Wanisha, perhaps, it was
due, for he is mighty in his tribe; but I and the Shakanah are no
chiefs. We will not decline your favour, but we must deserve it. The
young beaver will remain in the village, to learn the wisdom of your old
men, but the eagle and the bear must and will accompany you in your
expedition. You have given them brave warriors, who would scorn to
remain at home; we will follow you."

This proposition was received with flattering acclamations, and the
gallant army soon afterwards left the village on its mission of revenge.

The Cayugas were, before that expedition, a powerful tribe, about whom
little or nothing had ever been written or known. In their customs and
manners of living they resemble in every way the Club Indians of the
Colorado, who were destroyed by the small-pox. They led a wandering
prairie life, but generally were too cowardly to fight well, and too
inexpert in hunting to surround themselves with comforts, even in the
midst of plenty. Like the Clubs, they are cannibals, though, I suspect,
they would not eat a white man. They have but few horses, and these only
when they could be procured by stealth, for, almost always starving,
they could not afford to breed them, always eating the colts before they
could be useful.

Their grounds lie in the vicinity of the great fork of the Rio Puerco,
by lat. 35 degrees and long. 105 degrees from Greenwich. The whole
nation do not possess half-a-dozen of rifles, most all of them being
armed with clubs, bows, and arrows. Some old Comanches have assured me
that the Cayuga country abounds with fine gold.

While I was with the Comanches, waiting the return of the expedition, I
had an accident which nearly cost me my life. Having learned that there
were many fine basses to be fished in a stream some twenty miles off, I
started on horseback, with the view of passing the night there. I took
with me a buffalo-hide, a blanket, and a tin cup, and two hours before
sunset I arrived at the spot.

As the w