Seeing their leader down, the Indians hesitated, though some of the bolder of them rode straight for the store, now that it was no longer safe for the men inside to continue their fire. But the ensuing battle was only a very short one. However brave the Indians might be at shooting from cover, or making war on women, they were powerless in open field against the burly miners, who cared nothing for their howls and their hatchets, and who, in many cases, having exhausted their ammunition, tore the savages screaming from their saddles and flung them senseless on the hard-frozen road. "Look what the oseberds be at, Savage!" roared a huge Devonshireman, spurring his horse furiously in pursuit of a small batch of Indians who were galloping for the hills. "After 'em," echoed the defenders of the store; and Savage and five others rode madly in the Devonshireman's wake. Confident of success now that their friends had returned, the miners in the store had come out to continue the fight in the open; and the young Indian wife had followed them. In an instant, and at first unseen by anyone except Billy West the Devonshireman, one of the braves had snatched up the woman, flung her across his saddle, and ridden off, his flight covered by other fugitives. The little handful of white men rode despairingly on, though their horses were jaded, though it was pitch dark and a heavy snow was beginning. There was no thought of ambuscades now; each man's blood was up; each man ready to deal with a score of Indians single-handed. Yet, at last, common sense said "stop." For the first mile or so, the snow had been their friend; for, to eyes accustomed to darkness, the Indians' track was visible enough on its surface; but with the increasing storm, footprints were obliterated as fast as they were made. The Devonshireman was the first to pull up. "Shall us goo on, or goo back, or baide yere,--or what?" he asked. Everyone looked towards Savage. Clearly these good fellows were all anxiety to show their sympathy with him, and their readiness to fall in with his least wish. He, too, had now pulled up, but seemed altogether too dazed to form any decision. The others held a whispered council; but, while they still hesitated, they heard a body of mounted men riding swiftly behind them. "Halt!--Who goes there?" And as an echo to the leader's voice, came the click of three dozen carbine-hammers. "All right; _we_ shan't eat ye," growled a miner; and the troop rode on towards them. "Who are _you_, any way?" "Dr. Bunnell, and forty volunteers from 'Frisco. Know anything about that affair at First Creek this morning?" The new arrivals were mounted militia from San Francisco, who had been warned by the fugitives from the massacre at the diggings. Billy West began to tell of the other outrages, but the doctor interrupted him. "Ay; we judged there was something of the sort going on. Bring that redskin here again."