They set out for the Navaho country, but the omens were unpropitious from the start. Among the numerous things tabooed to the _taíme_ are bears, skunks, rabbits, and looking-glasses, none of which must be permitted to come near the sacred image or be touched by the taíme keeper. Almost at the start the warriors were alarmed by seeing a skunk cross their path, and soon afterward it was discovered that the Comanche had brought with them their looking-glasses, which they refused to break or throw away, but wrapped them up and concealed them at one of the camping places to await their return. Farther on, at a place where the warriors had halted for the night to prepare supper, the wind carried to the nostrils of the Kiowa the smell of burning grease. On investigating the cause they found that their sacrilegious allies had killed a bear and were broiling the flesh over their fire. Realizing that nothing but defeat could now be in store for them, many of the warriors turned back, but Set-dayá-ite, trusting to his medicine, persisted in going forward, while Pá-tadal, although he foresaw disaster, as the organizer and leader of the expedition felt bound in honor to proceed. They went up the north bank of the South Canadian until they reached the salt beds in the vicinity of Red-river spring, near where they had encountered the Navaho the preceding winter. Here they met a much smaller party of Ute, said to have numbered only thirty or forty, and the battle at once began. For some reason, perhaps because the Kiowa felt that their gods had deserted them, they did not fight with their accustomed dash, and the battle soon became a flight, the Ute pursuing them for some miles down the river and killing seven, including Set-dayá-ite and his adopted son, a Mexican captive. Set-dayá-ite on this occasion rode a balky horse, which became unmanageable, so that he dismounted and met his fate on foot, telling his comrades that there was his place to die. His adopted son might have saved himself, but on seeing his father's plight he returned and was killed with him. Pá-guñhéñte, who carried the other medicine, was also among the slain. Set-dayá-ite had the _taíme_ bag tied upon his back, where it was found by the Ute after the fight. They readily recognized it as some great "medicine," a conjecture which was made certain if it be true, as some say, that the dead man had cut (painted?) upon his body sacred emblems similar to those painted upon the image itself, viz, a crescent upon each breast, the sun in the center, and upon his forehead another crescent. Stumbling-bear, who was in the fight, as was also Anko, went back shortly afterward to bury his remains. He found a beaten circle around the skeleton of Set-dayá-ite, as though the Ute had danced around his dead body.