A cloudy sky made the night very dark. We mounted and drove the loose stock straight west out of the valley, then went southwest for a couple of miles and hobbled them. We picketed Is-spai-u and my runner, which Pitamakan had saddled that evening. We then drew back outside of the sweep of the long ropes, and were about to spread our buffalo robe and lie down when we heard the whir of a rattlesnake close in front of us and another at our right. "Ha! This is worse than facing a war party!" Pitamakan exclaimed. At the sound of his voice the snakes rattled again, and a third somewhere close on our left answered them. We were afraid to move lest we step upon one of the rattlers and get a jab in our moccasined feet from its poisonous fangs. "We must get back upon our horses and move on," I said. "Well, you have matches. Begin lighting them and we will do that," said Pitamakan. I felt in the pocket of my buckskin shirt where I usually carried a few matches wrapped in paper and waterproof bladder skin. The pocket was empty. I felt in my ball pouch and in my trousers pockets, although I knew it was useless to do so, and Pitamakan groaned, "You have lost them?" "Yes!" "We just have to pray the gods to guide us," he said. As we turned, it seemed to our straining ears that snakes rattled upon all sides of us. "Go slowly!" Pitamakan cautioned. "Stamp the ground hard, and keep swinging your rifle out in front of you." Thus step by step we drew away from the rattlers, fearing all the time that we should encounter one that would strike before warning us of its presence. At last we came to Is-spai-u, a dim shadow in the darkness, and took up his rope and led him on to the other picketed animal. Our scare was still with us as we went among the horses and removed their hobbles, but, getting into our saddles, we drove the stock on for fully a mile. Before hobbling them again, we circled round and round and made sure that we were not occupying another patch of snake-infested plain. "Well, we survived that danger! I believe it is a sign that we are not to be bitten by the two-legged snakes that will soon attack us," said Pitamakan after we had spread our robe and were resting comfortably upon it. Since I was no believer in signs, I did not say anything on the subject. "You sleep; I'll take the first watch," I told him.