Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains, Or, the Last Voice from the Plains: An Authentic Record of a Life Time of Hunting, Trapping, Scouting and Indian Fighting in the Far WestDrannan, William F.
History
Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains, Or, the Last Voice from the Plains: An Authentic Record of a Life Time of Hunting, Trapping, Scouting and Indian Fighting in the Far West
Drannan, William F.
Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.); Indians of North America -- Wars
She said: "I don't think a gentleman could be so barbarous as you
are."
"My dear lady," I replied, "the taking of these scalps may be the
means of saving the train," and then I explained why we always
scalped the Indians when we killed them. I told her that the
Indians did not fear death, but hated the idea of being scalped.
About this time Jim Bridger came up and gave a more through
explanation of the scalping business, and I did not hear anything
more of it at that time. But Jim often teased the young lady
spoken of, who had a lovely head of hair, by remarking what a fine
scalp it would make for the Indians.
I changed saddle horses and then myself and two assistants rode
out north to watch the movements of the main band of Indians.
Before starting out Jim gave us the password of the pickets, which
was "Buffalo."
We rode until near sunset before we got sight of the big band of
Indians again, they having gone into camp about four miles west of
Barrel Springs, where our train was camped, and only about a half
mile from the trail or wagon road.
I crawled up as near their camp as I dared to go, and watched them
until about nine o'clock that night, at which time a number of
them had turned in, apparently for the night, and a number were
around their horses all the time, giving us no opportunity
whatever, to stampede them, which was my intention, provided they
gave us the least show. I told my assistants there would be no
danger whatever, until daybreak the next morning, and we would
return to camp and sleep until near daylight.
When we got to the train Jim had not gone to bed yet. I told him
where we had located the main band, and as near as I could the
number of the Indians--about one hundred and fifty--but that I did
not anticipate any trouble during the night.
Jim said he would sit up until four o'clock the next morning. "At
which time," said he, "I will call you and you can take as many
scouts with you as you like and watch every move made by the
Indians, and if they start this way telegraph me at once and I
will have everything in readiness to receive them, and I think we
will be able to give them quite an interesting entertainment."
What we meant by the term telegraphing was sending a messenger as
fast as he could ride, as there were no other means of
transmitting messages quickly.
The next morning at four, sharp, Jim woke us up. He had our horses
there, ready to saddle.
I sent three scouts north of the trail, three south and took the
other two with me to look after the Indians.
We arrived at the place where we had been secreted the evening
before, just as the Indians were breaking camp. They started
toward the road, and I watched them till they struck the road and
headed toward the train.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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