The thunder, the lightning, and the death-bolts had come from they knew
not where. With almost the rapidity of thought the rifles were again
loaded and the whole united band rushed forward upon the Indians who were
now flying wildly in all directions. Instinct taught them to perform all
sorts of gyrations to avoid the bullets which pursued them. They made no
attempt to rally, though many of their proud warriors were left behind
lifeless, or struggling in the convulsions of death.

The power of the rifle was such that, in those days, forty or fifty men
never hesitated to engage whole tribe, though it might number one or two
thousand warriors. A man will fight with terrible persistence when he
knows that defeat is inevitable death by torture. It is a thousandfold
better to fall beneath the arrow, the tomahawk or the war-club, than to be
consumed alive amid the jeers and tortures of yelling Indians inspired
with demoniac instincts. Thus with the trapper it was always either
victory or death.

These hostile warriors were punished with a severity never to be
forgotten. The fugitives carried far and wide to other roving tribes the
tidings of their disaster. The bold trappers proceeded on their way,
encountering no more serious molestation. Smoke upon the distant hills
indicated that their march was watched. If a trap was set at any distance
from the night's encampment, it was pretty surely stolen. Or if a weary
mule was left to recruit, a little behind, intending to bring him up in
the morning, before the dawn he disappeared.

The whole party followed slowly down a tributary of the Colorado river,
very successfully trapping upon the main stream and its branches, until
they reached the head waters of the San Francisco river. They then
divided, and Mr. Young with Carson and seventeen others proceeded several