ing todo but to make the most of it, and whipping up the horses to their utmost
speed he undertook to go past the terrible foe.

The savages were armed with bows and arrows and, of course, could stand
but little show against the superior weapons of the guards. A single volley
from the guards scattered them somewhat, and it was with real pleasure we
saw several of their number fall from their horses. The savages did not pro-
pose to let us off so easily, however, and soon returned; then began a hand to
hand fight. There were at least two hundred of them and only a dozen of us.
Their arrows fell thick and fast among us, but the savages were too wary to
come too close to the death-dealing guns of our men. We soon saw that if our
horses could only. hold out that all would be well, and it was indeed a sight to
see the care with which the driver handled them. He did not seem to notice
the savages or their arrows, but gave his whole attention to his team. The
chase continued for some miles and we thought we would surely escape, but
the savages seemed to realize thaf it was now or never with them, andagain
came on with the most unearthly yells and a volley of arrows to which all
their previous assaults had been light indeed.

We met them resolutely. Finding that they could not capture us in any
other way they turned their attention tothe horses and soon one of the leaders
fell to the ground wounded with some of their arrows; as he fell the other horses
ran over him, and in an instant all was contusion. The driver succeeded in
stopping his team and we doubled our efforts to keep the savages away. As
soon as the coach was stopped and our men could aim more carefnlly the savages
realized there was no hope for them, and a few volleys put them to flight, leav-
ing a score of dead and wounded behind them. When the coast was clear we
dismounted, straightened out the horses as best we could and went on after
shooting the horse which the Indians had wounded so severely.’ We reached
our journey’s end without further danger, but you can rest assured that no one
of us ever cared to again ride on the Overland Mail.