The 's prediction that the following evening should see us encamped at the foot of the Grand Peak was not borne out by the event. Notwithstanding our many days on the prairies, we were yet far from realizing the of distances in this high altitude and clear, dry atmosphere.  
That next day we lost many hours on a large fork of the river, where the turning of the Spanish trace led us to believe that the party had set off southward. Finding that they had returned and continued their of the main stream, we did likewise. This gave us but little progress for that day.
 
But the next morning we set out, confident that we should reach the Grand Peak within a few hours. Our was great when, after marching nearly twenty-five miles, we found ourselves at evening seemingly no nearer the mountains than at sunrise. Yet we had thought to encamp at their base that night!
 
The following two days we spent in hunting and jerking the meat. The bones gave us a feast fit for a king,—fit even for citizens of the Republic.
 
The second day of our march , still keeping to the Spanish trace, we at last found ourselves nearing the mountains. What was not so welcome, we came upon the fresh traces of two Indians who had the river very recently. Warned by this, we proceeded in the morning more than ever of ambuscades. There was good reason for our precautions.
 
Scarcely had the Lieutenant, Baroney, and myself ridden out in advance of the party, when of a sudden the interpreter sang out: "Voilà! Les sauvages!"
 
A moment later we also caught sight of the Indians, a number of whom were circling about us on the high ground, while others raced directly upon us out of the of cottonwoods. All were afoot; which, taken with the unmistakable cut of their hair and their red and black paint, told us all too plainly that they were a war party of Pawnees returning from an unsuccessful raid upon one of the Western tribes.
 
Knowing well how apt are the to be evil-tempered after the of a failure to strike their enemy, I prepared to sell my life as dearly as might be. All the probabilities to the supposition that the party was made up of Skidis, or Loups, and I, for one, had no desire to become a captive in their hands. It was enough to have escaped in my boyhood from the stake and fire of the Shawnees. I had no intention of now letting myself be crucified and and burned as a sacrifice to the morning star by these prairie .
 
But Pike, cool as ever, restrained Baroney and myself from firing, and the Indians seemed to his moderation by flinging down their weapons and running to us with outstretched arms. In a moment they were all about us, in a jostling, crowd, patting and hugging us as though we had been blood . So urgent were they with their friendly requests for us to dismount that we finally complied. On the instant an Indian was upon each horse and riding off.
 
Still the others held to their friendly gestures, and upon looking back, we could see the rest of their party making no less friendly among our soldiers. We were partly when we learned that the warriors were not Loups, but a party from the Grand Pawnee. But the of our that they were returning from an unsuccessful raid upon the Tetans, or Ietans,—whom the Spaniards call Comanches,—caused us to fall back upon our main party and work it around to a camp in a little as speedily as possible.
 
During this man[oe]uvre more than one of our unwelcome visitors their bows. But the firm of our leader won its way with the savages. Soon all sixty were seated about us in a ring. The Lieutenant then sat down opposite their chief, with the council pipe laid out before him.
 
At his orders, gifts of tobacco, knives, and flints were placed beside the chief. The present was greeted with guttural cries of dissatisfaction, and the chief demanded with great that we should give them a quantity of our most valuable equipage, from to blankets and kettles. To this, despite the advice and even urgent plea of Baroney, our commander firmly refused to .
 
At last, after no little and threatening, they presented us with a of water, and drank and smoked with us, in token of . Not satisfied with this, and warned by Baroney, I kept on my feet, watching the warriors. Our was by the contemptuous manner in which many of their number threw away their presents. When, immediately after this, we began to reload our pack horses, the entire band pressed into our midst and began to right and left.
 
For a time all was in the most confusion, Pike and I having to mount our horses to save the very pistols in our holsters. On every side the savages were snatching articles, which the soldiers were doing their best to from them.
 
"The !" cried Pike. "Baroney, command the chief to call off his men. I'll not submit to open robbery!"
 
Even while Baroney interpreted the order, the chief slipped a knife from the belt of one of the privates who was turned the other way, and hid it behind his shield. Almost in the same moment he faced the Lieutenant, and flung out his hand in a gesture of injured .
 
Baroney hastily interpreted his , hypocritical reply: "The great white chief has an open hand, a good heart. It cannot be he his poor red friends a few small gifts. My braves are wretched; they are ; they hunger."
 
"Hungry, are they?" shouted Pike. "Then we'll give them lead to eat! Stand ready to fire, men!" He rose in his stirrups and pointed his pistol at the chief. "By the ! I'll shoot the next scoundrel who touches our goods!"
 
I looked for an instant acceptance of the challenge. Intermingled among us as they were and so greatly superior in numbers, the savages had every advantage. In hand to hand fighting their clubs and knives and stone tomahawks would have been as efficient as our weapons, while our firearms, once emptied, would have taken us more time to reload than an Indian would require to shoot a quiverful of arrows.
 
For a long moment our fate hung in the balance, while the pilferers gripped their weapons and glared at us with murderous hate. The tense silence was broken only by the sharp clicking of our hammers. Suddenly , far too well disciplined to fire without orders, yet unable to restrain his , seized a young by the shoulder, and whirling him around like a child, sent him flying off with a tremendous kick.
 
"Begone, ye varmint!" he roared.
 
It was the last straw to the savages. Overawed by our unquailing boldness in the face of their superior numbers, they followed their staggering fellow, and , muttering threats, yet afraid to strike.
 
We waited with finger on trigger, until the last of their long file had beyond gunshot. Then the Lieutenant, half choking with rage, ordered us to take stock of our losses. It did not him to find that the thieves had managed to make away with some thirty or forty dollars' worth of our property. Not even the Sioux and Chippewas had dared to rob him in this fashion. But with only sixteen guns, all told, it was wiser for us to submit to the than to imperil the expedition and perhaps lose our lives............