After a time Tom said: “Pike is a great coward and I’ll watch my chance and scare the life out of him before this trip is over.”
“So be it,” said I.
As we could find no gold we turned our attention to prospecting for the beauties of nature. In one place, standing high and dry at some distance from the cañon, we found a very handsome natural bridge or arch. It was about eighty feet high, with a span or opening thirty feet in width by fifty feet in height, and beautifully set off with turrets and spires which rose from the top of the arch. Near this natural arch we found a cave, but it proved to be of no great depth. From the remains of fires in it, it appeared to have been used by the Indians as a place of shelter.
After wandering about in the hills for some hours we started for camp, and as we neared it saw a great bustle there among the men. They had brought in all of the animals and were busily engaged in packing up. As soon as they saw us approaching they called to us to make haste. Pike came running towards us, and laying his hand alongside of his mouth, sang out in a hoarse whisper: “Injuns!”
“Injuns?” said we.
“Yes,” said Pike, “Injuns! Hills full of ’em! Hurry up, we’re goin’ to light out o’ here!”
The long and short of the story was that Pike and his partner had crossed the mountain into what was called Sullivan district, when they found all the miners packing up and leaving for Carson City, on account of Indians having been seen watching them from the rocks. One of our boys who was lying in the shade of a bushy cedar, with his boots off, cooling his feet, had also seen Indians and had rushed into camp. His story was that, as he was lying under the tree, eleven Indians, all in war-paint, and each armed with a minie musket and revolver, passed along a trail about five rods away. They were in single file and were going eastward at a dog-trot. Thus were the Indians running one way and the whites another—the opposite direction. On reaching camp we tried to prevent this stampede, telling the men that the Indians seen were merely a scouting party, and were probably then many miles away in the direction of Pyramid Lake, but several said they would bet any money that the redskins were even then watching us from the tops of some of the surrounding rocky hills. They could see rocks on the hills that looked like the heads of Indians, and by watching these some said they could see them move.
The miners whom we found on the cañon had pulled up stakes and left on the first alarm. After much talk, a majority of our party declared in favor of remaining on the cañon another day, but the minority owned the mules, and swore they were going to leave at once. They said they did not imagine the Indians would attack us, but they were tired of prospecting and were going down to Carson River to fish. Pike was very anxious to try his luck at fishing, and was ready to start at once for Chinatown to buy hooks and lines, if anyone would furnish him a horse.
After much talk, Tom came to me, and said: “Let us go down the cañon a few miles with these fellows, and then make them camp, where we can have a night-attack by the Indians, and scare Pike out of his wits.” This was agreed to, and off we all started. About sundown we reached an open, grassy spot calling a halt proposed to camp there. The minority would not hear of such a thing. Pike was the most determined of any, and was bound to go to the river. The joke of the night-attack had been whispered among our men, and they determined to keep Pike with us. One of them took him aside and told him that we had reason to believe that the Indians were lower down the cañon; that, in fact, they were lying in wait for us in the rocky hills about its mouth, and that all who went down that night would be killed.
“Good Lord!” cried Pike, “you don’t say so. Well, if that’s the case I’ll be dogoned if you ketch me goin’ down thataway!” But Pike presently had a doubt about this plan. Said he: “If we stop here won’t the cussed Injuns get tired of waitin’ and come up here after us?”