We now went back to camp, and we all turned in for a day's sleep. As we were laying down, Capt. McKee said, "The first of you that is awake go out and kill some deer, for we want some fresh meat to eat."
When I awoke it was near night, and the boys were cooking venison around the fire. I inquired who had been hunting. They said no one, that the deer came and hunted them, that when they awoke they saw a band of deer out feeding near the horses, and they got four deer out of the band.
I went and found the Capt. fast asleep. I woke him, and we had supper.
I asked him what course we would take next. He said, "There are some settlements up on the Colorado river that we have not heard from in quite a while, and we will go and look after them."
I asked, "On what part of the Colorado river?" and he said, "At Austin."
We had a good night's sleep, and we were astir very early in the morning and pulled out in the direction of Austin, Capt. McKee and I taking the lead, and the boys following driving the horses we had captured from the Indians.
Late that afternoon we struck the trail of a small band of Indians. I did not go far before I saw that it was quite fresh. I told the Capt. that he had better camp there, for there was plenty of grass and a nice stream of water, and let my scouts and me follow the trail and see if we could find them, to which he consented. My men and I left the main party and started on the trail of the Indians. After trailing them four or five miles in an almost eastern direction, the trail turned to the southwest. We kept on for four or five miles more, and then we came to where the Indians were in camp. I had kept the lay of the country and the direction of our camp in my mind, and when I saw the Indians, I knew that their camp was near ours.
They had a fire and were cooking meat around it. We counted them and found that there were thirteen Indians in the band.
I said, "Now boys, we will go back to our own camp and report to the Capt. at once," and I was really surprised to find it was so short a distance between the Indians' camp and ours. It was not more than a mile from one to the other.
When we reached camp, we found the Capt. and the men waiting for us and very anxious to hear what we had found. I reported to the Capt., and he asked when I thought it best to go after the Red wretches. I told him there was so small a bunch of them I did not think it mattered, but as his favorite time for an attack seemed to be at break of day, I supposed we could wait until then for this one.