He yelled and hooted in vain; then turned and
rode after me. Two others had started in pur-
suit, but my horse was a good one, and I easily
outdistanced them at the start.
"After I had fairly circled the camp, I turned
again toward the river, hoping to regain the bot-
tom lands. The traveling was bad. Sometimes
we came to deep gulches filled with snow, where
my horse would sink in up to his body and seem
unable to move. When I jumped off his back
and struck him once or twice, he would make
several desperate leaps and recover his footing.
My pursuers were equally hindered, but by this
time the pursuit was general, and in order to
terrify me they yelled continually and fired their
guns into the air. Now and then I came to a
gulch which I had to follow up in search of a
place to cross, and at such times they gained on
me. I began to despair, for I knew that the
white man's horses have not the endurance of
our Indian ponies, and I expected to be chased
most of the day.
"Finally I came to a ravine that seemed im-
possible to cross.
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