At That Instant He Tripped And Fell
Sprawling On His Face, While His Weapons Flew Scattering Away In
Every Direction.
The women with loud screams were hurrying with
their children in their arms to place them out of danger, and I
observed some hastening to prevent mischief, by carrying away all the
weapons they could lay hands on.
On a rising ground close to the
camp stood a line of old women singing a medicine song to allay the
tumult. As I approached the side of the brook I heard gun-shots
behind me, and turning back, I saw that the crowd had separated into
two lines of naked warriors confronting each other at a respectful
distance, and yelling and jumping about to dodge the shot of their
adversaries, while they discharged bullets and arrows against each
other. At the same time certain sharp, humming sounds in the air
over my head, like the flight of beetles on a summer evening, warned
me that the danger was not wholly confined to the immediate scene of
the fray. So wading through the brook, I joined Reynal and Raymond,
and we sat down on the grass, in the posture of an armed neutrality,
to watch the result.
Happily it may be for ourselves, though quite contrary to our
expectation, the disturbance was quelled almost as soon as it had
commenced. When I looked again, the combatants were once more
mingled together in a mass. Though yells sounded, occasionally from
the throng, the firing had entirely ceased, and I observed five or
six persons moving busily about, as if acting the part of
peacemakers.
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