what plucky fellows these Apaches are. Lieutenant J.W. Davidson,
with a command of sixty men belonging to F and I companies of the 1st
Regiment of United States dragoons, was ordered out to seek and act
against these red men. Both the soldiers and their officers were
renowned for their bravery and experience in Indian mode of warfare;
hence, more than ordinary deeds were expected to be performed by
them. The result will show that they did not disappoint any reasonable
expectation. Lieutenant Davidson marched to the "_Embuda Mountains_"
(which range lies between fifteen and twenty miles southwest of Taos),
as he had been informed by good authority that the Indians were to be
found there.

On reaching the mountains he soon came upon the savages and found them
fully prepared to meet him. They had selected their ground with great
skill. The site which they had chosen was upon a high elevation, and
at the first glance, to get at them, appeared to be an impossibility
on account of the roughness of the country. If the Indians had hunted
over the whole of the Rocky Mountains they could not have hit upon a
place that offered them so many advantages for the use to which they
intended to put it; but, as the red men had, by great labor, reached
the tops of the crags, therefore, the soldiers resolved not to be
outdone, even if they had to be the assaulting party.

The strength of the Apaches amounted to eight lodges, or two hundred
and forty warriors; and, as they were on foot and without their
families, they were entirely unencumbered. Lieutenant Davidson's first
manoeuvre was to send in advance a small party, whose duty it was to
act as spies, while at the same time they endeavoured to engage the
Indians in a talk, of which they are usually so fond; but, the courage
of the red men was apparently much elevated on seeing the smallness