They appeared
anything but friendly. I explained to them what I wanted, and they
seemed satisfied and sat down to smoke; but presently I saw one of
them string his bow, and another sharpen his flint knife with a
pair of wooden pincers and suspend it off the wrist of his right
hand. Further testimony of their intentions was unnecessary. To
save myself by flight was impossible, so without hesitation I
stepped back about five paces, cocked my gun, drew one of the
pistols out of my belt, and holding it in my left hand and the gun
in my right, showed myself determined to fight for my life. As much
as possible I endeavored to preserve my coolness, and thus we stood
looking at one another without making any movement or uttering a
word for perhaps ten minutes, when one at last, who seemed to be
the leader, gave a sign that they wished for some tobacco; this I
signified that they should have if they fetched a quantity of
cones. They went off immediately in search of them, and no sooner
were they all out of sight than I picked up my three cones and some
twigs of the trees and made the quickest possible retreat, hurrying
back to the camp, which I reached before dusk.
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