Gallant horsemen they were and well mounted.

They were out upon an expedition against the Pawnee[15] Loups, and they behaved to us with the greatest kindness and hospitality.

The chief knew Gabriel, and invited us to go in company with them to their place of encampment.

The chief was a tall, fine fellow, and with beautiful symmetry of figure.

He spoke Spanish well, and the conversation was carried on in that tongue until the evening, when I addressed him in Shoshone, which beautiful dialect is common to the Comanches, Apaches, and Arrapahoes, and related to him the circumstances of our captivity on the shores of the Colorado of the West.