The trappers comprehended instantly that the warriors had been to the Mexican settlement in Sonora, on a thieving expedition, and that the horses had changed hands, with only one party to the bargain.

The opportunity to instill a lesson on the savage marauders was too good to be lost.
"They saluted the thieves with a volley from their rifles, which, with the bullets whizzing about their heads and bodies, so astonished them that they seemed almost immediately to forget their stolen property, and to think only of a precipitous flight.

In a few moments the whites found themselves masters of the field and also of the property.

To return, the animals to their owners was an impossibility.

Mr.Young, therefore, selected as many of the best horses as he needed for himself and men, and, game being very scarce, killed two, and dried most of the meat for future use, turning the remainder loose." Such were the morals of the wilderness.