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diff --git a/37480-8.txt b/37480-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bb6ba2b --- /dev/null +++ b/37480-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8399 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Campaigning with Crook and Stories of Army +Life, by Charles King + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Campaigning with Crook and Stories of Army Life + +Author: Charles King + +Release Date: September 20, 2011 [EBook #37480] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMPAIGNING WITH CROOK; ARMY LIFE *** + + + + +Produced by flink, Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + 1. The original version of this book used small-capitals for names + in corespondence headings and closings, as well as in lists. In + addition, a.m/p.m are now all in lower case. + 2. Text originally in italics is now delimited by an underscore, for + example: _The text was italicized_. + 3. p. 159. To maintain margins, line 4 of the song was broken + after "...you brutes," + 4. In THE MYSTERY OF 'MAHBIN MILL, the original book does + not contain a Chapter II. + 5. Acronymns and abbreviations used in "Plodder's Promotion." + Sp. Fru. abbreviates "spiritus frumenti" (better known as whiskey). + C. and G. E. is the acronym for "Camp and Garrison Equipage." + R.Q.M. is the acronym for Regimental Quarter-Master." + 6. "...account of their * on..." Transcriber assumes "actions" is the + missing word. The sentence broke across two pages. + + [Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE CROOK, U. S. A.] + + + + + CAMPAIGNING WITH CROOK + AND STORIES OF ARMY LIFE + + BY + + CAPTAIN CHARLES KING, U.S.A. + + AUTHOR OF "BETWEEN THE LINES" "A WAR-TIME WOOING" + ETC., ETC. + + ILLUSTRATED + + NEW YORK + + HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE + + 1890 + + + + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by + +CHARLES KING, + +In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. + +Copyright, 1890, by Harper & Brothers. + +_All rights reserved._ + + + + + PREFACE. + + +Ten years ago, at the request of the editor of a paper at my old home, +these sketches of the Sioux Campaign of 1876 were written and, finding +favor with comrades to whom a few were sent, were published in pamphlet +form. Now, reinforced by certain other sketches which have since +appeared, they are given a new framework. + +They were the first-fruits, so to speak, of a pen that has since been +seldom idle. They were rough sketches, to be sure, but no rougher than +the campaign; and in the early days of a divorce from associations that +were very dear, and of a return to surroundings once familiar, yet, +after twenty years of absence, so changed that a cat in a strange garret +could hardly have felt less at home, I laid their faint tribute of +respect and honor at the feet of the soldier who had been our commander +in the wild days in Arizona, our leader from the Platte to the +Yellowstone and our comrade in every hardship and privation-- +Brigadier-General George Crook, United States Army. + +Only enough of these pamphlets were printed to reach the few hundred +comrades who rode the grim circuit of "The Bad Lands" in that eventful +centennial year. The little edition was long ago exhausted. The years +that followed only served to strengthen the ties that bound me to the +revered commander of old cavalry days. Many a name recorded in these +pages no longer graces our muster-rolls. Mason, our soldier major, +gallant Emmet Crawford, brave old Munson, daring Philo Clark Rodgers +and Price, Egan and Dewees, Bache and Hunter, have been called from the +ranks in which they won such honor, and, only a few short months ago, +the leader whom they so faithfully served rejoined them on the farther +shore of the dark and silent river. The mountains and prairies over +which we marched and fought know no longer the war-cry of painted savage +or the din of thrilling combat. Herds of browsing cattle crowd the +lovely valleys through which we drove the buffalo. Peaceful homes and +smiling villages dot the broad Northwest where hardly a roof-tree was in +place when Crook essayed the task of subjugating the foeman to +settlement and civilization. Another star had been added to the one +awarded him for the campaign which left the fierce Apaches conquered and +disarmed. The highest grade in the army had been attained when, all too +soon, he was summoned to answer to his name, "beyond the veil." + +Better pens than mine shall tell our people of his long years of brave +and faithful service in which this campaign of '76--so pregnant with +interest to us who rode the trail, and with result to a waiting +nation--was, after all, only an episode; but, just as in honor and in +loyalty, these faint pictures of the stirring scenes through which he +led us were inscribed to him at their birth, so now, with added honor +and in affectionate remembrance tenfold increased, is that humble +tribute renewed. + + Charles King, + + _Captain, U. S. A._ + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + CAMPAIGNING WITH CROOK . . . . . 1 + + CAPTAIN SANTA CLAUS . . . . . . 173 + + THE MYSTERY OF 'MAHBIN MILL . . 209 + + PLODDER'S PROMOTION . . . . . . 265 + + + + + ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE CROOK, U.S.A. . . . . . _Frontispiece._ + + FORT FETTERMAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Facing p. 44_ + + SUPPLY CAMP, HEAD OF TONGUE RIVER . . . . . . . " 54 + + CROOK'S COLUMN ON TONGUE RIVER . . . . . . . . . " 68 + + A SICK SOLDIER ON A "TRAVOIS" . . . . . . . . . " 134 + + DEADWOOD CITY, BLACK HILLS OF DAKOTA . . . . . . " 146 + + "THE DANDY FIFTH" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 158 + + "'COME, JACK,' SAID THE CAPTAIN, REASSURINGLY" . " 180 + + "ONE MOMENT MORE, AND, MUFFLED IN RED + SILK, HER BIGGEST LANTERN SWUNG GLOWING + IN THE WINDOW" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 206 + + "CAPTAIN SANTA CLAUS" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 208 + + + + + CAMPAIGNING WITH CROOK. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + FORT HAYS AND THE START. + + +The disastrous battle on the Little Horn, which resulted in the +annihilation of General Custer and his five favorite companies of the +Seventh Cavalry, occurred on the 25th of June, 1876. On the 4th of that +month, we of the Fifth Cavalry were far to the south, scattered over the +boundless prairies of Kansas. Regimental headquarters and four companies +occupied the cosey quarters of Fort Hays, nearly midway between +Leavenworth and Denver, Missouri and the mountains, and Company "K," of +which I then was first lieutenant, had pitched its tents along the banks +of a winding fork of the Smoky Hill River, wondering why we had been +"routed out" from our snug barracks and stables at Fort Riley, and +ordered to proceed, "equipped for field service," to Hays City, by rail. +Ordinarily, Uncle Sam pays the costly railway fare for horsemen and +their steeds only when danger is imminent. The two posts were but a +week's easy march apart; not a hostile Indian had been seen or heard of +in all Kansas since the previous winter; General Pope, who commanded the +department, had won the hearts of the ladies and children of the +officers' families by predicting that there would be no separation from +husbands and fathers that summer at least; all the ladies had "joined," +and, after our long sojourn in the wilds of Arizona, where but few among +them had been able to follow us, we were rejoicing in their presence and +luxuriating in the pretty homes ornamented and blessed by their dainty +handiwork. Some among their number had never before appeared in +garrison, and were taking their first lesson in frontier experience. +Some, too, had only been with us six short weeks, and did not dream that +the daily parades in which they took so much delight, the sweet music of +our band, the brilliant uniforms and dancing plumes that lent such color +and life to rapid drill or stately guard-mounting, were one and all but +part and parcel of the preparation for scenes more stirring, far less +welcome to such gentle eyes. + +Fort Hays was joyous with mirth and music and merry laughter, for some +of the ladies of the regiment had brought with them from the distant +East younger sisters or friends, to whom army life on the plains was a +revelation, and in whose honor a large barrack-room had been transformed +into "the loveliest place in the world for a german," and Strauss's +sweetest music rose and fell in witching invitation after the evening +tattoo. Riding, driving, and hunting parties were of daily occurrence, +and more than one young fellow's heart seemed in desperate jeopardy when +the summons came. + +The sun was setting in a cloudless sky as I reined in my horse in front +of General Carr's quarters and dismounted, to make my report of a three +days' hunt along the valley of the Saline for stampeded horses. The +band, in their neat summer dress, were grouped around the flagstaff, +while the strains of "Soldaten Lieder" thrilled through the soft evening +air, and, fairly carried away by the cadence of the sweet music, a party +of young ladies and officers had dropped their croquet mallets and were +waltzing upon the green carpet of the parade. Seated upon the verandas, +other ladies and older officers were smilingly watching the pretty +scene, and on the western side of the quadrangle the men in their white +stable frocks were just breaking ranks after marching up from the +never-neglected care of their horses. Half a dozen laughing children +were chasing one another in noisy glee, their bright sashes and dainty +dresses gleaming in the last rays of the golden orb. The general himself +was gazing thoughtfully at the distant line of willows that fringed the +banks of the stream, and holding an open newspaper in his hand as I +entered and made my report. + +"Have you heard the news?" he asked me. "Schuyler has gone to join +General Crook as aide-de-camp. Got a telegram from him just after you +left on this scout, and started last night. It's my belief that Crook +will have a big campaign, and that we'll be sent for." + +Ten minutes after, as the trumpets rang out the "retreat," and the last +echoes of the evening gun died away over the rolling prairie, we noted a +horseman coming at rapid gait along the dusty road from Hays City, as +the railway station was hopefully named. He disappeared among the +foliage in the creek bottom. The soft hush of twilight fell upon the +garrison, the band had gone away to supper, the bevy of sweet-faced +girls with their tireless escorts had gathered with a number of officers +and ladies in front of the general's quarters, where he and I were still +in conversation, when the horseman, a messenger from the telegraph +office, reappeared in our midst. "Despatch for you, general; thought +you'd better have it at once," was all he said, as he handed it to "the +chief," and, remounting, cantered away. + +Carr opened the ugly brown envelope and took out, not one, but three +sheets of despatch paper, closely written, and began to read. Looking +around upon the assembled party, I noticed that conversation had ceased +and a dozen pair of eyes were eagerly scrutinizing the face of the +commanding officer. Anxious hearts were beating among those young wives +and mothers, and the sweet girl-faces had paled a little in sympathy +with the dread that shone all too plainly in the eyes of those who but +so recently had undergone long and painful separation from soldier +husbands. The general is a sphinx; he gives no sign. Slowly and +carefully he reads the three pages; then goes back and begins over +again. At last, slowly, thoughtfully he folds it, replaces the fateful +despatch in its envelope, and looks up expectant of question. His +officers, restrained by discipline, endeavor to appear unconcerned, and +say nothing. The ladies, either from dread of the tidings or awe of him, +_look_ volumes, but are silent. Human nature asserts itself, however, +and the man and the commander turns to me with, "Well, what did I tell +you?" And so we got our orders for the Sioux campaign of 1876. + +To the officers, of course, it was an old story. There was not one of +our number who had not seen hard campaigning and sharp Indian fighting +before. But could we have had our choice, we would have preferred some +less abrupt announcement. Hardly a word was spoken as the group broke up +and the ladies sought their respective homes, but the bowed heads and +hidden faces of many betrayed the force of the blow. + +The officers remained with General Carr to receive his instructions. +There was no time to lose, and the note of preparation sounded on the +spot. General Sheridan's orders directed four companies from Fort Hays +to proceed at once to Cheyenne by rail, and there await the coming of +the more distant companies--eight in all, to go on this, the first +alarm. + +Companies "A," "B," "D," and "K" were designated to go; "E" to stay and +"take care of the shop." Those to go were commanded by married officers, +each of whom had to leave wife and family in garrison. "E" had a +bachelor captain, and a lieutenant whose better half was away in the +East, so the ladies of the regiment were ready to mob the general for +his selection; but there was wisdom in it. In ten minutes the news was +all over the post. A wild Celtic "Hurray, fellows, we're going for to +join Crook," was heard in the barracks, answered by shouts of approval +and delight from every Paddy in the command. Ours is a mixed array of +nationalities--Mulligan and Meiswinkel, Crapaud and John Bull, stand +shoulder to shoulder with Yanks from every portion of the country. In +four regiments only is exclusiveness as to race permitted by law. Only +darkies can join their ranks. Otherwise, there is a promiscuous +arrangement which, oddly enough, has many a recommendation. They balance +one another as it were--the phlegmatic Teuton and the fiery Celt, +mercurial Gaul and stolid Anglo-Saxon. Dashed and strongly tinctured +with the clear-headed individuality of the American, they make up a +company which for _personnel_ is admirably adapted to the wants of our +democratic service. The company of the Fifth Cavalry most strongly +flavored with Irish element in the ranks was commanded by Captain Emil +Adam, an old German soldier, whose broken English on drill was the +delight of his men. "The representative Paddy," as he calls himself, +Captain Nick Nolan, of the Tenth Cavalry, has an Ethiopian lieutenant (a +West-Pointer) and sixty of the very best darkies that ever stole +chickens. But wherever you meet them, the first to hurray at the chance +of a fight is the Pat, and no matter how gloomy or dismal the campaign, +if there be any fun to be extracted from its incidents, he is the man to +find it. + +And so our Irishmen gave vent to their joy, and with whistling and +singing the men stowed away their helmets and full-dress uniforms, their +handsome belts and equipments, and lovingly reproduced the old Arizona +slouch hats and "thimble belts," and the next evening our Fort Hays +command, in two special trains, was speeding westward as fast as the +Kansas Pacific could carry us. The snow-capped peaks of the Rockies hove +in sight next day, and Denver turned out in full force to see us go +through. At evening on the 7th, we were camping on the broad prairie +near Cheyenne. Here Major Upham joined us with Company "I." A week after +we were off for Laramie. On the 22d, our companies were ordered straight +to the north to find the crossing of the broad Indian trail from the Red +Cloud and Spotted Tail reservations, by which hundreds of Indians were +known to be going to the support of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. + +We were to hide in the valley of the South Cheyenne, near the base of +the Black Hills, and cut off the Indian supplies. Buffalo Bill had +joined us, his old comrades of the Sioux war of 1868-69; and though we +feared the Indians would be quick to detect our presence, and select +others of a dozen routes to the Powder River country, we hoped to be +able to nab a few. + +On the 24th, we had begun our march at 6 a.m. from the Cardinal's Chair, +at the head of the Niobrara, and before noon had descended into the +valley of "Old Woman's Fork," of the South Cheyenne. We had with us two +half-breed Sioux scouts and an Indian boy, "Little Bat," who had long +been employed by the Fort Laramie officers as a reliable guide. Camping +at noon along the stream, I was approached by Major Stanton, who had +joined our column under instructions from General Sheridan, and informed +that he was going to push ahead of the column at once, as the scouts +reported recent Indian signs. It was necessary, he said, that he should +get to the Cheyenne as quickly as possible, and he wanted me to go as +commander of the escort. In half an hour we were in saddle again, Major +Stanton with his blunderbuss of a rifle, "Little Bat" in his +semi-civilized garb, Lieutenant Keyes with forty men of Company "C," and +myself. The general detained me a moment to convey some earnest +instructions, and to post me on certain points in Sioux warfare which +experience with Apaches was supposed to have dulled, and, with the +promise, "I'll follow on your trail to-morrow," waved his hand, and in +two minutes we were out of sight down the winding valley. + +Three p.m. is early on a long June day. We rode swiftly, steadily, but +cautiously northward; the valley widened out to east and west; we made +numerous cut-offs among the bends of the stream, crossing low ridges, at +each one of which Bat, well to the front, would creep to the top, keenly +scrutinize all the country around, and signal "come on." At 5 o'clock he +suddenly halted and threw himself from his horse, and I cantered forward +to see what was up. We had struck our first trail of the campaign, and +the yielding soil was thick with pony tracks. Coming from the east, the +direction of the reservation, they led straight down the valley, and we +followed. Every now and then other tracks from the east joined those we +were on, and though at least four or five days old, they were of +interest. Half an hour before sunset, far off among the hills to the +northeast, a thin column of smoke shot up into the clear sky. Ten +minutes more another rose in the west. They were Sioux signals, and we +were discovered. But the country was open all around us; not a tree +except the cottonwoods along the narrow stream-bed, no fear of +ambuscade, and we must not halt until within sight of the Cheyenne +valley; so on we go. Just at twilight, Bat, five hundred yards in front, +circles his horse rapidly to the left, and again I join him. It is the +recent trail of a war-party of Sioux, crossing the valley, and +disappearing among the low hills to the northwest. They number fifty +warriors, and those whose tracks we have been following took the same +direction--the short cut towards the Big Horn mountains. Our march is +very cautious now--advance, flankers, and rear guard of old, tried +soldiers, well out; but on we jog through the gathering darkness, and at +nine p.m., as we ride over a ridge, Bat points out to me a long, low +line of deeper shade, winding six or seven miles away in the moonlight. +It is the timber along the Cheyenne, and now we may hunt for water and +give our tired horses rest and grass. The valley is broad; the water +lies only in scanty pools among the rocks in the stream-bed. There has +been no rain for a month, and there is not a blade of grass nearer than +the bluffs, a mile away. Our horses drink eagerly, and then in silence +we fill our canteens and move off towards the hills. Here I find a basin +about two hundred yards in diameter, in which we "half lariat" and +hobble our horses; dig holes in the ground, wherein, with sage brush +for fuel, we build little fires and boil our coffee, while Keyes and I +take a dozen of our men and post them around our bivouac at points +commanding every approach. No Indian can reach us unseen through that +moonlight. No Indian cares to attack at night, unless he has a "sure +thing;" and though from five different points we catch the blaze of +signal fires, we defy surprise, and with ready carbine by our side we +eat our crisp bacon, sip the welcome tin of steaming coffee, then light +our pipes and chat softly in the cool night air. Little we dream that +two hundred miles away Custer is making his night ride to death. Our +supports are only twenty-five miles away. We dread no attack in such +force that we cannot "stand off" until Carr can reach us, and, as I make +my rounds among the sentinels to see that all are vigilant, the words of +the Light Cavalryman's song are sounding in my ears: + + "The ring of a bridle, the stamp of a hoof, + Stars above and the wind in the tree; + A bush for a billet, a rock for a roof, + Outpost duty's the duty for me. + Listen! A stir in the valley below-- + The valley below is with riflemen crammed, + Cov'ring the column and watching the foe; + Trumpet-Major! Sound and be d----." + +Bang! There's a shot from below, and the bivouac springs to life. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + THE TRAIL AND THE CHASE. + + +A shot in the dead of night from an outpost in the heart of the Indian +country is something that soon ceases to be either exciting or of great +interest, but the first that is heard on the campaign makes the pulses +bound. Men sprang to their feet, horses pawed and snorted, and the +sergeant of the guard and myself made rapid time to the point from which +the alarm had come. There was the sentinel alone, unharmed, but +perturbed in spirit. To the question, somewhat sternly put, "Who fired +that shot?" he replies, with evident chagrin, "I did, sir; somethin' was +crawlin' right up that holler, an' I challenged an' he didn't answer, +an' I fired; but danged if I know what it was." Before there is time to +say a word of rebuke, plainly enough in the bright moonlight something +_does_ come crawling up out of a "hollow" two hundred yards +away--something of a yellow or reddish brown, on four legs, with a long, +smooth, sneaking shamble that carries the quadruped rapidly over the +ground, then changes to an ungainly lope, which takes him to a safe +distance in six seconds; and there the creature turns, squats on his +haunches, and coolly surveys us. Turning away in silent indignation, as +I get almost out of earshot it is some comfort to hear the sergeant's +pithy commentary, "Ye wall-eyed gutter-snipe, your grandmother would ha' +known that was nothin' but a cayote." + +Then follows the inevitable volley of chaff with which the Paddy greets +every blunder on the part of his fellow-soldiers, and for a few minutes +the silent bivouac is rollicking with fun. That some recent attempt has +been made to instruct the troopers of Company "C" in the _finesse_ of +sentry duty is apparent from the shouted query, "Hi, Sullivan, if it was +_two_ cayotes would you advance the saynior or the junior wid the +countersign?" at which there is a roar, and Lieutenant Keyes visibly +blushes. In half an hour all is quiet again. Officers and men, we watch +turn and turn about during the night, undisturbed, save at 3 o'clock the +outlying sentries report that they distinctly heard the rapid beat of +many hoofs dying away towards the west. + +We are astir at the first gray of dawn, rolling our blankets and +promptly saddling, for we must ride well down the Cheyenne and find the +Mini Pusa, the dry north fork, before breakfast can be attended to. No +stirring trumpet marks our reveille. We mount in silence, and like +shadowy spectres ride away northward in the broadening valley. The stars +are not yet paling in the west, but Bat's quick eye detects fresh +hoof-prints not two hours old in the springy soil of the hillside, half +a mile out from camp. Sure enough. They had prowled around us during the +night, longing for our scalps, but not daring to attack. Only a few +venturesome spies had galloped down to take observations, and had then +ridden away to join their brothers in arms, and plot our destruction. We +laughed as we shook our bridle-reins and jogged along, thinking how +confounded they would be when they caught sight of our main body, who, +with General Carr at their head, would be along by noon. A six-mile ride +brought us into the belt of cottonwoods and willows along the bed of the +stream, but the South Cheyenne had sunk out of sight. Broad reaches of +streaked and rippled sand wound through the timber, clearly showing +where, earlier in the season, a rapid, sweeping torrent had borne great +logs and heaps of brushwood upon its tawny breast; but it had dwindled +away to nothing, and our thirsty horses looked reproachfully at their +masters as, dismounting, we ploughed up the yielding sand, in hopes of +finding the needed water beneath. This is one of the dismal +peculiarities of the streams of the Far West. On the 1st of May we would +have found that valley barely fordable; on the 25th of June it was as +dry as a bone. + +Mounting again, and scattering through the timber "down stream," a shout +from Major Stanton had the effect of the trumpet rally on skirmish +drill. + +Our party came together with eager haste, and found him under a steep +bank, shaded by willows, his horse fetlock deep in what remained of a +once deep pool; and two or three at a time our chargers slaked their +thirst. It was poor water--warm, soapy, alkaline--but better than none +at all. + +Just before noon we were clambering up the hills on the northeast of the +Mini Pusa. Our orders were to proceed with the utmost caution on nearing +the trail. General Sheridan had clearly indicated that it must cross the +valley of the South Cheyenne some distance west of the Beaver, and very +near its confluence with the Mini Pusa. Stanton and I, with our +field-glasses in hand, were toiling up through the yielding, sandy soil +with Little Bat; Lieutenant Keyes and the escort, leading their horses, +following. Once at the top of the ridge we felt sure of seeing the +country to the eastward, and hardly had Bat reached the crest and peered +cautiously over than he made a quick gesture which called the major and +myself to his side. He pointed to the southeast, and, sweeping our +glasses in that direction, we plainly saw the broad, beaten track. It +looked like a great highway, deserted and silent, and it led from the +thick timber in the Cheyenne valley straight to the southeast up the +distant slope, and disappeared over the dim, misty range of hills in the +direction of the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail reservations. + +General Sheridan was right. Sitting in his distant office in Chicago, he +was so thoroughly informed that he could order out his cavalry to search +through a region hitherto known only to the Sioux, and tell them just +where they would find the highway by which the vast hordes of hostiles +under Sitting Bull were receiving daily reinforcements and welcome +supplies of ammunition from the agencies three and four hundred miles to +the southeast. + +This was the traffic which General Carr and the Fifth Cavalry were +ordered to break up; and here, just at noon, our little band of three +officers and forty men, far in the advance, had struck the trail, as +General Sheridan predicted. Keeping horses and men well under cover, we +crept to a farther ridge, and from there our glasses commanded a grand +sweep of country: the valley of the South Cheyenne for fifty miles to +the southeastward, until the stream itself was lost in the tortuous +cañon of the Southern Black Hills; the great, towering range of the +Black Hills themselves forty miles to the eastward, and the lone peak +far to the northeast that the Sioux called (phonetically spelling) +Heengha Kahga. The earliest maps simplified that into "Inyan Kara," and +now the school-children of Deadwood talk glibly of the big hill that, +higher than Harney's or Custer's Peak, their geography terms the "Indian +Carry." Why can't we keep the original names? + +Once thoroughly satisfied of our proximity to the trail, Major Stanton +directed the escort to retrace its steps to the thick timber along the +Mini Pusa, where it would be out of sight, while he and I, with our +powerful binoculars, kept watch upon the Indian highway. The afternoon +was hot and cloudless; not a breath of air stirred the clumps of +sage-bush, the only vegetation along the bluffs and slopes. The +atmosphere was dazzlingly clear, and objects were visible to us through +our glasses that we knew to be miles away. The signal smokes to the +west, and our front of the day before, had disappeared; not a living +thing was in sight. Our men and horses were hidden among the dense +cottonwoods a mile behind us, but, though invisible to us, we well knew +that trusty eyes were keeping watch for the first signal from the +hillside. + +Three--four o'clock came, and not a soul had appeared upon the Indian +trail. Away over the intervening ridge to the rear we could see the +valley of Old Woman's Fork, down which we had come the day previous, and +our glasses detected, by an hour after noon, clouds of dust rising high +in air, harbingers of the march of General Carr and the main body. At +last the major closed his glasses with a disgusted snap and the remark, +"I don't believe there's an Indian stirring to-day." + +Not in our sight--not within our hearing, perhaps. The blessed Sabbath +stillness falls on all within our ken; our steeds are blinking, our men +are drowsing in the leafy shades below. Only the rising dust, miles to +the southward, reveals the coming of comrade soldiery. Far to the +northwest, a single dark speck, floating against the blue of heaven, +attracts the lingering inspection of my field-glass. Eagle or buzzard, I +do not know. The slow, circling, stately flight in ascending spiral +carries him beyond our vision, but from his altitude the snow-capped +peaks of the Big Horn range are clearly visible, and on this still +Sabbath afternoon those mighty peaks are looking down upon a scene of +carnage, strife, and slaughter that, a week hence, told only by curt +official despatches, will thrill a continent with horror. Even as we +watch there on the slopes by the Mini Pusa, Stanton and I, grumbling at +our want of luck in not sighting an Indian, many a true and trusted +comrade, many an old cadet friend of boyish days, many a stalwart +soldier is biting the dust along the Little Horn, and the names of +Custer and his men are dropping from the muster-rolls. The heroes of a +still mightier struggle, the victors of an immortal defence of national +honor, are falling fast till all are gone, victims of a thankless +warfare. + +No wonder the Indians have no time to bother with us. We bivouac in +undisturbed serenity that night, and join our regiment in the Cheyenne +valley at noon next day without so much as an adventure. That night +Company "I" is thrown forward to scout the trail, while the regiment +camps out of sight among the cottonwoods, and for the next week we +keenly watch the neighborhood, all the companies making thorough scouts +in each direction, but finding nothing of consequence. Small parties of +Indians are chased, but easily escape, and there isn't a doubt that the +reservation Indians know of our whereabouts, and so avoid us. + +Late in the afternoon of July 1st, our new colonel, Wesley Merritt, +famous as a cavalry commander during the War of the Rebellion, arrives +and assumes the reins of government, relieving General Carr, who falls +back to second in command. We are all agog to see what will be our new +chief's first move. He is fresh from Sheridan's staff in Chicago, and is +doubtless primed with latest instructions and wishes of the +lieutenant-general. He is no stranger to us, nor we to him, and his +first move is characteristic. At dawn of day of the 2d, he marches us +four miles down stream to better grass and a point nearer the big trail; +sends Montgomery with his grays to scout over towards the Black Hills, +and Hayes and Bishop with Company "G" to lie along the trail itself--but +no Indian is sighted. + +The sun is just rising on the morning of the 3d of July when my captain, +Mason, and I roll out of our blankets and set about the very simple +operations of a soldier's campaign toilet. The men are grooming their +horses; the tap of the curry-comb and the impatient pawing of hoofs is +music in the clear, crisp, bracing air. Our cook is just announcing +breakfast, and I am eagerly sniffing the aroma of coffee, when General +Merritt's orderly comes running through the trees. "Colonel Mason, the +general directs Company 'K' to get out as quickly as possible--Indians +coming up the valley!" "Saddle up, men! lively now!" is the order. We +jump into boots and spurs, whip the saddles from saplings and stumps, +rattle the bits between the teeth of our excited horses, sling carbines +over shoulder, poke fresh cartridges into revolver chambers, look well +to the broad horsehair "cinches," or girths. The men lead into line, +count fours, mount, and then, without a moment's pause, "Fours right, +trot," is the order, and Mason and I lead off at a spanking gait, +winding through the timber and suddenly shooting out upon the broad, +sandy surface of the dry stream-bed. There the first man we see is +Buffalo Bill, who swings his hat. "This way, colonel, this way," and +away we go on his tracks. "K" is a veteran company. Its soldiers are, +with few exceptions, on their second and third enlistments. Its captain +ranks all the line officers of the regiment, and admirably commanded it +during the war while the field officers were doing duty as generals of +volunteers. There is hardly a trace of nervousness even among the newest +comers, but this is the first chase of the campaign for us, and all are +eager and excited. Horses in rear struggle to rush to the front, and as +we sputter out of the sand and strike the grassy slopes beyond the +timber belt all break into a lope. Two or three scouts on a ridge five +hundred yards ahead are frantically signalling to us, and, bending to +the left again, we sweep around towards them, now at a gallop. Mason +sternly cautions some of the eager men who are pressing close behind us, +and, looking back, I see Sergeant Stauffer's bronzed face lighting up +with a grin I used to mark in the old Apache campaigns in Arizona, and +the veteran "Kelly" riding, as usual, all over his horse, but +desperately bent on being ahead when we reach the scene. Left hands +firmly grasp the already foaming reins, while throughout the column +carbines are "advanced" in the other. + +"Here comes Company 'I,' fellers," is the muttered announcement from the +left and rear, and, glancing over my left shoulder, I see Kellogg with +his bays and Lieutenant Reilly swinging out along the slope to our left. +As we near the ridge and prepare to deploy, excitement is subdued but +intense--Buffalo Bill plunging along beside us on a strawberry roan, +sixteen hands high, gets a trifle of a lead, but we go tearing up the +crest in a compact body, reach it, rein up, amazed and disgusted--not an +Indian to be seen for two miles across the intervening "swale." Away to +the left, towards the Cheyenne, scouts are again excitedly beckoning, +and we move rapidly towards them, but slower now, for Mason will not +abuse his horses for a wild-goose chase. Ten minutes bring us thither. +Kellogg has joined forces with us, and the two companies are trotting in +parallel columns. Still no Indian; but the scouts are ahead down the +valley, and we follow for a brisk half-hour, and find ourselves plunging +through the timber ten miles east of camp. Another hour and we are +dashing along a high ridge parallel with the Black Hills, and there, +sure enough, are Indians, miles ahead, and streaking it for the Powder +River country as fast as their ponies can carry them. We have galloped +thirty miles in a big circle before catching sight of our chase, and our +horses are panting and wearied. Every now and then we pass pack-saddles +with fresh agency provisions, which they had dropped in their haste. +Once our scouts get near enough to exchange a shot or two, but at last +they fairly beat us out of sight, and we head for home, reach camp, +disgusted and empty-handed, about four p.m. Two "heavy weights" (Colonel +Leib's and Lieutenant Reilly's) horses drop dead under them, and the +first pursuit of the Fifth is over. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + THE FIGHT ON THE WAR BONNET. + + +The chase of July 3d, besides killing two and using up a dozen horses, +rendered our further presence in the valley of the Cheyenne clearly +useless. No more Indians would be apt to come that way when they had the +undisturbed choice of several others. General Merritt was prompt to +accept the situation, and as prompt to act. Early the next morning, "K" +and "I," the two companies engaged in the dash of the day before, took +the direct back track up the valley of Old Woman's Fork, guarding the +chief and the wagons. General Carr, with companies "B," "G," and "M," +marched eastward towards the Black Hills, while Major Upham, with "A," +"C," and "D," struck out northwestward up the valley of the Mini Pusa. +Both commands were ordered to make a wide _détour_, scout the country +for forty-eight hours, and rejoin headquarters at the head of what was +then called Sage Creek. We of the centre column spent the glorious +Fourth in a dusty march, and followed it up on the 5th with another. + +On the 6th, a courier was sent in to Fort Laramie, seventy miles away, +while the regiment camped along the stream to wait for orders. Towards +ten o'clock on the following morning, while the camp was principally +occupied in fighting flies, a party of the junior officers were +returning from a refreshing bath in a deep pool of the stream, when +Buffalo Bill came hurriedly towards them from the general's tent. His +handsome face wore a look of deep trouble, and he brought us to a halt +in stunned, awe-stricken silence with the announcement, "Custer and five +companies of the Seventh wiped out of existence. It's no rumor--General +Merritt's got the official despatch." + +_Now_ we knew that before another fortnight the Fifth would be sent to +reinforce General Crook on the Big Horn. Any doubts as to whether a big +campaign was imminent were dispelled. Few words were spoken--the camp +was stilled in soldierly mourning. That night Lieutenant Hall rode in +with later news and letters. He had made the perilous trip from Laramie +alone, but confirmed the general impression that we would be speedily +ordered in to the line of the North Platte, to march by way of Fetterman +to Crook's support. On Wednesday, the 12th, our move began, no orders +having been received until the night before. Just what we were to do, +probably no one knew but Merritt; he didn't tell, and I never asked +questions. Evening found us camping near the Cardinal's Chair at the +head of the Niobrara, in a furious storm of thunder, lightning, and +rain, which lasted all night, and, wet to the skin, we were glad enough +to march off at daybreak on the 13th, and still more glad to camp again +that evening under the lee of friendly old Rawhide Peak. + +We were now just one long day's march from Fort Laramie, and confidently +expected to make it on the following day. At reveille on the 14th, +however, a rumor ran through the camp that Merritt had received +despatches during the night indicating that there was a grand outbreak +among the Indians at the reservation. Of course we knew that they would +be vastly excited and encouraged by the intelligence of the Custer +massacre. Furthermore, it was well known that there were nearly a +thousand of the Cheyennes, the finest warriors and horsemen of the +plains, who as yet remained peaceably at the Red Cloud or Spotted Tail +Reservations along the White River, but they were eager for a pretext on +which to "jump," and now they might be expected to leave in a body at +any moment and take to the war-path. Our withdrawal from the Cheyenne +River left the favorite route again open, and the road to the Black +Hills was again traversed by trains of wagons and large parties of +whites on their way to the mines, a sight too tempting for their +covetous eyes. Major Jordan, commanding the post of Camp Robinson, had +hurriedly described the situation in a despatch to Merritt, and when +"Boots and saddles" sounded, and we rode into line, we saw the +quartermaster guiding his wagons back over the ridge we had crossed the +day before, and in a few minutes were following in their tracks. Away to +the east we marched that morning, and at noon were halted where the road +connecting Fort Laramie with the reservation crossed the Rawhide Creek. +Here Captain Adam with Company "C" left us and pushed forward to the +Niobrara Crossing, twenty-five miles nearer the Indian villages, while +the indefatigable Major Stanton, "our polemical paymaster," was hurried +off to Red Cloud, to look into the situation. The rest of us waited +further developments. + +On Saturday, the 15th of July, just at noon, General Merritt received +the despatch from the Red Cloud Agency which decided the subsequent +movement of his command. It led to his first "lightning march" with his +new regiment; it impelled him to a move at once bold and brilliant. It +brought about an utter rout and discomfiture among the would-be allies +of Sitting Bull, and, while it won him the commendation of the +lieutenant-general, it delayed us a week in finally reaching Crook, and +there was some implied criticism in remarks afterwards made. + +In a mere narrative article there is little scope for argument. +Merritt's information was from Major Stanton, substantially to the +effect that eight hundred Cheyenne warriors would leave the reservation +on Sunday morning, fully equipped for the war-path, and with the avowed +intention of joining the hostiles in the Big Horn country. To continue +on his march to Laramie, and let them go, would have been gross, if not +criminal, neglect. To follow by the direct road to the reservation, +sixty-five miles away, would have been simply to drive them out and +hasten their move. Manifestly there was but one thing to be done: to +throw himself across their path and capture or drive them back, and to +do this he must, relatively speaking, march over three sides of a +square while they were traversing the fourth, _and must do it +undiscovered_. + +If Merritt hesitated ten minutes, his most intimate associates, his +staff, did not know it. Leaving a small guard with the wagon train, and +ordering Lieutenant Hall to catch up with us at night, the general and +seven companies swing into saddle, and at one o'clock are marching up +the Rawhide, _away_ from the reservation, and with no apparent purpose +of interfering in any project, howsoever diabolical, that aboriginal +fancy can suggest. We halt a brief half-hour under the Peak, fourteen +miles away, water our thirsty horses in the clear, running stream, then +remount, and, following our chief, lead away northwestward. By five p.m. +we are heading square to the north; at sunset we are descending into the +wide valley of the Niobrara, and just at ten p.m. we halt and unsaddle +under the tall buttes of the Running Water, close by our old camp at +Cardinal's Chair. Only thirty-five miles by the way we came, but horses +must eat to live, and we have nothing but the buffalo grass to offer +them. We post strong guards and pickets to prevent surprise, and scatter +our horses well out over the hillsides to pick up all they can. Captain +Hayes and I are detailed as officers of the guard and pickets for the +night, and take ourselves off accordingly. At midnight, Lieutenant Hall +arrives with his long wagon train. At three a.m., in the starlight, +Merritt arouses his men; coffee and bacon are hurriedly served; the +horses get a good breakfast of oats from the wagons, and at five a.m. +we are climbing out of the valley to the north. And now, _Messieurs les +Cheyennes_, we'll see who first will bivouac to-night upon the War +Bonnet. You are but twenty-eight miles from it; we are fifty to the +point where your great trail crosses the little stream. The Sioux, in +their picturesque nomenclature, called it after the gorgeous head-piece +of bead-work, plume and eagles' feathers, they wear in battle, the +prized War Bonnet. The frontiersman, scorning the poetic, considers that +he has fittingly, practically, anyway, translated it into Hat Creek, and +even for such a name as this, three insignificant creeks within a few +miles of one another claim precedence--and Indian and Horsehead creeks +are placidly willing to share it with them. + +The sun rises over the broad lands of the Sioux to the eastward as we +leave the shadowy Niobrara behind. Merritt's swift-stepping gray at the +head of the column keeps us on our mettle to save our distance, and the +horses answer gamely to the pressing knees of their riders. At 10.15 we +sight the palisade fortifications of the infantry company which guards +the spring at the head of old Sage Creek, and Lieutenant Taylor eagerly +welcomes us. Here, officers, men, and horses take a hurried but +substantial lunch. We open fresh boxes of ammunition, and cram belts and +pockets until every man is loaded like a deep-sea diver, and fairly +bristles with deadly missiles. Then on we go. East-northeast over the +rolling, treeless prairie, and far to our right and rear runs the high, +rock-faced ridge that shuts out the cold north winds from the +reservation. The day is hot; we are following the Black Hills road, and +the dust rises in heavy clouds above us. But 'tis a long, long way to +the Indian crossing, and we _must_ be the first to reach it. At sunset a +winding belt of green in a distant depression marks the presence of a +stream. At eight p.m., silently under the stars, we glide in among the +timbers. At nine the seven companies are unsaddled and in bivouac close +under the bluffs, where a little plateau, around which the creek sweeps +in almost complete circle, forms excellent defensive lair, secure +against surprise. We have marched eighty-five miles in thirty-one hours, +and here we are, square in their front, ready and eager to dispute with +the Cheyennes their crossing on the morrow. + +No fires are lighted, except a few tiny blazes in deep-dug holes, whence +no betraying flame may escape. Horses and men, we bivouac in a great +circle along the steep banks of a sluggish stream. The stars shine +brightly overhead, but in the timber the darkness is intense. Mason, my +captain, and I are just unstrapping our blankets and preparing for a +nap, when Lieutenant Forbush, then adjutant of the regiment, stumbles +over a fallen tree, and announces that Company "K" is detailed for guard +and picket. I had "been on" all the night before with Captain Hayes, and +would gladly have had a sound sleep before the morrow's work; but when +Mason, after reporting for orders to General Merritt, comes back and +tells me that I am to have command of the outposts to the southeast, +the direction from which the foe must come, there is compensation in the +supposed mistake in the roster. + +We grope out in the darkness, and post our pickets in hollows and +depressions, where, should the bivouac be approached over the distant +ridges, they can best observe objects against the sky. The men are +tired; and, as they cannot walk post and keep awake, the utmost +vigilance is enjoined on non-commissioned officers. Hour after hour I +prowl around among the sentries, giving prompt answer to the muffled +challenge that greets me with unvarying watchfulness. At one o'clock +Colonel Mason and I, making the rounds together, come suddenly upon a +post down among the willows next the stream, and are not halted; but we +find the sentinel squatting under the bank, only visible in the +starlight, apparently dozing. Stealing upon him from behind, I seize his +carbine, and the man springs to his feet. Mason sternly rebukes him for +his negligence, and is disposed to order him under guard; but old +Sergeant Schreiber, who was never known to neglect a duty in his life, +declares that he and the sentry were in conversation, and watching +together some object across the stream not half a minute before we came +upon them. Everywhere else along our front we find the men alert and +watchful. At three o'clock the morning grows chilly, and the yelping of +the coyotes out over the prairie is incessant. My orders are to call the +General at half-past three; and, making my way through the slumbering +groups, I find him rolled in his blanket at the foot of a big +cottonwood, sleeping "with one eye open," for he is wide awake in an +instant, and I return to my outpost towards the southeast. + +Outlined against the southern sky is a high ridge, some two miles away. +It sweeps around from our left front, where it is lost among the +undulations of the prairie. Square to the northeast, some twenty miles +distant, the southernmost masses of the Black Hills are tumbled up in +sharp relief against the dawn. A faint blush is stealing along the +Orient; the ridge line grows darker against the brightening sky; stars +overhead are paling, and the boughs of the cottonwoods murmur soft +response to the stir of the morning breeze. Objects near at hand no +longer baffle our tired eyes, and the faces of my comrades of the guard +look drawn and wan in the cold light. We are huddled along a slope which +did well enough for night watching; but, as the lay of the land becomes +more distinct, we discern, four hundred yards farther out to the +southeast, a little conical mound rising from a wave of prairie parallel +to our front but shutting off all sight of objects between it and the +distant range of heights, so I move my outpost quickly to the new +position, and there we find unobstructed view. + +To our rear is the line of bluffs that marks the tortuous course of the +stream, and the timber itself is now becoming mistily visible in the +morning light. A faint wreath of fog creeps up from the stagnant water +where busy beavers have checked its flow, and from the southward not +even an Indian eye could tell that close under those bluffs seven +companies of veteran cavalry are crouching, ready for a spring. + +Turning to the front again, I bring my glasses to bear on the distant +ridge, and sweep its face in search of moving objects. Off to the right +I can mark the trail down which we came the night before, but not a soul +is stirring. At half-past four our horses, saddled and bridled, are +cropping the bunches of buffalo grass in the "swale" behind us; the four +men of the picket are lying among them, lariat in hand. Corporal +Wilkinson and I, prone upon the hill-top, are eagerly scanning the +front, when he points quickly to the now plainly lighted ridge, +exclaiming: + +"Look, lieutenant--there are Indians!" + +Another minute, and two miles away we sight another group of five or six +mounted warriors. In ten minutes we have seen half a dozen different +parties popping up into plain sight, then rapidly scurrying back out of +view. At five o'clock they have appeared all along our front for a +distance of three miles, but they do not approach nearer. Their +movements puzzle me. We do not believe they have seen us. They make no +attempt at concealment from our side, but they keep peering over ridges +towards the west, and dodging behind slopes that hide them from that +direction. + +General Merritt has been promptly notified of their appearance, and at +5.15 he and General Carr and two or three of the staff ride out under +cover of our position, and, dismounting, crawl up beside us and level +their glasses. + +"What can they be after? What are they watching?" is the question. The +Black Hills road is off there somewhere, but no travel is possible just +now, and all trains are warned back at Taylor's camp. At half-past five +the mystery is solved. Four miles away to the southwest, to our right +front, the white covers of army wagons break upon our astonished view. +It must be our indefatigable Quartermaster Hall with our train, and he +has been marching all night to reach us. He is guarded by two companies +of stalwart infantry, but they are invisible. He has stowed them away in +wagons, and is probably only afraid that the Indians won't attack him. +Wagon after wagon, the white covers come gleaming into sight far over +the rolling prairie, and by this time the ridge is swarming with +war-parties of Cheyennes. Here you are, beggarly, treacherous rascals; +for years you have eaten of our bread, lived on our bounty. You are well +fed, well cared for; you, your pappooses and ponies are fat and +independent; but you have heard of the grand revel in blood, scalps, and +trophies of your brethren, the Sioux. It is no fight of yours. You have +no grievance, but the love of rapine and warfare is the ruling passion, +and you must take a hand against the Great Father, whom your treaty +binds you to obey and honor. And now you have stuffed your wallets with +his rations, your pouches with heavy loads of his best metallic +cartridges, all too confidingly supplied you by peace-loving agents, who +(for a consideration) wouldn't suspect you of warlike designs for any +consideration. You are only a day's march from the reservation; and +here, you think, are your first rich victims--a big train going to the +Black Hills unguarded. No wonder you circle your swift ponies to the +left in eager signals to your belated brethren to come on, come on. In +half an hour you'll have five hundred here, and the fate of those +teamsters and that train is sealed. + +"Have the men had coffee?" asks General Merritt, after a leisurely +survey. "Yes, sir," is the adjutant's report. "Then let them saddle up +and close in mass under the bluffs," is the order, and General Carr goes +off to execute it. + +The little hill on which we are lying is steep, almost precipitous on +its southern slope, washed away apparently by the torrent that in the +rainy season must come tearing down the long ravine directly ahead of +us; it leads down from the distant ridge and sweeps past us to our +right, where it is crossed by the very trail on which we marched in, and +along which, three miles away, the wagon train is now approaching. The +two come together like a V, and we are at its point, while between them +juts out a long spur of hills. The trail cannot be seen from the ravine, +and _vice versa_, while we on our point see both. At the head of the +ravine, a mile and a half away, a party of thirty or forty Indians are +scurrying about in eager and excited motion. "What in thunder are those +vagabonds fooling about?" says Buffalo Bill, who has joined us with Tait +and Chips, two of his pet assistants. Even while we speculate the +answer is plain. Riding towards us, away ahead of the wagon train, two +soldiers come loping along the trail. They bring despatches to the +command, no doubt, and, knowing us to be down here in the bottom +somewhere, have started ahead to reach us. They see no Indians; for it +is only from them and the train the wily foe is concealed, and all +unsuspicious of their danger they come jauntily ahead. Now is the +valiant red man's opportunity. Come on, Brothers Swift Bear, Two Bulls, +Bloody Hand; come on, ten or a dozen of you, my braves--there are only +two of the pale-faced dogs, and they shall feel the red man's vengeance +forthwith. Come on, come on! We'll dash down this ravine, a dozen of us, +and six to one we'll slay and scalp them without danger to ourselves; +and a hundred to one we will brag about it the rest of our natural +lives. Only a mile away come our couriers; only a mile and a half up the +ravine a murderous party of Cheyennes lash their excited ponies into +eager gallop, and down they come towards us. + +"By Jove! general," says Buffalo Bill, sliding backwards down the hill, +"now's our chance. Let our party mount here out of sight, and we'll cut +those fellows off." + +"Up with you, then!" is the answer. "Stay where you are, King. Watch +them till they are close under you; then give the word. Come down, every +other man of you!" + +I am alone on the little mound. Glancing behind me, I see Cody, Tait, +and Chips, with five cavalrymen, eagerly bending forward in their +saddles, grasping carbine and rifle, every eye bent upon me in +breathless silence, watching for the signal. General Merritt and +Lieutenants Forbush and Pardee are crouching below me. Sergeant +Schreiber and Corporal Wilkinson, on all-fours, are half-way down the +northern slope. Not a horse or man of us visible to the Indians. Only my +hatless head and the double field-glass peer over the grassy mound. Half +a mile away are our couriers, now rapidly approaching. Now, my Indian +friends, what of you? Oh, what a stirring picture you make as once more +I fix my glasses on you! Here, nearly four years after, my pulses bound +as I recall the sight. Savage warfare was never more beautiful than in +you. On you come, your swift, agile ponies springing down the winding +ravine, the rising sun gleaming on your trailing war bonnets, on silver +armlets, necklace, gorget; on brilliant painted shield and beaded +legging; on naked body and beardless face, stained most vivid vermilion. +On you come, lance and rifle, pennon and feather glistening in the rare +morning light, swaying in the wild grace of your peerless horsemanship; +nearer, till I mark the very ornament on your leader's shield. And on, +too, all unsuspecting, come your helpless prey. I hold vengeance in my +hand, but not yet to let it go. Five seconds too soon, and you can wheel +about and escape us; one second too late, and my blue-coated couriers +are dead men. On you come, savage, hungry-eyed, merciless. Two miles +behind you are your scores of friends, eagerly, applaudingly watching +your exploit. But five hundred yards ahead of you, coolly, vengefully +awaiting you are your unseen foes, beating you at your own game, and you +are running slap into them. Nearer and nearer--your leader, a +gorgeous-looking fellow, on a bounding gray, signals "Close and follow." +Three hundred yards more, my buck, and (you fancy) your gleaming knives +will tear the scalps of our couriers. Twenty seconds, and you will dash +round that point with your war-whoop ringing in their ears. Ha! Lances, +is it? You don't want your shots heard back at the train. What will you +think of ours? "All ready, general?" + +"All ready, King. Give the word when you like." + +Not a man but myself knows how near they are. Two hundred yards now, and +I can hear the panting of their wiry steeds. A hundred and fifty! That's +right--close in, you beggars! Ten seconds more and you are on them! A +hundred and twenty-five yards--a hundred--ninety-- + +"_Now_, lads, in with you!" + +Crash go the hoofs! There's a rush, a wild, ringing cheer; then bang, +bang, bang! and in a cloud of dust Cody and his men tumble in among +them. General Merritt springs up to my side, Corporal Wilkinson to his. +Cool as a cucumber, the Indian leader reins in his pony in sweeping +circle to the left, ducks on his neck as Wilkinson's bullet whistles by +his head; then _under_ his pony, and his return shot "zips" close by the +general's cheek. Then comes the cry, "Look to the front; look, look!" +and, swarming down the ridge as far as we can see, come dozens of +Indian warriors at top speed to the rescue. "Send up the first company!" +is Merritt's order as he springs into saddle, and, followed by his +adjutant, rides off to the left and front. I jump for my horse, and the +vagabond, excited by the shots and rush around us, plunges at his lariat +and breaks to the left. As I catch him, I see Buffalo Bill closing on a +superbly accoutred warrior. It is the work of a minute; the Indian has +fired and missed. Cody's bullet tears through the rider's leg, into his +pony's heart, and they tumble in confused heap on the prairie. The +Cheyenne struggles to his feet for another shot, but Cody's second +bullet crashes through his brain, and the young chief, Yellow Hand, +drops lifeless in his tracks. + +Here comes my company, "K," trotting up from the bluffs, Colonel Mason +at their head, and I take my place in front of my platoon, as, sweeping +over the ridge, the field lies before us. Directly in front, a mile +away, the redskins are rushing down to join their comrades; and their +triumphant yells change to cries of warning as Company "K's" blue line +shoots up over the divide. + +"Drive them, Mason, but look out for the main ridge," is the only order +we hear; and, without a word, shout, or shot, "K" goes squarely at the +foe. They fire wildly, wheeling about and backing off towards the hills; +but our men waste no shot, and we speed up the slope, spreading out +unconsciously in open order to right and left. Their bullets whistle +harmlessly over our heads, and some of our young men are eagerly +looking for permission to begin. Now the pursued have opened fire from +both our flanks, for we have spread them open in our rush; and, glancing +over my shoulder, it is glorious to see Montgomery's beautiful grays +sweeping to our right and rear, while Kellogg's men are coming "front +into line" at the gallop on our left. We gain the crest only to find the +Indians scattering like chaff before us, utterly confounded at their +unexpected encounter. Then comes the pursuit--a lively gallop over +rolling prairie, the Indians dropping blankets, rations, everything +weighty they could spare except their guns and ammunition. Right and +left, far and near, they scatter into small bands, and go tearing +homeward. Once within the limits of the reservation they are safe, and +we strain every nerve to catch them; but when the sun is high in the +heavens and noon has come, the Cheyennes are back under the sheltering +wing of the Indian Bureau, and not one of them can we lay hands on. + +Baffled and astounded, for once in a lifetime beaten at their own game, +their project of joining Sitting Bull nipped in the bud, they mourn the +loss of three of their best braves slain in sudden attack, and of all +their provender and supplies lost in hurried flight. Weary enough we +reach the agency building at seven that evening, disappointed at having +bagged no greater game; but our chief is satisfied. Buffalo Bill is +radiant; his are the honors of the day; and the Fifth generally goes to +sleep on the ground, well content with the affair on the War Bonnet. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + THE MARCH TO THE BIG HORN. + + +Chasing the Cheyennes from the War Bonnet and Indian Creek to the +reservation, our seven companies had struck cross country, and until we +neared the high bluffs and ridges to the north of the agency, it was not +difficult for the wagons to follow us; but it was generally predicted +that Lieutenant Hall would never be able to get his train over the +ravines and "breaks" which he would encounter on the 18th, and the +command was congratulating itself on the prospect of a day's rest at Red +Cloud, when at noon, to our utter astonishment, the wagons hove in +sight. We had fasted since our four-o'clock breakfast on the previous +morning--were hungrily eying the Indian supplies in their plethoric +storehouses, and were just about negotiating with the infantry men of +Camp Robinson for the loan of rations and the wherewithal to cook the +same, when Hall rode in, _nonchalant_ as usual, and parked his train of +supplies amid shouts of welcome. General Merritt was unfeignedly glad to +see his quartermaster; he had received his orders to hasten in to Fort +Laramie and proceed to the reinforcement of General Crook, and every +moment was precious. We were allowed just two hours to prepare and +partake of an ample dinner, pack our traps and store them in the wagons +again, when "Boots and saddles" was echoed back from the white crags of +Dancer's Hill and Crow Butte, and at 2.30 we were winding up the +beautiful valley of the White River. Lieutenant Hall was left with his +train to give his teams and teamsters a needed rest, and ordered to +follow us at early evening. + +All the morning the reservation Indians had come in flocks to have a +look at the soldiers who had outwitted them on the previous day. +Arrapahoe and Ogalalla, Minneconjou and Uncapapa, represented by dozens +of old chiefs and groups of curious and laughing squaws, hung about us +for hours--occasionally asking questions and invariably professing a +readiness to accept any trifle we might feel disposed to part with. To +beg is the one thing of which an Indian is never ashamed. In Arizona I +have known a lot of Apaches to hang around camp for an entire day, and +when they had coaxed us out of our last plug of tobacco, our only +remaining match, and our old clothes, instead of going home satisfied +they would turn to with reviving energy and beg for the things of all +others for which they had not the faintest use--soap and writing-paper. + +In addition to all the "squaw men" and "blanket Indians" at the +reservation, there came to see us that day quite a number of Cheyennes, +our antagonists of the day before. Shrouded in their dark-blue blankets +and washed clean of their lurid war-paint, they were by no means +imposing. One and all they wanted to see Buffalo Bill, and wherever he +moved they followed him with awe-filled eyes. He wore the same dress in +which he had burst upon them in yesterday's fight, a Mexican costume of +black velvet, slashed with scarlet and trimmed with silver buttons and +lace--one of his theatrical garbs, in which he had done much execution +before the footlights in the States, and which now became of intensified +value. Bill had carefully preserved the beautiful war bonnet, shield and +decorations, as well as the arms of the young chieftain Yellow Hand, +whom he had slain in single combat, and that winter ('76 and '77) was +probably the most profitable of his theatrical career. The incidents of +the fight of the 17th and the death of Yellow Hand were dramatized for +him, and presented one of the most telling of the plays in which he +starred all over the East that season. He realized above all expenses +some $13,000 on that one alone, and I fancy that some of your readers +may have seen it. For a time it was his custom to display the trophies +of that fight in some prominent show-window during the day, and take +them away only in time for the performance at night. As an advertisement +it drew largely in the West, but when Bill reached the refinements of +the Middle States and the culture of New England he encountered a storm +of abuse from the press and the clergy which, while it induced him to +withdraw "the blood-stained trophies of his murderous and cowardly +deeds" from the show-windows, so stimulated public curiosity as to +materially augment his receipts. + +It is in New England, the land of the Pequots and the Iroquois, that +the most violent partisans of the peace policy are to be found to-day. +There is method in their cultured mania, for the farther removed the +citizen finds himself from the Indian the better he likes him. Year +after year, with the westward march of civilization, the Indian has +found himself, in the poetic and allegorical language ascribed to him by +Cooper and others who never heard him use it, "thrust farther towards +the fiery bosom of the setting sun." Each state in turn has elbowed him +on towards the Mississippi, and by the time the struggling aborigine was +at the safe distance of two or three states away, was virtuously ready +to preach fierce denunciation of the people who simply did as it had +done. It is comical to-day to hear Mr. Conger, of Michigan, assailing +Mr. Belford, of Colorado, because the latter considers it time for the +Utes to move or become amenable to the laws of the land; and when we +look back and remember how the whole movement was inaugurated by the +Pilgrim Fathers, is it not edifying to read the Bostonian tirades +against the settlers--the pilgrims and pioneers of the Far West? + +Our march to Laramie was without noteworthy incident. We reached the +North Platte on Friday afternoon, July 21, spent Saturday in busy +preparation, and early Sunday morning, six o'clock, the trumpets were +sounding "the General," the universal army signal to strike your tent +and march away. The white canvas was folded into the wagons, and in a +few moments more the column of horse was moving off on the +long-anticipated march to join General Crook. Captain Egan and +Lieutenant Allison of the Second Cavalry rode out from Laramie to wish +us godspeed. By eight the sun was scorching our backs and great clouds +of dust were rising under our horses' feet, and Laramie was left behind. +Many and many a weary march, many a week of privation and suffering, +many a stirring scene were we to encounter before once again the +hospitable old frontier fort would open its gates to receive us. At +half-past two we camped along the Platte at Bull Bend, and had a +refreshing bath in its rapid waters; at four a violent storm of wind and +rain bore down upon us, and beat upon our canvas during the night, but +morning broke all the better for marching. A cold drizzle is far +preferable to thick dust. We sped along briskly to the "La Bonté," and +from there hastened on to Fetterman, where the main command arrived at +noon on the 25th, the wagons and rear guard, of which I was in charge, +coming in two hours later, fording the Platte at once, and moving into +camp some distance up stream. + + [Illustration: FORT FETTERMAN.] + +Fetterman was crowded with wagon trains, new horses, recruits, and +officers, all waiting to go forward to General Crook, north of the Big +Horn, and with the eight companies of the Fifth Cavalry as a nucleus, +General Merritt organized the array of "unattached" into a disciplined +force, brought chaos into prompt subjection, and at eight a.m. on the +26th started the whole mass on its northward march. Among those to meet +us here were our old Arizona comrades, Lieutenants Rodgers and Eaton, +who had hurried from detached service to catch us, and there were some +comical features in the reunion. They had escaped from Eastern cities +but the week previous, had made the journey by rail to Cheyenne and +Medicine Bow, and by stage or ambulance to Fetterman, were fresh and +trim and neat as though stepping out for parade. We had been marching +and scouting for six weeks through scorching dust and alkali, and with +untrimmed beards and begrimed attire were unrecognizable. Rodgers +positively refused to believe in the identity of a comrade whom he had +met at a german at Fort Hays, but forgot his scruples when he received +through that same officer the notification that he was promoted to the +command of Company "A," its captain having suddenly concluded to resign +a short time before. + +Here, too, the future medical director of the expedition, Dr. Clements, +made his appearance, and joined for the campaign, and two officers of +the Fourth Infantry, whose companies were not included in General +Crook's field force, obtained authority to serve with the Fifth Cavalry. +And among those who cast their lot with us as volunteers, there came a +gallant sailor, a lieutenant of our navy, who, having leave of absence +from his department after long sea service, came out to spend a portion +thereof in hunting on the Plains, just as his cousin, Lieutenant +Rodgers, was hastening to join his regiment; and Jack Tar became a +cavalry man, to serve for three months or the war, and it wasn't a week +before Mr. Hunter had won the regard of every officer and man in the +Fifth, and the brevet of "Commodore," by which title he was universally +hailed throughout the long and dreary campaign that followed. + +Two more companies of ours, "E" and "F," had been ordered to join us +also, but we were in a hurry, and they followed by forced marches. On +the night of the 28th we were encamped in pitchy darkness in a narrow +valley at the head-waters of the North Fork of the Mina Pusa. I was +aroused from sleep by the voice of Lieutenant Pardee, who was serving as +an aide-de-camp to General Merritt, and, rolling out of my blankets, +found the general and himself at our tent. They asked if we had heard +the distant sound of cavalry trumpets. The general thought he had, and +we all went out beyond the post of the sentinels upon the open prairie +to listen. It was time for Captains Price and Payne to reach us with +their companies, and the general thought that in the thick darkness they +had lost the trail and were signalling in hopes of a reply, and so we +pricked up our ears. The silence was as dense as the darkness; no sound +came from the slumbering camp; no light from the smouldering fire; +suddenly there floated through the night air, soft and clear, the faint +notes of the cavalry trumpet sounding "Officer's Call;" another minute +and it was answered by our chief trumpeter, and, guided by the calls, in +half an hour our comrades had joined us, and ten companies of the Fifth +Cavalry were camped together for the first time in years. + +From that night "Officer's Call" grew to be the conventional signal by +which we of the Fifth were wont to herald our coming through the +darkness or distance to comrades who might be awaiting us. Last +September, when the Utes made their attack on Major Thornburgh's +command, your readers will doubtless remember that after that gallant +soldier's death the command of the besieged battalion devolved upon +Captain Payne, of the Fifth Cavalry. He and his company, who were the +first to employ the signal, have best reason to remember its subsequent +value, and I cannot do better than to repeat in his own words, my +classmate's description of the arrival of General Merritt and the +regiment after their famous dash of two hundred miles to the rescue. Of +his little battalion of three companies, fifty were lying wounded in the +hurriedly constructed rifle-pits, he and his surgeon were of the number, +and for six days the Indians had poured in a pitiless fire whenever hand +or head became visible. Hoping for the speedy coming of his colonel, +Payne tells us: "While lying in the trenches on the night of the 4th of +October, this incident came to mind. Believing it _just_ possible for +General Merritt to reach us next morning, and knowing that, if possible, +come he would, I directed one of my trumpeters to be on the alert for +the expected signal. And so it was; just as the first gray of the dawn +appeared, our listening ears caught the sound of "Officer's Call" +breaking the silence of the morning, and filling the valley with the +sweetest music we had ever heard. Joyously the reply rang out from our +corral, and the men rushing from the rifle-pits made the welkin ring +with their glad cheers." + +First at the head-waters of the Mina Pusa, in July, '76; last in the +valley of the Milk River. Next? Far out in the cañons of Colorado, +utterly isolated from the world, snowed in, living we don't know how, +four companies of the Fifth Cavalry are waiting at the ruins of the +White River Agency the result of all this negotiation in Washington. +Merritt with the other companies, six in number, is wintering at Fort +Russell, on the line of the Union Pacific. More than probable is it that +the earliest spring will find him a second time making that +two-hundred-mile march to the Milk River, and once again the Rockies +will echo the stirring strains of "Officer's Call." + +Saturday, the 29th of July, '76, broke like a morning in mid-Sahara. We +marched in glaring sun, through miles of dust, sage-brush, and alkali, +and followed it up on Sunday, the 30th, with just such another; no +shade, no grass, no water fit to swallow. We bivouacked along the Powder +River, a curdling stream the color of dirty chalk, and we gazed with +wistful, burning eyes at the grand peaks of the Big Horn, mantled with +glistening snow, only fifty miles away. Monday was another day of heat, +glare, and dust, with that tantalizing glory of ice and snow twenty +miles nearer. That night the wind started in from the west, and blew +down from those very peaks, fanning our fevered cheeks like blessed +wavelets from heaven, as indeed they were. We were gasping for air on +the banks of Crazy Woman's Fork, and would have suffocated but for that +glad relief. + +Early next morning Merritt led us on again, marching through a rolling +country that became more and more varied and interesting with every +mile; we were edging in closer to the foot-hills of the mountains. +Several small herds of buffalo were sighted, and some few officers and +men were allowed to go with Cody in chase. At one p.m. we halted on +Clear Fork, a beautiful running stream deserving of its name, fresh from +the snow peaks on our left; had lunch and rested until five, when once +more we saddled up and pushed ahead; came suddenly upon Lake De Smet, +wild and picturesque, lying like a mirror in a deep basin of treeless +banks, and in a beautiful open glade, rich with abundant green grass and +watered by a clear, cold rivulet, we camped in the glorious starlight, +thanking Heaven we were out of the desert, and at last along the storied +range of the Big Horn. + +Wednesday, August 2d, dawned bracing, clear, and beautiful. The glorious +sunshine beamed on lofty crags and pine-covered heights close at our +left hand, peered into dark ravine and rocky gorge, sparkled on the +swift-flowing stream, and on innumerable dew-drops over the glade. Men +and horses awoke to new life. A few miles ahead lay a lofty ridge, and +from that, said our guides, the valleys of the Tongue and its branches, +and the grand sweep of country towards the Rosebud on the north, and the +Big Horn River to the northwest, would be spread before us like a map. +Over that ridge, somewhere, lies Crook with his force, expectant of our +coming; over that ridge, beyond him, are or were ten thousand renegades +and hostile Indians, Sioux, and San Arcs, Cheyennes of the North (it was +the Southern Cheyennes we whipped back on the War Bonnet), +Minneconjous, Uncapapas (Sitting Bull's Own), Yanktonnais, and Brulés, +all banded together in one grand attempt to exterminate the white +intruders. + +How I envied the advance that day the first glimpse over that divide! +But each company took its turn at head of column; and now that we were +fairly in among the fastnesses, where attack might be expected at any +moment, two companies were daily detailed to escort and guard the wagon +train, and Companies "A" and "K" were the unfortunates to-day. It was +mean duty. The road was not bad, but it wound up and down, over crests +and through deep ravines. We had to dismount and lend a helping hand +half the time. At seven we passed the palisaded ruins of old Fort Phil +Kearney, abandoned by "Peace Commission" order in '68; and just beyond +we halted and silently surveyed the ridge on which Captains Fetterman +and Brown, Lieutenant Grummond, and three companies of soldiers were +slowly slaughtered by Red Cloud and his surrounding thousands in +December, '66. We fancied the poor women and children in the fort, +listening and looking on in dumb, helpless horror; and then we thought +of Custer and his comrades lying yet unburied only a few miles farther +across that uplifted barrier in our front, and then we hurried on, +eagerly praying that it might be our fortune to avenge some of those +sacrificed lives; toiled up the long, long ascent, reached the lofty +crest, and halted again in sheer amaze. The whole landscape to the north +was black with smoke. East, as far as the Cheetish (Wolf) Mountains; +west, as far as the Little Horn, from every valley great masses of +surging, billowy clouds rolled up to swell the pall that overspread the +northern sky and hung low upon the dividing ridges towards the +Yellowstone. Here and there forked flames shot up through the heated +veil, and even at our distance we could almost hear their roar and +crackle. "Lo" had set the country afire to baffle his pursuers, and, +knowing of the coming of Crook's reinforcements, was now, in all +probability, scattering over the continent. + +At eleven we passed an abandoned outpost of earthworks--thrown up, +probably, by a detached company guarding the road. At two we overtook +Merritt and the eight companies resting along a cool, limpid stream that +gave promise of trout; and here we camped for the night, and listened +eagerly to the news brought us by courier from General Crook. Scouts +were out hunting for the Indians, who had withdrawn their masses from +his immediate front, and he was only waiting our coming to launch out in +pursuit. We sleep that night restless and impatient of the +delay--morning comes all too slowly--but at four o'clock we are astir +and on the move to meet our brigadier, but couriers report him coming +down towards us along the main valley of the Tongue. We unsaddle and +wait till three in the afternoon, when again "the General" sounds, and +we march northwardly over the ridges towards the thick smoke. "Crook is +camping on Goose Creek," is the explanation, and we are to join him +there. At half-past five we catch glimpses of distant patrols and herds +of cavalry horses and quartermasters' mules on the sloping side-hills. +Presently horsemen come cantering out to meet us. Gray-haired, handsome, +soldierly as ever, the first to hail us is our old Arizona major, now +Lieutenant-Colonel Royall, of the Third Cavalry--with him a group of his +own and the Second Cavalry officers. But we are still moved onward. We +descend a long spur of foot-hill; plunge through a rapid mountain +torrent into dense timber on the other side, still guided by our +welcoming comrades; ride with dripping flanks through willow and +cottonwood into brilliant light beyond. There white tent and +wagon-covers gleam in every direction; rough, bearded men are shouting +greeting; and just ahead, on the trail, in worn shooting-jacket, slouch +felt hat, and soldier's boots, with ragged beard braided and tied with +tape, with twinkling eyes and half-shy, embarrassed manner, stands our +old Arizona friend and chieftain, the hardworking soldier we have come +all these many miles to join, looking as natural as when we last saw him +in the spurs of the Sierras. There is no mistaking the gladness of his +welcome. His face lights up with new light. He has a cordial word with +General Carr, who commands the leading battalion; then turns to me, and +with a grasp of the hand that fairly makes me wince, gives greeting for +which I'd make that march twice over. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + THE ASSEMBLY OF THE B. H. AND Y. + + +Friday, the 4th of August, 1876, was a busy day in the camp of General +Crook. He had been waiting impatiently for the coming of the Fifth +Cavalry, in order that he might resume the offensive, and, to use his +own words, "finish the campaign in one crushing blow." The tragic +success of the Indians on the Little Big Horn, of June 25th, resulting +in the annihilation of Custer and five companies of the Seventh Cavalry, +compelled General Terry to fall back to the Yellowstone, where he set +about the reorganization of his command; and, safely intrenched in his +supply camp at the mouth of the Tongue River, he too had been awaiting +the arrival of reinforcements. General Miles, with his fine regiment, +the Fifth Infantry, was hurried up the Missouri from Fort Leavenworth, +and companies of the Twenty-second Infantry, from the Lakes, also +hastened to join him. They were stemming the muddy current of the great +river as fast as the light-draft steamers could carry them, while we +were marching up from Fetterman to join General Crook. + +On the 4th of August, Terry's command, consisting of the remnant of the +Seventh Cavalry, one battalion of the Second Cavalry, the Fifth +Infantry (Miles), Seventh Infantry (Gibbon), a battalion of the +Twenty-second, and the Sixth Infantry garrison at Fort Buford, +threatened the hostiles on the side of the Yellowstone; while General +Crook, with the entire Third Cavalry, ten companies of the Fifth, and +four of the Second Cavalry, and an admirable infantry command, +consisting of detachments from the Fourth, Ninth, and Fourteenth +regiments, was preparing to advance upon them from the south. The two +armies were not more than one hundred and twenty-five miles apart, yet +communication between them was impossible. The intervening country +swarmed with warriors, six to eight thousand in number, completely +armed, equipped, supplied, and perfectly mounted. Crook had sallied +forth and fought them on the 17th of June, and found them altogether too +strong and dexterous, so he retired to Goose Creek once more; and here +he lay on the 25th of June, when Custer was making his attack and +meeting his fate--only fifty miles away, and not a soul of our command +had the faintest idea of what was going on. + +Warily watching the two commands, the Indians lay uneasily between Crook +and Terry. Noting the approach of strong reinforcements to both, they +proceeded to get their women and children out of the way, sending them +eastward across Terry's front, and preparing to do likewise themselves +when the time came for them to start. On the 5th of August the two +armies moved towards each other. On the 10th they met; and one of the +most comical sights I ever witnessed was this meeting, and one of the +most unanswerable questions ever asked was, "Why, where on earth are the +Indians?" + + [Illustration: SUPPLY CAMP, HEAD OF TONGUE RIVER.] + +However, August the 4th was a day of busy preparation. At ten a.m. the +regimental and battalion commanders met in council at General Crook's +headquarters, and by noon the result of their deliberations was +promulgated. From the reports of his scouts and allies, General Crook +had every reason to believe that he would find the mass of Indians +posted in strong force somewhere among the bluffs and uplands of the +Rosebud, two days' march away to the north. He had been unable to hear +from General Terry or to communicate with him. Lieutenant Sibley, of the +Second Cavalry, a young officer of great ability, and universally +conceded to be as full of cool courage as any man could well be, had +made a daring attempt to slip through with thirty picked men; but the +Indians detected him quick as a flash, and after a desperate fight he +managed to get back to the command with most of his men, but with the +loss of all his horses. + +The organization of the command was announced at one p.m.: General Crook +to command in person, his faithful aide-de-camp, Bourke, to act as +adjutant-general, while his staff consisted of Lieutenant Schuyler, +Fifth Cavalry, junior aide-de-camp; Dr. B. A. Clements, medical +director, assisted by Drs. Hartsuff and Patzki; Major J. V. Furey, chief +quartermaster; Captain J. W. Bubb, chief commissary; Major George M. +Randall, chief of scouts and Indian allies; and the bloodthirsty +paymaster, our old friend Major Stanton, was the general utility man. + +The cavalry was organized as a brigade, with General Merritt in +command--Lieutenants Forbush and Hall, Fifth Cavalry, Pardee and Young, +of the infantry, serving as staff. General Carr took command of the +Fifth Cavalry, with myself as adjutant; and for the first time the +promotions which had occurred in the regiment consequent upon the death +of General Custer were recognized in the assignments to command. The +commissions had not yet been received from Washington, but all knew the +advancement had been made. So my old captain, now become Major Mason, +turned over Company "K" to its new captain, Woodson, and was detailed to +command the Second Battalion of the Fifth Cavalry, consisting of +Companies "B," "D," "E," "F," and "K," while the First Battalion-- +Companies "A," "C," "G," "I," and "M"--remained, as heretofore, +under the leadership of our fellow-citizen Major Upham. + +The Third Cavalry was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Royall, under whom +also was the battalion of the Second Cavalry. Consequently, it was his +distinguished privilege to issue orders to four battalions, while his +senior officer and quondam commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Carr (brevet +major-general) had only two. This was a source of much good-natured +raillery and mutual chaffing on the part of these two veteran +campaigners, and it was Royall's ceaseless delight to come over and talk +to Carr about "my brigade," and to patronizingly question him about +"your a--detachment." In fact, I believe that Colonel Royall so far +considered his command a brigade organization that his senior major, +Colonel Evans, assumed command of the Third Cavalry as well as his own +battalion; but, as this was a matter outside of my own sphere of duties, +I cannot make an assertion. + +The infantry was a command to be proud of, and Lieutenant-Colonel +Alexander Chambers was the man to appreciate it. Detachments from three +fine regiments gave him a full battalion of tough, wiry fellows, who had +footed it a thousand miles that summer, and we were all the better +prepared to march two thousand more. + +With every expectation of finding our foes close at hand, General +Crook's orders were concise enough. As given to me by General Carr, and +recorded in my note-book, I transcribe them here: "All tents, camp +equipage, bedding, and baggage, except articles hereinafter specified, +to be stored in the wagons, and wagons turned over to care of chief +quartermaster by sunrise to-morrow. Each company to have their coffee +roasted and ground and turned over to the chief commissary at sunset +to-night. Wagons will be left here at camp. A pack-train of mules will +accompany each battalion on the march, for the protection of which the +battalion will be held responsible. The regiment will march at seven +a.m. to-morrow, 'prepared for action,' and company commanders will see +to it that each man carries with him on his person one hundred rounds +carbine ammunition and four days' rations, overcoat and one blanket on +the saddle. Fifty rounds additional per man will be packed on mules. +Four extra horses, not to be packed, will be led with each company. +Curry-combs and brushes will be left in wagons. _Special instructions +for action_: All officers and non-commissioned officers to take constant +pains to prevent wastage of ammunition." + +That was all. From the general down to subalterns the officers started +with no more clothing than they had on and the overcoat and blanket +indicated in that order. Many, indeed, officers and men, thinking to be +back in a week, left overcoats behind, as superfluous in that bright +August weather. When I tell you it was ten weeks before we saw those +wagons again, meantime the weather having changed from summer sun to +mountain storm and sleet, and we having tramped some eight hundred +miles, you can fancy what a stylish appearance the Fifth +Cavalry--indeed, the whole expedition--presented as it marched into the +Black Hills the following September. + +Saturday morning, the 5th of August, broke clear and cloudless, and at +the very peep of day the hillsides re-echoed to the stirring music of +our reveille. Cavalry trumpet, soft and mellow, replied to the deeper +tone of the infantry bugle. We of the Fifth tumbled up in prompt and +cheery response to the summons. Roll-call was quickly over. The horses +took their final grooming with coltish impatience, and devoured their +grain in blissful ignorance of the sufferings in store for them. The +officers gathered for the last time in two months around their +mess-chests and thankfully partook of a bountiful breakfast. Then "the +General" rang out from cavalry headquarters; down fell the snowy canvas +in every direction; wagon after wagon loaded up in the rapid style +acquired only in long campaigning, and trundled off to join the +quartermaster's corral. The long column of infantry crawled away +northward over the divide; half a dozen mounted scouts and rangers +cantered away upon their flanks; the busy packers drove up their herds +of braying mules, lashed boxes of hard-tack and sacks of bacon upon the +snugly-fitting "apparejo"--the only pack-saddle that ever proved a +complete success--and finally everything was ready for the start. The +bustling town of yesterday had disappeared, and only long rows of +saddles and bridles disposed upon the turf in front of each company +indicated the regimental position. + +At General Carr's headquarters, among the willows close to the stream, a +white flag, with a centre square of red, is fluttering in the breeze. It +is one of the signal flags, but as the regimental standard had been left +with the band at Fort Hays, the general adopted this for the double +purpose of indicating his own position and of conveying messages to the +distant outposts. Yesterday afternoon a group of our Indian allies, +Crows and Shoshones, surrounded that flag with wondering interest from +the moment of its first appearance. Accustomed to the use of signals +themselves, they eagerly watch any improvement upon their system, and, +learning from Sergeant Center, our standard-bearer and signal sergeant, +that this was a "speaking flag," they hung around for hours to observe +its operation. The herds of the different companies were browsing on the +hillsides half a mile away, strong pickets being thrown out in their +front, and each herd guarded by a sergeant and party from its own +company. So General Carr, to give the Indians an idea of its use and at +the same time secure more room, directed the sergeant to "Flag those +Second Battalion herds to the other side of that ravine." So Center +signalled "Attention" to the outposts, to which they waved "22, 22, 22, +3," the signal for "All right, go ahead, we're ready," and then, with +the staring eyes of a score of swarthy warriors following his every +move, Center rapidly swung his flag to form the message: "General Carr +directs herds Second Battalion cross ravine." Speedily the grays of +Company "B" and the four bay herds of the other companies began the +movement, were slowly guided through the sorrels, blacks, and bays of +the First Battalion, and commenced the descent into the ravine. One herd +lagged a little behind, and the general, gazing at them through his +binocular, quickly divined the cause. "Confound that herd guard; tell +'em to take off those side-lines when they're moving, if it's only a +hundred yards." The message is sent as given, the side-lines whipped +off, the horses step freely to their new grazing-ground, Crow and +Shoshonee mutter guttural approbation and say that flag is "heap good +medicine." + +Hours afterwards they are hunting about camp for old flour-sacks and the +like, and several towels, spread on the bushes at the bathing-place +below camp to dry in the sun, are missing. + +Now, on this brilliant Saturday morning, as we wait expectant of the +signal "Boots and saddles," the cavalcade of our fierce allies comes +spattering and plunging through the stream. Grim old chieftains, with +knees hunched up on their ponies' withers, strapping young bucks +bedaubed in yellow paint and red, blanketted and busy squaws scurrying +around herding the spare ponies, driving the pack animals, "toting" the +young, doing all the work in fact. We have hired these hereditary +enemies of the Sioux as our savage auxiliaries, "regardless of expense," +and now, as they ride along the line, and our irrepressible Mulligans +and Flahertys swarm to the fore intent on losing no opportunity for fun +and chaff, and the "big Indians" in the lead come grinning and nodding +salutations towards the group of officers at headquarters, a general +laugh breaks out, for nearly every warrior has decorated himself with a +miniature signal flag. Fluttering at the end of his "coup" stick or +stuck in his headgear, a small square of white towelling or flour-sack, +with a centre daub of red paint, is displayed to the breeze, and, under +his new ensign, Mr. Lo rides complacently along, convinced that he has +entered upon his campaign with "good medicine." + +Half-past six. Still no signal to bring in the herds. But Merritt, Carr, +and Royall are born and bred cavalrymen, and well know the value of +every mouthful of the rich dew-laden grass before the march begins. We +are exchanging good-byes with the quartermasters and the unhappy +creatures who are to remain behind, adding our closing messages to the +letters we leave for dear ones in distant homes, when the cheery notes +ring out from brigade headquarters and are taken up, repeated along the +line by the regimental trumpeters. Far out on the slopes our horses +answer with eager hoof and neigh; with springy steps the men hasten out +to bridle their steeds, and, vaulting on their backs, ride in by +companies to the line. The bustle of saddling, the snap of buckle and +whip of cinch, succeeds, then "Lead into line" is heard from the +sergeant's lips. Officers ride slowly along their commands, carefully +scrutinizing each horse and man. Blanket, poncho, overcoat, side-line, +lariat, and picket-pin, canteen and haversack, each has its appropriate +place and must be in no other. Each trooper in turn displays his +"thimble belt" and extra pocket package, to show that he has the +prescribed one hundred rounds. The adjutant, riding along the line, +receives the report of each captain and transfers it to his note-book. +Away down the valley we see the Second and Third already in motion, +filing off around the bluffs. Then General Carr's chief trumpeter raises +his clarion to his lips. "Mount," rings out upon the air, and with the +sound twenty officers and five hundred and fifteen men swing into +saddle. Ten minutes more and we are winding across the divide towards +Prairie Dog Creek on the east. The Third and Second, a mile to our left, +are marching northeastward on the trail of the infantry. We fill our +lungs with deep draughts of the rare, bracing mountain breeze, take a +last glance at the grand crags and buttresses of rock to the southward, +then with faces eagerly set towards the rolling smoke-wreaths that mark +the track of the savage foe in the valley of the "Deje Agie," we close +our columns, shake free our bridle reins, and press steadily forward. +"Our wild campaign has begun." + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + THE MEET ON THE ROSEBUD. + + +That General Crook's command, now designated as the "Big Horn and +Yellowstone Expedition," started upon its campaign in the best +possible spirits and under favoring skies, no one who saw us that +bright August morning could have doubted. Unhappily, there was no one +to see, no one to cheer or applaud, and, once having cut loose from +our wagons and their guards, there was not a soul to mark our +progress, unless it were some lurking scout in distant lair, who +trusted to his intimate knowledge of the country and to his pony's +fleetness to keep himself out of our clutches. Once fairly in the +valley of the Prairie Dog, we had a good look at our array. The Fifth +Cavalry in long column were bringing up the rear on this our first +day's march from Goose Creek; our packers and their lively little +mules jogging briskly along upon our right flank, while the space +between us and the rolling foot-hills on the left was thickly covered +with our Crow allies. The Shoshones were ahead somewhere, and we +proceeded to scrape acquaintance with these wild warriors of the far +northwest, whom we were now meeting for the first time. Organized in +1855, our regiment had seen its first Indian service on the broad +plains of Texas, and was thoroughly well known among the Comanches, +Kiowas, and Lipans when the great war of the rebellion broke out. +In those days, with Sidney Johnston, Robert E. Lee, Earl Van Dorn, +Kirby Smith, Fitz Hugh Lee, and a dozen others who became notorious +in the rebel army as its representative officers, our regiment had +been not inaptly styled "Jeff. Davis's Own." But it outgrew the +baleful title during the war, and has lost almost every trace of its +ante-bellum _personnel_. Two of its most distinguished captains of +to-day--Montgomery and "Jack" Hayes--it is true acquired their earliest +military experience in its ranks under those very officers. But, while +they are all the better as cavalrymen for that fact, they are none the +less determined in their loyalty, and both fought in many a wild charge +during the rebellion, defending their flag against the very men who had +taught them the use of their sabres. In that stern baptism of blood the +Fifth became regenerate, and after stirring service in the Army of the +Potomac during the war, and throughout the South during reconstruction +days, the regiment once more drifted out on the plains, was introduced +to the Cheyennes and Sioux in the winter of 1868-9, became very much at +home among the Apaches of Arizona from 1871 to 1875, and now we found +ourselves, after a long march across country from the Pacific slope, +scraping acquaintance with the redoubtable "Crows" of the Yellowstone +valley, the life-long enemies of the Sioux. + +Riding "at ease," the men talk, laugh, and sing if they want to. All +that is required is that they shall not lounge in the saddle, and that +they keep accurately their distance, and ride at a steady walk. The +Crows are scattered along the entire length of our left flank, but a +band of some fifteen or twenty chiefs and headmen keep alongside the +headquarters party at the front of column. There rides General Carr with +his adjutant, the surgeon, the non-commissioned staff, and orderlies, +and, of course, the standard-bearer, who, as previously explained, has a +signal flag for this campaign, and it is this which attracts the +aborigine. + +These Crows are fine-looking warriors, and fine horsemen too; but to see +them riding along at ease, their ponies apparently gliding over the +ground in their quick, cat-like walk, their position in the saddle seems +neither graceful nor secure. This knot on our left is full of the most +favorable specimens, and they all ride alike. Every man's blanket is so +disposed that it covers him from the back of his head, folds across his +breast, leaving the arms free play in a manner only an Indian can +accomplish, and then is tucked in about his thighs and knees so as to +give him complete protection. One or two younger bucks have discarded +their blankets for the day, and ride about in dingy calico shirts or old +cavalry jackets. One or two also appear in cavalry trousers instead of +the native breech-clout and legging. But the moment that Indian +dismounts you notice two points in which he is diametrically opposed to +the customs of his white brother: first, that he mounts and dismounts on +the right (off) side of his horse; second, that he carefully cuts out +and throws away that portion of a pair of trousers which with us is +regarded as indispensable. He rides hunched up in his saddle, with a +stirrup so short that his knees are way out to the front and bent in an +acute angle. The stirrup itself is something like the shoe of a lady's +side-saddle, and he thrusts his moccasined foot in full length. He +carries in his right hand a wooden handle a foot long, to which three or +four thongs of deerskin are attached, and with this scourge-like +implement he keeps up an incessant shower of light flaps upon his pony's +flank, rarely striking him heavily, and nothing will convince him that +under that system the pony will not cover more miles in a day at a walk +or lope than any horse in America. His horse equipments are of the most +primitive description--a light wooden frame-work or tree, with high, +narrow pommel and cantle, much shorter in the seat than ours, the whole +covered with hide, stitched with thongs and fastened on with a horsehair +girth, constitute his saddle. Any old piece of blanket or coffee-sack +answers for saddle cloth, and his bridle is the simplest thing in the +world, a single head-piece, a light snaffle bit, and a rein, sometimes +gayly ornamented, completes the arrangement. But at full speed the worst +horseman among them will dash up hill or down, through tortuous and +rocky stream-beds, everywhere that a goat would go, and he looks upon +our boldest rider as a poor specimen. + +The Crows are affably disposed to-day, and we have no especial +difficulty in fraternizing. Plug tobacco will go a long way as a medium +of introduction anywhere west of the Missouri, and if you give one +Indian a piece as big as a postage-stamp, the whole tribe will come in +to claim acquaintance. A very pretty tobacco-pouch of Sioux manufacture +which hung always at the pommel of my saddle, and the heavily beaded +buckskin riding-breeches which I wore, seemed to attract their notice, +and one of them finally managed to communicate through a half-breed +interpreter a query as to whether I had killed the Sioux chief who had +owned them. Finding that I had never killed a Sioux in my life, the +disdainful warrior dropped me as no longer a desirable acquaintance; and +even the fact that the breeches were a valuable present from no less a +hero than Buffalo Bill failed to make a favorable impression. Following +him were a pair of bright-looking young squaws whose sole occupation in +life seemed to consist in ministering to the various wants of his sulky +chiefship. Riding astride, just as the men do, these ladies were equally +at home on pony-back, and they "herded" his spare "mounts" and drove his +pack animals with consummate skill. A tiny pappoose hung on the back of +one of them, and gazed over her shoulder with solemn, speculative eyes +at the long files of soldiers on their tall horses. At that tender age +it was in no way compromising his dignity to display an interest in what +was going on around him. Later in life he would lose caste as a warrior +if he ventured to display wonderment at sight of a flying-machine. For +several hours we rode side by side with our strange companions. We had +no hesitancy in watching them with eager curiosity, and they were as +intent on "picking up points" about us, only they did it furtively. + +Gradually we were drawing nearer the swift "Deje Agie," as the Crows +call the Tongue River. The valley down which we were moving sank deeper +among the bold bluffs on either side. Something impeded the march of the +column ahead; the pack trains on our right were "doubling up," and every +mule, with that strict attention to business characteristic of the +species, had buried its nose in the rich buffalo grass, making up for +lost time. "Halt!" and "Dismount!" rang out from the trumpets. Every +trooper slips the heavy curb bit from his horse's mouth and leads him +right or left off the trail that he may profit by even a moment's rest +to crop the fresh bunches in which that herbage grows. + +The morning has passed without notable incident. No alarm has come from +the scouts in front or flank. We are so far in rear to-day that we miss +our friends Cody and Chips, who hitherto were _our_ scouts and no one +else's. Now they are part and parcel of the squad attached to General +Crook's headquarters, of which Major Stanton is the putative chief. We +miss our fire-eater of a paymaster--the only one of his corps, I fancy, +who would rather undergo the privations of such a campaign and take +actual part in its engagements, than sit at a comfortable desk at home +and criticise its movements. At noon we come suddenly upon the rushing +Tongue, and fording, breast deep, cross to the northern shore. We emerge +at the very base of steep rocky heights, push round a ledge that shuts +out the northward prospect from our sight, find the river recoiling from +a palisade of rock on the east, and tearing back across our +path, ford it again and struggle along under the cliffs on its right +bank a few minutes, balancing ourselves, it almost seems, upon a trail +barely wide enough for one horseman. What a place for ambuscade or +surprise! + + [Illustration: CROOK'S COLUMN ON TONGUE RIVER.] + +We can see no flankers or scouts, but feel confident that our general +has not shoved the nose of his column into such a trap without rigid +reconnoissance. So we push unconcernedly along. Once more the green, +foam-crested torrent sweeps across our line of march from the left, and +we ride in, our horses snorting and plunging over the slippery boulders +on the bottom, the eager waves dashing up about our knees. Once more we +wind around a projecting elbow of bluff, and as the head of our column, +which has halted to permit the companies to close up, straightens out in +motion again, we enter a beautiful glade. The river, beating in foam +against the high, precipitous rocks on the eastern bank, broke in tiny, +peaceful wavelets upon the grassy shores and slopes of the western side; +the great hills rolled away to the left; groves of timber sprang up in +our front, and through their leafy tops the white smoke of many a +camp-fire was curling; the horses of the Second and Third, strongly +guarded, were already moving out to graze on the foot-hills. An +aide-de-camp rides to General Carr with orders to "bivouac right here; +we march no further to-day." We ride left into line, unsaddle, and +detail our guards. Captain Payne, with Company "F," is assigned the duty +of protecting camp from surprise, and he and his men hasten off to +surrounding hill-tops and crests from which they can view the +approaches, and at two p.m. we proceed to make ourselves comfortable. +We have no huts and only one blanket apiece, but who cares? The August +sun is bright and cheery; the air is fresh and clear; the smoke rises, +mast-like, high in the skies until it meets the upland breeze that, +sweeping down from the Big Horn range behind us, has cleared away the +pall of smoke our Indian foes had but yesterday hung before our eyes, +and left the valley of the Tongue thus far green and undefiled. We have +come but twenty miles, are fresh and vigorous; but the advance reports +no signs yet, and Crook halts us so that we may have an early start +to-morrow. + +We smoke our pipes and doze through the afternoon, stretched at length +under the shady trees, and at evening stroll around among the +camp-fires, calling on brother officers of other regiments whom we +haven't met before in years. But early enough we roll ourselves in our +blankets, and, with heads pillowed on turf or saddle, sleep undisturbed +till dawn. + +August 6th breaks clear and cloudless. Long before the sun can peer in +upon us in our deep nook in the valley, we have had our dip in the cold +stream, and our steaming and hugely relished breakfast, stowed our +tinnikins and pannikins on the pack mules, and wait expectant of "Boots +and saddles!" Again the infantry lead the way, and not until seven do we +hear the welcome "Mount!" and follow in their tracks. By this time the +sun is pouring down upon us; by nine his rays are scorching, and the +dust rises in clouds from the crowded trail. The gorge grows deeper and +deeper, the bluffs bolder and more precipitous; we can see nothing but +precipice on either side, and, lashed and tormented, the Deje Agie winds +a tortuous course between. We cross it again and again--each time it +grows deeper and stronger. The trail is so crooked we never see more +than a quarter of a mile ahead. At noon we overtake the infantry, +phlegmatically stripping off shoes, stockings, and all garments "below +the belt," for the eleventh time since they left camp, preparatory to +another plunge through the stream; and a tall, red-headed Irishman +starts a laugh with his quizzical "Fellers, did e'er a one of yez iver +cross on a bridge?" + +At two o'clock, after the thirteenth crossing since seven a.m., we again +receive orders to halt, unsaddle, and bivouac. Captain Leib and Company +"M" mount guard, and with twenty-two miles more to our credit, and with +the thick smoke of forest fires drifting overhead, we repeat the +performance of yesterday afternoon and night, and wonder when we are to +see those Indians. + +Reveille and the dawn of the seventh come together. We wake stiff and +cold in the keen morning air, but thaw out rapidly under the genial +influence of the huge tins of coffee promptly supplied. At six we descry +the infantry and the pack trains clambering up the heights to the +northwest and disappearing from view over the timbered crests. At seven +we again mount and ride down stream a few hundred yards, then turn sharp +to the left and up a broad winding ravine along a beaten trail--buffalo +and Indian, of great antiquity. Mile after mile we push along up +grade--we of the Fifth well to the front to-day and in view of the +scouts and advance most of the time. The woods are thick along the +slopes, the grass that was rich and abundant in the valley of the Tongue +is becoming sparse. Up we go--the ascent seems interminable. Once in a +while we catch glimpses of smoke masses overhead and drifting across the +face of distant ridges. At last we see knots of horsemen gathering on a +high ridge a mile in front; half an hour's active climbing, mostly afoot +and leading our horses, brings us close under them. "Halt" is sounded, +and General Carr and I go up to join the party on the crest. + +We pause on the very summit of the great divide between the Tongue and +the Rosebud, and far to south, north, and west the tumbling sea of +ravine and upland, valleys that dip out of sight, mountains that are +lost in fleecy clouds, all are spread before us. The view is glorious. +We look right down into the cañon of the Rosebud, yet it must be six to +eight miles away, and how far down we cannot judge. From every valley +north and west rolling clouds of smoke rise towards and blacken the +heavens. Somewhere over on those opposite bluffs General Crook had his +big fight with the Sioux on the 17th of June, but not a Sioux is in +sight. + +It takes us three good hours to get down into the valley, and here we +receive in grim silence the orders to go into bivouac parallel to the +stream, facing west. The Indians have burned off every blade of grass +their ponies left undevoured along the narrow gorge, and for miles below +us the scouts report it even worse. "The whole Sioux nation has been in +camp hereabouts not two weeks ago," says one rugged frontiersman, "and +I've been nigh onto ten mile down stream and didn't reach the end of the +village." The ground is strewn with abandoned lodge-poles, and covered +with relics of Indian occupancy too unmistakable to be pleasant. + +The Third and Second Cavalry file into position on the eastern bank +parallel with our line, and all the pickets go out at once--Captain +Hayes, with Company "G," covering our front. + +The situation is romantic, but disagreeable. Some of us sleep rather +restlessly that night, and one and all welcome the dawn of the 8th. It +is more than chilly in the keen morning air, but we march northward in a +thick, smoky haze that utterly obscures the landscape. We can see but a +short fifty yards in any direction, and the deeper we ride into it the +thicker and more suffocating it becomes. Four or five miles down stream, +still riding through the lately occupied camps, we bump up against the +rear of the column ahead. An aide leads us off to the left, and informs +General Carr that there is good grazing in some little breaks and +ravines--to unsaddle and give the horses a chance while we wait for +reports from the scouts. Here we "loaf" through the entire day, when +suddenly the signal to saddle and mount startles us at six p.m., just as +we were thinking of going to sleep. We march very rapidly, six, seven, +ten miles, and then darkness sets in. Thicker darkness I never +encountered. Men pull out their pipes and whiff away at them till the +glow of their sparks looks like a long trail of tiny furnace fires, and +gives us a clue to follow. No one but an Indian who has lived among +these valleys all his life can be guiding us to-night. At nine o'clock +the men are singing darky melodies and Irish songs; and it is not until +10.30 that we file past bivouac fires lighted in a deep bend of the +stream, grope our way out to an invisible front, and, fairly hobbling +and half-lariating our horses, throw ourselves down by them to sleep. +Captain Rodgers is notified that he and Company "A" are "for guard;" +and, for a man who cannot or will not swear, Rodgers manages to express +his disgust appropriately. + +A slight sprinkling of rain comes on at daybreak, and we see the +infantry hurrying off northward through the misty light. We soon follow +down the right bank, the Fifth Cavalry leading the column of horse. +Stanton tells us that a large body of Sioux are not more than four days +ahead--were here in force not four days ago. It is easy to see that we +are on the trail of an immense number of Indians--eight to ten +thousand--but we judge it to be a fortnight old. At 9.15 a cold, driving +rain sets in, and whirls in our faces as we march. At two p.m. we +bivouac again, and begin to growl at this will-o'-the-wisp business. The +night, for August, is bitter cold. Ice forms on the shallow pools close +to shore, and Captain Adam, who commands the guard, declares that the +thermometer was at zero at daybreak. "What thermometer?" is the +question. "Vell, any thermometer as was tam fool enough to get +here--_un'stand_?" is our veteran's characteristic reply, and it puts us +in better humor. Stiff and cold when we march at seven o'clock on the +10th, we have not long to suffer from that cause. A bright sun pours +down in recompense. We march five miles, halt, and graze awhile; then +push on again along a broad, beaten trail over which countless hordes of +ponies must have recently passed. Thick clouds of dust rise high above +the bluffs on either side; the valley opens out wide and rolling east +and west. Here the Indian flight has been so rapid that the work of +destruction is incomplete, and the grass is excellent in many a spot. +"The grandest country in the world for Indian and buffalo now," says +General Carr. "Two years hence it will be the grandest place for +cattle." + +We of the Fifth are marching down the left or western bank of the +Rosebud to-day, somewhat independently as regards the rest of the +cavalry brigade, which, following the infantry, is away across the +valley, close under the slopes and hillsides towards the east. About +nine in the morning, while I am profiting by a ten-minute halt to jot in +my note-book some of the surrounding topographical features, my orderly +and myself climb to the top of the ridge on our left, from which a good +view of the country is to be had. Just here the valley runs northeast, +and we have been pursuing that general direction for the last day's +march; but right ahead, some two thousand yards, a tall bluff juts out +into the valley from the west. The river sweeps round its base in a +broad fringe of cottonwoods, and disappears from sight for six or eight +miles; then, over an intervening range, I see it again, away to the +north, making straight for what must be the valley of the Yellowstone. +Between that great bend of the river and the distant bluffs on the +eastern side, a broad plain, scorched and blistered by sun and Indian +fire, stretches away some two or three miles in width. This side of the +bend the slopes gradually near the stream, and the picture below me is a +very pretty one. Right under our ridge the Fifth Cavalry, in long +column, is just preparing to remount and move on. A mile away to the +eastward are our brethren of the Second and Third; a quarter of a mile +ahead of them, the compact battalion of infantry. Here and there groups +of horses, men, and a fluttering flag indicate the positions in march of +Generals Crook and Merritt. Half a mile in advance of all, those little +dots of horsemen are our scouts, while, anyhow and everywhere, in no +order whatsoever, our Crows and Shoshones are scattered along the column +on one flank, while the pack-mules kick up a thick dust on the other. +The cloud of dust, in fact, rises from the whole column, and extends way +back up the Rosebud, and even as I am wondering how far it can be seen, +my eye is attracted by just as thick a cloud around the point, +apparently coming up the valley. What the mischief can that be? + +Answering our eager signals, General Carr comes hurriedly up the slope +and levels his glass. It is dust, sure enough, and lots of it. Nothing +but an immense concourse of four-footed animals could raise such a +cloud. "Forward!" is the order; "Indians or buffalo?" is the query. +"Ride over and report it to General Merritt," says my colonel to me. So +"Donnybrook" strikes a rapid lope, and we pick our way through the +cottonwoods, over the stream and up the low bank on the other side, +where the first thing that meets my eyes is a grand hullabaloo among the +Indians, our allies. They are whooping and yelling, throwing blankets +and superfluous clothing to the ground--stripping for a fight, +evidently--and darting to and fro in wild excitement. Beyond them the +troops are massing in close column behind some low bluffs, and, looking +back, I see the Fifth coming rapidly through the stream to join them. +Evidently my news is no news to General Merritt; but the message is +delivered all the same, and I get permission to gallop ahead towards the +scouts and see what's coming. I make for a bluff just on the edge of the +plain I have described, and, nearing it, can see farther and farther +around the great bend. Our scouts and Indians are dashing around in +circles, and cautiously approaching the turn. Another minute and I have +reached the bluff, and there get a grand view of the coming host. +Indians! I should say so--scores of them, darting about in equal +excitement to our own. But no Indians are they who keep in close column +along that fringe of trees; no Indians are they whose compact squadrons +are moving diagonally out across the broad plain, taking equal +intervals, then coming squarely towards us at a rapid trot. Then look! +Each company, as it comes forward, opens out like the fan of practised +coquette, and a sheaf of skirmishers is launched to the front. +Something in the snap and style of the whole movement stamps them at +once. There is no need of fluttering guidon and stirring trumpet-call to +identify them; I know the Seventh Cavalry at a glance, and swing my old +campaign hat in delighted welcome. Behind them are the solid regiments +of Miles and Gibbon, and long trains of wagons and supplies. It is +General Terry and his whole array, and our chiefs ride forward to greet +them. And then it is that the question is asked, in comical perplexity, +"Why, where on earth are the Indians?" Except our allies, none are in +sight. They have slipped away between us. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + AWAY TO THE YELLOWSTONE. + + +Never before, and never since, has the valley of the Rosebud beheld such +a gathering as was there to be seen on that brilliant 10th of August, +1876--brilliant, that is to say, as nature could make it, for in General +Crook's command, at least, there was nothing of embellishment. The war +of the Revolution, the huts of Valley Forge, never exhibited so sombre +an array of soldiery as we presented when General Terry and his brigade +confronted us at the great bend. + +It may be said that we were surprised at the meeting, and it can be +established that they were astonished. Marching up the valley, General +Terry was in daily expectation of finding a mass of Indians in his +front. At latest accounts they were in strong force--in thousands, no +doubt--between him and General Crook's position at the base of the Big +Horn, and he commenced his aggressive move with every precaution, and +with supplies for a long and stirring campaign. He had with him a +complete wagon train, tents and equipage of every description. We had a +few days' bacon and hard-tack, coffee and sugar, and a whole arsenal of +ammunition on our mules, but not a tent, and only one blanket apiece. He +had artillery in the shape of a few light field-pieces, and was making +slow, cautious advances up the Rosebud at the rate of eight or ten miles +a day. He had not come upon a single recent Indian "sign," yet knew that +the country to the south must have been full of them within the +fortnight. So when his scouts reported an immense cloud of dust coming +down the valley above the bend, and his Indian allies began the same +absurd gyrations and uproar which we had observed in ours, he very +naturally supposed that a horde of hostiles was sweeping down to the +attack, and made his dispositions accordingly. + +It was my good-fortune to be in our advance, and to witness the +beautiful deployment of the Seventh Cavalry over the plains in our +front, and it is hard to say which side would have whipped if we had not +discovered that neither was Sioux. A report gained credence later in the +day that Dr. Clements, Crook's medical director, said that it would be +Sioux-icidal to fight under the circumstances; but his friends believed +that this eruptiveness was due to professional disappointment at the +non-employment of himself and his able assistants, and the matter was +hushed up. + +Pending the solution of the problem as to the whereabouts of our common +foe, the two brigades were ordered to camp at once, and make themselves +at home. The generals met and discussed the situation, the scouts made +hurried examination of the surrounding country, and the mystery was at +an end. Leaving the valley of the Rosebud at the very point where our +two commands had confronted each other on the 10th, a broad trail of +recent date led away eastward over the divide towards Tongue River. The +low hills were stamped into dust by the hoofs of countless ponies. +Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Spotted Eagle, and the hosts of different +kinds of wolves and bears and vultures in which their savage +nomenclature rejoices, had fairly given us the slip, and probably ten +thousand Indians of various ages and both sexes had swarmed across +Terry's long front on the Yellowstone, but beyond the range of his +scouts. That a large portion of them would attempt to cross the great +rivers farther to the east and escape towards the Canada line was +instantly divined, and a prompt man was needed to head a rush back to +and then down the Yellowstone to hold the stream and its crossings and +check the Indian flight, while our main body pursued along the trail. In +less than an hour General Miles had gone to the right about with his +regiment and the light guns, and was making long strides towards the +north. The world has since read of the tireless energy with which this +vigorous soldier has continued the work he commenced that day. Winter +and summer, from one end of the Yellowstone valley to the other, he has +persistently and most successfully hunted the hostiles, until his name +has become a synonym for dash and good luck. Two of his companies had +been stationed with us all the previous winter at Fort Riley, in Kansas, +and I was eager to get over to their camp to see them as soon as my +duties were through; but long before our horses were herded out on the +foot-hills, and I had seen Captain Montgomery and Company "B" posted as +our guards, a new column of dust was rising down the valley, and our +Fifth Infantry friends were gone. + +The afternoon and evening were spent by the officers of the two commands +in pleasant reunion. We had nowhere to "receive" and no refreshments to +offer; so, by tacit agreement, Terry's people became the hosts, we the +guests, and it was fun to mark the contrast in our appearance. General +Terry, as became a brigadier, was attired in the handsome uniform of his +rank; his staff and his line officers, though looking eminently +serviceable, were all in neat regimentals, so that shoulder-straps were +to be seen in every direction. General Crook, as became an old +campaigner and frontiersman, was in a rough hunting rig, and in all his +staff and line there was not a complete suit of uniform. Left to our +fancy in the matter, we had fallen back upon our comfortable old Arizona +scouting-suits, and were attired in deerskin, buckskin, flannels, and +corduroy; but in the Fifth Cavalry, you could not have told officer from +private. It may have been suitable as regarded Indian campaigning, but +was undeniably slouchy and border-ruffianish. It needed some persuasion +to induce old and intimate friends to believe in our identity; and +General Terry's engineer officer and his commissary, who had been chosen +"chums" of mine in West Point days, roared with laughter at the +metamorphosis. + +Their tents were brightly lighted and comfortably furnished. Even the +Seventh Cavalry were housed like Sybarites to our unaccustomed eyes. +"Great guns!" said our new major, almost exploding at a revelation so +preposterous. "Look at Reno's tent--he's got a Brussels carpet!" But +they made us cordially welcome, and were civilly unconscious of our +motley attire. + +While the chieftains and their staffs discussed the plans for the +morrow, we unresponsible juniors contentedly accepted the situation, but +by nine p.m. it was known that at early dawn we of Crook's command were +to reload our pack-mules with rations from Terry's wagons and continue +the pursuit. Now it began to dawn upon us that we had seen the last of +our comforts--our wagons, tents, beds, and clothing--for an indefinite +period; and in Indian warfare particularly, is a stern chase a long +chase--unless you have the lead at start. + +That night we were bivouacked in the thick underbrush along the Rosebud, +hugging the tortuous bends of the stream, and as much as possible +keeping our herds between our lines and the river. Suddenly the +stillness was broken by a snort of terror among the horses; then a rush +as of a mighty whirlwind, the crash of a thousand hoofs, a shot or two, +and the shouts of excited men, and the herds of Companies "A," "B," and +"M" disappeared in a twinkling. Seized by some sudden and unaccountable +panic, they had snapped their "side lines" like pack-thread, torn their +picket-pins from the loose, powdery soil, and with one wild dash had +cleared the company lines, and, tracked by the dying thunder of their +hoofs, were fleeing for dear life far to the westward. Officers and men +sprang to arms, anticipating attack from Indians. Many of the First +Battalion had been trampled and bruised in the stampede; but in a moment +a dozen experienced campaigners were in saddle and off in pursuit, and +towards morning, after miles of hard riding, the runaways were skilfully +"herded" back to camp. But the night's adventure cost us the services of +one of our very best officers, as Lieutenant Eaton's pistol was +accidentally discharged in the rush, and tore off a portion of the index +finger of his right hand. + +The following morning, August 11th, was by General Crook's people, at +least, spent in drawing rations from the wagons of Terry's command. At +ten o'clock our pack-mules were again loaded up, and by eleven the Fifth +Cavalry were filing eastwardly out of the valley; marched rapidly on the +Indian trail, found the valley of the Tongue River only nine miles away +across a picturesque divide, descended into a thickly timbered bottom, +marched only a couple of miles down stream, and there received orders to +halt, bivouac again, and were told to wait for Terry's command to join +us. We moved into a dense grove of timber--lofty and corpulent old +cottonwoods. Company "D" (Sumner's) posted its guards and pickets, and +the rest of us became interested in the great quantity of Indian +pictures and hieroglyphics on the trees. We were camping on a favorite +"stamping-ground" of theirs, evidently, for the trees were barked in +every direction for some distance from the ground, and covered with +specimens of aboriginal art. Sketches of warriors scalping soldiers, +carrying off women on horseback, hunting buffalo, etc., but with the +perceptible preference for the stirring scenes of soldier fighting. That +had become more popular than ever since the Custer massacre. While +examining these specimens, I was attracted by a shout and the gathering +of a knot of soldiers around some fallen timber. Joining them, and +stepping over the low barrier of logs, I came upon the body of a white +man, unscalped, who had evidently made a desperate fight for life, as +the ground was covered with the shells of his cartridges; but a bullet +through the brain had finally laid him low, and his savage foeman had +left him as he fell, probably a year before we came upon the spot. + +Towards sunset the clouds that had gathered all day, and sprinkled us +early in the afternoon, opened their flood-gates, and the rain came down +in torrents. We built Indian "wickyups" of saplings and elastic twigs, +threw ponchos and blankets over them, and crawled under; but 'twas no +use. Presently the whole country was flooded, and we built huge fires, +huddled around them in the squashy mud, and envied our horses, who +really seemed pleased at the change. General Terry and his cavalry and +infantry marched past our bivouac early in the evening, went on down +stream, and camped somewhere among the timber below. We got through the +night, I don't remember how, exactly; and my note-book is not very full +of detail of this and the next four days. We would have been wetter +still on the following morning--Saturday, the 12th--if we _could_ have +been, for it rained too hard to march, and we hugged our camp-fires +until one p.m., when it gave signs of letting up a little and we saddled +and marched away down the Tongue ten or eleven miles, by which time it +was nearly dark, raining harder than ever. General Carr and Mr. Barbour +Lathrop (the correspondent of the San Francisco _Call_, who had turned +out to be an old acquaintance of some older friends of mine, and whose +vivacity was unquenchable, even by such weather as this) made a double +wickyup under the only tree there was on the open plain on which we +camped for the night, and, seeing what looked to be a little bunch of +timber through the mist a few hundred yards away, I went to prospect for +a lodging; found it to be one of the numerous aërial sepulchres of the +Sioux, which we had been passing for the last four days--evidences that +Custer's dying fight was not so utterly one-sided, after all. But, +unattractive as this was for a mortal dwelling-place, its partial +shelter was already pre-empted, and, like hundreds of others, I made an +open night of it. + +Sunday morning we pushed on again, wet and bedraggled. No hope of +catching the Sioux now, but we couldn't turn back. The valley was filled +with the parallel columns--Crook's and Terry's--cavalry and infantry +marching side by side. We made frequent halts in the mud and rain; and +during one of these I had a few moments' pleasant chat with General +Gibbon, who, as usual, had a host of reminiscences of the grand old Iron +Brigade to speak of, and many questions to ask of his Wisconsin +comrades. It was the one bright feature of an otherwise dismal day. At +4.30 p.m. the columns are halted for the night, and the cavalry lose not +a moment in hunting grass for their horses. Fortunately it is abundant +here, and of excellent quality; and this adds force to the argument that +the Indians must have scattered. The scouts still prate of big trails +ahead; but our horses are becoming weak for want of grain, our Indian +allies are holding big pow-wows every evening, the Crows still talk war +and extermination to the Sioux, but the Shoshones have never been so far +away from home in their lives, and begin to weaken. Several of them urge +additional reasons indicative of the fact that the ladies of the tribe +are not regarded by their lords as above suspicion in times of such +prolonged absence. That evening Captains Weir and McDougall, of the +Seventh Cavalry, spent an hour or so at our fire, and gave us a detailed +account of their actions [TN 5.] on the 25th, on the Little Big Horn. +They were with Reno on the bluffs, and had no definite knowledge of the +fate of Custer and his five companies until high noon on the 27th, when +relieved by General Gibbon. Then they rode at once to the field, and +came upon the remains of their comrades. + +"It must have been a terrible sensation when you first caught sight of +them," said one of their listeners. + +"Well, no," replied McDougall. "In fact, the first thought that seemed +to strike every man of us, and the first words spoken were, 'How white +they look!' We knew what to expect, of course; and they had lain there +stripped for nearly forty-eight hours." + +That night the rain continued, and at daybreak on the 14th the Fifth +Cavalry got up and spent an hour or so in vain attempts at wringing the +wet from blanket and overcoat. By 7.15 we all moved northward again, +though I could see scouts far out on the low hills on our right flank. +For half an hour we of the Fifth marched side by side with the Seventh, +and our gaunt horses and ragged-looking riders made but a poor +appearance in such society. Nearing a ford of the Tongue River, we found +some little crowding and confusion. The heads of columns were +approaching the same point upon the bank, and we were just about hunting +for a new ford when the Seventh Cavalry made a rapid oblique, and Major +Reno doffed his straw hat to General Carr, with the intimation that we +had the "right of way"--a piece of courtesy which our commander did not +fail to acknowledge. + +Another ford, from the left bank this time, and before us, coming in +from the east, is a valley bounded by low, rolling hills for a few +miles, but farther to the eastward we note that high bulwarks of rock +are thrown up against the sky. Into this valley we turn; the grass is +good, the water is all too plentiful; occasional fallen trees in the +stream promise fuel in abundance; but we look somewhat wistfully down +the Tongue, for not more than fifteen miles away rolls the Yellowstone. +And now once more, as the rain comes down in torrents, we unsaddle, turn +our horses out to graze, Kellogg and Company "I" are posted as guards, +and we wonder what is going to be done. Only noon, and only ten miles +have we come from last camp. Colonel Royall marches his "brigade" +farther up stream and follows our example, and then comes over to +exchange commiserations with General Carr. The veterans are neither of +them in best possible humor. A story is going the rounds about Royall +that does us all good, even in that dismal weather. A day or two before, +so it was told, Royall ordered one of his battalion commanders to "put +that battalion in camp on the other side of the river, facing east." A +prominent and well-known characteristic of the subordinate officer +referred to was a tendency to split hairs, discuss orders, and, in fine, +to make trouble where there was a ghost of a chance of so doing +unpunished. Presently the colonel saw that his instructions were not +being carried out, and, not being in a mood for indirect action, he put +spurs to his horse, dashed through the stream, and reined up alongside +the victim with, "Didn't I order you, sir, to put your battalion in camp +along the river--facing east?" + +"Yes, sir; but this ain't a river. It's only a creek." + +"Creek be d--d, sir! It's a river--a river from this time forth, _by +order_, sir. Now do as I tell you." + +There was no further delay. + +All that day and night we lay along Pumpkin Creek. "Squashy Creek" was +suggested as a name at once more descriptive and appropriate. The soil +was like sponge from the continuous rain. At daybreak it was still +raining, and we mounted and rode away eastward--Terry and Crook, cavalry +and infantry, pack-mules and all, over an unmistakable Indian trail that +soon left the Pumpkin, worked through the "malpais," and carried us +finally to the crest of a high, commanding ridge, from which we could +see the country in every direction for miles. The rain held up a +while--not long enough for us to get dry, but to admit of our looking +about and becoming convinced of the desolation of our surroundings. The +trail grew narrow and more tortuous, plunged down into a cañon ahead, +and as we left the crest I glanced back for a last view of the now +distant valley of the Tongue. What it might be in beautiful weather no +words of mine would accurately describe, because at such times I have +not seen it. What it is in rainy weather no words could describe. And +yet it was comfort compared to what was before us. + +At noon we were gazing out over the broad valley of Powder River, the +Chakadee Wakpa of the Sioux. Below us the Mizpah, flowing from the +southwest, made junction with the broader stream, and we, guided by our +Indians, forded both above the confluence, and went on down the valley. +And so it was for two more days; rain, mud, wet, and cold. Rations were +soaked; and we, who had nothing but salt meat and hard-tack, began to +note symptoms of scurvy among the men. But we were pushing for supplies +now. The Indians had scattered up every valley to the eastward; their +pony-tracks led in myriads over the prairie slopes east of the Powder. +We could go no farther without sustenance of some kind, and so, on the +afternoon of Thursday, the 17th, we toiled down to the valley of the +Yellowstone and scattered in bivouac along its ugly, muddy banks. The +rain ceased for a while, but not a boat was in sight, no news from home, +no mail, no supplies--nothing but dirt and discomfort. We could only +submit to the inevitable, and wait. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + AGAIN ON THE TRAIL. + + +Our first impressions of the Yellowstone, as seen from the mouth of the +Powder River, were dismal in the last degree; but it was an undoubted +case of "any port in a storm." General Terry's supply boat put in a +prompt appearance and we drew rations again on Friday and received +intimations that we might move at any moment. "Which way?" was the not +unnatural question, and "Don't know" the laconic yet comprehensive +answer. + +The rain that had deluged us on the march down the valleys of the Tongue +and Powder had ceased from sheer exhaustion, and we strove to dry our +overcoats and blankets at big fires built in the timber. We had +signalized our meeting with Terry's command by a royal bonfire which lit +up the country by night and poured a huge column of smoke skywards by +day; but as it was contrary to orders, and a most vivid indication of +our position, Colonel Mason's battalion received a scathing rebuke for +carelessness, and Mason was mad enough to follow the lead of the +historic Army of Flanders. A most conscientious and faithful officer, it +seemed to sting him to the quick that any one of his companies should +have been guilty of such recklessness. So the day after we reached the +Yellowstone, and the horses of the regiments were all grazing out along +the prairie slopes south of camp, and revelling in the rich and +plentiful buffalo grass, while all officers and men not on guard were +resting along the banks of the stream, and growling at the vigorous gale +that swept down from the north and whirled the sand in one's eyes, there +came a sudden shout of fire, and Major Upham and I, who were trying to +make a "wickyup" that would exclude the wind, became aware of a column +of flame and smoke rolling up in the very centre of his battalion. In a +moment it became evident that the biggest kind of a prairie fire was +started. The men of Company "I" were hurrying their arms and equipments +to the windward side, and as one man the rest of the regiment came +running to the scene, swinging their saddle-blankets in air. + +Fanned by the hurricane blowing at the time, the flames swept over the +ground with the force of a blast-furnace; tufts of burning grass were +driven before the great surging wave of fire, and, falling far out on +the prairie, became the nuclei of new conflagrations. Fire-call was +promptly sounded by the chief trumpeter, and repeated along the lines. +The distant herds were rapidly moved off to right and left, and hurried +in towards the river. The whole command that was in bivouac west of the +Powder River turned out to fight the common enemy; but in ten minutes, +in all the might of its furious strength, a grand conflagration was +sweeping southward towards the rolling hills, and consuming all before +it. + +Like the great Chicago fire, it started from a cause trivial enough, +but, spreading out right and left, it soon had a front of over half a +mile, and not till it had run fully two miles to the south was it +finally checked. Captain Hayes and a party of old and experienced hands +"raced" it far out to the front, and, there setting fire to the grass, +extinguishing it from the south and forcing it back against the wind, +they succeeded after much hard work in burning off a number of large +areas in front of the advancing wall of flame, fought fire with fire, +and in two hours were masters of the situation. But most of our grass +was gone; and Saturday afternoon, at four o'clock, we of the Fifth +saddled and marched up the Yellowstone in search of fresh pasture. A +mile was all we had to go, and moving was no trouble to men who had +neither roof nor furniture. + +We rode into line in the river bottom again. General Carr, with the +headquarters party, seized upon a huge log at least a yard in diameter +that lay close to the river brink; and with this as a backbone we built +such rude shelter as could be made with leaves, boughs, and a ragged +poncho or two, crawled in and made our beds upon the turf. General +Merritt and his staff found shelter in a little grove a few yards away, +and with the coming of Sunday morning all had enjoyed a good rest. + +Meantime we learned that Buffalo Bill had ridden all alone down towards +the Glendive, bent on a scout to ascertain if the Indians were +attempting to cross the river. I did not envy him the peril of that +sixty-mile jaunt through the Bad Lands, but it was an old story to him. +We were to remain in camp to await his report. It seemed that nothing +definite had been ascertained as to the movements of the Indians; and +for five days we rested there on the Yellowstone, nothing of interest +transpiring, and nothing of especial pleasure. + +General Carr, to keep us from rusting, ordered inspection and mounted +drills on Sunday and Monday morning; but then the rain came back, and +for forty-eight hours we were fairly afloat. It rained so hard Tuesday +and Wednesday nights that the men gave up all idea of sleep, built +great fires along the banks, and clustered round them for warmth. +Shelter there was none. Some of our officers and men, who had broken +down in the severity of the ordeal, were examined by the surgeons, and +those who were deemed too sick for service were ordered home on the +steamer _Far West_, which would take them by river as far as Bismarck. +Among them was Captain Goodloe, of the Twenty-second Infantry, who had +been prostrated by a paralytic stroke on the last day's march towards +the Yellowstone; and of our own regiment we were forced to part with +Lieutenant Eaton, whose severe hurt, received the night of the stampede +on the Rosebud, had proved disabling for campaign work. At this time, +too, some of our newspaper correspondents concluded that the chances of +a big fight were too small to justify their remaining longer with so +unlucky an expedition, and the representative of the San Francisco +_Call_, and an odd genius who had joined us at Fort Fetterman, and +speedily won the sobriquet of "Calamity Jim," concluded that their +services would be worth more in some other field. + +A great loss to us was in Buffalo Bill, whose theatrical engagements +demanded his presence in the East early in the fall; and most +reluctantly he, too, was compelled to ask his release. He left his +"pardner," Jim White, with us to finish the campaign; and we little +thought that those two sworn friends were meeting for the last time on +earth when "Buffalo Chips" bade good-bye to Buffalo Bill. + +Ten soldiers of the Fifth were pronounced incapacitated by the +examiners, and ordered to return. Among them was an elderly man who had +joined the regiment in June with a good character from the Fourth +Cavalry. The Custer massacre had so preyed upon his mind as to +temporarily destroy his intellect, or make it too keen for the wits of +the Medical Department. I believe that up to the last moment it was an +open question whether Caniff (for such was his name) was downright +insane or only shamming; but he carried his point, and got away from the +danger he dreaded. "But, Lord, sir," as the corporal in charge of the +detachment afterwards told me, "he was the sensiblest man you ever see +by the time we got past Bismarck." In fact, it would look as though that +Custer massacre had been responsible for the unmanning of just three +members of the Fifth Cavalry; and, to the ineffable disgust of the +veteran Company "K," two of them were privates in its ranks. + +Our stay of six days on the Yellowstone presented no features of general +interest. A brace of trading-boats swept down with the current from the +markets of the Gallatin valley, and some of us were able to purchase, at +fabulous prices, new suits of underclothing and a quantity of potatoes +and onions, of which the men stood sadly in need. More supplies of grain +and rations arrived, and our horses had a few nibbles of oats, but not +enough to build up any of their lost strength. General Terry, from the +east side of the Powder, rode over one day to pay a visit to General +Crook; and the story goes that our brigadier was pointed out to him +squatted on a rock in the Yellowstone, and with that absorbed manner +which was his marked characteristic, and a disregard for "style" never +before equalled in the history of one of his rank, scrubbing away at his +hunting-shirt. + +Thursday morning, August the 24th, chilled and soaked, we marched away +from the Yellowstone, and mostly on foot, leading our gaunt horses +through the thick mud of the slopes along the Powder, we toiled some ten +miles; then halted for the night. Then it cleared off, and night came on +in cloudless beauty, but sharply cold. Next morning we hung about our +fires long after our frugal breakfast, waiting for the signal to saddle +and march. Trumpet-calls were forbidden "until further orders"; and it +was divined that now, at least, we might hope to see the Indians who had +led us this exasperating chase. But it was long before we reached them, +and this narrative is running threadbare with dry detail. Let me +condense from my note-book the route and incidents of the march to Heart +River, where we finally gave up the chase: + +"General Terry's cavalry--Seventh and Second--followed us on the march +of the 25th, after we had forded Powder River and started up the eastern +bank; camped again that night in the valley after long and muddy march. +At seven a.m. on the 26th we of Crook's army cut loose from any base, +and marched square to the east; and General Terry, with his entire +command, bade us farewell, and hurried back to the Yellowstone. +Couriers had reached him during the night with important information, +and he and his people were needed along the crossings of the great river +while we hunted the redskins over the prairies. The weather was lovely, +the country rolling and picturesque; but far and near the Indians had +burned away the grass. Camped on the west fork of O'Fallon's Creek. Game +abundant all around us, but no firing allowed."... + +"_Sunday, 27th._--Marched seven a.m. at rear of column, north of east; +rolling country; no timber; little grass; crossed large branch of +O'Fallon's Creek at eleven a.m., where some pack-mules were stalled, but +finally got through. Bivouac one p.m. in dry east fork of same creek."... + +"_Monday, 28th._--Day beautiful and cool; march rapid and pleasant along +the trail on which Terry and Custer came west in May and June. Country +beautifully bold and undulating, with fine grass everywhere. We halted +on Cabin Creek at 1.30 p.m.; and two hours after, over in the direction +of Beaver Creek to the northeast, two large smokes floated up into the +still air. Just at sunset there came on a thunder-storm, with rain, +hail, and vivid lightning--hailstones as big as acorns, and so +plentifully pelting that with great difficulty we restrained our horses +from stampede. The lightning kindled the prairie just in front of the +pickets, and the rain came only in time to save our grass. Of course, we +were drenched with rain and hammered with hail." + +"_Tuesday, 29th._--Most beautiful day's march yet; morning lovely after +the storm. We move rapidly on trail of the infantry, and at ten o'clock +are astonished at seeing them massing in close column by division on the +southwest side of grassy slopes that loom up to a great height, and were +soon climbing the bluffs beyond them--an ascent of some five to six +hundred feet." ... + +Here General Merritt gave the regiment a lesson which it richly +deserved. Fuel had been a little scarce on one or two recent occasions; +and some of the men, finding a few logs at the foot of the bluffs, +hoisted them on their tottering horses, and were clambering in this +fashion up the ascent, when the "Chief" caught sight of them. The +general is a man of great restraint at such a time, but, without the +employment of language either profane or profuse, he managed to convey +an intimation to some eighty acres of hillside, in less than five +seconds, that those logs should be dropped; and they were. Later in the +day he devoted a half-hour to the composition of a general order +expressive at once of his views on the matter which had excited his +wrath in the morning, and his intentions with reference to future +offenders. Winding up, as it did, with a scathing denunciation of this +"violation of the first principles" of a cavalryman's creed, we of the +Fifth felt sore for a week after; but it served us right, and the +offence did not occur again. + +We found ourselves on the crest of a magnificent range, from which we +looked down into the beautiful valley of the Beaver to the east, and +southward over mile after mile of sharp, conical buttes that were +utterly unlike anything we had seen before. We had abundant water and +grass, and here we rested two days, while our scouts felt their way out +towards the Little Missouri. + +Thursday, the 31st, with a cold norther blowing, we went down the Beaver +ten miles to the north, halted and conducted the bi-monthly muster +demanded by the regulations, and again the scouts swept over the country +in vain search of Indian signs, while we waited until late the following +afternoon for their reports, and then merely moved down the valley +another eight miles for the night. On the 2d we put in a good day's +work, marching rapidly and steadily until two p.m., still in the +beautiful wild valley of the Beaver, catching glimpses during the day of +the tall Sentinel Buttes off to our right. Next day we turned square to +the east again, jogging quickly along through hills and upland that grew +bolder and higher every hour; camped at head of Andrew's Creek; pushed +on again on the following morning (Monday, September 4th), cold and +shivering in another norther--by nine the rain pouring in torrents. As +we neared the Little Missouri the hills became higher, outcroppings of +coal were to be seen along every mile. Finally, we _débouched_ through a +long, deep, tortuous cañon into the Little Missouri itself, forded and +bivouacked in a fine grove of timber, where, the rain having ceased +again, and with fine, blazing fires in every direction, we spent a night +of comfort. + +The Indians must be near at hand. The timber, the valley, the fords and +crossings, all indicate their recent presence. To-morrow's sun should +bring them before our eyes. At daybreak we are up and ready. The day is +drizzly, and the command don't seem to care a pin by this time. We are +becoming amphibious, and so long as the old cavalryman has a quid of +good tobacco to stow in his taciturn jaws he will jog along contentedly +for hours, though the rain descend in cataracts. + +Our march leads us southeastward up the valley of Davis's Creek--a +valley that grows grandly beautiful as we near its head. We of the Fifth +are some distance from the head of column as we climb out upon the fine +plateau that here stretches for miles from the head of the creek towards +the streams that rise a day's march away and flow towards the Missouri. +Away in front we can see General Crook and his staff; far out beyond +them are tiny dots of horsemen, whom we know to be Stanton and the +scouts. Every now and then a deer darts into sight along the column, and +now permission is given to shoot; for we are over a hundred miles from +the nearest chance for supplies, and have only two days' rations left. +We are following those Indians to the bitter end. + +Suddenly, away to the front, rapid shots are heard. A moment they sound +but a mile distant; in another moment they are dying out of hearing. We +prick up our ears and gather reins. Looking back, I see the long column +of bearded faces lighting up in eager expectation, but no order comes to +hasten our advance. We hear later that our scouts had succeeded in +getting near enough to exchange shots with a small war-party of Sioux; +but their ponies were fresh and fleet, our horses weak and jaded, and +there was no possibility of catching them. + +Late that afternoon we halt at the head of Heart River. And now at last +it looks as though we are whipped without a fight. We not only have not +caught the Indians, but we have run out of rations. Only forty-eight +hours' full supplies are left, but a little recent economizing has +helped us to a spare day or so on half-rations. It is hard for us, but +hardest of all for the general, and it is plain that he is deeply +disappointed. But action is required, and at once. We can easily make +Fort Abraham Lincoln in four days; but, by doing so, we leave all the +great stretch of country to the south open to the hostiles, and the +Black Hills settlements defenceless. Just how long it will take us to +march to Deadwood cannot be predicted. It is due south by compass, but +over an unknown country. While the chief is deciding, we lie down in the +cold and wet and try to make ourselves comfortable. Those who are tired +of the campaign and hungry for a dinner predict that the morning will +find us striking for the Missouri posts; but those who have served long +with General Crook, and believe that there is a hostile Indian between +us and the Black Hills, roll into their blankets with the conviction +that we will have a fight out of this thing yet. + +Many a horse has given out already, and dismounted men are plodding +along by the flank of column. We have been on half-rations for three +days, and are not a little ravenous in consequence, and our campaign +suits, which were shabby on the Rosebud, are rags and tatters now. As +Colonel Mason and I are "clubbing" our ponchos and blankets for the +night, I turn to my old captain, with whom it has been my good-fortune +to serve so long and still not to lose him on his promotion, and ask, +"Well, what do you think of it?" And Mason, who is an inveterate old +growler around garrison in the piping times of peace, and stanchest and +most loyal of subordinates in trying times in the field, answers as I +could have predicted: "We oughtn't to give up yet, on account of a +little roughing it; and _Crook's not the man to do it_." + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + THE FIGHT OF THE REAR GUARD. + + +Ragged and almost starving, out of rations, out at elbows and every +other exposed angle, out of everything but pluck and ammunition, General +Crook gave up the pursuit of Sitting Bull at the head of Heart River. +The Indians had scattered in every direction. We had chased them a +month, and were no nearer than when we started. Their trail led in as +many different directions as there are degrees in the circle; they had +burned off the grass from the Yellowstone to the mountains, and our +horses were dropping by scores, starved and exhausted, every day we +marched. There was no help for it, and only one thing left to do. At +daybreak the next morning the orders came, "Make for the Black +Hills--due south by compass--seven days' march at least," and we headed +our dejected steeds accordingly and shambled off in search of supplies. + +Through eleven days of pouring, pitiless rain we plodded on that +never-to-be-forgotten trip, and when at last we sighted Bare Butte and +halted, exhausted, at the swift-flowing current of the Belle Fourche, +three fourths of our cavalry, of the Second, Third, and Fifth regiments, +had made the last day's march afoot. One half our horses were broken +down for good, one fourth had fallen never to rise again, and dozens had +been eaten to keep us, their riders, alive. + +Enlivening incidents were few enough, and--except one--of little +interest to Milwaukeeans. That one is at your service. On the night of +September 7th we were halted near the head-waters of Grand River. Here a +force of one hundred and fifty men of the Third Cavalry, with the +serviceable horses of that regiment, were pushed ahead under Major Anson +Mills, with orders to find the Black Hills, buy up all the supplies he +could in Deadwood, and then hurry back to meet us. Two days after, just +as we were breaking up our cheerless bivouac of the night, a courier +rode in with news that Mills was surrounded by the Indians twenty miles +south, and every officer and man of the Fifth Cavalry whose horse had +strength enough to trot pushed ahead to the rescue. Through mud, mist, +and rain we plunged along, and by half-past ten were exchanging +congratulations with Mills and shots with the redskins in as wealthy an +Indian village, for its size, as ever we had seen. Custer's guidons and +uniforms were the first things that met our eyes--trophies and evidence +at once of the part our foe had taken in the bloody battle of the Little +Big Horn. Mills had stumbled upon the village before day, made a +magnificent dash, and scattered the Indians to the neighboring heights, +Slim Buttes by name, and then hung on to his prize like a bull-dog, and +in the face of appalling odds, till we rode in to his assistance. That +afternoon, reinforced by swarms of warriors, they made a grand rally and +spirited attack, but 'twas no use. By that time we had some two thousand +to meet them, and the whole Sioux nation couldn't have whipped us. Some +four hundred ponies had been captured with the village, and many a fire +was lighted and many a suffering stomach gladdened with a welcome change +from horse-meat, tough and stringy, to rib roasts of pony, grass-fed, +sweet, and succulent. There is no such sauce as starvation. + +Next morning, at break of day, General Crook, with the wounded, the +Indian prisoners, his sturdy infantry, and all the cavalry but one +battalion of the Fifth Regiment, pushed on for the south through the +same overhanging pall of dripping mist. They had to go. There wasn't a +hard-tack north of Deadwood, and men must eat to live. + +The First Battalion of the Fifth he left to burn completely the village +with all its robes, furs, and Indian treasures, and to cover the +retreat. + +As the last of the main column disappeared through the drizzle, with +Mason's skirmishers thrown well out upon their right flank, a light wind +swept upward the veil of smoke and mist, and the panorama became evident +to us and to the surrounding Indians at one and the same moment. There +was no time to take observations--down they came with a rush. + +On a little knoll in the centre of the burning village a group of +horsemen has halted--General Carr, who commands the Fifth Cavalry, his +staff and orderlies--and the first remark as the fog raises falls from +the lips of the adjutant: "By Jove! Here's a Badger State benefit!" + +All along the line the attack has commenced and the battalion is sharply +engaged--fighting afoot, their horses being already led away after the +main column, but within easy call. Our orders are to follow, but to +stand off the Indians. They are not wanted to accompany the march. It is +one thing to "stand off the Indians" and hold your ground--it is quite +another to stand him off and fall back. They are dashing about on their +nimble ponies, following up the line as it doggedly retires from ridge +to ridge, far outnumbering us, and all the time keeping up a rattling +fire and a volley of aboriginal remarks at our expense. "Lo" yells with +unaffected glee when his foe falls back, and it sometimes sounds not +unlike the "yi-i-i-ip" of the rebels in '63. Along our line there is a +business-like taciturnity, an occasional brief, ringing word of command +from some officer, or a half-repressed chuckle of delight as some +Patlander sees an Indian reel in his saddle, and turns to mutter to his +neighbor on the skirmish line that he'd "softened the wax in that boy's +ears." Occasionally, too, some man suddenly drops carbine, claps his +hand to leg, arm, or side, and with an odd mixture of perplexity and +pain in his face looks appealingly to the nearest officer. Our surgeon +is just bandaging a bullet hole for one such, but finds time to look up +and ask: + +"Why Badger State benefit, King? I don't see the point." + +"Just because there are six Wisconsin men right here on this slope," is +the answer, "and dozens more for aught I know." + +Look at them if you will. I warrant no resident of the Cream City could +recognize his townsmen to-day. Remember, we've been hunting Sioux and +Cheyennes since May; haven't seen a shanty for three months, or a tent +for two; haven't had a change of raiment for eight weeks, or a shave for +ten; and, under those battered slouch hats and in that tattered dress, +small wonder that you fail to know the wearers. Right in our front, +half-way to the skirmish line, rides the major commanding the battalion; +a tall, solidly-built fellow, with twinkling blue eyes and a bronzed +face, barely visible under the mass of blond hair and beard over which +the rain is dripping. He is a Milwaukeean and a West-Pointer, a stanch +favorite, too; and to-day the whole rear guard is his command, and on +his shoulders rests the safety of our move. His is an ugly, trying duty, +but he meets it well. Just now he is keenly watching the left of his +line, and by a trick he has of hitching forward in his saddle when +things don't go exactly right, you see that something's coming. A quick +gesture calls up a young officer who is carelessly lounging on a +raw-boned sorrel that sniffs excitedly at the puffs of smoke floating +past his nose. Quick as the gesture the officer straightens in his +saddle, shifts a quid into his "off" cheek, and reins up beside his +commander. The major points to the left and front, and away goes the +subaltern at a sputtering gallop. Milwaukee is sending Fond du Lac to +make the left company "come down out of that." They have halted on a +rocky ridge from which they can gloriously pepper the would-be pursuers, +and they don't want to quit. The major is John J. Upham, the subaltern +is Lieutenant H. S. Bishop. + +Square in front, striding down the opposite slope and up towards us come +the Company "G" skirmishers. A minute more and the ridge they have left +is swarming with Indians. "Halt!" rings out along the line, and quick as +thought the troopers face about, fling themselves _ventre à terre_ and +blaze away, scattering the Sioux like chaff. + +There's a stalwart, bearded fellow commanding the right skirmishers of +the company, steadily noting the fire of his men. Never bending himself, +he moves from point to point cautioning such "new hands" as are +excitedly throwing away their shots. He is their first sergeant, a crack +soldier; Milwaukee, too--for in old days at Engelmann's school we knew +him as Johnny Goll. Listen to his captain, half a head taller and quite +as prominent and persistent a target, who is shaking a gauntleted fist +at his subordinate and shouting, "I've told you to keep down a dozen +times, sergeant; now, by God, I want you to do it." This makes the +nearest men grin. The others are too busy to hear it. + +The scene is picturesque enough from our point of view. To the south, +two miles away by this time, Crook's long column is crawling snake-like +over the rolling sward. To the west the white crags and boulders of the +buttes shut off the view--we are fighting along at their very base. +Northward the country rises and falls in alternate grassy ridge and +ravine; not a tree in sight--only the low-hanging pall of smoke from the +burning village in the near distance; the slopes swarming with dusky +horsemen, dashing towards us, whooping, yelling, firing, and retiring, +always at speed, except where some practised marksman springs from his +pony and prone upon the ground draws bead at our chiefs. Between their +restless ranks and us is only the long, thin line of cavalry +skirmishers, slowly falling back face to the foe, and giving them gun +for gun. Eastward, as far as the eye can reach, the country rolls away +in billowy undulations, and--look! there comes a dash of Indians around +our right flank. See them sweeping along that ridge? Upham is on low +ground at this moment and they are beyond his view, but General Carr +sees the attempt to cut us off, and in a second the adjutant of the +regiment comes tearing to the line, fast as jaded horse can carry him. A +comprehensive gesture accomplishes at once the soldierly salute to the +major and points out the new danger. Kellogg's company swings into +saddle and fairly springs to the right to meet it. + +In buckskin trousers, fringed and beaded, but much the worse for wear, +in ragged old hunting-shirt and shapeless hat, none but the initiated +would recognize Milwaukee, much less West Point, in that adjutant. But +he was marker of our Light Guard years before the war, and the first +member of its corps of drummer boys. He is just speeding a grim-looking +cavalryman, one of the headquarters orderlies, off with a despatch to +General Merritt, and that orderly is a Milwaukeean, too, and may have to +"run the gauntlet" getting that message through; but his face, what you +can see of it through grizzled hair and beard, looks unconcerned enough; +and under the weather-stained exterior he is known to be a faithful old +soldier--one who loves the rough life better than he did the desk in +_ante bellum_ days when he was clerking at Hathaway & Belden's. "Old +George," as the men call him, ran a train on the Watertown road, too, +once upon a time, but about the close of the war he drifted from the +volunteers into the regulars, and there he has stuck ever since. + +But all this time Crook is marching away faster than we can back and +follow him. We have to keep those howling devils beyond range of the +main column, absorb their attention, pick up our wounded as we go, and +be ready to give the warriors a welcome when they charge. + +Kellogg, with Company "I," has driven back the attempted turn of our +right, but the Indians keep up their harassing attack from the rear. +Time is precious, and Upham begins to think we are wasting it. Again the +adjutant has come to him from General Carr, and now is riding along the +line to the right, communicating some order to the officers, while +Lieutenant Bishop is doing the same on the left. Just as the skirmishers +cross the next ridge a few cool old shots from each company drop on +hands and knees, and, crawling back to the crest, open a rapid fire on +the pursuers, checking them. Covered by this the main line sweeps down +at a run, crosses the low, boggy ground between them, and toils up the +ridge on which we are stationed. Here they halt, face about, throw +themselves flat on their faces, and the major signals to the outlying +skirmishers to come in; they obey with a rush, and a minute after a mass +of Indians pops over the divide in pursuit. With a ringing hurrah of +exultation our line lets drive a volley, the astonished redskins wheel +about, those who can, lugging with them the dead or wounded who have +fallen, and scatter off under shelter. + +"How's that, King?" says the major, with a grin. "Think they've had +enough?" Apparently they have, as none reappear except in distant +groups. Mount is the word. Ranks are formed, the men chat and laugh a +moment, as girths and stirrups are being rearranged, then silence and +attention as they break into column and jog off after Crook's distant +battalions. + +The adjutant is jotting down the list of casualties in his note-book. +"What time is it, major?" "Eight o'clock," says Upham, wringing the wet +from his hat. "Eight o'clock here; church-time in Milwaukee." + +Who would have thought it was Sunday? + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + "BUFFALO BILL" AND "BUFFALO CHIPS." + + +In all these years of campaigning, the Fifth Cavalry has had varied and +interesting experiences with a class of men of whom much has been +written, and whose names, to readers of the dime novel and _New York +Weekly_ style of literature, were familiar as household words; I mean +the "Scouts of the Prairie," as they have been christened. Many a +peace-loving citizen and thousands of our boys have been to see Buffalo +Bill's thrilling representations on the stage of the scenes of his life +of adventure. To such he needs no introduction, and throughout our +cavalry he is better known than any general except Crook. + +A motley set they are as a class--these scouts; hard riding, hard +swearing, hard drinking ordinarily, and not all were of unimpeachable +veracity. But there was never a word of doubt or question in the Fifth +when Buffalo Bill came up for discussion. He was chief scout of the +regiment in Kansas and Nebraska in the campaign of 1868-69, when the +hostiles were so completely used up by General Carr. He remained with us +as chief scout until the regiment was ordered to Arizona to take its +turn at the Apaches in 1871, and nothing but his having a wife and +family prevented his going thither. Five years the regiment was kept +among the rocks and deserts of that marvellous land of cactus and +centipede; but when we came homeward across the continent and were +ordered up to Cheyenne to take a hand in the Sioux war of 1876, the +first addition to our ranks was Buffalo Bill himself. He was "starring +it" with his theatrical troupe in the far East, and read in the papers +that the Fifth was ordered to the support of General Crook. It was +Bill's benefit night at Wilmington, Delaware. He rushed through the +performance, paid off his company, took the midnight express, and four +days later sprang from the Union Pacific train at Cheyenne, and was +speedily exchanging greetings with an eager group of his old comrades, +reinstated as chief scout of the regiment. + +Of his services during the campaign that followed, a dozen articles +might be written. One of his best plays is founded on the incidents of +our fight of the 17th of July with the Cheyenne Indians, on the War +Bonnet, for it was there he killed the warrior Yellow Hand, in as plucky +a single combat on both sides as is ever witnessed. The Fifth had a +genuine affection for Bill; he was a tried and true comrade--one who for +cool daring and judgment had no superior. He was a beautiful horseman, +an unrivalled shot, and as a scout unequalled. We had tried them +all--Hualpais and Tontos in Arizona; half-breeds on the great plains. We +had followed Custer's old guide, "California Joe," in Dakota; met +handsome Bill Hickox (Wild Bill) in the Black Hills; trailed for weeks +after Crook's favorite, Frank Gruard, all over the Big Horn and Powder +River country; hunted Nez Perces with Cosgrove and his Shoshones among +the Yellowstone mountains, and listened to "Captain Jack" Crawford's +yarns and rhymes in many a bivouac in the Northwest. They were all noted +men in their way, but Bill Cody was the paragon. + +This time it is not my purpose to write of him, but, _for_ him, of +another whom I've not yet named. The last time we met, Cody and I, he +asked me to put in print a brief notice of a comrade who was very dear +to him, and it shall be done now. + +James White was his name; a man little known east of the Missouri, but +on the Plains he was Buffalo Bill's shadow. I had met him for the first +time at McPherson station in the Platte valley, in 1871, when he came to +me with a horse, and the simple introduction that he was a friend of +Cody's. Long afterwards we found how true and stanch a friend, for when +Cody joined us at Cheyenne as chief scout he brought White with him as +assistant, and Bill's recommendation secured his immediate employment. + +On many a long day's march after that White rode by my side along the +flanks of the column, and I got to know him well. A simpler-minded, +gentler frontiersman never lived. He was modesty and courtesy itself, +conspicuous mainly because of two or three unusual traits for his +class--he never drank, I never heard him swear, and no man ever heard +him lie. + +For years he had been Cody's faithful follower--half servant, half +"pardner." He was Bill's "Fidus Achates;" Bill was his adoration. They +had been boys together, and the hero worship of extreme youth was simply +intensified in the man. He copied Bill's dress, his gait, his carriage, +his speech--everything he could copy; he let his long yellow hair fall +low upon his shoulders in wistful imitation of Bill's glossy brown +curls. He took more care of Bill's guns and horses than he did of his +own; and so, when he finally claimed, one night at Laramie, the right to +be known by some other title than simple Jim White--something +descriptive, as it were, of his attachment for Cody and life-long +devotion to his idol "Buffalo Bill," a grim quartermaster (Morton, of +the Ninth Infantry), dubbed him "Buffalo Chips," and the name was a +fixture. + +Poor, honest-hearted "Chips"! His story was a brief one after that +episode. We launched out from Laramie on the 22d of June, and, through +all the vicissitudes of the campaign that followed, he was always near +the Fifth. On the Yellowstone Cody was compelled to bid us a reluctant +farewell. He had theatrical engagements to meet in the fall, and about +the end of August he started on General Terry's boat for Fort Buford and +the States. "Chips" remained in his capacity as scout, though he seemed +sorely to miss his "pardner." + +It was just two weeks after that we struck the Sioux at Slim Buttes, +something of which I told you in a former chapter. You may remember that +the Fifth had ridden in haste to the relief of Major Mills, who had +surprised the Indians away in our front early Saturday morning, had +whipped them in panicky confusion out of their "tepees" into the +neighboring rocks, and then had to fight on the defensive against ugly +odds until we rode in to the rescue. As the head of our column jogged in +among the lodges, and General Carr directed us to keep on down to face +the bluffs to the south, Mills pointed to a ravine opening out into the +village, with the warning, "Look out for that gully; there are two or +three wounded Indians hidden in there, and they've knocked over some of +my men." + +Everybody was too busy just then to pay much attention to two or three +wounded Indians in a hole. We were sure of getting them when wanted. So, +placing a couple of sentinels where they could warn stragglers away from +its front, we formed line along the south and west of the captured +village, and got everything ready to resist the attack we knew they +would soon make in full force. + +General Crook had arrived on the scene, and, while we were waiting for +"Lo" to resume the offensive, some few scouts and packers started in to +have a little fun "rousting out them Injuns." Half a dozen soldiers got +permission to go over and join in while the rest of us were hungrily +hunting about for something to eat. The next thing, we heard a volley +from the ravine, and saw the scouts and packers scattering for cover. +One soldier held his ground--shot dead. Another moment, and it became +apparent that not one or two, but a dozen Indians were crouching +somewhere in that narrow gorge, and the move to get them out assumed +proportions. Lieutenant Clark, of General Crook's staff, sprang into the +entrance, carbine in hand, and a score of cavalrymen followed, while +the scouts and others went cautiously along either bank, peering warily +into the cave-like darkness at the head. A squad of newspaper +correspondents, led by that reckless Hibernian, Finerty, of the _Chicago +Times_, came tearing over, pencil in hand, all eagerness for items, just +as a second volley came from the concealed foe, and three more of their +assailants dropped, bleeding, in their tracks. Now our people were +fairly aroused, and officers and men by dozens hurried to the scene. The +misty air rang with shots, and the chances looked bad for those +redskins. Just at this moment, as I was running over from the western +side, I caught sight of "Chips" on the opposite crest. All alone, he was +cautiously making his way, on hands and knees, towards the head of the +ravine, where he could look down upon the Indians beneath. As yet he was +protected from their fire by the bank itself--his lean form distinctly +outlined against the eastern sky. He reached a stunted tree that grew on +the very edge of the gorge, and there he halted, brought his rifle close +under his shoulder, in readiness to aim, and then raised himself slowly +to his feet, lifted his head higher, higher, as he peered over. Suddenly +a quick, eager light shone in his face, a sharp movement of his rifle, +as though he were about to raise it to the shoulder, when, bang!--a puff +of white smoke floated up from the head of the ravine, "Chips" sprang +convulsively in the air, clasping his hands to his breast, and with one +startled, agonizing cry, "Oh, my God, boys!" plunged heavily forward, on +his face, down the slope--shot through the heart. + +Two minutes more, what Indians were left alive were prisoners, and that +costly experiment at an end. That evening, after the repulse of the +grand attack of Roman Nose and Stabber's warriors, and, 'twas said, +hundreds of Crazy Horse's band, we buried poor "Chips," with our other +dead, in a deep ravine. Wild Bill, California Joe, and Cosgrove have +long since gone to their last account, but, among those who knew them, +no scout was more universally mourned than Buffalo Bill's devoted +friend, Jim White. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + THE "CHIEF" AND THE STAFF. + + +With the death of our scout, Jim White, that eventful afternoon on the +9th of September, 1876, the skulking Indians in the ravine seemed to +have fired their last shot. Several squaws were half dragged, half +pushed up the banks, and through them the hidden foe were at last +convinced that their lives would be spared if they would come out and +surrender. Pending the negotiations, General Crook himself, with two or +three staff officers, came upon the scene, and orders were given that +the prisoners should be brought to him. + +The time was, in the martial history of our country, when +brigadier-generals were as plentiful as treasury-clerks--when our +streets were ablaze with brilliant buttons, double rows and grouped in +twos; when silver stars shone on many a shoulder, and every such +luminary was the centre of half a score of brilliant satellites, the +blue-and-gold aides-de-camp, adjutant-generals, etc., etc. But those +were the dashing days of the late civil war, when the traditions of 1812 +and Mexico were still fresh in the military mind, and when we were half +disposed to consider it quite the thing for a general to bedeck himself +in all the splendor to be borrowed from plumes, epaulettes, and sashes, +and, followed by a curveting train of attendants, to gallop forth and +salute his opponent before opening the battle. They did it in 1812, and +"Old Fuss and Feathers," as many in the army called Winfield Scott, +would have pursued the same system in '47, but for the fact that bluff +Zachary Taylor--"Old Rough and Ready"--had taken the initiative, and +left all full-dress outfits east of the Rio Grande. + +We do things in a still more practical style nowadays, and, when it +comes to fighting Indians, all that is ornamental in warfare has been +left to them. An Indian of the Sioux or Cheyenne tribe, when he goes +into battle, is as gorgeous a creature as vermilion pigment, plumed +war-bonnet, glittering necklace, armlets, bracelets, and painted shield +can make him. But here is a chance to see a full-fledged +brigadier-general of the United States Army and his brilliant staff in +action--date, September 9th, 1876; place, a muddy ravine in far-western +Dakota; campaign, the great Sioux war of that year. Now, +fellow-citizens, which is brigadier and which is private soldier in this +crowd? It has gathered in not unkindly curiosity around three squaws who +have just been brought into the presence of the "big white chief." You +are taxpayers--you contribute to the support of the brigadier and the +private alike. Presumably, therefore, having paid your money, you take +your pick. I see you will need assistance. Very well, then. This utterly +unpretending party--this undeniably shabby-looking man in a private +soldier's light-blue overcoat, standing ankle-deep in mud in a far-gone +pair of private soldier's boots, crowned with a most shocking bad hat, +is Brigadier-General George Crook, of the United States Army. He +commanded the Eighth Corps at Cedar Creek, and ever since the war closed +has been hustled about the great West, doing more hard service and +making less fuss about it than you suppose possible in the case of a +brigadier-general. He has spent the best days of his life, before and +since the war, in the exile of the frontier. He has fought all the +tribes on the western slope of the Rockies, and nearly all on the +eastern side. Pitt River Indians sent an arrow through him in 1857, and +since the day he took command against the Apaches in Arizona no white +man's scalp would bring the price his would, even in the most +impoverished tribe on the continent. + +The rain is dripping from the ragged edge of his old white felt hat and +down over his untrimmed beard as he holds out his hand to greet, Indian +fashion, the first squaw whom the interpreter, Frank Gruard, is leading +forward. Poor, haggard, terrified old wretch, she recognizes the big +chief at once, and, springing forward, grasps his hand in both of hers, +while her eyes mutely implore protection. Never having seen in all her +life any reception but torture for prisoners, she cannot be made to +believe, for some minutes, that the white man does not war that way. The +other squaws come crowding after her, each eager to grasp the general's +hand, and then to insert therein the tiny fist of the pappoose hanging +in stolid wonderment on her back. One of the squaws, a young and really +handsome woman, is shot through the hand, but she holds it unconcernedly +before her, letting the blood drip to the ground while she listens to +the interpreter's explanation of the general's assurance of safety. + +Standing by the general are two of his aides. West of the Missouri you +would not need introduction to him or them, for no men are better known; +but it is the rarest thing imaginable to see any one of the three +anywhere else. In point of style and attire, they are no better off than +their chief. Bourke, the senior aide and adjutant-general of the +expedition, is picturesquely gotten up in an old shooting-coat, an +indescribable pair of trousers, and a straw hat minus ribbon or binding, +a brim ragged as the edge of a saw, and a crown without a thatch. It was +midsummer, you recollect, when we started on this raid, and, while the +seasons have changed, our garments, perforce, remain the same, what +there is left of them. + +Schuyler, the junior, is a trifle more "swell" in point of dress. His +hat has not quite so many holes; his hunting-shirt of brown canvas has +stood the wear and tear of the campaign somewhat better, and the lower +man is garbed in a material unsightly but indestructible. All three are +old campaigners in every part of the West. The third aide-de-camp we saw +in the previous article, down in the ravine itself, heading the attack +on the Indians. Clark is unquestionably the show-figure of the staff, +for his suit of Indian-tanned buckskin seems to defy the elements, and +he looks as handsome and jaunty as the day we met him on the +Yellowstone. + +Meantime more Indians are being dragged out of their improvised +rifle-pits--warriors, squaws, and children. One of the latter is a +bright-eyed little miss of some four or five summers. She is absolutely +pretty, and looks so wet and cold and hungry that Bourke's big heart is +touched, and, lifting her from the ground, he starts off with her +towards where the Fifth Cavalry are bivouacked, and I go with them. The +little maiden suspects treachery--torture or death, no doubt--for with +all her savage strength she kicks, struggles, claws, and scratches at +the kindly, bearded face, scorns all the soothing protestations of her +captor, and finally, as we arrive at Bourke's camp-fire, actually tears +off that veteran straw hat, and Bourke, being a bachelor, hands his +prize over to me with the remark that, as a family man, I may have +better luck. Apparently I do not, but in a moment the adjutant-general +is busying himself at his haversack. He produces an almost forgotten +luxury--a solid hard-tack; spreads upon it a thick layer of wild-currant +jam, and hands it to the little termagant who is deafening me with +screams. "Take it, it's washtay, Wauwataycha;" and, sudden as sunburst +from April cloud, little Wauwataycha's white teeth gleamed in smiles an +instant, and then are buried in the sweet morsel. Her troubles are +forgotten, she wriggles out of my arms, squats contentedly in the mud +by the fire, finishes a square foot of hard-tack in less time than we +could masticate an inch, and smilingly looks up for more. + +Poor little heathen! It wasn't the treatment she expected, and, +doubtless, more than ever, she thinks "white man heap fool," but she is +none the less happy. She will fill her own little stomach first, and +then go and tell the glad tidings to her sisters, cousins, and aunts, +and that white chief will have consequential damages to settle for +scores of relatives of the original claimant of his hospitality. Indian +logic in such matters is nothing if not peculiar. Lo argues, "You give +my pappoose something to eat--you my pappoose friend; now you give me, +or you my enemy." + +Nothing but big luck will save Bourke's scanty supply of provender this +muddy, rainy afternoon. + +We have captured a dozen or more rabid Indians who but half an hour ago +were strewing the hillside with our dead. Here's one grinning, +hand-shaking vagabond with one of Custer's corporals uniforms on his +back--doubtless that corporal's scalp is somewhere in the warrior's +possession, but he has the deep sagacity not to boast of it; and no man +in his sound senses wants to search the average Indian. They are our +prisoners. Were we theirs, by this time we would be nakedly ornamenting +a solid stake and broiling to a juicy death to the accompaniment of +their exultant howls. But fate ordains otherwise; we are good North +American citizens and must conciliate--so we pass them around with +smiling, pacific grasp of handcheery "How coolahs," and seat them by +the fire and bid them puff of our scanty store of tobacco, and eat of +our common stock of pony. But we leave a fair-sized guard with orders to +perforate the first redskin that tries to budge, while the rest of us +grab our carbines and hurry to our posts. Scattering shots are heard all +along and around our line--the trumpets of the cavalry ring out "To +arms!" the Fifth Cavalry follows with "Forward." It means business, +gentlemen, for here come Crazy Horse, Roman Nose, and scores, nay +hundreds, of these Dick Turpins of the Plains, bent on recapturing their +comrades. We must drop pen to meet them. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + THE COMBAT OF SLIM BUTTES. + + +It is a stirring sight that meets the eye as, scrambling up from the +shelter of the ravine in which we have been interviewing our captives, +we gain the hillside and look hurriedly around. The whole landscape is +alive with men and horses in excited motion. We are in a +half-amphitheatre of picturesque and towering bluffs. North, south, and +west they frown down upon us, their crests enveloped in eddying mist and +rain clouds, the sward at their base rolling towards us in successive +dips and ridges. Not three hundred yards away the nearest cliff tosses +skyward directly south of the centre of the village we have won, but to +the west and north they open out a good three-quarter mile away. + +The village itself consists of some thirty lodges or tepees of the +largest and most ornate description known to Sioux architecture. The +prisoners say that the head man of the municipality was Roman Nose, and +that he and his band are but flankers of the great chieftain Crazy +Horse, whose whereabouts are vaguely indicated as "over there," which +may mean among the white crags of Slim Buttes, within rifle shot, or +miles away towards the Little Missouri. The tepees are nestled about in +three shallow ravines or "cooleys," as the Northern plainsmen sometimes +call them, which, uniting in the centre of the metropolis, form a little +valley through which their joint contributions trickle away in a muddy +streamlet. On a point at the confluence of the two smaller branches +stands a large lodge of painted skins, the residence no doubt of some +chief or influential citizen, for it is chuck-full of robes and furs and +plunder of every description. Here, not inside, for the domicile savors +of long and unventilated occupation, but outside in the mud, General +Carr has established the headquarters of the Fifth Cavalry. Its left is +bivouacked directly in front, facing south in the narrow ravine nearest +the tall white butte that stands like a sentinel against the stormy sky, +while the rest of the line sweeps around to the west, crossing the level +plateau between the two main ravines. Mason's battalion is holding this +front and uniting with the Second Cavalry battalion on our right. + +Directly behind us rises a mound in the very centre of our position, and +here General Merritt, who commands the whole cavalry brigade, has +planted his flag. It overlooks the field. Below him to the north are the +lodges to which the wounded men have been brought, and where the +surgeons are now at work. Here, too, the compact battalion of the +infantry has stacked its arms and set about kicking the heavy mud off +its worn brogans. Somewhere over there also is the entire Third Cavalry, +but I have been too busy with other entertainments since we trotted in +at noon to find out much about them. To them belongs solely and entirely +the honor of the capture of the village in the first place--only a +hundred and fifty men at that. Their advance under Mills and Crawford, +Schwatka and poor Von Luettwitz (who pays for the honor with a leg the +surgeons have just lopped off) dashed in at daybreak while we were yet +twenty miles away, and since we got in to help them hold the prize all +hands have had their hands full. + +Southeast of Merritt's central position a curling white smoke rising +from the main ravine through the moisture-laden air, and begriming the +folds of a red-and-blue headquarters flag, indicates where Crook himself +is to be found. The brigadier is no better off--cares to be no better +off than the private. He has not a rag of canvas to shelter his head. + +Close in around the lines the lean, bony, leg-weary horses of the +cavalry are herded, each company by itself where best it can find +patches of the rich buffalo grass. No need to lariat those horses now. +For weeks past they have barely been able to stagger along, and the +morning's twenty-mile shuffle through the mud has utterly used them up. +Nevertheless, each herd is strongly guarded, for the Indians are lurking +all around us, eagerly watching every chance. + +The scattering shots from the distant portion of our lines, that have +brought us scrambling up the hillside, wake the scene to the instant +life and excitement we note as we reach the first ridge. As adjutant, my +duties call me at once to General Carr's headquarters, whence half a +dozen officers who were gathered in conversation are scattering to their +companies. A shout from the hillside announces, "Indians firing into the +herds over in front of the Third Cavalry." Even as the hail is heard, a +rattling of small arms, the sharp, vicious "ping" of the carbine and the +deep "bang" of the longer-ranged rifle, sweeps along the western front. +Just as we expected, Crazy Horse has come to the rescue, with all his +available warriors. It is just half-past four o'clock by General Carr's +watch, and between this and sunset the matter must be settled. As yet we +can see nothing of it from our front, but every man seems to know what's +coming. "Sound to arms, Bradley," is General Carr's quiet order to our +chief trumpeter, and as the ringing notes resound along the ravines the +call is taken up from battalion to battalion. The men spring to ranks, +the herd guards are hurrying in their startled horses, and the old +chargers, scenting Indians and danger, toss their heads snorting in the +air and come trotting in to their eager masters. All but one herd--"Look +at the Grays," is the cry, for Montgomery's horses have burst into a +gallop, excited by the shouts and clamor, and there they go up the +slope, out to the front, and square into the fastness of the Indians. +Not yet! A dozen eager troopers, officers and men, have flung themselves +on their steeds, all without saddles, some without bridles, and are off +in chase. No need of their services, though. That dragoon corporal in +charge of the herd is a cool, practised hand--he _has_ to be to wear +chevrons in Montgomery's troop--and, dashing to the front, he half +leads, half turns the leaders over to the left, and in a great circling +sweep of five hundred yards has guided them back into the very midst of +their company. It is at once skilful and daring. No Indian could have +done it better, and Corporal Clanton is applauded then and mentioned in +General Carr's report thereafter. + +Even as it is occurring, the hillsides in our own front bristle with the +savage warriors, too far off as yet for close shooting, but +threateningly near. Our horses must be kept under cover in the ravines, +and the lines thrown out to meet the foe, so "Forward" is sounded. +Upham's battalion scramble up the ridge in their front, and the fun +begins. All around the rocky amphitheatre the Indians come bobbing into +sight on their active ponies, darting from behind rocks and ledges, +appearing for a brief instant over the rise of open ground eight hundred +yards away, then as suddenly dipping out of sight into some intervening +"swale," or depression. The first thing, while the general's horse and +mine are being saddled, is to get the other animals into the ravine +under shelter, and while I'm at it, Bourke, the aide-de-camp we last +saw petting and feeding his baby-captive, comes rattling up the pebbly +stream-bed and rides out to the front with that marvellous wreck of a +straw hat flapping about his ears. He never hears the laughing hail of +"How did you leave your baby, John?" but is the first mounted officer I +see along the line. + + "Press where you see my old hat shine, + Amid the ranks of war, + And be your oriflamme to-day + This tile from Omaha." + +Macaulay barbarously paraphrased in the mud of Slim Buttes. + +As the general swings into saddle and out to the front, the skirmish +line is spreading out like a fan, the men running nimbly forward up the +ridges. They are not well in hand, for they fire rapidly as they run. +The volleys sound like a second Spottsylvania, a grand success as a _feu +de joie_, but, as the colonel indignantly remarks, "They couldn't hit a +flock of barns at that distance, much less an Indian skipping about like +a flea," and orders are sent to stop the wild shooting. That there are +hundreds of Indians is plainly apparent from their rapid fire, but they +keep five or six hundred yards away behind the ridges, peppering at +every exposed point of our line. Upham's battalion is swinging around to +the west; Mason has pushed his five companies square out to the front +along the plateau, driving the Indians before him. To his right the +Second and Third Cavalry, fighting dismounted too, are making merry +music. And now, filing over the ridge, comes the long column of +infantry; and when they get to work with their "long toms" the Indians +will have to skip in earnest. The shrill voice of their gray-bearded old +chief sends his skirmishers rapidly out on Upham's left, and a minute +more the rocks are ringing with the deeper notes of his musketry. +Meantime I have counted at least two hundred and fifty Indian warriors +darting down from one single opening among the bluffs square in Mason's +front, and the wounded are drifting in from his line far more rapidly +than from other exposed points. The brunt of the attack coming along +that plateau falls on him and his five companies. + +It is growing darker, and the flashes from our guns take a ruddier +tinge. The principal occupation of our officers, staff and line, has +been to move along among the men and prevent the waste of ammunition. +Every now and then some young redskin, ambitious of distinction, will +suddenly pop from behind a sheltering hummock and dash at the top of his +pony's speed along our front, but over three hundred yards away, +taunting and blackguarding us in shrill vernacular as he does so. Then +the whole brigade wants to let drive at him and squander ammunition at +the rate of five dollars a second on that one pestiferous vagabond. +"Hold your fire, men!" is the order. "Give them half a chance and some +of the painted humbugs will ride in closer." + +By 5.30 the light is so uncertain that we, who are facing west along the +plateau, and have the grim buttresses of the Buttes in our front, can +barely distinguish the scudding forms of the Indians; but the flash of +their rifles is incessant, and now that they are forced back beyond the +possibility of harm to our centre, the orders are to lie down and stand +them off. These men crouching along the ridge are Company "F," of the +Fifth. They and their captain (Payne) you have heard more of in the Ute +campaign. One of them, a keen shot, has just succeeded in knocking an +Indian out of his saddle and capturing his pony, and even while his +comrades are shouting their congratulations, up comes Jack Finerty, who +seeks his items on the skirmish line, and uses pencil and carbine with +equal facility. Finerty wants the name of the man who killed that +Indian, and, learning from the eager voices of the men that it is +"Paddy" Nihil, he delightedly heads a new paragraph of his despatch +"Nihil Fit," shakes hands with his brother Patlander, and scurries off +to take a hand in the uproar on the left. + + "The war that for a space did fail + Now trebly thundering swelled the gale." + +Colonel Chambers, with his plucky infantrymen, has clambered up the +cliff on the south, changed front forward on his right--practically, not +tactically--and got in a flank fire along the very depressions in which +the Indians are settled. This is more than they can stand. The sun goes +down at Slim Buttes on hundreds of baffled and discomfited Sioux. They +have lost their village; lost three hundred tip-top ponies. A dozen of +their warriors and squaws are in our hands, and a dozen more are dead +and dying in the attempt to recapture them; and the big white chief +Crook has managed to gain all this with starving men and skeleton +horses. + +Drawing in for the night, we post strong pickets well out in every +direction, but they are undisturbed. Now comes the summing-up of +casualties. The adjutants make the weary round of their regiments +through wind and rain, taking the reports of company commanders, and +then repairing to the surgeons to verify the lists. Two or three lodges +have been converted into field hospitals; and in one of these, among our +own wounded, two of the surgeons are turning their attention to a +captive--the warrior American Horse. He lies upon some muddy robes, with +the life-blood ebbing from a ghastly hole in his side. Dr. Clements +examines his savage patient tenderly, gently as he would a child; and, +though he sees that nothing can save life, he does all that art can +suggest. It is a painful task to both surgeon and subject. The latter +scorns chloroform, and mutters some order to a squaw crouching at his +feet. She glides silently from the tepee, and returns with a bit of hard +stick; this he thrusts between his teeth, and then, as the surgeons +work, and the sweat of agony breaks out upon his forehead, he bites deep +into the wood, but never groans nor shrinks. Before the dawn his fierce +spirit has taken its flight, and the squaws are crooning the death-chant +by his side. + +Our own dead are fortunately few, and they are buried deep in the ravine +before we move southward in the morning--not only buried deep, but a +thousand horses, in column of twos, tramp over the new-made graves and +obliterate the trace. You think this is but poor respect to show to a +soldier's grave, no doubt; but then you don't know Indians, and cannot +be expected to know that as soon as we are gone the skulking rascals +will come prowling into the camp, hunting high and low for those graves, +and, if they find them, will dig up the bodies we would honor, secure +the scalps as trophies of their prowess, and then, after indescribable +hackings and mutilations, consign the poor remains to their four-footed +relatives, the prairie wolves. + +Our wounded are many, and a hard time the patient fellows are having. +Such rude shelter as their comrades can improvise from the Indian tepees +we interpose between them and the dripping skies above. The rain-drops +sputter in the flickering watch-fires around their cheerless bivouac; +the night wind stirs the moaning pines upon the cliffs, and sweeps down +in chill discordance through creaking lodge-poles and flapping roof of +hide; the gaunt horses huddle close for warmth and shelter; the muffled +challenge of the outlying picket is answered by the yelp of skulking +coyote; and wet, cold, muddy, and, oh! so hungry, the victors hug their +drenched blankets about their ears, and, grasping their carbines, +pillowed on their saddles, sleep the sleep of the deserving. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + A RACE FOR RATIONS. + + +The village of Slim Buttes destroyed, General Crook pushed ahead on his +southward march in search of the Black Hills and rations. All Sunday +morning Upham's battalion of the Fifth Cavalry covered the rear, and +fought back the savage attacks upon the column; but, once well away from +the smoking ruins, we were but little molested, and soon after noon +caught up with the rest of the regiment, and found the entire command +going into bivouac along a little stream flowing northward from an +opening among towering cliffs that were thrown like a barrier athwart +our line of march. It was cold, cheerless, rainy weather, but here we +found grass and water for our famished cattle; plenty of timber for our +fires, though we had not a thing to cook, but men and horses were weak +and chilled, and glad of a chance to rest. + +Here Doctors Clements, Hartsuff, and Patzki, with their assistants, went +busily to work perfecting the improvised transportation for the wounded. +There was not an ambulance or a field-litter in the command. Two +officers--Bache, of the Fifth, and Von Luettwitz, of the Third +Cavalry--were utterly _hors du combat_, the latter having left his leg +at the fight on the previous day, and some twenty-five men, more or +less severely wounded, were unable either to walk or ride a horse. + +Frontiersmen are quick to take lessons from the Indians, the most +practical of transportation masters. Saplings twelve feet in length were +cut (Indian lodge-poles were utilized); the slender ends of two of these +were lashed securely on either side of a spare pack-mule, the heavy ends +trailing along the ground, and fastened some three feet apart by +cross-bars. Canvas and blankets were stretched across the space between; +hereon one wounded man was laid, and what the Indians and plainsmen call +a _travois_ was complete. Over prairie or rockless road it does very +well, but for the severely wounded a far more comfortable litter was +devised. Two mules were lashed "fore and aft" between two longer +saplings; the intervening space was rudely but comfortably upholstered +with robes and blankets, and therein the invalid might ride for hours as +smoothly as in a palace car. Once, in the Arizona mountains, I was +carried an entire week in a similar contrivance, and never enjoyed +easier locomotion--so long as the mules behaved. But just here it may be +remarked that comfort which is in the faintest degree dependent upon the +uniform and steadfast serenity of the army mule is of most uncertain +tenure. Poor McKinstry, our wagon-master (who was killed in Payne's +fight with the Utes last September, and whose unflattering comparison +may have been provoked by unhappy experiences with the sex), used to +say: "Most mules could swap ends quicker'n a woman could change her +mind;" and it was by no means required that the mule should "swap ends" +to render the situation of the poor fellow in the _travois_ undesirable, +if, indeed, he was permitted to retain it. + + [Illustration: A SICK SOLDIER ON A "TRAVOIS."] + +Sunday afternoon was spent in doing the little that could be done +towards making the wounded comfortable, and the manufacture of rude +leggins, moccasins, etc., from the skins captured from the Indians on +the previous day. Sharp lookouts were kept, but no enemy appeared. +Evidently the Sioux were more than satisfied that Crook was worse than a +badger in a barrel--a bad one to tackle. + +Early on the morning of the 11th we climbed stiffly into saddle, and +pushed on after our chief. Our way for some two miles or more led up +grade through wooded bluffs and heights. A dense fog hung low upon the +landscape, and we could only follow blindly in the trail of our leaders. +It was part of my duty to record each day's progress, and to sketch in +my note-book the topography of the line of march. A compass was always +in the cuff of my gauntlet, and note-book in the breast of my +hunting-shirt, but for three or four days only the trail itself, with +streams we crossed and the heights within a mile or two of the flank, +had been jotted down. Nothing further could be seen. It rained eleven +days and nights without perceptible stop, and the whole country was +flooded--so far as the mist would let us judge. + +But this wretched Monday morning, an hour out from bivouac, we came +upon a view I never shall forget. Riding along in the Fifth Cavalry +column--every man wrapped in his own thoughts, and wishing himself +wrapped in something warmer, all too cold and wet and dispirited to +talk--we were aroused by exclamations of surprise and wonder among the +troopers ahead. A moment more and we arrived in amaze at a veritable +jumping-off place, a sheer precipice, and I reined out to the right to +dismount and jot down the situation. We had been winding along up, up, +for over an hour, following some old Indian trail that seemed to lead to +the moon, and all of a sudden had come apparently to the end of the +world. General Crook, his staff and escort, the dismounted men and the +infantry battalion away ahead had turned sharp to the left, and could be +faintly seen winding off into cloud-land some three hundred feet below. +Directly in our front, to the south, rolling, eddying masses of fog were +the only visible features. We were standing on the brink of a vertical +cliff, its base lost in clouds far beneath. Here and there a faint +breeze tore rents through the misty veil, and we caught glimpses of a +treeless, shrubless plain beneath. Soon there came sturdier puffs of +air; the sun somewhere aloft was shining brightly. We could neither see +nor feel it--had begun to lose faith in its existence--but the clouds +yielded to its force, and, swayed by the rising wind, drew away upward. +Divested of the glow of colored fires, the glare of calcium light, the +shimmering, spangled radiance of the stage, the symphony of sweet +orchestra, we were treated to a transformation scene the like of which +I have never witnessed, and never want to see again. + +The first curtain of fog uplifting, revealed rolling away five hundred +feet beneath a brown barren, that ghastly compound of spongy ashes, +yielding sand, and soilless, soulless earth, on which even greasewood +cannot grow, and sage-brush sickens and dies--the "_mauvaises terres_" +of the French missionaries and fur-traders--the curt "bad lands" of the +Plains vernacular, the meanest country under the sun. A second curtain, +rising farther away to the slow music of muttered profanity from the +audience, revealed only worse and more of it. The third curtain exposed +the same rolling barren miles to the southward. The fourth reached away +to the very horizon, and vouchsafed not a glimpse of the longed-for +Hills, nor a sign of the needed succor. Hope died from hungry eyes, and +strong men turned away with stifled groans. + +One or two of us there were who knew that, long before we got sight of +the Black Hills, we must pass the Sioux landmark of "Deer's Ears"--twin +conical heights that could be seen for miles in every direction, and +even they were beyond range of my field-glasses. My poor horse, ugly, +raw-boned, starved, but faithful "Blatherskite," was it in wretched +premonition of your fate, I wonder, that you added your equine groan to +the human chorus? You and your partner, "Donnybrook," were ugly enough +when I picked you out of the quartermaster's herd at Fort Hays the night +we made our sudden start for the Sioux campaign. You had little to +recommend you beyond the facility with which you could rattle your heels +like shillalahs about the ribs of your companions--a trait which led to +your Celtic titles--but you never thought so poorly of your rider as to +suppose that, after you had worn yourselves down to skin and bone in +carrying him those bleak two thousand miles, he would help eat you; but +he did--and it seemed like cannibalism. + +Well! The story of that day's march isn't worth the telling. We went +afoot, dragging pounds of mud with every step, and towing our wretched +steeds by the bridle-rein; envying the gaunt infantry, who had naught +but their rifles to carry, and could march two miles to our one. But +late that afternoon, with Deer's Ears close at hand at last, we sank +down along the banks of Owl Creek, the Heecha Wakpa of the Sioux; built +huge fires, scorched our ragged garments, gnawed at tough horse meat, +and wondered whether we really ever had tasted such luxuries as ham and +eggs or porter-house steak. All night we lay there in the rain; and at +dawn Upham's battalion, with such horses as were thought capable of +carrying a rider, were sent off down stream to the southeast on the +trail of some wandering Indians who had crossed our front. The rest of +us rolled our blankets and trudged out southward. It was Tuesday, the +12th of September, 1876--a day long to be remembered in the annals of +the officers and men of the Big Horn and Yellowstone expedition; a day +that can never be thoroughly described, even could it bear description; +a day when scores of our horses dropped exhausted on the trail--when +starving men toiled piteously along through thick clinging mud, or flung +themselves, weeping and worn out, upon the broad, flooded prairie. +Happily, we got out of the Bad Lands before noon; but one and all were +weak with hunger, and as we dragged through boggy stream-bed, men would +sink hopelessly in the mire and never try to rise of themselves; +_travois_ mules would plunge frantically in bog and quicksand, and pitch +the wounded screaming from their litters. I hate to recall it. Duties +kept me with the rear-guard, picking up and driving in stragglers. It +was seven a.m. when we marched from Owl Creek. It was after midnight +when Kellogg's rearmost files reached the bivouac along the Crow. The +night was pitchy dark, the rain was pitiless; half our horses were gone, +many of the men were scattered over the cheerless prairie far behind. +But relief was at hand; the Belle Fourche was only a few miles away; +beyond it lay the Black Hills and the stores of Crook City and Deadwood. +Commissary and couriers had been sent ahead to hurry back provisions; by +noon of the coming sun there would be abundance. + +The morning came slowly enough. All night it had rained in torrents; no +gleam of sunlight came to gladden our eyes or thaw the stiffened limbs +of our soldiers. Crow Creek was running like a mill-race. A third of the +command had managed to cross it the evening before, but the rest had +halted upon the northern bank. Roll-call showed that many men had still +failed to catch up, and an examination of the ford revealed the fact +that, with precipitous banks above and below, and deep water rushing +over quicksands and treacherous bottom at the one available point, it +must be patched up in some manner before a crossing could be effected. +An orderly summoned me to the general's headquarters, and there I found +him as deep in the mud as the rest of us. He simply wanted me to go down +and put that ford into shape. "You will find Lieutenant Young there," +said he, "and fifty men will report to you for duty." Lieutenant Young +was there sure enough, and some fifty men did report, but there were no +tools and the men were jaded; not more than ten or twelve could do a +stroke of work. We hewed down willows and saplings with our hunting +knives, brought huge bundles of these to the ford, waded in to the +waist, and anchored them as best we could to the yielding bottom; worked +like beavers until noon, and at last reported it practicable despite its +looks. General Crook and his staff mounted and rode to the brink, but +appearances were against us, and he plunged in to find a crossing for +himself. Vigorous spurring carried him through, though twice we thought +him down. But his horse scrambled up the opposite bank, the staff +followed, dripping, and the next horseman of the escort went under, +horse and all, and came sputtering to the surface at our shaky causeway, +reached it in safety and floundered ashore. Then all stuck to our +ford--the long column of cavalry, the wounded on their _travois_ and the +stragglers--and by two p.m. all were safely over. The Belle Fourche was +only five miles away, but it took two good hours to reach it. The stream +was broad, rapid, turbid, but the bottom solid as rock. Men clung to +horses' tails or the stirrups of their mounted comrades, and were towed +through, and then saddles were whipped off in a dense grove of timber, +fires glowed in every direction, herd guards drove the weary horses to +rich pastures among the slopes and hillsides south of the creek bottom, +and all unoccupied men swarmed out upon the nearest ridge to watch for +the coming wagons. Such a shout as went up when the cry was heard, +"Rations coming." Such a mob as gathered when the foremost wagon drove +in among the famished men. Guards were quickly stationed, but before +that could be done the boxes were fairly snatched from their owner and +their contents scattered through the surging crowd. Discipline for a +moment was forgotten, men fought like tigers for crackers and plugs of +tobacco. Officers ran to the scene and soon restored order, but I know +that three ginger-snaps I picked up from the mud under the horses' feet +and shared with Colonel Mason and Captain Woodson--the first bite of +bread we had tasted in three days--were the sweetest morsels we had +tasted in years. + +By five p.m. wagon after wagon had driven in. Deadwood and Crook City +had rallied to the occasion. All they heard was that Crook's army had +reached the Belle Fourche, starving. Our commissary, Captain Bubb, had +bought, at owners' prices, all the bacon, flour, and coffee to be had. +Local dealers had loaded up with every eatable item in their +establishments. Company commanders secured everything the men could +need. Then prominent citizens came driving out with welcoming hands and +appreciated luxuries, and just as the sun went down Colonel Mason and I +were emptying tin cups of steaming coffee and for two mortal hours +eating flap-jacks as fast as the cook could turn them out. Then came the +blessed pipe of peace, warm, dry blankets, and the soundest sleep that +ever tired soldier enjoyed. Our troubles were forgotten. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + THE BLACK HILLS. + + +It was on Wednesday evening that our good friends, the pioneers of +Deadwood and Crook City, reached us with their wagons, plethoric with +all manner of provender, and the next day, as though in congratulation, +the bright sunshine streamed in upon us, and so did rations. The only +hard-worked men were the cooks, and from before dawn to late at evening +not an hour's respite did they enjoy. Towards sundown we caught sight of +Upham's battalion, coming in from its weary scout down stream. They had +not seen an Indian, yet one poor fellow, Milner of Company "A," riding +half a mile ahead of them in eager pursuit of an antelope, was found ten +minutes after, stripped, scalped, and frightfully gashed and mutilated +with knives, stone dead, of course, though still warm. Pony tracks were +fresh in the springy sod all around him, but ponies and riders had +vanished. Pursuit was impossible. Upham had not a horse that could more +than stagger a few yards at a time. The maddest man about it was our +Sergeant-Major, Humme, an admirable shot and a man of superhuman nerve +and courage; yet only a few months ago you read how he, with Lieutenant +Weir, met a similar fate at the hands of the Utes. He fought a +half-score of them single-handed, and sent one of them to his final +account before he himself succumbed to the missiles they poured upon him +from their shelter in the rocks. A better soldier never lived, and there +was grim humor in the statement of the eleven surviving Ute warriors, +that they didn't want to fight Weir and Humme, but were obliged to kill +them in self-defence. Weir was shot dead before he really saw the +adversary, and those twelve unfortunate warriors, armed with their +repeaters, would undoubtedly have suffered severely at the hands of +Humme and his single shooter if they hadn't killed him too. + +This is digressing, but it is so exquisitely characteristic of the +Indian Bureau's way of doing things that, now that the peace +commissioners have triumphantly announced that the attack on Thornburg's +command was all an accident, and have allowed the Indians to bully, +temporize, and hoodwink them into weeks of fruitless delay (the rascals +never meant to surrender the Meeker murderers so long as they had only +peace commissioners to deal with), and now that, after all, the army has +probably got to do over again what it started to do last October, and +could readily have accomplished long ere this had they not been hauled +off by the Bureau, the question naturally suggests itself, how often is +this sort of thing to be repeated? Year after year it has been done. A +small force of soldiers sent to punish a large band of Indian murderers +or marauders. The small band has been well-nigh annihilated in many +instances. Then the country wakes up, a large force concentrates at vast +expense, and the day of retribution has come, when, sure as shooting, +the Bureau has stepped in with restraining hand. No end of silk-hatted +functionaries have hurried out from Washington, shaken hands and smoked +a pipe with a score of big Indians; there has been a vast amount of +cheap oratory and buncombe talk about the Great Father and guileless red +men, at the end of which we are told to go back to camp and bury our +dead, and our late antagonists, laughing in their sleeves, link arms +with their aldermanic friends, are "dead-headed" off to Washington, +where they are lionized at the White House, and sent the rounds of the +great cities, and finally return to their reservations laden down with +new and improved rifles and ammunition, stove-pipe hats, and Saratoga +trunks, more than ever convinced that the one way to get what they want +out of Uncle Sam is to slap his face every spring and shake hands in the +fall. The apparent theory of the Bureau is that the soldier is made to +be killed, the Indian to be coddled. + +However, deeply as my comrades and myself may feel on this subject, it +does not properly enter into a narrative article. Let us get back to +Upham's battalion, who reached us late on the afternoon of the +fourteenth, desperately tired and hungry. We lost no time in ministering +to their wants, though we still had no grain for our horses, but the men +made merry over abundant coffee, bacon and beans, and bread and +molasses, and were unspeakably happy. + +That evening the general decided to send back to the crossings of the +swollen streams that had impeded our march on the 12th, and in which +many horses and mules and boxes of rifle ammunition had been lost. +Indians prowling along our trail would come upon that ammunition as the +stream subsided, and reap a rich harvest. + +The detail fell upon the Fifth Cavalry. One officer and thirty men to +take the back track, dig up the boxes thirty miles away, and bring them +in. With every prospect of meeting hundreds of the Sioux following our +trail for abandoned horses, the duty promised to be trying and perilous, +and when the colonel received the orders from headquarters, and, turning +to me, said, "Detail a lieutenant," I looked at the roster with no +little interest. Of ten companies of the Fifth Cavalry present, each was +commanded by its captain, but subalterns were scarce, and with us such +duties were assigned in turn, and the officer "longest in" from scout or +detachment service was Lieutenant Keyes. So that young gentleman, being +hunted up and notified of his selection, girded up his loins and was +about ready to start alone on his perilous trip, when there came +swinging up to me an officer of infantry--an old West Point comrade who +had obtained permission to make the campaign with the Fifth Cavalry +and had been assigned to Company "I" for duty, but who was not +detailable, strictly speaking, for such service as Keyes's, from our +roster. "Look here, King, you haven't given me half a chance this last +month, and if I'm not to have this detail, I want to go with Keyes, as +subordinate, or anything; I don't care, only I want to go." The result +was that he did go, and when a few days since we read in the _Sentinel_ +that Satterlee Plummer, a native of Wisconsin and a graduate of West +Point, had been reinstated in the army on the special recommendation of +General Crook, for gallantry in Indian campaign, I remembered this +instance of the Sioux war of 1876, and, looking back to my note-book, +there I found the record and result of their experience on the back +track--they brought in fourteen horses and all the ammunition without +losing a man. + + [Illustration: DEADWOOD CITY, BLACK HILLS OF DAKOTA.] + +Now our whole attention was given to the recuperation of our horses--the +cavalryman's first thought. Each day we moved camp a few miles up the +lovely Whitewood valley, seeking fresh grass for the animals, and on +September 18th we marched through the little hamlet of Crook City, and +bivouacked again in a beautiful amphitheatre of the hills, called +Centennial Park. From here, dozens of the officers and men wandered off +to visit the mining gulches and settlements in the neighborhood, and +numbers were taken prisoners by the denizens of Deadwood and royally +entertained. General Crook and his staff, with a small escort, had left +us early on the morning of the 16th, to push ahead to Fort Laramie and +set about the organization of a force for immediate resumption of +business. This threw General Merritt in command of the expedition, and +meant that our horses should become the objects of the utmost thought +and care. Leaving Centennial Park on the 19th, we marched southward +through the Hills, and that afternoon came upon a pretty stream named, +as many another is throughout the Northwest, the Box Elder, and there we +met a train of wagons, guarded by spruce artillerymen fresh from their +casemates on the seaboard, who looked upon our rags with undisguised +astonishment, not unmixed with suspicion. But they were eagerly greeted, +and that night, for the first time in four long weeks, small measures of +oats and corn were dealt out to our emaciated animals. It was touching +to see how carefully and tenderly the rough-looking men spread the +precious morsels before their steeds, petting them the while, and +talking as fond nonsense to their faithful friends as ever mother +crooned to sleeping child. It was only a bite for the poor creatures, +and their eyes begged wistfully for more. We gave them two nights' rest, +and then, having consumed all the grass to be had, pushed on to Rapid +Creek, thence again to the southern limits of the Hills, passing through +many a mining camp or little town with a name suggestive of the wealth +and population of London. We found Custer City a deserted village--many +a store and dozens of houses utterly untenanted. No forage to be had for +love or money. Our horses could go no farther, so for weeks we lay along +French Creek, moving camp every day or two a mile or more for fresh +grass. It was dull work, but the men enjoyed it; they were revelling in +plenty to eat and no drills, and every evening would gather in crowds +around the camp-fires, listening to some favorite vocalist or +yarn-spinner. Once in a while letters began to reach us from anxious +ones at home, and make us long to see them; and yet no orders came, no +definite prospects of relief from our exile. At last, the second week in +October started us out on a welcome raid down the valley of the South +Cheyenne, but not an Indian was caught napping, and finally, on the 23d +of October, we were all concentrated in the vicinity of the Red Cloud +Agency to take part in the closing scene of the campaign and assist in +the disarming and unhorsing of all the reservation Indians. + +General MacKenzie, with the Fourth Cavalry and a strong force of +artillery and infantry, was already there, and as we marched southward +to surround the Indian camps and villages from the direction of Hat +Creek our array was not unimposing, numerically. The infantry, with the +"weak-horsed" cavalry, moved along the prairie road. Colonel Royall's +command (Third Cavalry and Noyes's Battalion of the Second) was away +over to the eastward, and well advanced, so as to envelope the doomed +villages from that direction. We of the Fifth spread out over the +rolling plain to the west, and in this order all moved towards Red +Cloud, twenty odd miles away. It was prettily planned, but scores of +wary, savage eyes had watched all Crook's preparations at the agency. +The wily Indian was quick to divine that his arms and ponies were +threatened, and by noon we had the dismal news by courier that they had +stampeded in vast numbers. We enjoyed the further satisfaction of +sighting with our glasses the distant clouds of dust kicked up by their +scurrying ponies. A few hundred warriors, old men and "blanket Indians," +surrendered to MacKenzie, but we of the Big Horn were empty-handed when +once more we met our brigadier upon the following day. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + DROPPED STITCHES. + + +Now that an unlooked-for interest has been developed in this enterprise +of the Sunday _Sentinel_, and that in accordance with the wishes of many +old comrades these sketches are reproduced in a little volume by +themselves, many and many an incident is recalled which deserves to be +noted, but which was omitted for fear of wearying the readers for whom +alone these stories of campaign life were originally intended, so that +in this closing and retrospective chapter there will be nothing of +lively interest, except to those already interested, and it can be +dropped right here. + +Looking back over it all, more especially the toilsome march and +drenching bivouacs that followed the departure from Heart River, I +wonder how some men stood it as they did. Among our own officers in the +Fifth, one of our best and cheeriest comrades was Lieutenant Bache, "a +fellow of infinite jest," and one to whom many of us were greatly +attached. He was a martyr to acute rheumatism when he overtook us with +Captains Price and Payne, at the headquarters of the Mini Pusa. By the +time we met General Terry on the Rosebud, he was in such agonizing +helplessness as to be unable to ride a horse, and was ordered to the +Yellowstone and thence to Chicago for medical treatment; but while we +lay at the mouth of the Powder River he suddenly reappeared in our +midst, and, greatly benefited by the two weeks of rest and dry clothes +on the boat, he insisted that he was well enough to resume duty. The +surgeons shook their heads, but Bache carried his point with General +Crook, and was ordered to rejoin the regiment. Then came day after day +of pitiless, pouring rain, night after night unsheltered on the sodden +ground. A cast-iron constitution would have suffered; poor Bache broke +down, and, unable to move hand or foot, was lifted into a _travois_ and +dragged along. When we reached the Black Hills he was reduced to mere +skin and bone, hardly a vestige of him left beyond the inexhaustible +fund of grit and humor with which he was gifted. He reached Fort Dodge +at the close of the campaign, but it had been too much for him. The news +of his death was telegraphed by Captain Payne before we had fairly +unsaddled for the winter. + +Though brother officers in the same regiment, so are our companies +scattered at times that before this campaign Bache and I had met but +once, and that was in Arizona. To-day the most vivid picture I have in +my mind of that trying march in which he figures is a duck-hunting +scene that I venture to say has never been equalled in the experience of +Eastern sportsmen. We had halted on the evening of September 7th, on the +dripping banks of one of the forks of the Grand River (Palanata Wakpa, +the Sioux call it, and a much better name it is), a muddy stream, not +half the width of our Menominee, but encased between precipitous banks, +and swirling in deep, dark pools. The grass was abundant, but not a +stick of timber could we find with which to build a fire. While I was +hunting for a few crumbs of hard-tack in my lean haversack, there came a +sudden sputter of pistol shots on the banks of the stream, and I saw +scores of men running, revolver in hand, to the scene. Joining them, I +found Bache reclining in his _travois_ and blazing away at some objects +in the pool below him. The surface of the water was alive with +blue-and-green-wing teal, and a regiment of ravenous men was opening +fire upon them with calibre-45 bullets. Only fancy it! The wary, gamy +bird we steal upon with such caution in our marshes at home, here on the +distant prairies, far from the busy haunts of men, so utterly untutored +by previous danger, or so utterly bewildered by the fusillade, that +hardly one took refuge in flight, while dozens of them, paddling, +ducking, diving about the stream, fell victims to the heavy revolver, +and, sprinkled with gunpowder for salt, were devoured almost raw by the +eager soldiery. "Great Cæsar's ghost," said Bache, as he crammed fresh +cartridges into the chambers of his Colt, "what would they say to this +on the Chesapeake?" + +Another scene with Bache was at Slim Buttes. In order to prevent +indiscriminate pillage among the captured lodges of the Sioux, General +Crook had ordered the detail of guards to keep out the crowd of +curiosity-seekers. Bache was lying very stiff and sore near one of the +large tepees, and I had stopped to have a moment's chat with him, when +something came crawling out of a hole slashed in the side by the +occupants to facilitate their escape when Lieutenant Schwatka charged +the village that morning; something so unmistakably Indian that in a +second I had brought my revolver from its holster and to full cock. But +the figure straightened up in the dim twilight, and with calm +deliberation these words fell from its lips: "There ain't a thing worth +having in the whole d--d outfit." + +Bache burst into amused laughter. "Well, my aboriginal friend, who in +thunder are you, anyhow? Your English is a credit to civilization." + +It was "Ute John," one of the scouts who had joined us with the +Shoshones on the Big Horn, but who, unlike them, had concluded to stand +by us through the entire expedition. He was a tall, stalwart fellow, +picturesquely attired in an overcoat not unlike our present unsightly +ulster in shape, but made of a blanket which had been woven in imitation +of numerous rainbows. The storied coat of many colors worn by the +original Joseph was never more brilliant than this uncouth garment, and +about this time an effort was made to rechristen our sturdy ally, and +call him no longer monosyllabic and commonplace John, but Scriptural +Joseph. Subsequent developments in his career, however, brought about a +revulsion of feeling, as it was found that the fancied resemblance in +characteristics ended with the coat. + +We had been accustomed in our dealings with the Indians who accompanied +us to resort to pantomime as a means of conversation. Some of our number +prided themselves on their mute fluency--none more so, perhaps, than our +genial friend Major Andy Burt, of the 9th Infantry, who would +"button-hole," so to speak, any Indian who happened along during his +unoccupied moments, and the two would soon be lost in a series of +gyrations and finger flippings that was a dark mystery to the rest of +the command; and when the major would turn triumphantly towards us with +his "He says it's all serene, fellows," we accepted the information as +gospel truth without asking what "it" was. Bache and I were not a little +astonished, therefore, at hearing Ute John launch forth into fluent +English, albeit strongly tinged with Plains vernacular. + +The most tireless men in pursuit of Indian knowledge were the +correspondents of the papers. Frequent mention has already been made of +Mr. Finerty, of the _Chicago Times_, who was the gem of the lot, but the +_New York Times_ and _Herald_ were represented, as were leading journals +of other large cities. With one exception they proved excellent +campaigners, and welcome, indeed, genial associates; but the exception +was probably one of the most unhappy wretches on the face of the globe. +He had come out as a novice the year previous, and accompanied Colonel +Dodge's exploring expedition to the Black Hills, and before long +developed traits of character that made him somewhat of a nuisance. He +was wofully green, a desperate coward, but so zealous in the cause of +journalism that anything he fancied might interest the readers of the +paper of which he announced himself "commissioner" was sent on +irrespective of facts in the case. The officers found him taking notes +of their conversations, jotting down everything he saw and heard around +camp, caught him prying into matters that were in nature confidential, +and so one night they terrified him to the verge of dissolution by +preparations for defence and the announcement that the cooing and wooing +of an army of wood-doves were the death-chants of hundreds of squaws as +the warriors were stripping for the combat. Another time they primed him +into writing a four-column despatch descriptive of the "Camelquo," a +wonderful animal found only in the Black Hills, the offspring of the +Rocky Mountain elk and the Egyptian camel, the latter being some of the +animals introduced into Texas just before the war for transportation +purposes, who had, so Mr. D---- overheard, escaped from the rebels and +made their way to the Northern plains during the great rebellion, and +there had intermarried with the great elk, the native of the Hills. The +resultant "Camelquo," so D---- enthusiastically informed his paper, was +an animal of the stature of the giraffe, the antlers of the elk, the +humps of the camel, the fleetness and endurance of both parents, and the +unconquerable ferocity of the tiger. How D---- came to discover the sell +in time, my informant, Dr. McGillicuddy, did not remember, but to this +day the maps of the Black Hills bear commemoration of the incident, and +Camelquo Creek is almost as well known as Spring and Rapid. Many a rough +miner has asked since '75 how in Hades, or words to that effect, they +came to have such queer names for their streams in the Hills. Most of +them were named by Colonel Dodge's party, and there was rhyme or reason +in each, even for Amphibious Creek, which, said McGillicuddy, we so +named because it sank out of sight so often and came up smiling so +unexpectedly that it only seemed half land, half water. + +On the campaign of '76, Mr. D---- again made his appearance as +commissioner, started with General Crook's staff, but ere long was +called upon to find new accommodations elsewhere. How it all came about +I never cared to know, but after unpleasant experiences with first one +set and then another, he gravitated eventually to the packers, who made +him do guard and herd duty. He pushed ahead with Major Mills's command, +and stumbled with them into the morning battle at Slim Buttes. This he +witnessed in a state of abject terror, and then, when the danger was +over, wrote a most scandalous account, accusing Major Mills of all +manner of misbehavior. His paper published it, but had to eat humble +pie, make a most complete apology, and, I think, dismiss its +correspondent. Camelquo Creek is the only existing trace of poor D---- +of which we have any knowledge. + +Once fairly in the Black Hills, and resting on the banks of French +Creek, we set to work to count up the losses of the campaign. In +horseflesh and equipments the gaps were appalling. Some companies in +the Fifth were very much reduced, and, of course, when the horse dropped +exhausted on the trail, there was no transportation for the saddle, +bridle, and "kit." It often happened that for days the soldier led his +horse along the flanks of the column or in the rear of the regiment, +striving hard to nurse his failing strength, hunting eagerly for every +little bunch of grass that might eke out his meagre subsistence. In all +the array of company losses there was one, and only one, shining +contrast--Montgomery, with Company "B," the Grays, calmly submitted a +clear "bill of health;" he had not lost a single horse, which was +marvellous in itself, but when "Monty" proceeded to state that every +Company "B" man had his saddle, bridle, nose bag, lariat, picket-pin, +side lines, etc., the thing was incomprehensible; that is, it seemed +incomprehensible, until the fact was taken into consideration that those +companies which bivouacked on either flank of the Grays woke each +morning to the realization of a predatory ability on the part of "them +d--d Company 'B' fellers" that rose superior to any defensive devices +they might invent. But Company "B" could not acquire gray horses at the +expense of the rest of the regiment, whatever it might have done in side +and other lines, and the fact that Captain "Monty" paraded every horse +with which he started is due to the unerring judgment and ceaseless +vigilance with which he noted every symptom of weakness in any and every +animal in his troop, and cared for it accordingly. + +As a rule, our company commanders are not thorough horsemen, and too +little attention is devoted to the instruction of our cavalry officers +in the subject--but Montgomery is a noteworthy exception. I don't know +which class will be the more inclined to think me in error in the +following statement, but as a result of not a little observation it is +my opinion that, while the best riders in the cavalry service come from +West Point, the best horsemen are from the ranks. + +But for our anxiety about our horses, the most enjoyable days of the +campaign were probably contained in the first two weeks of October. We +were the roughest-looking set of men on the face of the globe; but with +abundant rations and rousing big fires along the valley of French Creek, +with glad letters from home, and finally the arrival of our wagons with +the forgotten luxuries of tents and buffalo robes, we began taking a new +interest in life. The weather was superb, the sun brilliant, the air +keen and bracing, the nights frostily cold. Wonderful appetites we had +in those days, and after supper the men would gather in crowds around +the camp-fires and sing their songs and smoke their pipes in placid +contentment. The officers, too, had their reunions, though vocalists +were scarce among them, and the proportions of "youngsters" who keep the +fun alive was far too small. The year before, those irrepressible +humorists, Harrigan and Hart, of the New York stage, had sung at their +"Théâtre Comique" a witty but by no means flattering ditty, which they +called "The Regular Army, O." One of its verses, slightly modified to +suit the hearers, was particularly applicable to and popular in the +Fifth Cavalry, and their adjutant, when he could be made to sing "_pro +bono publico_," was always called upon for the song and sure of applause +at the close of this verse. It ran: + + "We were sent to Arizona, for to fight the Indians there; + We were almost snatched bald-headed, but they didn't get our hair. + We lay among the cañons and the dirty yellow mud, + But we seldom saw an onion, or a turnip, or a spud, + Till we were taken prisoners and brought forninst the chief; + Says he, "We'll have an Irish stew"--the dirty Indian thief. + On Price's telegraphic wire we slid to Mexico, + And we blessed the day we skipped away from the Regular Army, O." + +Now General Crook received his promotion to brigadier-generalship in +Arizona, after a stirring and victorious campaign with the Apaches, and +the Fifth Cavalry used to boast at times that his "star" was won for him +by them. Soldiers are quick to attach some expressive nickname to their +officers, but I never learned that our general had won this questionable +distinction until we joined him at Goose Creek, when we found that in +the command already there he was known as "Rosebud George." + +In the hard times that followed there was no little growling among the +half-starving troopers, because the packers seemed to have sufficient to +eat when we were well-nigh destitute. So one night a fifth verse was +trolled out on the still evening air in a strongly Hibernian brogue, and +the listening ears of the Fifth were greeted with something like this: + + "But 'twas out upon the Yellowstone we had the d--dest time, + Faix, we made the trip wid Rosebud George, six months without a dime. + + [Illustration: "THE DANDY FIFTH." + + (General Merritt and his Officers on the Sioux Campaign.)] + + Some eighteen hundred miles we went through hunger, mud, and rain, + Wid backs all bare, and rations rare, no chance for grass or grain; + Wid 'bunkies shtarvin' by our side, no rations was the rule; + Shure 'twas ate your boots and saddles, you brutes, + but feed the packer and mule. + But you know full well that in your fights no soldier lad was slow, + And it wasn't the packer that won ye a star in the Regular Army, O." + +With full stomachs, however, came forgetfulness of suffering, and this +with other campaign lyrics was forgotten. + +It seemed so good to rest in peace for day after day. General Merritt +with his staff, and Major Upham, had pitched their tents in the shelter +of a little rocky promontory that jutted out into the valley and was +crowned by a sparse growth of pines and cedars. One evening, as the full +moon shone down upon the assembled party over this ridge, a perfectly +defined cross appeared upon the very face of the luminary. Every one +noticed it, and one of the number, clambering to the summit, found +growing from a cleft in the rock a sturdy little leafless branch about +two feet in length, crossed by another and smaller twig; the cross was +perfect, and the effect in the moonlight something simply exquisite. +"Camp Faith" was thereupon selected as the name of cavalry headquarters. +Somebody wanted a name for the Fifth Cavalry camp, and, in recognition +of our present blissful and undisturbed existence, as compared with +recent vicissitudes, and mindful of the martial palace of Sans Souci at +Potsdam, a wildly imprudent subaltern suggested _Sans Sioux Ici_, but it +was greeted with merited contempt. + +Of course all were eager for intimation of our next move. Occasional +despatches reached General Merritt, but not a hint could be extracted +from him. Rumors of a winter campaign were distressingly prevalent, and +the Fifth were beginning to look upon a prolonged stay in the Hills as a +certainty, when one day an aide-de-camp of the chief's came to me with +the request that I would make a map for him of the country between the +South Cheyenne and Red Cloud Agency, and let no one know what I was +doing. A week after he wanted another sketch of the same thing, and it +became evident, to me at least, that before very long we would be down +along the White River, looking after "Machpealota." + +The campaign itself being virtually over, the recruits authorized by +special act of Congress to be enlisted for the cavalry regiments +actively engaged began to be heard of at the front, and one evening in +early October we learned that some four hundred heroes were on the march +from Fort Laramie to join the Fifth, and that the Third was to be +similarly reinforced. A hint as to the probable character of the new +levies was also in circulation. Twenty-five hundred men having been +suddenly and urgently needed, the recruiting officers were less +particular in their selections than would otherwise have been the case, +and from the purlieus of Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York the scum +of the country was eagerly grasping this method of getting to the Black +Hills at Uncle Sam's expense. They were marching up to join us, under +the command of Captain Monahan, of the Third Cavalry, assisted by +Lieutenants Ward, Cherry, and Swift, "of Ours;" and on the 11th of +October General Merritt struck camp, the "B., H., and Y.," horse, foot, +and dragoon, bade farewell to French Creek, and, after an exhilarating +ride through a wildly beautiful and picturesque tract of the Hills, we +unsaddled, pitched our tents along Amphibious Creek, and that evening +the new levies arrived. Nobody cared particularly to see the recruits, +but the Fifth Cavalry turned out to a man to see the new horses; and +having called upon and extended a welcoming hand to the comrades joining +us for the first time, we made a dash for the quadrupeds. Before tattoo +that evening there was not one that had not been closely inspected and +squabbled over by the company commanders and their men, and the first +thing the next morning General Merritt ordered the distribution of +horses, "according to color," to companies. + +It was revealed that an expedition somewhere was intended by his +directing the regimental adjutant to pick out the old soldiers among the +recruits, assign them to companies at once, and then issue orders to the +regiment to be in readiness to move at daybreak. + +Never in my life have I seen such an array of vagabonds as that +battalion of four hundred "unassigned" when I got them into line on the +morning of the 12th of October and proceeded to "pick out the old +soldiers" as directed. That was a matter of no difficulty; they were +already acting as non-commissioned officers of the recruit companies, +but were not sixty all told, and more were needed. Stopping before a +sturdily built little fellow with a grizzled moustache and an +unmistakably soldierly carriage, the only promising-looking man left in +the three hundred who had "stood fast" when the order was given "men who +have served previous enlistments step to front," the adjutant +questioned: + +"Haven't you served before?" + +"Not in the regulars, sir." + +"That man is lame, sir," interposed a sergeant. + +"It is an old wound," says the man eagerly, "and it's only so once in +while. I can ride first-rate." + +"What was your regiment?" + +"Seventh Wisconsin, sir." + +"What! Were you at Gainesville?" + +"Yes, sir. Wounded there." + +A knot of officers--Merritt, Mason, Sumner, and Montgomery--who fought +through the war with the Army of the Potomac, are standing there as the +adjutant turns. + +"Sergeant, take this man to Company 'K' and fit him out--and--stop a +moment. Bring him to my tent to-night after supper. Gentlemen, that's an +Iron Brigade man." + +That evening a Company "K" sergeant scratches the flap of the adjutant's +tent--you cannot knock when there is no door--and presents himself with +the recruit-veteran. The latter looks puzzled, but perfectly +self-possessed; answers without hesitation two or three rapidly +propounded questions as to names of his regimental officers in '62, and +then seems completely bewildered as the adjutant takes him cordially by +the hand and bids him welcome. However, it did not require many words to +explain the matter. + +To return to those recruits. If the police force of our large Eastern +cities were at a loss to account for the disappearance of a thousand or +more of their "regular boarders," a flying trip to the Black Hills on +this 12th day of October, '76, would have satisfied them as to their +whereabouts. Where there were ten "good men and true" among the +new-comers, there were forty who came simply with the intention of +deserting when they got fairly into the Hills and within striking +distance of the mines, an intention most successfully carried out by a +large proportion of their number. + +And then the names under which they enlisted! "What's your name?" said +the adjutant to the most unmistakable case of "Bowery Boy" in the front +rank. + +"My name's Jackson Bewregard," is the reply, with the accompaniment of +hunching shoulders, projecting chin, overlapping under-lip, and sneering +nostril characteristic of Chatham Square in the palmy days of Mose. + +"And yours?" to Mr. Bewregard's left file, a big rough of Hibernian +extraction. + +"My name's Jooles Vern." + +The adjutant glances at the muster-roll: "'No. 173--Jules Verne.' Ha! +yes. The party that wrote 'Around the World in Eighty Days.' Have we +many more of these eminent Frenchmen, sergeant?" + +The sergeant grins under his great moustache. Possibly he is recalling a +fact which the adjutant has by no means forgotten, that ten years +before, when they were both in General Billy Graham's famous light +battery of the First Artillery, of which the adjutant was then second +lieutenant, the sergeant was then, too, a sergeant, but with a very +different name. + +Friday, October 13th--ill-omened day of the week, ill-omened day of the +month--and we were to start on a scout down into the valley of the +Cheyenne. Perhaps three fourths of our number neither knew nor cared +what day it was; but, be that as it may, there was an utterly +unmistakable air of gloom about our move. The morning was raw and +dismal. "The General" sounded soon after nine, and the stirring notes +fell upon seemingly listless ears; no one seemed disposed to shout, +whistle, or sing, and just at ten o'clock, when we were all standing to +horse and ready to start, Major Sumner's company sent forth a mournful +little procession towards the new-made grave we had marked on the +hillside at the sharp bend of the creek, and with brief service, but sad +enough hearts, the body of a comrade who had died the night before was +lowered to its rest. The carbines rang out the parting volleys, and +Bradley's trumpet keened a wailing farewell. General Merritt and his +staff, coming suddenly upon us during the rites, silently dismounted and +uncovered until the clods rattled in upon the soldier's rude coffin, and +all was over. Then, signalling us to follow, the chief rode on, the +Fifth swung into saddle, and with perceptibly augmented ranks followed +in his tracks. A battalion of the Third Cavalry, under Colonel Van +Vliet, and a detachment of the Second, under Captain Peale, accompanied +us, while the infantry battalion, the rest of the cavalry, the +recruits, and the sick or disabled remained in camp under command of +Colonel Royall. Where were we going? What was expected? None knew behind +the silent horseman at the head of column; but a start on Friday, the +13th, to the mournful music of a funeral march, boded ill for success. +However, not to be harrowing, it is as well to state right here that ten +days from that date the scout was over, and, without having lost man or +horse, the Fifth rode serenely into Red Cloud Agency. So far as the +regiment was concerned that superstition was exploded. + +The march down Amphibious Creek was grandly beautiful as to scenery. We +wound, snake-like, along the stream, gliding under towering, +pine-covered heights, or bold, rocky precipices. The valley opened out +wider as we neared the "sinks," and, finally, turning abruptly to the +right, we dismounted and led our horses over a lofty ridge, bare of +trees, and commanding a broad valley to the south, over which the road +stretched in long perspective till lost in dark Buffalo Gap, the only +exit through the precipitous and lofty range that hemmed in the plain +between us and the Cheyenne valley beyond. Here we encountered an +emigrant train slowly toiling up the southern slope and staring at us in +undisguised wonderment. Ten miles away we came once again "plump" upon +the boiling waters of the creek, where it reappeared after a twelve-mile +digression in the bowels of the earth. It was clear and fair when it +left us in the valley behind to take its plunge, and it met us again +with a more than troubled appearance and the worst kind of an odor. +Square in between the massive portals of the great gap we unsaddled at +sunset and encamped for the night. + +In the scout which ensued down the valley of the South Cheyenne there +was absolutely nothing of sufficient interest to record in these pages. +Nor had we any luck in our participation in the "round-up" at the Indian +reservation on the 22d and 23d of October. Such warriors as had remained +near Camp Robinson meekly surrendered to General MacKenzie, and we had +nothing to do but pitch our tents side by side with the new-comers of +the Fourth Cavalry and wonder what was to come next. General Crook was +known to be in the garrison with his aides-de-camp, and we had not long +to wait. On the 24th of October our motley array received the welcome +order to go into winter-quarters, the Fifth Cavalry on the line of the +Union Pacific Railroad, and within another twenty-four hours we were _en +route_ for the comforts of civilization. + +But, before we separated from the comrades with whom we had marched and +growled these many weary miles, our chief gave us his parting +benediction in the following words: + + + + + "Headquarters Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, + Camp Robinson, Neb., _October 24, 1876_. + + "_General Orders No. 8._ + + "The time having arrived when the troops composing the Big Horn + and Yellowstone Expedition are about to separate, the + brigadier-general commanding addresses himself to the officers + and men of the command to say: + + "In the campaign now closed he has been obliged to call upon + you for much hard service and many sacrifices of personal + comfort. At times you have been out of reach of your base of + supplies; in most inclement weather you have marched without + food and slept without shelter; in your engagements you + have evinced a high order of discipline and courage; in your + marches, wonderful powers of endurance; and in your + deprivations and hardships, patience and fortitude. + + "Indian warfare is, of all warfare, the most dangerous, the most + trying, and the most thankless. Not recognized by the high + authority of the United States Senate as war, it still possesses + for you the disadvantages of civilized warfare, with all the + horrible accompaniments that barbarians can invent and + savages execute. In it you are required to serve without the + incentive to promotion or recognition; in truth, without favor or + hope of reward. + + "The people of our sparsely settled frontier, in whose defence + this war is waged, have but little influence with the powerful + communities in the East; their representatives have little voice + in our national councils, while your savage foes are not only + the wards of the nation, supported in idleness, but objects of + sympathy with large numbers of people otherwise well-informed + and discerning. + + "You may, therefore, congratulate yourselves that, in the + performance of your military duty, you have been on the side + of the weak against the strong, and that the few people there + are on the frontier will remember your efforts with gratitude. + + "If, in the future, it should transpire that the avenues[A] for + recognition of distinguished services and gallant conduct are + opened, those rendered in this campaign will be remembered. + + * * * * * + + "By Command of Brigadier-General Crook. + + (_Signed_) JOHN G. BOURKE, + "_First Lieutenant Third Cavalry, + A.D.C., and A.A.A. General._" + +[A: The avenue was at last opened by the signature of the +President to the bill providing that brevet rank might be conferred on +officers for gallant conduct in Indian warfare, but it came just too +late. General Crook had barely time to express his gratification. He +died within the week that followed, and his list of officers recommended +or brevets for services rendered in this campaign died with him.] + +To use the emphatic vernacular of the frontier, that parting order "just +filled the bill." It was as complete a summing-up of the disadvantages +of Indian campaigning as could well be written; it indicated plainly how +thoroughly our general had appreciated the sufferings of his men on that +hideous march from Heart River; it assured us of the sympathy he had +felt for one and all (though I doubt if ever a one of us suffered half +so much as he); and, finally, in tendering the thanks of our commander, +it conveyed the only reward we could possibly expect, for had he not +truly said that, of all warfare, Indian warfare is the most thankless? + +Well, it was over with, so far as we were concerned, though brief was +our respite, and now came the closing scenes before the rising of the +morning's sun should see us split up into battalions or detachments, +and, with light feet and lighter hearts, marching away to the south. + +All night long, at General Crook's headquarters, his tireless staff were +working away at orders and details of the move, and closing his report +to the lieutenant-general at Chicago; and here, too, my services were +kept in requisition preparing the map which was to accompany the written +report, so that, for us at least, there was no opportunity of sharing in +the parting festivities and bidding farewell to comrades, cavalry and +infantry, separating for the new posts and the duties of recuperation. + +Our farewells were hurried, yet even now, how vividly I recall the faces +that crowded round headquarters that bright morning of the 25th. +Bronzed and bearded, rugged with the glow of health, or pallid from +wounds and illness, but all kindly and cordial. Then, too, the scenes of +our campaign seemed passing in review before me, and, dream-like, they +linger with me still. Glancing over these now completed pages, how +utterly meagre and unsatisfactory the record seems; how many an incident +have I failed to mention; how many a deed of bravery or self-denial is +left untold. I look back through the mists and rain into the dark depths +of that bloody ravine at Slim Buttes, and wonder how I could ever have +told the story of its assault and failed to speak of how our plucky +Milwaukee sergeant sprang down in the very face of the desperately +fighting Indians and picked up a wounded Third Cavalryman and carried +him on his back out of further harm's way; and of brave, noble-hearted +Munson, as true a soldier as ever commanded company, rushing in between +two fires to drag the terrified squaws from their peril; of Bache, +"swollen, puffed, and disfigured with rheumatism, conquering agony to +mount his horse and take part in the action;" of Rodgers, striding down +the slopes in front of his skirmish-line, his glorious voice ringing +above the clamor, laughing like a schoolboy at the well-meant efforts of +the Indian sharpshooters to pick him off; of General Carr, riding out to +the front on his conspicuous gray, and sitting calmly there to show the +men what wretched shots some Indians could be. + +How could half the incidents be told when so little parade was made of +them at the time? Who knew the night of the stampede on the Rosebud +that Eaton was shot through the hand until he had spent an hour or +more completing his duties, riding as though nothing had happened? Who +knew, at the Rosebud battle, that Nickerson's exertions in the saddle +had reopened the old Gettysburg wound and well-nigh finished him? We +thought he looked white and wan when he rejoined us at Red Cloud, but +never divined the cause. From first to last throughout that march of +eight hundred miles, so varied in its scenes, but so utterly +changeless in discomfort, there was a spirit of uncomplaining +"take-it-as-a-matter-of-course" determination that amounted at times +among the men to positive heroism. Individual pluck was thoroughly +tested, and the instances of failure were few and far between. + +Despite the fact that our engagements were indecisive at the time (and +Indian fights that fall short of annihilation on either side generally +are), the campaign had its full result. Sitting Bull's thousands were +scattered in confusion over the Northwest, he himself driven to a refuge +"across the line," his subordinates broken up into dejected bands that, +one after another, were beaten or starved into submission, and in the +following year General Crook's broad department, the grand ranges of the +Black Hills and Big Horn, the boundless prairies of Nebraska and +Wyoming, were as clear of hostile warriors as, two years before, they +were of settlers, and to-day the lovely valleys of the North, thanks to +his efforts, and the ceaseless vigilance of Generals Terry and Miles in +guarding the line, are the peaceful homes of hundreds of hardy +pioneers. + + + + +ROSTER OF OFFICERS + +SERVING WITH THE FIFTH CAVALRY IN THE BIG HORN AND YELLOWSTONE +EXPEDITION OF 1876. + + _Colonel_ Wesley Merritt, Brevet Major-General. + + _Lieutenant-Colonel_ Eugene A. Carr, Brevet Major-General. + + _Major_ John J. Upham. + + _Major_ Julius W. Mason, Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel. + + _Captain_ Edward H. Leib, Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel. + + _Captain_ Samuel S. Sumner, Brevet Major. + + _Captain_ Emil Adam. + + _Captain_ Robert H. Montgomery. + + _Captain_ Sanford C. Kellogg, Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel. + + _Captain_ George F. Price. + + _Captain_ Edward M. Hayes. + + _Captain_ J. Scott Payne. + + _Captain_ Albert E. Woodson. + + _Captain_ Calbraith P. Rodgers. + + _First Lieutenant_ Bernard Reilly, Jr. + + _First Lieutenant_ Wm. C. Forbush, A.A.G. Cavalry Brigade. + + _First Lieutenant_ Charles King, Adjutant. + + _First Lieutenant_ William P. Hall, Quartermaster. + + _First Lieutenant_ Walter S. Schuyler, A.D.C. to General Crook. + + _Second Lieutenant_ Charles D. Parkhurst. + + _Second Lieutenant_ Charles H. Watts (until July, when disabled). + + _Second Lieutenant_ Edward W. Keyes. + + _Second Lieutenant_ Robert London. + + _Second Lieutenant_ George O. Eaton + (until August 24th, disabled August 10th). + + _Second Lieutenant_ Hoel S. Bishop. + + _Lieutenant_ Wm. C. Hunter, U.S.N. ("Brevet Commodore"). + + _Second Lieutenant_ Robt. H. Young, 4th Inf., + A.D.C. to General Merritt. + + _Second Lieutenant_ J. Hayden Pardee, 23d Inf., + A.D.C. to General Merritt. + + _Second Lieutenant_ Satterlee C. Plummer, 4th Inf., with Co. "I." + + _Acting Assistant Surgeon_ J. W. Powell. + + + + + CAPTAIN SANTA CLAUS. + + +There was unusual commotion in the frontier mining town when the red +stage, snow-covered and storm-beaten, lurched up in front of the Bella +Union and began to disgorge passengers and mail. The crowd on the wooden +sidewalk was of that cosmopolitan type which rich and recently +discovered "leads" so surely attract--tough-looking miners; +devil-may-care cow-boys with rolling hat-brims and barbaric display of +deadly weapons; a choice coterie of gamblers with exaggerated suavity of +manners; several impassive Chinamen (very clean); several loafing +Indians (very dirty); a brace of spruce, clean-shaven, trim-built +soldiers from the garrison down the valley; and the inevitable squad of +"beats" with bleary eyes and wolfish faces infesting the doorways of the +saloons, sublimely trustful of a community that had long ceased to trust +them, and scenting eleemosynary possibilities in each new-comer. + +But while the arrival of the stage was a source of perennial excitement +in the business centre of Argentopolis, the commotion on this occasion +was due to the tumultuous welcome given by a mob of school-children to a +tall, bronzed, fiercely moustached party the instant he stepped, +fur-clad, from the dark interior. Such an array of eager, joyous little +faces one seldom sees. Big boys and wee maidens, they threw themselves +upon him with shrill clamor and enthusiastic embraces, swarming about +his legs as, with twinkling eyes and genial greeting, he lifted the +little ones high in air and kissed their dimpled cheeks, and shook the +struggling boys heartily by the hand, and was pulled this way and that +way until eventually borne off in triumph towards the spickspan new +shop, with its glittering white front and alluring display of fruit, +pastry, and confectionery, all heralded forth under the grandiloquent +but delusive sign, "Bald Eagle Bakery." + +Upon this tumultuous reception Argentopolis gazed for some moments in +wondering silence. When the transfer of the children and their willing +captive to a point some dozen yards away rendered conversation a +possibility, the spokesman of the sidewalk committee shifted his quid, +and formulated in frontier phrase the question which seemed uppermost in +the public mind: + +"Who 'n thunder's that?" + +"That?" said the soldier addressed. "That's Captain Ransom. It's good +times the kids'll be having now." + +"B'long to your rigiment?" + +"Yes; captain of 'B' troop. Been away on leave ever since we got here." + +"Seems fond o' children," said the Argentopolitan, reflectively. "Got +any of his own?" + +"Nary. He b'longs to the whole crowd. The 'B' company fellers'll be glad +he's back. They think as much of him as the kids do." + +"Good officer, eh?" + +"You bet; ain't no better in the cavalry." + +At this unequivocal endorsement from expert authority the eyes of +Argentopolis again followed the big man in the fur overcoat. With three +or four youngsters tugging at each hand, and a dozen revolving +irregularly about him, he was striding across the street, keeping up a +running fire of chatter with his thronging satellites. Soldier he was +unquestionably. Tall, erect of carriage, broad of shoulder, deep of +chest, with a keen, quick glance from under his heavy brows. Eyes full +of light and fire, nose straight and prominent, a great moustache that +hid the curves of his handsome mouth and swept out across the square and +resolute jaws--a moustache that, like the wavy brown hair about the +temples, was tingeing with gray. Strong white teeth glistened through +the drooping thatch, and one or two merry dimples dotted his bronzed and +weather-beaten cheeks. + +Over on the neighboring side street, from the steps of the schoolhouse, +other children surveyed the group, and with envious eyes and watering +mouths beheld the demolition of tarts and turnovers. Despite the keen +and searching cold of the mountain air, rare and still and brimming with +ozone as November days can ever find it, the school shoved its hands +deep in trousers pockets and stared with all its youthful might. + +Even so blessed a half-hour must have its end, and as the warning bell +began to ring, and the Townies to shout that "reecess" was over, the +merry throng, spoil-laden, came pouring down the bakery steps, with +many admonitions to their big benefactor not to think of starting for +the fort until school was out and they could escort him home. Two or +three of the smallest still clung to him, explaining that only the big +ones had afternoon school; _they_ were all through; they had nothing to +do until the ambulance came to take them all at four o'clock; and the +captain became suddenly aware of two little people standing on the +sidewalk and regarding him wistfully. One was a sturdy boy of seven, +with frank blue eyes and chubby rounded cheeks--a picture of solid young +America despite the fact that his little fists were red and bare; his +knickerbockers, though well fitting, were worn and patched; and the +copper toes of his cheap, heavy boots were wearing suspiciously thin. He +stood protectingly by a little maiden, whose face was like those of Sir +Joshua Reynolds's seraphs--a face as pure an oval as ever sculptor +modelled or painter limned, with great, lustrous, long-lashed eyes and +delicate and dainty features, and all about it tumbled a wealth of +glistening golden hair, and all over it shone the look of childish +longing and almost piteous entreaty. One little mittened hand was +clasped in her brother's; the other, uncovered, hung by a finger in her +rosy mouth. She was warmly clad; her little cloak and hood were soft and +white and fleecy; her pigmy legs were cased in stout worsted, and her +feet in warm "arctics," and "mother's darling" was written in every +ornament of her dress. + +Ransom, stowing away a handful of silver, came suddenly upon this silent +pair, and stopped short. Another instant and he had stooped, raised the +younger child in his strong hands, and with caressing tone accosted her: + +"Why, little Snow-drop, who are you? What a little fairy you are!" + +"She ain't one of us," piped up a youthful patrician, disdainfully. +"She's infantry. He's her brother, and they don't belong to the fort." + +The boy's face flushed, and he looked reproachfully at the speaker, but +said no word. Ransom was gazing with singular intentness into the +downcast face of his little captive. + +"Won't you tell me your name, little one?" he pleaded. "Why didn't you +come in and have some tarts and turnovers with the others? I've got to +run now and meet some other old fellows at the stage office. Here, +little man," he said, as he set her down, "take Snow-drop in for me, and +you two just eat all you can, and you pay for it for me." He held out a +bright half-dollar. Snow-drop's eyes glistened, and she looked eagerly +at her brother. + +But the boy hung back. For an instant he hesitated, screwing his boot +toe into a convenient knot-hole as means of covering his embarrassment. +"Come, Jack," said the captain, reassuringly, touching him on the +shoulder. The little fellow shook his head. + +"Why not, my boy?" pleaded Ransom. "Papa won't mind, when you tell him +it was old Uncle Hal. That's what they call me." + +A lump rose in the youngster's throat. His head went lower. + +"It--it's mamma wouldn't like it," he finally said; and just then, with +rush and sputter of hoofs, two officers came trotting around the corner, +threw themselves from their saddles, pounced upon their comrade, and +overwhelmed him with joyous greeting. Another minute and others arrived, +and between them all he was led away up the street. While some of the +children confidently followed, two remained behind--little Snow-drop, +refusing to be comforted, was applying the back of her mittened hand to +her weeping eyes, and turning a deaf ear to her manful brother, who was +vainly striving to explain matters. + +"Maudie Carleton's crying because Phil wouldn't take the money and get +her some goodies," said little Jack Wilkins, in an opportune pause. + +"Who did you say?" asked Ransom, turning suddenly, and looking +inquiringly at his friends. There was an instant of embarrassment. Then +one of the officers replied, + +"Maud Carleton, Ransom. Those are poor Phil Carleton's little ones." + +"Wait for me at the office, fellows; I'll be along in a minute," was the +response; and the captain went striding back to the Bald Eagle. + +It was an old story in the cavalry. Very few there were who knew not +that Captain Ransom was a hard-hit man when Kate Perry--the beauty of +her father's regiment--came back from school, and with all the wealth of +her grace and loveliness and winning ways, refusing to see how she had +impressed one or two "solid" men of the garrison, fell rapturously in +love with Philip Carleton, the handsome, dashing scapegrace of the +subalterns. It was "hard lines" for old Colonel Perry; it would have +been misery to her devoted mother; but she was spared it all--the grass +had been growing for years over her distant grave. + + [Illustration: "'COME, JACK,' SAID THE CAPTAIN, REASSURINGLY."] + +The wedding was a glitter of gold-lace, champagne glasses, and tears. +Every one wished her--and him--all happiness, but dreaded the future. +There was a year of bliss, and little Phil was born; another year when +she was much taken up with her baby boy, and the father much abroad--a +year of clouds and silence. Then came sudden call to the field, and one +night with reeling senses she read the despatch that told her he was +shot dead in battle with the Sioux. When little Maudie came there was no +father to receive her in his arms. The gray-haired colonel took the +widow and her children a few short years to his own roof; then he, too, +was called to his account, and with a widow's pension and the relic of +her father's savings the sorrowing woman moved from the garrison that +had so long been her home, and took up arms against her sea of troubles. +She need not have gone. All Fort Rains knew that there were officers who +would gladly have taken her and her beautiful children to their +fireside. But she was loyal, proud, high-spirited, and she could not +stay. All the roof her father had to leave her was the frame cottage at +the ranch he had bought and stocked, a mile below the fort. She was a +soldier's daughter, brave and resolute, she had her father's old +soldier-servant and his wife to help her, and she moved to the ranch, +and declared she would be dependent on no one. When first she had come +into that glorious valley, a girl of eighteen, a large force of cavalry +was encamped around the garrison in which her father's regiment of foot +was stationed, and Captain Harold Ransom became one of her most devoted +admirers, though nearly twice her age. Few men had much chance against +such a lover as Phil Carleton, buoyant, brilliant, gallant, the pride of +all the juniors in the infantry, the despair of many a prudent mother; +and when that engagement was announced, the cavalry were rather glad to +be ordered away, and to comfort themselves with the perilous +distractions of Indian fighting for three or four stirring years. But, +before they left, Ransom and others had bought much of the land on which +Argentopolis gleamed to-day. Perhaps it was the silver that came into +his hair as well as his pockets, but silver did not cause the lines that +crept under his kindly eyes and around the corners of the firm mouth. He +was rich, as army men go, but his heart was sorely wrenched. He went +abroad when the Indian campaigns were over, and rejoined while his +comrades were on the Pacific coast, and became the delight of the +children and the children's mothers. Captain Santa Claus they called him +at Walla Walla and Vancouver, where he was the life of those garrisons; +and while men honored and women waxed sentimental towards him, it was +the children who took possession of the tall soldier and made his house +their home, who trooped unbidden all over it at any hour of the day, and +made it the garrison play-ground when the rainy season set in and drove +them to cover. + +And then, after their four years in the Columbia country, the regiment +crossed the big range, and, wonder of wonders, headquarters and six +troops, one of them Ransom's, were ordered to Fort Rains! He was again +on long leave when the change of station occurred, and the widow drew a +long breath. She found life very different, with her father's old +friends and hers removed. As the children grew in years their needs +increased. She sold the stock and much of the land of the Ranch, keeping +only the homestead and the patch around it, but she was glad to find +employment at the fort as teacher of the piano and singing. She played +well, but her voice was glorious, and had been carefully trained. The +news that he was coming had given her a shock. It was more than eight +years since she had seen him. It was more than five since she had +briefly answered the letter he wrote her on hearing of her husband's +death. It was so manly, sympathetic, and so full of something he knew +not how to express--a longing to shield her from want or care. She had +gently but firmly ended it all. + +And yet--She was bitterly poor now. Handsomer than ever, said the +officers who knew her in the old days; still wearing her mourning, and +looking so tall and majestic in her rusting weeds. She was a woman whose +form and carriage would be noticeable anywhere--tall, slender, graceful, +with a certain slow, languorous ease of motion that charmed the senses. +Her face was exquisite in contour and feature--a pure type of blond, +blue-eyed, Saxon beauty, with great masses of shimmering golden-brown +hair. No wonder Ransom felt a thrill when he looked into Maudie's +eyes--the child was her mother in miniature. At twenty-seven, with all +her trials, Mrs. Carleton was a lovelier woman than in her maiden +radiance at eighteen. What she had gained in strength and character, +through her years of poverty and self-abnegation, God alone knew, and He +had been her comforter. + +For nearly a year the garrison children had been going in to town for +school, an excellent teacher having been secured in the East, and Mrs. +Carleton eagerly embraced the chance of sending hers. She could no +longer afford a nurse to look after the wee one. She could not take her +on her daily round of lessons, and her infantry friends had gladly seen +to it that the little Carletons were carried to and fro with their own. +So, too, when the cavalry came had Colonel Cross assured her that the +ambulance should always come for them and bring them back to the post. +Everybody wanted to be kind to her, or said so at least; but the ladies +were all new and strange. She had never been the pet among them she was +in her own regiment. They had not known and loved her father, as had the +colonel. They had heard of handsome Phil Carleton, as who had not? but +they had heard of Hal Ransom's old-time devotion to her, and now he +would soon be back. Rich, growing gray, everybody's friend, the +children's idol--oh! what if she should set that widow's cap for him +now! The possibility was appalling. + +And Christmas was coming, and the children had been weaving glowing +pictures of the bliss to be theirs because Captain Santa Claus was +homeward bound, and little Maud was listening with eager ears, and her +blue-eyed brother in silent longing. The boy was his mother's knight and +champion. She took him into her confidence and told him many of her +troubles, and time and again after Maudie was asleep the two were +rocking in the big arm-chair in front of the hearth, the little fellow +curled up in her lap, his arms around her neck, his ruddy cheek nestled +against hers, that looked so fragile and white by contrast. He knew how +hard a struggle mamma was having in keeping the wolf from the door, and +he was helping her--little hero that he was--wearing uncomplainingly the +patched knickerbockers and cowhide boots, bearing in soldier silence the +thoughtless jeers of his schoolmates, and taking comfort in the fact +that sensitive little Maud was always prettily dressed. She had been +petted from babyhood, for scarlet-fever had left her weak and nervous. + +And so the coming of glad Christmas-tide was not to them the source of +boundless joy it seemed to others. For days Maud had been coming home +from school full of childish prattle about the lovely things the other +girls were going to have. Couldn't she have a real wax doll, with +"truly" eyes and hair, that could sing and say mamma; and a doll house, +with kitchen, and a real pump and stove in it, and dining-room and +parlor, and lots of lovely bedrooms up-stairs; and a doll carriage like +Mabel Vane's, with blue cushions, and white wheels and body, and +umbrella top? She was tired of her old dollies and her broken wagon. Why +didn't people ever give her such beautiful things? If she was very good, +and wrote to Santa Claus, wouldn't he bring her what she wanted so very, +very much? Poor Mrs. Carleton! Do our hearts ever ache over our own +troubles as they do over the longings of our little ones? She promised +Maud that Santa Claus should bring the very things she craved, and now +she knew not how to fulfil her pledge. Commissary and butcher bills were +still unpaid, and she so hated to ask even for what was due her! It is +such an old, homely, heart-worn story--that of Christmas yearnings that +must be unfulfilled! We lay down our cherished plans with a sigh of +resignation, but when baby eyes and baby lips are pleading, God forgive +us if we are not so humbly patient, if we accept our burden not without +a murmur, or yield not without a struggle! + +She had other sore perplexities. She well knew she must meet Hal Ransom. +Two days had elapsed since Phil had told her of the reception accorded +him, and Maud had preferred her complaint against her brother for being +so mean to her in not taking the money and giving her a treat. + +Heaven! how the widowed soul hugged her boy to her bosom that night, and +kissed and blessed and cried over him! Come what might, he should have a +Christmas worth remembering, for his remembrance of her! She had long +planned to send to Chicago for a handsome suit to replace the worn and +outgrown knickerbockers. It would have crushed her to think of her +boy's taking money from him, of all people, no matter what the Forties +did. Then came the question as to how she would meet him. Go to the fort +she had to every day, and meet they must. It was not that he would be +obtrusive; he was too thorough a gentleman for that, and her last letter +to him was such that he could not be. It was written in the ecstasy of +her bereavement, when she was hiding even from herself the faults and +neglects of the buried Philip to whom she had given her girlish love. +With lofty spirit she had told him she lived only to teach her children +to revere their father's memory, and that she could never think of +accepting aid from any one, though she thanked him for the delicacy and +thoughtfulness of his well-meant offer. She had asked herself many a +time in the last year whether, if it were to be done again, she could +find it in her heart to be quite so cold and repellent. She wondered if +he had ever heard that the last year of her handsome Philip's life had +been devoted more to other women than to her. She could not tolerate the +idea that he, above all, should suppose that between Philip and herself +all had not been blissful, and that she had been neglected not a little. +And yet--and yet was she unlike other women that just now her toilet +received rather more thought than usual, and that she wondered would he +find her faded--changed? + +They met, as men and women whose hearts hold weightier secrets must +meet, with the ease and cordiality which their breeding demands. Scene +there was none; but she saw, and saw instantly, what she had vainly +striven to teach herself she was utterly indifferent to, that in his +eyes she was no more faded than his love in hers. She could have +scourged herself for the thrill of life and youth it gave her. + +That night little Philip was hugged closer than ever. He had been +telling her how the captain was moving into his new quarters, and the +children trooped over there the moment they got back from school, and +would not ask them, because they were infantry, and Maud cried, and the +captain himself came out and took her in his arms and carried her, and +made him come too, and they all had nuts and raisins and apples, and the +captain was just as kind to them as though they were cavalry--"more too, +for he kept Maudie on his knee most of the time, and wanted us to stay, +but we had to go and meet mamma. And he said that was what made him +proud of me from the first, because I was so true to you, mamma," said +Phil. "I suppose because I wouldn't take his half-dollar." + +She was silent a moment, pressing her lips to his cheek, and striving +hard to subdue the tears that rose to her eyes. She had something to ask +of her boy that was hard, very hard. Yet it had to be done. + +"You were right, Philip. It would have hurt mamma more than words can +tell had you taken money from--from any one. We are very poor, but we +can be rich in one thing--independence. Mamma has not had much luck this +year. It seemed all to go with papa's old regiment. But we'll be brave +and patient, you and mamma, and say nothing to anybody about our +troubles. We'll pay what we owe as we go along. Won't we, Phil?" + +"I wish I could help some way, mamma." + +"You can, my soldier boy." + +He looked up quickly and patted her cheek; then threw his arm around her +neck again. Something told him what it would have to be. + +"Maudie is a baby who cannot realize our position. Philip is my brave +little knight and helper. It--it is so hard for mamma to say it, my boy, +but if we buy what she so longs for at Christmas, there will be nothing +left for the skates, and I know how you want them, and how many other +things you ought to have. You have helped mother so often, Phil. Can you +help her once more?" + +For all answer he only clung to her the closer. + +And now holiday week was near at hand. It was Friday, and school would +close that afternoon, and for two blessed, blissful weeks there would be +no session at all. Christmas Day would come on Tuesday, and the Forties +were running riot in the realms of anticipation. They hugged each other +and danced about the street when the express agent told them of the +packages that were coming almost every day for Captain Ransom, and the +little Townies, who were wont to protest they were glad their papas +weren't in the army, were beginning to show traitorous signs of +weakening. It was a sore test, if every regiment had its own Santa +Claus, as the Forties said. + +And older heads were noting that for some time Captain Ransom drove not +so much townward, up the valley as down; and that there was a +well-defined sleigh track from the lower gate over to the Ranch. +Officers coming up from the stables were quick to note the new feature +in the wintry landscape, and to make quizzical comment thereon. Then, on +Sunday, the third in Advent, a heavy snow-storm came up during the +morning service, and the wind blew a "blizzard." It was only a few weeks +after the captain's arrival, but his handsome roans were well known in +the valley already, and the ladies looked at each other and nodded +significantly as they saw the team drawn up near the chapel door when +the congregation came shuddering out into the cold. Mrs. Colonel Cross, +who had a charming young sister visiting her for the holidays, and Mrs. +Vane, whose cousin Pansy had come over from her brother's station at +Fort Whittlesey, had both offered Ransom seats in their pews until he +chose his own; but he had chosen his own very promptly, and it was well +down the aisle opposite that to which Mrs. Carleton had humbly retired +after her father's death. As a consequence the higher families reached +the door only in time to see the captain bundling the widow and her +little ones in his costly robes, and driving away through the whirling +storm. + +That night the wind died away; the snow fell heavily, and all the next +day it lay in silent, unruffled, unfurrowed beauty over the broad level +below the fort, and though the captain's sleigh went townward towards +evening, and the butcher's "bob" tore an ugly groove along the lower +edge, there was now no trail other than the foot-path along the +willow-fringed river-bank joining the garrison with the widow's gate. +When Friday came, and the plain was still unfurrowed, Fort Rains was +unanimous in its conclusion; Captain Ransom had offered himself again, +and been rejected. + +The households of Vane and Potts, and the ladies, at least, at the +colonel's, breathed freer. Captain Ransom was invited to Christmas +dinner at all three places, and begged to be excused. He explained that +he purposed having all the children at his house from eight to ten for +general frolic that evening--and would not the ladies come over and see +the fun? Mrs. Vane and Pansy were for changing their dinner hour to five +o'clock, if thereby the captain could be secured, and Vane "sounded" +him, but without the hoped-for result. He would have to be at home, he +said. Mrs. Carleton was narrowly watched. Women who had been disposed to +treat her coldly could have hugged her now, if they could be sure she +had really refused the best catch in the cavalry, and left a chance for +some one else. But Mrs. Carleton gave no sign, and she was a woman they +dared not question. What staggered the theory of renewed offer and +rejection was the warmth and cordiality of manner with which they met in +public--and they met almost daily. There was something that seemed to +shatter the idea of rejection in the very smile she gave him, and in the +reverence of his manner towards her. Estrangement there certainly was +none, and yet he had been going over to the Ranch every day, and his +visits had suddenly ceased. Why? They scanned his face for indications; +but, as Mrs. Vane put it, "he always was an exasperating creature; you +could no more read him than you could a mummy." + +Monday before Christmas had come, and Colonel Cross, trudging home from +his office about noon, caught sight of the tall and graceful figure of +Mrs. Carleton coming towards him along the walk. He was about to hail +her in his cheery style, when he saw that her head was bowed, and that +she was in evident distress. Even while he was wondering how to accost +her, she put him out of doubt. Her lips were twitching and her cheeks +were flushed; tears were starting in her eyes, but she strove hard to +command herself and speak calmly. + +"You were so kind as to order the 'special' for me this morning, +colonel, but I shall not need it--I cannot go to town." + +He knew well that something had gone wrong. Blunt, rugged old trooper +that he was, he had been her father's intimate in their cadet days, and +he wanted to befriend her. More than a little he suspected that hers was +not a path of roses among the ladies at Rains. In his presence they were +on guard over their tongues, but he had not been commanding officer of +several garrisons for nothing. + +"Mrs. Carleton," he impetuously spoke, "something's amiss. Can't you +tell an old fellow like me, and let me--ah--settle things? Surely it is +something I can do." + +She thanked him warmly. It was nothing in which he could be of service, +she declared, trying hard to smile--she was a little upset and could +not go to town. But he saw she had just come from Mrs. Vane's, and he +knew that estimable and virtuous woman thoroughly, and drew his +conclusions. Whatever was wrong, it was not unconnected with her +monitions or ministrations--of that he was confident. As for Mrs. +Carleton, she turned quickly from the fort and took her lonely, winding +way among the willows to her valley home, a heart-sick woman. + +Counting her ways and means, she had found that to pay for the items she +had promised Maud and had ordered for her boy--the latter being the suit +sent "C. O. D." from Chicago--she would have to ask a favor of her +patrons at the fort. She had arranged with the proprietor of the big +variety store in town that he should set aside for her a certain +beautiful doll and one of the prettiest of the doll carriages, and that +she would come and get them on this very afternoon. To meet her bills +and these expenses, and that there might be no disappointment, she had +addressed to the parents of her few pupils a modest little note, +enclosing her bill, and asking as a kindness to her that it might be +paid by Saturday, the 22d. Courteous and prompt response had come from +all but two, and with the money thus obtained she had settled her little +household accounts. Mrs. Vane and Mrs. Potts, however, had vouchsafed no +reply, and it was to the mothers, not the fathers, her notes had been +addressed. On Monday morning, therefore, when she went to give Miss +Adèle her lesson, she ventured to ask for Mrs. Potts, and Mrs. Potts was +out--spending the day at Mrs. Vane's. So thither she went, and with +flushing cheeks and deep embarrassment inquired if the ladies had +received her notes. Mrs. Potts had, and was overcome, she said, with +dismay. She had totally forgotten, and thought it was next Saturday she +meant; and now the captain had gone to town, and there was no way she +could get at him. Then came Mrs. Vane's turn. Mrs. Vane, too, had +received her note, but she was not overcome. With much majesty of mien +she told the widow that she always paid her bills on the last day of the +quarter, and that her husband was so punctilious about it and so +methodical that she never asked him to depart from the rule. Mrs. +Carleton strove hard to keep down her pride and the surging impulse to +cry out against such heartless superiority of manner and management. +There was a tinge of reproach in the plea she forced herself to make for +her babies' sake. "You know there are no more lessons this term, Mrs. +Vane; my work is done; and I--so needed it for Christmas, or I would not +have asked." And she smiled piteously through the starting tears. Mrs. +Vane was sorry--very sorry. She could hardly ask her husband to depart +from his life-long practice, even if he were here--and he, too, had gone +to town. + +Yes, everybody seemed to have gone or sent to town for Christmas +shopping. Her little ones were alone in having no one to buy for them. +Harold Ransom too was going, for she saw the handsome roans come dashing +up the drive, as she rose, with a burning sense of indignity, to take +her leave. She came upon Miss Pansy in the hallway, all hooded and +furred, and beaming with bliss at the prospect of a sleigh-ride to +town--behind the roans, no doubt. Never mind that now. Her heart was +full of only one thought--her babies. Where were now her long-cherished +schemes? All Fort Rains was blithe and jubilant over the coming +festivities; Maud was wild with anticipation; and she alone--she alone, +who had worked so hard and faithfully that her children might find joy +in their Christmas awaking--she alone had seen her hopes turn to ashes. +In her pride and her vehement determination to be "beholden" to no one, +she would seek no help in her trouble. She went home, asking only to be +alone, thankful that the children were spending the day with friends in +the garrison, and could not be there to see the misery in her eyes. + +Full an hour she gave to her uncontrollable grief, locked in her room, +sobbing in utter prostration. Her eyes were still red and swollen; she +was weak, trembling, exhausted, when the sudden sound of hoof-beats +roused her. The blood flew to her cheeks. Despite her prohibition, then, +he was here. He had come again, and something told her he had fathomed +her trouble, and would not be denied. She heard the quick, firm tread +upon the steps, the imperative rat-tat-tat of the whip-handle on the +door. She could have called to her faithful slave Mrs. Malloy, the +"striker's" wife, who had known her from babyhood, and bidden her tell +the captain she must be excused, but it was too late. Bridget Malloy had +seen her face when she came home; had vainly striven to enter her room +and share her sorrow; had shrewdly suspected the cause of the trouble, +and through the key-hole had poured forth voluble Hibernian fealty and +proffers of every blessed cent of her savings, but only to be implored +to go away and let her have her cry in peace. Even had Mrs. Carleton +ordered her to deny her to the visitor, it is probable that Mrs. Malloy +would have obeyed--her own instincts. + +"Sure it's glad I am to see the captain!" was her prompt greeting; "and +it was a black day that ever let ye go from her. Come right in, an' I'll +call her to ye. It's all broke up she is." + +And so she had to come. There he stood in the little sanctuary where +Philip in photographed beauty beamed down upon her from over the mantel, +and Philip's rusting sword hung like that of Damocles by the fragile +thread of sentiment that bound her to the past. There he stood with such +a world of tenderness, yearning, sympathy, and suppressed and passionate +love in his dark eyes! She came in, almost backward, striving to hide +her swollen and disfigured face. He never strove to approach her. With +one hand on the mantel, he stood gazing sorrowfully at her. With one +hand on the door-knob, with averted face, she silently awaited his +words. + +"I have disobeyed you, Kate, though I left my sleigh and came on Roscoe. +I have tried to accept what you said eight days ago, but no man on earth +who has heard what I have heard to-day could obey you longer. No. +Listen!" he urged, as she half turned, with silencing gesture. "I'm not +here to plead for myself, but--my heart is breaking to see you +suffering, and to think of your being subjected to such an outrage as +that of this morning. Of course I heard of it. I made them tell me. The +colonel had seen your distress, and told me you had abandoned the trip +to town. I found out the rest. Yes, Mrs. Carleton, if you so choose to +term it" (for she had turned with indignant query in her eyes), "I +_pried_ into your affairs. Do you think I can bear this, to know you are +in want--for want it must be, or you'd never have stooped to ask that +vulgar, purse-proud, patronizing woman for money? Do you think I can +live here and see you subjected to this? By Heaven! If nothing else will +move you, in Philip's name, in your children's name, let me lift this +burden from you. Send me across the continent if you like. I'll promise +to worry you no more, if that will buy your trust. I've lived and borne +my lot these eight or nine long years, and can bear it longer if need +be. What I can't bear, and won't bear, is your suffering from actual +_poverty_. Kate Carleton, won't you trust me?" + +"How _can_ I be your debtor, Captain Ransom? Ask yourself--ask any +one--what would be said of me if I took one cent from you! I _do_ thank +you. I _am_ grateful for all you have done and would do. Oh, it is not +that I do not bless you every day and night for being so thoughtful for +me, so good to my little ones! It wasn't for myself I was so broken +to-day; it was for my--my babies. Oh, I--I _cannot_ tell you!" + +And now she broke down utterly, weeping hysterically, uncontrollably. In +the abandonment of her grief she threw her arms upon the wooden casing +of the doorway, and bowed her head upon them. One instant he stood +there, his hands fiercely clinching, his broad chest heaving, his +bronzed, honest, earnest face working with his weight of emotion, and +then, with uncontrollable impulse, with one bound he leaped to her side, +seized her slender form in his arms, and clasped her to his breast. In +vain she struggled; in vain her startled eyes, filled with resolute +loyalty to the old faith, blazed at him through their mist of tears; he +held her close, as once again, despite her struggles and her forbidding +words, he poured forth his plea. + +"You _can_ take it, you _must_ take it. For your own sake, for your +children's sake--even for his!--give me the right to protect and cherish +you. I--I don't ask your love. Ah, Kate, be merciful!" and then--fatal +inspiration!--but the face he loved was so--so near; he never would have +done it had he thought--it was only as utterly unconquerable an impulse +as his wild embrace; his lips were so tremulous with entreaty, with +love, sympathy, pleading, pity, passion, everything that impelled and +nothing that restrained, that with sudden sweep they fell upon her +flushed and tear-wet cheek, and ere he knew it he had kissed her. + +There was no mistaking the wrath in her eyes now. She was free in an +instant, and bidding him begone. He begged hard for pardon, but to no +purpose. She would listen to nothing. Go he must--his presence was +insult. And he left her panting with indignation, a vengeance-hurling +goddess, a wild-eyed Juno, while he at full gallop went tearing through +the snow-drifts, recklessly, dolefully, yet determinedly, back to the +post. In half an hour he was whipping to town. + +When sunset came, and the evening gun awakened the echoes of the +snow-shrouded valley, and the red disk went down behind the crested +bluffs far up the stream, a sleigh came out from the fort, and Captain +Vane, with curious mixture of cordiality and embarrassment, restored +Phil and Maud to the maternal roof, and begged to hand her the amount +due from him and from Captain Potts for family tuition. He had only +heard a--accidentally--a few minutes before, of her request. And wasn't +there something else he could do? Would she not go to town with him +to-morrow morning? She thanked him. She hardly knew what to do. Here was +the money at last, but it was Christmas eve now, and there was no time +to be lost, and town lay full six miles away. Perhaps she wished a +messenger now, suggested the captain--he would send in a mounted man +gladly. Knowing no other way to secure her treasures for her little +ones, she breathlessly accepted his offer, briefly explained the +situation, and told him how she longed to have the presents there, with +the trifles she had made for them, to greet their eyes with the coming +day. The messenger could go to the store and get the coveted doll and +carriage; there would surely be sleighs from the fort that would bring +them out for him, and he would find the box from Chicago at the express +office, and could pay the charges and sign the receipt on her written +order to the agent. It was arranged in a moment, and with reviving hope +she gave the children their tea and strove to get them early to bed. + +Ten o'clock came. The little ones were at last asleep. She had filled +the stockings with such inexpensive but loving remembrances as she could +afford, and had tottered dangerously near the brink of another flood of +tears when Malloy and his wife came in, the one with a box of tools for +Phil, the other with a set of china for the doll-house. She had finally +bidden those faithful friends good-night, and, having arranged the few +gifts she had for the children, she threw over her shoulders a heavy +shawl and went to the gate to listen for the messenger's return. + +It was a perfect night--clear, still, and sparkling. The moon shone +brightly upon the glistening mantle of snow, and tinged with silver the +pine crests across the stream. Westward, on a little rise, were the +twinkling lights of the fort. Far beyond, far up the narrowing valley, +other lights, dim and distant, marked the position of the town. She +could hear the faint, muffled sound of shots with which the benighted +but jubilant frontiersmen were hailing the coming of the sacred +anniversary, like some midwinter Fourth of July, with exuberant and +explosive hilarity. Then, nearer at hand, soft, sweet, and solemn, there +floated out over the valley the prolonged notes of the cavalry trumpet +sounding the signal "Lights out," the "good-night" of the garrison. Then +all the broad windows of the barracks were shrouded in sudden gloom; +only in the quarters of the officers, on the opposite side of the +parade, were the lights still twinkling. In one of them, nearest the +gate, high up aloft, and close under the gables, there gleamed a +brighter light than all the others. Even in the chilly air she felt the +flush of blood to her cheeks. That was Ransom's house. She well knew he +had chosen it, farthest from the quarters and stables of his troop, +simply because it was at the end of the row, overlooking the valley, and +nearest her. Two weeks since he had said to her that he could not rid +himself of the thought of her isolation. Though off the beaten track a +full three-quarter mile, and within long carbine-range of the sentries, +she was still far away, almost unprotected. Though Indians were no +longer to be feared, there were such things as tramps and blackguards in +the settlements. She laughed at his fears. She had lived there three +years, and never heard a sound at night other than the occasional howl +of a coyote and the distant watch-cry of the sentries. She had brave old +Malloy with his gun, and Bridget with her tongue and nails; she had +Philip's sword, her own brave spirit, and her boy: what had she to fear? + +All the same, struggle against it though she would, it was sweet to hear +his anxious questioning. Even if unmolested by marauders, something +might go wrong--Maudie have croup, a kerosene lamp burst. She might need +help. Who knew? "I shall put a bright lamp and reflector in the little +round garret window every night as soon as I get home," he said, "and, +should you ever be in danger or need, throw a red handkerchief over your +biggest lantern, and show it at the top window. If the sentries don't +see it at once, fire Malloy's gun." She promised, laughingly, though +repudiating the possibility. She had told herself that Philip's spirit +was all the protection she needed; but the night landscape of the +valley, the night lights at the fort, had acquired of late an interest +they never knew before. She would have scourged herself had she +believed, she would have stormed at any one who suggested, that she went +to look for his light; but if ever it failed to be there, at ten or +eleven or later, she knew it. Whatever might be his evening occupation +at the fort--a dinner, a card-party, officers' school, "non-coms" +recitation--it was his habit on reaching home to go at once to the +garret and post his sentinel light. What would he not have given for an +answering signal? + +And there was the light now. He was home, then, and, despite her anger +and his banishment, he was faithful. Christmas eve, and only ten, and he +was home and watching over her. She was still quivering with wrath at +him for that ravished kiss--at least she told herself she was, and had +told him a great deal more. Was it quite fair to drive him from her +home, as she had, when Phil was so fond of him and Maudie loved him so, +and he was so devoted to them? What could he be doing at home so early? +There was a party at the adjutant's, she knew. She had been obliged to +decline. She had three invitations for Christmas dinners, and had said +no to all, gratefully. There were many who wanted to be kind to her, but +she had only one dress she considered fit to wear, so, too, had little +Maud, and as for her brave boy Phil, he had nothing--unless the suit +from Chicago came in time. Without that he could not go to the captain's +Christmas-tree. Why did not the messenger return? She was becoming +feverishly anxious. + +It was too cold to remain out-of-doors. She re-entered, and paced +fitfully up and down her little parlor. She went in and bent over her +sleeping children, and rearranged the coverlets with the noiseless touch +of the mother's hand; she leaned over and kissed them softly, and now +that her surcharged nature had had free vent, and the skies were cleared +by the morning's storm, she felt far gentler, happier. Her cry had done +her good. Her hopefulness was returning--but not the messenger. What +_could_ detain him? Where could he be? It was eleven, and long after, +when at last she sighted a shadowy horseman loping across the moonlit +plain, and slowly he dismounted at her gate and came to +her--empty-handed. He was a soldier of Vane's troop, and his tale was +doleful. He had been set upon in a saloon, robbed, and beaten. The money +was gone, he had brought back nothing but bruises. As consolation he +imparted the fact that 'twas too late to get the doll and carriage. The +last ones had been sold that evening, as she had not come to claim them. +Then he had stepped in to take a drink, because he was cold, and then +the catastrophe had occurred. True or false as might be the story, there +was no doubt of the veracity of that portion which referred to the +drink. Conscious that it was too late to do anything at this hour, she +simply dismissed him, bidding him go at once to the post, barred and +locked her door, and sat down, stunned and heartsick. This, then, was +the joyous Christmas for which she had worked so long and hard! She +raised her arms in one last appeal to Heaven; then threw herself upon +her knees beside her little ones, and buried her face in her quivering +hands. What would their early waking bring to them now but +disappointment? For half an hour she knelt there helpless, stunned. Then +lifted her head--startled. + +Somebody was fumbling at the storm-door. With her heart in her throat, +she listened, incredulous, fearful, then convinced. The boards creaked +and snapped beneath a heavy, stealthy tread. She heard, beyond doubt, a +muttered question, a reply. There were two of them, then! All was +darkness in her parlor now, only the light burned in the children's +room. Her heart bounded, but she stole, despite trembling knees, +noiselessly into the parlor, stooped and peered through the slats, and, +sure as fate, two men, burly, muffled so that they were unrecognizable, +were bending down at the storm-house in front of her parlor door. +Quickly she rose, scurried through the parlor, up the stairs to the room +above the kitchen, where she rapped heavily at the door. "Malloy! +Malloy!" she cried. No answer but a snore and heavy breathing. She +rattled the knob and called again. This time with success. + +"Who is't?" was the startled challenge. + +"It is I--Mrs. Carleton! Quick, Malloy! Two men are trying to break in +at the front door." + +She heard the bound with which the old soldier leaped to the floor. She +ran into the front room. One quick glance showed her Ransom's +signal-light blazing across the mile of snow. One moment more, and, +muffled in red silk, her biggest lantern swung glowing in the window. +Then down the stairs she hurried to her children, just as Malloy, with +his carbine, and Bridget, with a six-shooter, swept gallantly into +action. She heard his fierce summons, "Who shtands there?" and listened +breathlessly. No response. "Who's dhere, I say?" Dead silence. Not even +scurrying footsteps. She crept to the window and peered out. No one +near. She raised the sash, threw open a shutter, and gazed abroad. The +little piazza was deserted, unless both were hiding inside the +storm-house. No! See! Over among the willows by the stream there are +shadowy figures and a sleigh. + +"They've gone, Malloy! They are up the river-bank with a sleigh!" she +called. And then she heard him furiously unbarring the parlor door +preparatory to a rush. She heard it swing open, an impetuous sally, a +collision, a crash, the clatter of a dropped carbine against the +surrounding wood-work, a complication of anathemas and objurgations from +the dark interior, and then a dialogue in choice Hibernian. + +"Are ye hurted, Terence?" + +"I am. Bad scran to the blagyards that left their thrunk behind 'em!" + +Trunk! What trunk? She bore a light into the parlor, and revealed +Malloy, with rueful visage, doubled up over a big wooden box planted +squarely in the doorway. Robbers, indeed! Mrs. Bridget whisked him out +of the way, ran and closed the children's door, and in another moment +had lugged the big box into the parlor, and wrenched away the top. The +two women were on their knees before it in an instant. + +First they dragged forth a great flat paper box, damp and cool and +moist, and this the widow opened tremblingly. A flat layer of white +cotton, dry; then paper; a flat layer of white cotton, moist; and then, +peep! Upon the fresh, green coils of smilax, rich with fragrance, sweet, +moist, dewy, exquisite, lay store upon store of the choicest +flowers--rose-buds and rose-blossoms in cream and yellow and pink and +crimson, carnations in white and red, heliotrope and hyacinth, and +fairest pansies, and modest little violets, and gorgeous tulips, even +great callas--the first flowers she had seen in years. Oh, Captain Santa +Claus! who taught you Christmas wooing? Where learned you such art as +this? Beneath the box was yet another, bearing the stamp of the great +Chicago firm, sealed, corded, just as he had got it from the agent that +evening--Phil's longed-for suit. She hugged it with delight, while tears +started to her dancing eyes. How good he was! How thoughtful for her and +for her little ones! There, beneath, was the very white doll-carriage, +blue lining, umbrella top, and all, wherein reposed a wondrous wax doll, +the like of which Maud had never dreamed. There was a tin kitchen, with +innumerable appendages. There was a glistening pair of club-skates of +finest steel and latest patent, the very thing that Phil so longed for, +and had so lovingly resigned. There were fur cap and gloves and boots +for him, and such an elegant shawl for Mrs. Malloy! He could send them +all he chose, and no offence. But to her--on her he could lavish only +flowers. + + [Illustration: "ONE MOMENT MORE, AND, MUFFLED IN RED SILK, HER BIGGEST + LANTERN SWUNG GLOWING IN THE WINDOW."] + +And then her Irish allies returned to their slumbers, and left her to +the rapture of arranging the new presents and the contemplation of her +flowers; and she was hugging the big pasteboard box and gloating over +her treasures when there was sudden noise without, a rush up the steps, +and before she could drop her possessions the door flew open, and in +came a wild-eyed, breathless captain of cavalry, gasping the apparently +unwarrantable query, "What's the matter?" + +For an instant she stared at him in astonishment. Holding tight her +flowers, she gazed at his agitated face. "Nothing," she answered. "How +could anything be wrong when you have been so--so--" But words failed +her. + +"Why! your red light's burning" he explained. + +"I declare! I forgot all about it!" + +Then another silence. He threw himself back in an arm-chair, breathing +hard, and trying to recover his composure. + +"Do you mean--didn't you mean to signal for help?" he finally asked. + +"Yes, I did"--an arch and mischievous smile now brightening her face. +"When I swung it I wanted you to come quick and drive--yourself away." + +Then she put down her box, and stepped impulsively towards him, two +white hands outstretched, tears starting from her eyes, the color +surging to her lovely face--"Where can I find words to thank you, +Captain Santa Claus?" + +He rose quickly, his face flushed and eager, his strong hands trembling. + +"Shall I tell you?" he asked. + +Her head was drooping now; her eyes could not meet the fervent love and +longing in his; her bosom heaved with every breath. She could only stand +and tremble when he seized her hands. + +"Kate, will you take back what you said to-day?" + +She stole one glance into his passionate, pleading eyes, and her head +drooped lower. + +"_Can't_ you take it back, Kate?" + +A moment's pause. At last the answer. "How can I, unless--unless you +take back what you--what caused it?" + + * * * * * + +Never before had the little Carletons waked to such a radiant Christmas +morning. Never had the Forties known so royal a Christmas-tree. Never +before was "Uncle Hal's" so thronged with beaming faces and happy +hearts. But among all the little ones whom his love and thoughtfulness +had blessed there was no face that shone with bliss more radiant, with +joy more deep and perfect, than that of Captain Santa Claus. + + [Illustration: "CAPTAIN SANTA CLAUS."] + + + + + THE MYSTERY OF 'MAHBIN MILL. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +Placid and homelike enough were all its surroundings, one would say. It +seemed the very last place to look for romance or mystery--the very last +place in the world to be confronted by a foul and savage crime. There +was not a shadow on the bright, breeze-ruffled mill-pond whereon the +ducks were splashing and quacking noisily. Not a willow drooped its +mourning branches over the sunny shallows above, or the foaming, +rushing, tumbling torrent below the dam. Not a tree with heavy, +spreading foliage stood guard between the sunshine and the shores. +Nothing but a few pert, sturdy young hickories fringed the banks, bolt +upright in the broad glare of the noon-tide, and proclaiming in their +very attitude their detestation of all that was vague, dark, or shadowy. +There were no beetling cliffs--no firs, no pines, no dark +hemlocks--nothing in the least suggestive of gloom or tragedy. The +valley lay broad and open. Cosy homesteads and cottages gleamed here and +there along the slopes, nestled in little groves of their own. Orchards, +a vineyard, many fields of waving, yellowing grain, broad pastures +dotted with drowsy sheep and drowsier, clover-fed cattle; bright green +patches every now and then where the sugar-maples huddled together in +rustling gossip; and smiling farms and winding, well-kept country roads +lay north and south. Westward, a few hundred yards, the gleaming bosom +of the island-dotted lake into which the mill-stream poured its swirling +waters; eastward, a short mile, the roofs and chimneys of the thriving +county town; and then, over towards the distant railway, a creamy spire, +with the sacred emblem of the cross glinting and shimmering in the +sunlight, peeped through the fringe of waving tree-tops. All was quiet, +rural beauty. All told of peace, life, contentment, and prosperity this +lovely July morning of the centennial year--all save the hush and awe +that hung about old 'Mahbin mill. + +Over by the waste weir, with musical splash and laughter and faint +little clouds of spray, a tumbling sheet of water was disappearing into +the cool depths below; but here, in the broad, beaten roadway around the +worn threshold, was impressive silence. The busy whir and hum and +clatter was all stilled, though elsewhere this had been a bustling +Monday morn. Men spoke in low, awe-stricken whispers, and went on +tip-toe over the creaking floor within. Peace and contentment, life and +prosperity, flooding sunshine, laughing-water, merry-throated birds made +glad the scene around; but within was silence and mystery and death. +Here, prone on the flour-dusted floor of the old office lay all that was +mortal of gray-haired Sam Morrow, the miller, murdered by murder most +foul, as one and all could see; and young Dick Graham, his right-hand +man for years, had gone, gone no one knew whither. + +In all its peaceful history, Nemahbin had known no such sight or +sensation as this. Thirty years had the old mill been the rallying-point +of the farmers, to the exclusion of the attractions of the tavern in the +little town. Morrow was a character--a man who read and remembered, a +man who took the papers and had an opinion, backed by good reasoning, of +public men and public affairs of the day. He grew to be an authority on +many and most subjects, but he never grew to be popular. Morrow had an +ugly temper when crossed, a lashing, venomous tongue when angered, and, +of late, there had been growing up among the farmers who drove thither +with their grain a suspicion that old Sam, in his grasping, money-loving +greed had become unscrupulous. In this there was rank injustice. Crabbed +and ill-tempered as the man had often been, surly and rough of speech as +he had become, there did not live a more rigidly honest man--his word +was his bond. His own dealings were beyond question, and six months +before his death no man within a thirty-mile radius of Nemahbin had ever +been heard to hint at such a thing as sharp practice at 'Mahbin mill. + +He had not been a happy man. His home life had been far from sweet and +peaceful. Ten years ago his patient and devoted wife had died--worn out, +some neighbors were good enough to say, by his outbreaks of fury and his +cutting injustice. But he had loved her, loved her well, and he mourned +her bitterly. Two children she had left him: one a son, high-spirited, +impulsive, and wilful, between whom and his father there waged incessant +feud while he was at home, and between whom and that same father there +passed frequent letters of most loving description when the boy was +placed at boarding-school. Young Sam had been liberally provided for +when he went away, and his pocket-money was unstinted. The boy was not +vicious, but the restraints of school discipline seemed to tempt him +from one mad exploit to another, and, after two years of sorely tried +patience, the authorities of the school requested his withdrawal. Sam +was fifteen then, a bright, quick-witted fellow, a leader in all boyish +sports and mischief, and immensely popular among the farm folk around +Nemahbin. His chum and intimate friend from early boyhood had been Dick +Graham; like himself, an only son of an idolizing mother, but, unlike +himself, compelled to labor for her support. When young Sam had been +sent away to school after his mother's death, the old man was noticed on +several consecutive days hovering uncertainly about the little country +store where his boy's friend was working from morn till night doing hard +jobs and thankfully carrying home his scanty wages at the end of the +week. One day he blustered in on the "boss" with brief ceremony: + +"Murphy," said he, "you work that boy too hard, and pay him too little. +If you don't double his wages, I will, and take him out to the mill to +boot." Murphy was vastly angered at the proceeding, and Murphy's +adherents voted around the fire that night that old Sam Morrow had no +business to be "spilin' the market for boys," and undermining other +folk's concerns in that way; but the miller stuck to his word; Murphy +would not agree, and at the end of the month Dick Graham moved out to +the mill, where his bright face, and cheery, alert ways, soon deepened +the interest old Sam felt in him for his own boy's sake. Then he moved +Mrs. Graham out there, and placed her and her boy in the cottage near +the mill-house, as his own home was termed. And then the minister of the +pretty church over towards the railway had come over to call on Mr. +Morrow--who was not of the fold--and to shake hands with him, and when +he went away he bent down and kissed pretty little Nellie--the miller's +only daughter, and his darling--and had asked that his own little girls +might come over to make her acquaintance and to gather pond lilies. All +this had happened ten years back, when Nellie was a blue-eyed, +sunny-haired child, and Sam was in his first turbulent year at school. + +Little Nell had to go to her own school very soon. It lay across country +over where the minister lived, and many was the time in the rough spring +weather when Dick Graham had to carry her over the rushing brooks that +burst across the roadway from the deep-drifted slopes of snow. He was a +splendid, sturdy boy of fifteen then--manly, truthful, independent; and +loyally he strove to serve his benefactor in the clattering old mill, +and still more loyally he watched over the bonny child who seemed that +master's all in all. + +Things went smoothly enough, in all conscience, a year or two. Dick +trudged off to evening school during the wintry season, and had found a +good friend in that same minister, who lent him books and helped him +along in his studies; but then Sam came home, virtually expelled from +school, and then began a series of domestic troubles between father and +son that brought sorrow and anxiety to all. Old Sam in his wrath would +taunt the boy with having disgraced him, and young Sam in his flush of +temper would threaten to quit his father's home for good and all. Dick +strove to reason with his friend, but the boy was sensitive and stung to +the quick. A kind word, a loving touch from his father would have melted +his heart in an instant. He would have gone back to school full of +apology and promises to amend; but his father's eyes were averted and +his tongue edged with fire. Sam swore it was of no use to try and be +patient. Then Dick went to the minister in his perplexity, and that +worthy gentleman came strolling over to the mill, and looking over the +ground, so to speak. His was a diplomatic mind, and it had reason to be. +It was easy to win the son's confidence. He, Dick, and Sam junior soon +formed a trio of fast friends, and before long another scheme was +broached; and, with some surly misgiving on old Morrow's part, Sam was +sent to another and larger school. It was the old man's hobby that his +boy should be well educated. But a plethora of pocket-money, said the +authorities of the first establishment, had been the cause of his +downfall, and now the old man sternly refused to give his son a cent. +All his expenses were to be met and paid, and the principal of the new +school was to give him a certain trifling sum on holidays. There was no +known trouble for a year as the result of this arrangement. The boy felt +that he had amends to make and so did his best. A widowed sister of old +Morrow had come to his home and taken charge of it and little Nell, and +there was another era of comparative peace. + +But to young Sam the school life was far from bright. Stinted now where +he had formerly been indulged, he found himself forced into a position +greatly contrasted with the prominence and popularity he had enjoyed +among the youngsters of the year before. He was beginning to learn the +lesson that sooner or later saddens and often embitters the brightest +minds--the lesson that even here in free America money is the standard +of even personal value. It was not so with Western boys before the war. +Money was a thing well-nigh unknown to them, but the "flush" days +brought with them new ideas, and the ideas stuck fast long after the +flush days had gone. Sam Morrow found that he was no longer the pet of +the "best set." Money and reckless good-nature had won it for him in the +old school; good-nature unbacked by money was no help here at the new. +Sam said nothing to his father, but his letters to Dick became more +frequent. He stood to his work like a little man, and despite the sorrow +and loneliness of that year he came home the better for it all. He had +made excellent progress. His teacher had praised him; the minister put +him through his paces and extolled him; and old Morrow, proud and +pleased, wanted to unbend and send the boy back for his second year with +some substantial token of his pleasure; but stubborn pride on both +sides seemed to stand between father and son. Sam junior would ask +nothing, and the old man's reply to the minister's well-meant suggestion +was, "Well, if the boy wants money now let him come and say so." And +this Sam swore he would not do, and so it ended. + +Next year there was a catastrophe. Sam was now a stalwart, handsome +young fellow of seventeen. "Ready to go to college," said his teachers. +One day old Morrow received a telegraphic despatch begging him to come +at once to the school. He went, and in four days was home again with Sam +and a broken heart. Small sums of money had been missed from time to +time by various pupils of the school. Suspicion had fastened on a sharp +boy who was believed to spend more money than he legitimately received. +A watch was kept, a search was made, and Sam Morrow was detected passing +at a store some of the marked money. Questioned as to where he got it, +he for the time declined to answer, until told that he was suspected of +the theft. He then confessed that it was part of a small sum Fielding, +the sharp boy aforementioned, paid him from time to time for translating +his Cæsar for him. Fielding promptly, and with much apparent +indignation, denied the story. Receiving such assistance and passing off +another boy's work as his own was an offence for which a pupil was +always severely punished. The case rested as a question of veracity +between the two boys, with the odds vastly in favor of Sam--for a few +hours only, pending further investigation, but that investigation was +fatal. At least twelve dollars of the missing money was found secreted +in Sam's books and clothing. He had furiously denied everything; he +protested in vain that he had no idea how it came there, but his lonely, +solitary ways were remembered, his habits of hanging about the +dormitories apparently at study when the boys were at play--and there +was no one to stand up for him. Old Morrow came, listened in crushed +silence, and took his boy home. Honest to the backbone himself, he was +sore stricken to think that his son should steal. He had heard first the +stories of the teachers and pupils before being ushered into the +presence of the accused. All hot impulse and fury, he had come upon his +lonely and friendless son, and when the poor fellow, bursting into tears +in his misery and excitement of the moment, had thrown his arms about +his father's neck, sobbing, "I have not done it, I am innocent," he had +sternly unclasped the pleading hands and ordered him to prepare at once +to go home with him. Sam seemed utterly stunned by his father's refusal +to hear a word. He was almost crazed with misery when he reached home. +The minister and Dick listened to his story and believed it. Old Sam +shut himself up; refused to see any one for some days, until Nellie's +tears and petitions secured a brief interview for the worthy churchman. +This time the latter was not diplomatic. He believed the boy wronged +from beginning to end. He told old Morrow in so many words that his +pride and stubbornness were sin and shame, and roused the old man to +such a pitch of wrath that he shrieked out his hope that the son who had +disgraced him might never come before his sight again--and he never +did. Sam Morrow heard the furious words. Pride came to his aid; and +never saying a word of farewell to the friends whom he knew would strive +to dissuade him, but clinging long to sweet twelve-year-old Nellie, and +sobbing as though his heart would break, Sam left his father's roof that +night. Five years had passed away, and not one word was ever heard from +him. The old man's curse had indeed come home to rest; his fading eyes +were never more to be blessed by the sight of his son. + +But this was only half of his misery. The minister left the house with +his blood up; went forthwith to that school and was closeted some hours +with his old friend the principal. Sam's side of the story had an +intelligent advocate; a revulsion of feeling had set in; boys and men +both began to recall good points about Morrow that had not occurred to +them before, and queer things about that fellow Fielding. In less than a +month after Sam's disappearance there came a letter to old Morrow one +day which he read in gasping amaze, and then fell prone and senseless on +the floor of the very office where he lay now prone and dead. Sam's +story was true; Fielding had confessed even to having stolen the money +and hiding portions of it in Sam's property, to divert suspicion from +himself. + +But now came a long illness in which old Morrow lay at death's door. He +raved for his boy. He cursed his own mad folly and injustice. He did +everything that could be suggested to bring the wanderer home again. The +story went into the papers. Advertisements were circulated through the +Western States. Even detectives were called upon, but to no purpose. +Sam never returned. The old man, bent and sorrowing, but with as fiery a +temper and an even more envenomed tongue, seemed to live only for +Nellie's sake and the hope of once more greeting his boy. Nellie herself +had spent some years at boarding-school and had grown into a lovely girl +of eighteen. Dick Graham was a fine, manly fellow, good to look at and +better to trust and tie to. "Too good a man to stay grubbing for old +Morrow at the mill," said the neighbors. "Far too valuable and +intelligent for the humble stipend that is paid him," said the minister. +"Old Morrow" had grown miserly and grasping, said Public Opinion--and it +was true. He had no confidant; he had no friends to whom he could open +his heart. In dumb sorrow he shrank from the world, ever looking with +haggard eyes for some trace of the lost boy whom his injustice and +cruelty had driven into exile. Nellie was his one comfort. He gloried in +her budding beauty, but he meant to make a lady of her, and even during +her school vacation she did not always come home. It was too lonely and +sad a spot for one so bright as she, said the old man, and he willingly +permitted her to visit school friends in their city homes, and went +month after month to see her--and bear to her, and the friends she +liked, huge and uncouth offerings of candy or flowers in his efforts to +show his appreciation of their interest in his precious child. Nellie +was a princess in his eyes, but others saw in her a somewhat spoiled and +over-petted beauty. That is--some others--most others. There was one +who worshipped her as even her father never dreamed of doing; one to +whom her faintest wish was law; one to whom her lightest word was +sacred, and to whom her smile, or the touch of her little hand meant +heaven. People wondered how Dick Graham could consent to hang on there +at 'Mahbin mill, "grubbing" for that grasping old Morrow like a slave. +Poor Dick! Slave he was, as many another had been, but not the miller's. +He could and would have broken with him three years before, when the +death of his invalid mother left the young fellow independent of all +claim--but he could not and would not break the tie that bound him to +'Mahbin and the dusty, dingy, red-shingled old mill. He idolized Nellie +Morrow, and she held his life in her hands. + +She had learned to be very fond of Dick in the year that followed her +brother's disappearance. She had grown into his heart the year before +she went to school, and when she came home from her first vacation, +child though she was, she knew it and gloried in it. Each year added to +her maidenly graces, and to his thraldom, and the very winter that +preceded this centennial summer Dick had brought her home from a +sleighing-party one night fairly wild with joy and pride. In answer to +his impetuous and trembling words she had murmured to him that he was +dearer to her than anybody else could be, and he believed it, though +Miss Nellie had grave doubts in her own mind as to the truth of that +statement even when she made it. Still, it was very nice to have the +best-looking and smartest young man in and around 'Mahbin for her own, +when she was home, but he was not quite to be compared with the +exquisites she saw in the city streets, or the brothers of some of her +school friends. And there was one--oh! so romantic a fellow! whom she +met that very winter in Chicago when spending Thanksgiving holidays with +a schoolmate; a dark-eyed, splendid-looking man, tall, straight, +athletic, with bronzed features and such a strange history! He was much +older than these school-girls. He must have been thirty or thereabouts, +and was own cousin to her friend. He had been a soldier when very young; +had run away from home and fought in the great war, and had been a +wanderer almost ever since; had been to California and to sea, and--they +did not really know where else. Nellie was too young to notice that he +had not been cordially welcomed by the old people on his arrival at the +home of her friend. He had been wild and reckless, had "Cousin Harry," +and papa did not like him, was the explanation of subsequent coldness +she could not help seeing. But to the girls he was perfect. He had so +mournful, mysterious, pathetic a manner. He was trying so hard to find +some steady employment--was so eager to settle down--and he soon became +so interested in Nellie, so devoted to her in fact, and the very day +they returned to school--how it came about she never knew exactly, his +sympathetic manner did it, perhaps,--she told him about her brother and +his utter disappearance, and then she wondered at the sudden eager light +in his eyes, the color that shot into his face through bronze and all, +and the unmistakable agitation with which he had asked the question, +"What was his name?" For an instant she believed he must have met Sam +and known him, but this he denied, denied even when he asked to see his +photograph. + +Then "Cousin Harry" had been searching in his questions about Nellie, +her father, his age, his property, her prospects. It was easy enough to +extract all manner of information from her school-girl friend, and, when +Nellie went back to school, she had reason to believe there was +something very real in Mr. Henry Frost's decided interest in her. + +She knew Dick loved her. She had given him every reason to hope that she +was growing to care for him; yet before the Christmas holidays she twice +had more reason to remember Harry Frost's devoted manner--and when she +started home for those very holidays he was on the train. + +It was Christmas eve that sent Dick Graham home happier than he had ever +been in his life, but in one short week the happiness had fled. Mr. +Frost had taken up his abode at the little tavern in the village; had +acquired some strange influence over old Morrow, and was playing the +devoted to Nellie in a way she too plainly liked. Early in January she +went back to school, but Frost remained. He had indeed gained a powerful +influence over the lonely old man--no one knew how--for Morrow invited +the stranger to his house to stay awhile, and, before January was over, +the tall, dark-eyed, dark-haired, athletic man was occupying a desk in +the office of the old mill. + +There was great speculation and conjecture and gossip all around +'Mahbin over this matter. The mill had been doing rather less business +than usual; no additional men were needed. The office required little +attention, for old Morrow had kept his own books and done his own +letter-writing for years. If a clerk were needed, why take in a stranger +whom nobody knew, they urged, when there was young Graham, whom +everybody liked and trusted? And yet, before spring had fairly set in, +old Morrow had turned over his bookkeeping and writing to this Mr. +Frost; and though the key of the little safe was never intrusted to any +hand but that of the master, and though there was one desk no one but +Morrow himself could open, Frost was soon as much at home in the mill as +though he had lived there a lifetime. + +When the brief Easter holiday came an odd thing happened. Nellie Morrow +declined to go with any of her school-friends. She wrote that she wanted +to see dear old 'Mahbin again, and delightedly the miller brought her +home. It was a week of torment to poor Dick Graham; a holiday that +proved far from satisfactory to Morrow, for he saw with sudden start +that his bonny Nell was becoming vastly interested in Mr. Frost, whom he +was beginning to distrust. + +When Frost had come to Nemahbin, in December, he had sought the old +miller, requested a confidential interview, told him, with all apparent +frankness, of his meeting with Nellie at the home of his uncle, near +Chicago, and of her telling him the sad story of Sam's disappearance. + +"Mr. Morrow," said he, "I believe I met and knew your son on the +Pacific coast. What is more, I believe I can find him." The miller knew +that Frost's relations were people of high position, but did not know +that the man before him was very far from standing well in their esteem. +But he had been imposed upon more than once by people who sought to make +money from his eagerness to obtain any clue to the whereabouts of his +missing boy. He closely questioned Frost, and was speedily convinced +that there was no imposition here. He had known him, and known him well; +for, even in little tricks of speech and manner, Frost could describe +Sam to the life. The old man's first impulse was to take Frost with him +and start for the Pacific coast at once; but the latter pointed out to +him that the journey to mid Arizona was very long and expensive, and +that he had reason to believe Sam had left there and gone with miners to +Montana. He had friends and correspondents; he would write; he did +write, and showed Morrow the letters, and they went apparently to +Prescott, Arizona, but not for three months did answers come; and then +they were vague and indefinite, and meantime the old man's heart had +been torn with suspense and anxiety, and he rebelled at the restriction +placed upon him by Frost, that he should admit to nobody that they were +on the trail of his absent son--that Frost had known him well "in the +mines," as he said, though by another name. He disliked it still more +that there was so much of his own life while in the distant West of +which Frost gave varying accounts, and always avoided speaking; and now +it was plain that he was "making up" to Nellie; it was plain that she +was far from averse to the attentions of this handsome and distinguished +fellow, with his air of reserve and mystery; and it was plain that poor +Dick Graham was both miserable and suspicious. He had been set against +Frost from the very first. + +Still there was a certain element with whom he had attained +popularity--the young men about the village, and especially those of the +large and thriving town over on the railway. He was a superb horseman, +and had ridden with grace and ease a horse that poor Dick had pronounced +utterly unmanageable. Then, one night during the Easter holidays, a +large party of the young people of Nemahbin had driven over to town to +attend the ball given by a local military organization. Nellie was the +belle on the occasion, and was coquetting promiscuously with the +officers and the members of the company, evidently to the annoyance of +that hitherto unrivalled Mr. Frost. Even gloomy Dick Graham found some +comfort in this, but his comfort gave way to dismay when, after a brief +and rather clumsily executed drill of his command, the captain had +suddenly turned over his sword to Mr. Frost, and the latter, as though +by previous arrangement, stepped forward, and, with all the ease of an +expert tactician and drill-master, and with stirring, martial voice and +bearing, put the company through one evolution after another with +surprising rapidity, and finally retired, the applauded and envied hero +of the occasion. Nellie had monopolized him the rest of the evening, and +all men held him in great esteem. Questioned as to his wonderful +proficiency, he laughingly answered, "Why, I soldiered through the last +two years of the war in the volunteers, and saw a good deal of the +regulars afterwards, out West--that is, I used to watch them with great +interest," and quickly changed the subject. + +But Dick Graham's jealous eyes--and no eyes are so sharp as those whose +scrutiny is so whetted--marked that he had changed color, and that his +manner was nervous and embarrassed. From that day on he watched Frost +like a cat. + +June came in with sunshine and roses, and a great centennial celebration +and exhibition in the far East, and a great convention for the +nomination of a president, and the country was so taken up with these +stirring events that, when June went out, precious little attention was +paid to an affair that, a year earlier or later, would have thrilled the +continent with horror. In one short, sharp, desperate struggle of a +quarter of an hour, Custer, the daring cavalry leader of the great +war--Custer, the yellow-haired, the brave, the dashing, the hero of +romance and fiction and soldierly story--Custer and his whole command +had been swept out of existence by an overwhelming force of Indians. + +Nellie was home again, and Frost was now occupying a room in Sam +Morrow's little house. The old man had come to Dick but a short time +before her return, and, with something of his old kind and confidential +way, had said to him that Frost was to remain with them but a few weeks +longer, and that he was unwilling to have him under the same roof with +Nellie even during that little while. Morrow had begun to look on Frost +as a liar. He felt certain that he had known his lost boy, but doubted +now his pretensions as to his ability to find him. Indeed, Frost +admitted that he had lost the clue, and it was at this time that Morrow +at last told the minister of the matter. That he was being deceived in +more ways than one the old man was convinced, yet had nothing tangible +to work upon; but his worst suspicions had not really done justice to +the facts in the case. Morrow would have killed the man could he have +known the truth--that he knew well just where the missing son was to be +found, and would not tell--and that, virtually robbing the old miller of +one child, he had now well-nigh robbed him of the other. Between him and +Nellie letters had secretly passed, at regular intervals, ever since the +Christmas vacation. She was fascinated, yet she, too, distrusted. He +swore that he loved her--longed to make her his wife--yet forbade her +confessing to her father that such was the case. More than that, he had +cautioned her to look for an indifferent manner on his part on her +return. He explained that her father disliked him, and would send him +away instantly if their love were suspected. He even urged her to +encourage Dick Graham. He was playing a desperate game, indeed. He had +hoped to win the father's confidence with the daughter's love, and +secure his consent--and blessing--and fortune; but, as matters stood, he +knew that, though he might win Nellie, it would be in defiance of the +father's will, and that meant disinheritance and banishment for both. + +By every art in his power he had striven, of late, to curry favor with +Graham, but without success. Dick was coldly civil, and would have been +thankful for an excuse at open rupture. He suspected Frost of having won +Nellie away from him, but could prove absolutely nothing. He believed +him to be a mere adventurer, and had urged the miller to write to those +connections of whom he had boasted--the Chicago relatives--and ascertain +his history; but Morrow had sternly silenced him with the information +that he knew it all--at least he knew enough. "Mr. Frost is here for a +purpose, and it is sufficient that I have brought him here," was the old +man's reply to further objections, and so poor Dick felt that nothing +more was to be said. + +But with Nellie's return came a revival of hope. She was sweeter, +prettier than ever, and her manner to Dick was now as gentle, and even +confidential, as it had been careless and indifferent during the late +winter. She came home about the 15th of June, and for the fortnight that +followed it was Dick, not Mr. Frost, whom she seemed to favor. Graham +hardly dared believe the evidence of his senses, but was too blissful to +analyze matters. The old man, of late, had taken to spending some hours +in the evening down at his office in the mill, and Frost was generally +closeted there with him. Very surly and sad and irascible the miller had +grown. He was bitter and unjust to everybody. Several times he had +angrily reprimanded Graham in the presence of customers and mill-hands +for things that were entirely of Frost's doing. There had been errors +in the accounts, over which the farmers had growled not a little; and +one day, bursting from a group of men who had been calling his attention +to a matter of the kind, the old man stamped furiously into the office, +shut the door after him with a bang, and was heard to say, in loud and +angry tones, to some one, "Now the next time this happens, by God, you +go!" + +A moment after, Dick Graham came from the office into the mill, and that +night it was told in Nemahbin that the old man had threatened to +discharge him. He and Graham seemed to get along very badly, and no man +could explain it. + +But, gaining hope from Nellie's smiles, Dick was ready to bear up +against the old man's fit of rage. At heart, he knew the miller liked +and trusted him. There was much he could not fathom, but was content to +wait and watch. Meantime he kept his eye on Frost--noted how nervous and +ill at ease he was becoming, marked his labored attempts to win his +friendship, and withheld it the more guardedly. + +One day, about a week after Nellie's return, business required that he +and Frost should go together to the neighboring town on the railway. +They were standing by the elevator on a side-track with a knot of young +men, when a train came rumbling in from the East, and as it drew up at +the station it was seen that the rear car was filled with soldiers. + +"Hello!" shouted one of the party. "Let's go and have a look at the +regulars." Dick started with the rest, but suddenly stopped. An +indefinable sensation prompted him to look around for Frost, and Frost +was nowhere to be seen. Turning quickly back, he entered the open +doorway of the little warehouse, and there, in a dark corner, peering +through a knot-hole over towards the station, was his mysterious +companion. Dick approached him on tiptoe, and clapped him sharply on the +shoulder. + +"Come, man! come and see the soldiers; some of your friends may be +there." + +White as death was Frost's face as he turned with fearful start. Then, +seeing it was Graham, and suspecting it was a trick, he flushed crimson, +and angrily, though with trembling lips, replied, + +"My friends! what do you mean? How the devil should I have friends among +them? Go yourself, if you want to see them, but leave me alone." + +And Graham turned away, more than ever convinced that, in some way, +Frost's knowledge of soldiering was derived from personal experiences he +wished to conceal. + +A week more, and he had another opportunity of testing it. Going to the +village for the mail, he found a group of men eagerly listening to one +of their number who was reading aloud the terrible details of the Custer +massacre. Graham heard it all in silence, got the mill mail, and walked +thoughtfully homeward. Old Morrow was seated with Nellie in the porch, +and Frost, hat in hand, was standing at the foot of the steps, looking +up at them as he spoke deferentially to the miller. + +"Any news, Dick?" asked the miller, shortly. + +"Terrible news, sir!" said Graham, eying Frost closely as he spoke. +"General Custer and his regiment, the Seventh Cavalry, were butchered by +the Indians a fortnight ago." + +Frost fairly staggered. A wild light shot into his face; his hat fell +from his nerveless hand. + +"I do not believe a word of it!" he gasped. "It's a lie! They never +could! Give me the paper," he demanded, hoarsely; but Graham coolly +avoided his attempt to seize it and handed the paper to Morrow. Eying +him closely, as Dick had done, the miller tore the wrapper with +provoking deliberation, and finally gave the contents to Frost. He had +partially recovered self-control by this time, but his hands shook like +palsy as he unfolded the paper. + +"My God! it's true!--mainly true, at least," he gasped, while drops of +sweat started to his forehead. "All with him were killed. It has knocked +the breath out of me. I knew so many of them out there, you know." + +"In Arizona?" asked Morrow. + +"Ye-yes--Arizona!" he stammered. "It tells here what officers were +killed, but does not give the names of the men. I wish it did. I wish I +knew. They are the ones I saw most of." Then he stopped short, as though +he had said too much. And all the time both Morrow and Graham had never +ceased their rigid scrutiny, and he knew it. He hurriedly went away. + + + + CHAPTER III + + +That night Nellie was fitful and constrained in manner. Dick went home +restless and unhappy. It was very late, but there was the light burning +brightly down at the office. + +"Who are there?" he asked the lad who did odd jobs around the miller's +house, and who slept in Graham's cottage. + +"Mr. Morrow and Frost. Gosh! how the old man has been cussin' him. He +cusses everybody round here now, don't he? I heerd down in the village +you was going to quit." + +Graham made no reply, but turned gloomily into his own room. + +Next morning Frost came to him looking very pale and nervous. + +"Graham," he said, "I want to ask a great favor. I must go to Chicago, +and I want twenty dollars. Will you lend me that much? I will give it to +you again next week." + +"Why do you come to me?" asked Graham, shortly. + +"The old man and I are at loggerheads, and--I know he would not let me +have it. Once in Chicago, and I can get money, you shall have it--sure." + +Graham hesitated. He had saved but little from the small stipend +allowed him, but a thought struck him that the surest way to get rid of +an objectionable acquaintance was to lend him money. It might keep Frost +from returning. Stepping to his worn old desk, he unlocked and opened +it, took from an inner compartment a small roll of bills, counted out +twenty dollars, and handed it to Frost without a word. + +"You think you won't get this back, Graham, but you will," said the +latter, as he eagerly took it and went away. This was a Tuesday morning. +On the following Sunday Dick Graham was amazed to see Frost standing at +the miller's gate talking earnestly with Nellie, who dropped her head +and scurried into the house as she caught sight of his approaching form. + +"Back, you see!" said Frost, holding out his hand, which Dick +unwillingly took. He had returned a new man. His clothes, that had begun +to grow shabby, were replaced by new ones of stylish cut and make; his +eyes were bright, his color high, his voice ringing and animated; his +manner was brisk and cheery, yet nervous. + +"Have you seen Mr. Morrow?" was all Graham could find to say by the way +of welcome. "He is down at the mill, and wants you." + +It had been a wretched five days for Dick. Twice he had surprised Nellie +in tears that she could not explain, and the old man had treated him +with gross injustice on several occasions. All his old fury of manner +had been redoubled. He openly accused Dick of having furnished money to +aid Frost in getting away when he knew him to be a cheat and an +impostor; knew that Frost had garbled the accounts and been stealing at +the mill, and in all probability he was no better than an accomplice. +Twice Dick's indignation and wrath had given way to angry retort, and +the story had gone far and wide around Nemahbin that the old man and the +young one were bitter enemies, and Dick had openly vowed he could stand +it no longer. Then Nellie, who had been coquetting with his hopes and +fears, had once again plunged him into the depths. He loved her blindly, +madly, poor fellow, and was bent as she willed, but the time had come +when he could brook his ills no longer; and that Sunday evening, +standing by the rushing stream down below the dam, and moodily throwing +stone after stone into the dark waters, Dick Graham had determined to +face his fate, and have the matter ended then and there. + +He was to take her to the village for evening service. She and her aunt +quite frequently spent the night with friends in 'Mahbin in preference +to coming back to the mill through the darkness, and this bright July +day had turned to night, dark, cloudy, overcast, with heavy fog-wreaths +whirling through the cheerless air. The rain came pattering down as they +left the church, and hospitable friends urged their stay. Ten minutes +later Dick was standing in the bright light of a parlor, face to face +with the girl who had been his idol from boyhood until now. They were +alone. She saw in his face that the crisis had come, and was pale and +nervous as he was pale and determined, yet she strove to assume a light +and laughing manner. + +"What is it, Dick? You have been solemn as an undertaker for a whole +week, and to-night you are like--I don't know what." + +Quickly he seized her hands, and held them firmly against every effort +to draw them away. His heart beat like a hammer, his eyes were flaming +with the fire of his love, his lips quivered and twitched with the +intensity of his emotion. + +"Nellie," he said, "I can stand it no longer! That man is back again; I +saw you with him to-day. I--oh!--time and again I have told you how I +loved you. It is more than love--it is worship, almost. It has been so +ever since you were a little girl and I carried you to school. You did +care for me--you know you did--until this fellow came here and made us +all wretched. Nellie, I will have an answer to-night. I will know if you +love me; tell me, tell me now." It was no longer an imploring prayer, it +was a demand. + +Struggle though she might, she could not free herself. His eyes seemed +to burn into hers, and she shrank from their wild gaze as though they +stung to her very soul. + +"Answer me," he said. "You told me you loved me last Christmas. Do you +love me now?" + +"Oh, Dick, I--I didn't know. I could not tell," she gasped; "I thought I +loved you, but--" + +"But now you know you love him, is it?" he almost hissed. "Do you know +what I think of him? He is a scoundrel, a man without home or name. He +has a history he dare not tell; he lies every time he answers a +question; he wants to marry you because you will be rich, but that's +all." + +"You shall not speak of him so," she interrupted in wrath and +indignation. "He is a gentleman, and he does love me, and all you say of +him is false. I know he has been unhappy, unfortunate--" + +"He has been more than that, I'll be bound," sneered Graham, all bitter, +jealous anger now. "He is a criminal of some kind--mark my words." + +"How dare you?" she cried; "oh, how dare you? He would crush you if you +would dare speak so to him. I will never forgive you--never. I never +want to see or speak to you again--" + +"What do you say?" he gasped, livid with pain and misery. + +"I never want to see or speak to you again," she repeated, though her +eyes quailed before the dumb agony of his. For a moment there was dead +silence. Then with one long look in her paling face he said, slowly, +almost humbly: + +"I take you at your word. Life has been hell to me here for a long time, +and you--you, whom I loved--have driven me from the only home I ever +had." + +One instant more and he was gone, leaving her sobbing wildly, she hardly +knew why. + +And early next morning came the fearful news that her father lay +murdered at the mill. + +A week of intense excitement followed. Not only in Nemahbin was the +mysterious death of old Morrow the one subject of conversation, but all +through the surrounding counties people talked of nothing else. By +sunset of that beautiful Monday the news had spread far and wide; the +reporters of the city journals were already on the spot, and by Tuesday +night the verdict of the coroner's jury had gone forth and the officers +of the law were in search of the criminal, whose name flashed over the +humming wires from one ocean to another. Richard Graham stood accused of +the murder of his employer, and Richard Graham had gone, no one knew +whither. + +But there were those who could not and would not believe it of him, and +foremost among them was the minister. The evidence against him was +mainly circumstantial; the principal accuser was Frost, and the chain of +circumstances that linked Graham with the crime were substantially as +follows: + +The boy who worked around the mill-house and slept in the second story +of the Graham's cottage testified that about half an hour before sunset +Sunday evening he heard old Morrow "cussing and swearing" at somebody +down in the mill, while he was going out to drive the cows home; didn't +see who it was, but ten minutes afterwards as he came back he saw Graham +pitching stones into the stream down below the mill, "looking queer;" +called to him twice, but Graham did not answer; supposed he was mad at +the old man for cussing him so--they had had lots of trouble for a week; +heard the old man tell him he was going to get rid of him if he didn't +do different. + +That night he (the witness) went out in the country a piece and did not +come home until half-past ten. It was all dark around the mill when he +got back. It had been raining, but the sky was brighter then, and as he +passed the south door he was surprised to see it open. The old man +generally locked it and went home early. He was just going to go and +shut it when a man came out. It "skeered" him because the old man had +given him fits for being out late and lying abed in the morning, so he +stopped short to wait until he got away. The man shut and locked the +door, and walked up the road ahead of him, and then he saw that it was +not the old man, but young Graham, and that Mr. Graham was going +straight up to the mill-house, so he cut across to the cottage and got +in soft as he could. Yes, it might have been eleven o'clock by that +time, and he did not want Mr. Frost, or Mr. Graham either, to know he +was out so late. It was all dark at the mill-house, and all dark at the +cottage, but Mr. Frost heard him and called him into his room and asked +for a dipper of water. Mr. Frost was in bed and asked him what time it +was, and said he had been asleep, but waked up with a headache; told him +he did not know the time; didn't want him to know it was so late, 'cause +he might tell the old man. Mr. Frost asked him where Dick was, and just +then they heard Dick coming up the front steps, and the witness went up +to his own room. Heard them talking down-stairs for a little while, but +could not understand what they were saying; did not listen particularly; +went to sleep, and slept a good while; was awakened by hearing some +noise in Dick's room, which was directly under his--sounded like +something glass being broken, but everything was quiet right off, and +he thought he might have dreamed it. Next thing he knowed it was +morning, and Mandy, the cook over at the mill-house, was calling to him +from the bottom of the stairs to get up right off--the master hadn't +come home all night, and there was people waitin' down at the mill. +Dick's room was open and the bed hadn't been slept on, and his clothes +and things were all thrown all round on the floor; it looked queer, she +said; he was gone, too; ran down as quick as he could dress and called +Mr. Frost, who was asleep in bed and did not wake easy; called him three +or four times and banged on the door, and at last opened it and called +him louder; then he woke up slowly and wanted to know the matter; told +him Mandy said Mr. Morrow had not been home and that Dick was not there, +and there was farmers with wheat at the mill. He said go and open the +mill and he would be down in a minute; told him that Dick had the key +and had locked the mill late last night; saw him do it. Mr. Frost jumped +right up in bed excited like and said, "You saw him do it! When, where +were you?" and so had to tell him about Dick's being there, coming out +of the mill late as nearly eleven o'clock. Then Mandy came back and said +she found the key hanging on the peg inside the hall-door, and witness +took it and went down and opened the south door. The office window-shade +was down and the office door on the east side was shut, and so it was +kinder dark, but he and the two men waiting there went right through the +mill into the office, and there they found the old man dead on the +floor, with lots of blood streaming from his head. It skeered him +awful, and they ran out. Then Mr. Frost came, and he was pale, and said, +"My God, what an awful thing!" and they sent right to 'Mahbin for Dr. +Green, and the mayor and constable; and that was all he knowed. + +Doctor Green's testimony, divested of professional technicalities, was +to the effect that the miller had been killed at least six or eight +hours, and that death was the result of the gun-shot wound through the +head. The bullet was found imbedded in the skull at the back of the +head, and had entered under the left eye. The face was burned and +blackened by powder. No other wound or hurt was found upon the body. The +doctor had arrived at the mill about 6.45 a.m., accompanied by Mr. +Lowrie, the mayor of Nemahbin, an old friend of the deceased. When they +arrived, Mr. Frost was in charge of the premises, and stated that no one +had entered the office since the moment he had arrived at the spot. + +Mr. Lowrie testified to coming with the doctor; being received by Mr. +Frost and ushered into the office. The deceased was then lying on his +face with his feet near the window. There was much blood on the floor, +and spattered on the legs of an office chair that stood close by the +head. No weapon of any kind was found in the office, and the object of +the murder was explained at a glance; the desk was rifled, the safe was +open, and while the papers therein were found undisturbed, the cash +drawer, in which it was known that the deceased generally kept a good +deal of money, was empty. Other testimony established the fact that he +had as much as five hundred dollars in the drawer on the previous +Saturday. In presence of the mayor, constable, Mr. Frost, and one or two +neighbors, the bullet had been cut out from behind by the doctor. It was +slightly flattened, and in shape, and in its exact weight as +subsequently determined, it corresponded exactly with those of a +"five-shooting" revolver of peculiar make known as "the Avenger." To Mr. +Lowrie's knowledge only two pistols of that kind were owned in that +neighborhood, and both had been bought by him two years before at a time +when there was a scare about mad dogs. One he still owned, and it was +now at home, locked up in his desk; the other was Richard Graham's, and +he had seen it in his possession less than a week ago. + +Mr. Frost's testimony, given with much emotion and apparent reluctance, +was to this effect: His first knowledge of the murder was Monday morning +about six o'clock, when summoned to the mill by the tidings that Mr. +Morrow had not been home all night. Going to the east entrance, he found +the boy, Schaffer, and two young farmers, frightened and excited over +what they had seen in the office. He went in at once, followed by them, +and saw at a glance that murder had been done, though his first thought +was suicide. He merely turned the body enough to see that the wound was +in the face, and to satisfy himself and the others that no pistol was +near, and then, pointing to the fact that the safe and desk were both +open, he ordered everybody out and closed the door until the arrival of +the officials from Nemahbin. + +Questioned as to his own movements the previous night, he said that +after supper, when Graham drove the ladies to town, he himself had gone +home and read an hour, but, feeling drowsy, had gone to bed, waking up +some hours later with a headache on hearing the boy coming in. The boy +said he didn't know the time, but it must have been eleven o'clock, and +just then Graham came up the steps and the boy went to his own room; +witness called out to him twice and got no answer, and at last, thinking +it queer that Graham did not go to bed, but kept moving briskly about, +he rose and went into the front room in his night-shirt, and found +Graham packing a big satchel he had, and rummaging through the clothes +on the pegs. Asked him what was the matter, and Graham hardly noticed +him--merely said he was going away awhile; could not help noticing how +queer and strange he looked, and how oddly he behaved; he was very pale, +and muttered to himself every now and then; asked him twice if he had +any reason for going, and when he would return, but only got evasive +answers and averted looks; knew that there had been ugly words between +the deceased and Graham very often during the month past, and that there +was an angry altercation between them down at the mill just before +supper-time; the deceased had told him that he was going to discharge +Graham; he was getting too insolent and rebellious to suit him; Graham +hardly ate anything at supper, and the old man did not come up to the +house until after they had driven off to church. That was the last he +saw of him alive--as he passed the cottage on his way to the +mill-house. Asked as to whether anything of unusual or suspicious nature +had occurred during the day or evening, Frost said that one thing struck +him as queer. Graham's revolver hung habitually at the head of his bed, +and when he concluded to go to bed that evening he went into Graham's +room to look at the clock and saw that his pistol was gone. It had been +there during the day, and he never knew him to carry it before. Asked if +he saw it in Graham's possession Sunday night, he replied that he saw it +sticking from the hip pocket of his trousers; that Graham had his coat +off and was washing his hands at the time. One other ugly circumstance +was noted: Graham had been burning a lot of papers and things in the +stove before being interrupted. When the stove was examined in the +morning some buttons were found, charred and partially destroyed in the +ashes, but they were clearly identified as the buttons of the canvas +overalls Graham wore around the mill--which were missing--and behind the +stove was found a fine cambric handkerchief that Graham only used when +he wore his best, or Sunday suit, which he had on all that day, and this +handkerchief was stained with blood. + +Nellie Morrow was so fearfully agitated by the tragedy that her own +evidence was only drawn from her bit by bit. She confirmed the statement +of Dick's pallor and his silence all that evening, and then with +hysterical sobbing told of their quarrel after church and his leaving +her, as he said, never to return; but she protested that he had "never a +thing against father," and that he never, never could have harmed him. +All other obtainable evidence had the same general tendency, and despite +his years of sturdy probity and the excellence of his character, Dick +Graham had to bear the burden of the accumulation of evidence against +him. The absent always have the worst of it, and his flight had +confirmed the theories of many an unwilling mind. He was the murderer of +his former friend and benefactor. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +A week passed, and with no tidings of him. Detectives had been scouring +the country in every direction. A man answering his description was +arrested in Chicago, and turned out to be somebody else. A dozen times +it was reported that now the sleuth-hounds of the law had run down their +victim, but the entire month of July passed away, and the community had +gradually settled down to the belief that Graham had made good his +escape and taken with him some five hundred dollars of his murdered +master's money. + +Old Morrow had been duly and reverently buried. A younger brother from a +distant state came to the scene as executor of the will, in conjunction +with Mr. Lowrie, and under his management the mill resumed its functions +for the benefit of the estate. Except some legacies to this brother and +to the sister who had taken charge of Nellie and his household, old +Morrow had left his property, valued at over forty thousand dollars, to +be divided equally between his two children should Sam reappear; but if +proof of his death were obtained, his share was to go to Nellie. + +A week after the funeral, acting on the advice of the minister and the +village doctor, Nellie's relatives sent her to Chicago. She had suffered +greatly in health, and was in a condition of nervous depression. +Whenever Dick's crime was mentioned in her presence, she would +vehemently assert her belief in his innocence, and then shudderingly +accuse herself, with piteous crying, of being the cause of all his +trouble, and perhaps of her father's death. Another thing. She who had +plainly shown herself fascinated by Mr. Frost's many graces and +attractions during the preceding winter, now refused to see him. He hung +around the house, full of respectful sympathy and lover-like interest, +but was visibly chagrined at her persistent avoidance. To the minister +she confessed that she had been greatly interested in Frost--perhaps a +little in love with him; he flattered and delighted her, and it made +Dick jealous. She didn't know how or why she so encouraged him, but she +had, and now she shrank from seeing him at all. Her deep affliction +would excuse it. + +A week after she left for Chicago Mr. Frost concluded that he would go +thither himself. The new master needed no bookkeeper, he said, and Frost +was too fine a gentleman to do Dick's work around the mill. He was +neither invited to go nor to stay. He was allowed to go and come without +apparent let or hindrance, yet, before the train which bore him away +was well out of sight, a new farm-hand, who worked at odd jobs around a +neighboring place on the lake, suddenly entered the railway station, +wrote ten hurried words on a telegraph-blank, and handed it to the +operator, whereupon the operator gazed at him in quick surprise, then +whistled softly to himself, nodded appreciatively, and clicked away the +message, with the addition of a cabalistic "Rush," and Mr. Frost's train +was boarded at Milwaukee by a number of people who took no special note +of him, and by one man who never lost sight of him from that moment +until he locked his bedroom door behind him at night. + +Then the minister received a call from the new farm-hand, who brought +with him a young man who worked on a place over near Eagle Prairie, a +railway station some distance off to the southwest. This young man had +spent Sunday calling on a sweetheart in 'Mahbin, and had started about +7.30 p.m. to walk to the large town seven miles away, where he would +take the cars homeward. He saw Nellie, her aunt, and a young man driving +into town, and by eight o'clock he himself was passing the mill. It was +just growing dark, so that he could not distinguish faces, but he saw +two men standing by the office--one short, stout, and elderly, the other +tall and slender and straight. The older man was talking furiously and +angrily; heard him say, "I told you an hour ago to keep away from me. +You have lied to me right along. You are a thief and a scoundrel, I +believe, and you are a damned coward and deserter--a deserter, by God! +and I've got the papers to prove it!" + +What the tall man said he could not hear. He spoke low--seemed to be +arguing with the old man, begging him to be quiet, and they went into +the office. Then the young man walked on a few hundred yards, when it +came on to rain very hard, and he stopped and took shelter under a +little fishing-shed there was right at the edge of the lake. The rain +held up in fifteen minutes, and he started on again over the causeway, +"and hadn't more'n got a rod" when he heard what sounded like a +pistol-shot back at the mill. He stopped short and listened two minutes, +but heard nothing more, so went on and thought no more of it until he +heard of the murder--but that was not until a week after it happened, +when he came up from the farm to Eagle village and heard people talking +about it. + +But with the first week in August came exciting news. Far to the +northwest across the Missouri, Dick Graham had been traced and followed +by a Wisconsin detective, who found him in the uniform of the regular +army, just marching off with his comrades to join General Terry's +forces, then in the field up the Yellowstone. In his possession was the +Avenger revolver and over one hundred dollars in greenbacks. On two +five-dollar bills there was a broad and ugly stain, which microscopic +examination proved to be blood. Graham appeared utterly stunned at the +arrest; expressed the greatest grief and horror at hearing of the murder +of Mr. Morrow, and professed his entire willingness to go back and stand +trial. The story of his "escape" to that distance was now easily told. +The detectives had speedily satisfied themselves he had got away on +none of the regular trains that week, but one bright fellow had learned +that four cars full of troops had passed west late that Sunday night, +and followed the clue. They had gone through to Bismarck--a tedious +journey in '76--and thither he followed. Thence the troops had gone by +boat up the Missouri, and he took the first opportunity that came--and +the next boat going up. At Fort Buford he "sighted" his man, told his +story to the commanding officer of the post, who sent for the officers +of the troops with whom poor Dick was serving. They promptly asserted +that their first knowledge of him was on the Monday they reached St. +Paul, when a sergeant brought him to them, saying he begged to be +allowed to enlist and go with them. He told a perfectly straight story; +said he was an orphan, unmarried, had been a miller, but was tired of +small wages, hard work, and no hopes of getting ahead, and had made up +his mind to get into the regulars. Was at the railway station at +midnight when the train was side-tracked to allow another to pass, and +appealed to the sergeant of the guard to take him along; said he would +pay his way until they could enlist him, and as he was a likely fellow +they were glad to have him. He had won everybody's respect in the short +time he was with them, and the whole command seemed thunderstruck to +hear of the allegations against him. + +The detective and his prisoner were put on a boat going back to +Bismarck, and on that same boat, returning, wounded and furloughed, was +a sergeant of the Seventh Cavalry--a gallant fellow who had fought +under Benteen and McDougall on the bluffs of the Little Horn, after +Custer's command had been surrounded and slaughtered four miles farther +down stream. The sergeant kept to his room and bunk until they got to +Bismarck, but the detectives had a chance to see and talk with him--and +so had Graham. + +It was an eventful day when the detective and his prisoner reached +Nemahbin. The minister was there to meet him, as was Mr. Lowrie, and the +entire male population of the neighborhood. There was no disorder or +turbulence. Dick was quietly escorted to a room in the constable's +house--they had no jail--and there that night he had a long conference +with the minister and other prominent citizens. The minister drove home +quite late--but very much later, along towards two in the morning, in +fact, he was at the railway station and received in his buggy the single +passenger who alighted from the night express. + +Next day there was a gathering at the mayor's office--an apartment in +the municipal residence devoted to dining-room duty three times a day, +and opening into the kitchen on the one hand, into the hallway on +another, and into the village post-office on the third. Here sat Mr. +Lowrie, the doctor, the constable, other local celebrities, and one or +two distinguished importations from Milwaukee. Here was the minister, +looking singularly wide-awake, lively, and brisk for a man who had been +up all night; here, too, sat the farm-hand who sent the cabalistic +despatch when Frost went to Chicago, and the young man who heard the +conversation down at the mill that Sunday night; here, too, sat Dick, +looking pale but tranquil, and hither, too, presently came Mr. Frost, +looking ghastly pale and very far from tranquil. Dick looked squarely at +him as he entered, but Frost glanced rapidly about the room, eagerly +nodding to one man after another, but avoiding Dick entirely. Then +followed an impressive silence. + +Outside, the August sun was streaming hotly down upon the heads of an +intensely curious and interested throng; inside there was for the moment +no sound but the humming of a thousand flies, or the nervous scraping of +a boot over the uncarpeted floor. Then the mayor whispered a few words +to the minister, who nodded to Mr. Morrow, the surviving brother, and +then Mr. Morrow stepped into the hallway leading to the mayor's parlor, +and presently reappeared at the doorway, and quietly said, "All right." + +All eyes turned to glance at him at this moment, but, beyond his square, +squat figure, nothing in the darkened hallway was visible. Then the +mayor cleared his throat and began: + +"By the consent of the proper authorities the prisoner, accused of the +murder of the late Samuel Morrow, has been brought here instead of to +the county town, for reasons that will appear hereafter. Graham, you +have desired to hear the evidence of Mr. Frost, one of the principal +witnesses against you at the time of the discovery of the murder. The +clerk will now read it." + +And read it the clerk did, in monotonous singsong. Graham sat clinching +his fists and his teeth, and looking straight at Frost as the reading +was finished. The latter, uneasily shifting in his chair, still looked +anywhere else around the room. + +"Do you wish to say anything, Graham?" asked the mayor, in answer to the +appeal in Dick's eyes. + +"I do, sir. That statement is a lie almost from beginning to end. I had +no quarrel, no words with Mr. Morrow that Sunday evening--never spoke to +him at all. It was Frost himself who was with him at the mill before +supper. As to the rest of the evening I know nothing of what happened. +When I got home, and put up the horse and buggy, it must have been long +after ten. Then I found the east door of the mill was open, and went in +and found everything dark and quiet; came out and locked the door (but +never went into the office), and took the key up to the mill-house, and +hung it up on the hook in the hall. I supposed Mr. Morrow was asleep in +bed. Then I went home and burned some old letters and papers and packed +some things in my bag. I was going away for good--I've told the doctor +and the minister why--they know well enough--and I called Frost; he owed +me twenty dollars, and I needed it, and woke him up, if he was asleep, +and asked him for it, and the very money he gave me was in those +five-dollar bills. I never burned my overalls. I _did_ lose my +handkerchief somewhere about the house that night, and never missed it +until I was gone; and I never had my revolver until just before I took +my bag and started, and never knew until days afterwards--way up the +Northern Pacific--that one of the chambers was emptied. As for the +murder, I never heard of it until I was arrested." + +"Mr. Frost," said the mayor, "you made no mention in your evidence of +paying money to the prisoner." + +"Certainly not," said Frost, promptly, but his eyes glittered, and his +face was white as a sheet. "Nothing of the kind happened. That money +came direct from the mill safe." + +"How do you know?" + +"Well--of course--I don't know that; but it is my belief." + +"Mr. Frost, there was no mention in your testimony of a violent +altercation between yourself and the late Mr. Morrow at the mill that +evening after Graham came in town with the ladies. Why did you omit +that?" + +He was livid now, and the strong, white hands were twitching nervously. +All eyes were fastened upon him as he stood confronting the mayor, his +back towards the hallway, where, in grim silence, stood Mr. Morrow. + +"I know of no such altercation," he stammered. + +"Were you ever accused of being a deserter from the army?" + +Every one saw the nervous start he gave, but, though haggard and wild, +he stuck to his false colors. + +"Never, sir." + +"That's a lie," said a deep voice out in the hall, and at the +unconventional interruption there was a general stir. Men leaned forward +and craned their necks to peer behind Mr. Morrow, who stood there +immovable. + +"Order, gentlemen, if you please," said Mr. Lowrie. + +"Then how and where did you know Sam Morrow, as you convinced his father +you did?" + +"I?--out in Arizona, where I was mining." + +"Why did you not fulfil your promise, as you said you could and would?" + +"I couldn't. That was what made the old man down on me. I did believe +last winter I could find Sam and get him home, but I could not bear to +tell the old man he was killed with General Custer." + +"That's another lie!" came from the hallway, and, brushing past Mr. +Morrow's squat figure, there strode into the room a tall, bronzed-faced, +soldierly fellow in the undress uniform of a sergeant of cavalry. + +Men sprang to their feet and fairly shouted. Old Doctor Green threw his +arms about the soldier's neck in the excess of his joy. There was a rush +forward from the post-office doorway to greet him, a cry of "Sam +Morrow!" and then another cry--a yell--a scurry and crash at the kitchen +entrance. "Quick! Head him off! Catch him!" were the cries, and then +came a dash into the open air. + +With a spring like that of a panther Frost had leaped into the unguarded +kitchen, thence to the fence beyond, and now was running like a deer +through the quiet village street towards the railway. A hundred men were +in pursuit in a moment, and in that open country there was no shelter +for skulking criminal, no lair in which he could hide till night. In +half an hour, exhausted, half dead with terror and despair, the +wretched man was dragged back, and now, limp and dejected, cowered in +the presence of his accusers. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +Sam Morrow told his story in a few words. He had served in the Seventh +Cavalry for five years under the name of Samuel Moore, and two years +before, while with his troop on the Yellowstone, the man calling himself +Frost was a sergeant in another company. He was only a short time in the +regiment, but his fine appearance, intelligence, and education led to +his speedy appointment as sergeant, and as Sergeant Farrand he had been +for a few months a popular and respected man; but as soon as they got +back to winter-quarters he turned out to be a gambler, then a swindler +and card-sharper. He lost the respect of both officers and men, got into +a gambling-scrape with some teamsters in Bismarck, was locked up by the +civil authorities, and, after a series of troubles of that description, +deserted the service in the Black Hills the summer of '75, taking three +horses with him, and that was the last seen of him until now. Sam had +been shot in the arm in the fight of the 25th of June, after the Indians +had butchered Custer's part of the regiment, and now, having served out +his time, was once more home, with an honorable discharge and a +certificate of high character from his officers. + +In substantiation of Sam's story, Mr. Morrow exhibited two letters +which he had found among his brother's papers. They were from the +adjutant of the Seventh Cavalry, in reply, evidently, to inquiries which +old Morrow had instituted in May, and the second one contained a +description of Frost as the soldier Farrand, which tallied exactly. + +"And now, Frost, what have you to say as to the murder?" was the next +question; and, cowering and abject, the wretch sat with bowed head and +trembling limbs, gasping, "I did not do it, I did not do it." But this +Nemahbin would believe no longer. There was a wild cry of "Hang him!" +from the excited crowd in the street, and then came a scene. Peaceful +and law-abiding as had been the community, it turned in almost savage +fury upon the scoundrel who had sought to charge his own crime upon an +innocent and long-respected citizen. A dozen resolute men leaped through +the post-office to the doorway of the inner room, but there they halted. +Between them and the cowering form of Frost stood the tall figure of Sam +Morrow, his eyes ablaze, his mouth set and stern, his left arm in a +sling, but in his right hand a levelled revolver. + +"Back, every man of you!" he said. "He killed my father, but, by God, it +has got to be a fair trial!" Lowrie, the doctor, and the detective were +at his back, and Nemahbin hesitated, thought better of its mad impulse, +and retired. That night Frost lay behind the prison bars, accused of an +array of crimes, with cold-blooded murder as the climax, and Sam Morrow, +Dick Graham, and Nellie met once more at the old home. + +In less than a month Frost's last hope had gone. Whether his pluck and +nerve had given out entirely, whether the rapid accumulation of damaging +evidence had made him fearful that even hanging would be too good for +him if all his past were "ferreted out," as now seemed likely, or +whether he hoped, by confession, to gain mercy, is not known; but, +before his trial, he made full admission of his guilt. He had come to +Nemahbin hoping to get such a hold on the old man by telling him he +could find Sam that he would be welcomed, and allowed to prosecute his +suit with Nellie, who was plainly fascinated. If he could gain her love +and her hand, he might settle down, be respectable on old Morrow's +money, and then, even if Sam did come home, he would not be apt to +expose the man his sister loved and married. But his efforts to convince +the old man that he was trying to find Sam, while all the time he was +doing all he knew how to keep him on the wrong track, were at constant +cross-purposes. The old man soon became suspicious of him, would advance +him no money, paid him a nominal sum for keeping books, etc., the first +three months he was there, then relieved him of that duty, and kept up +incessant cross-questioning. At last Frost found out that Graham +suspected him of being a deserter, and that the old man had got that +idea and also that his own boy was somewhere in the army. Then came the +news of the Custer massacre, and by that time he felt sure he could win +Nellie's hand if her father's consent could be gained; but Morrow was +all suspicion and eagerness, and Frost knew by his manner that he was +on the trail of his lost boy by means of letters--and these letters +would plainly betray him, who had deserted from Sam's own regiment. He +hurried to Chicago, and there--there he came upon that list of killed in +the battle of the Little Big Horn, and among the names was the one he +wanted to see, Sergeant Sam Moore. It decided him at once. He went to +his uncle, claiming that he was about to marry Nellie Morrow, got from +him a small supply of money, and came back determined to win her at +once. She was the old man's only child and sole heir. That very day +Morrow had told him that he had found him out, that in his absence he +had received letters proving him to be a scoundrel, and, giving him just +one chance to tell him where his lost boy was or to leave. Frost feared +to tell then, as he knew the miller would insist on proofs, and in some +way his own connection with the regiment would be known. That evening, +before tea, Morrow, in an angry interview, which Schaffer partially +overheard, told him he had proofs of his rascality--letters to settle +his case for good and all. Then he became desperate. Soon as Dick had +gone to town with the ladies he went to Graham's room, got the revolver, +and once more went to the mill, and found Morrow at the office door. It +was then almost dark. Then came the accusation of desertion, and, once +in the office, Morrow had called him by his soldier name, and Frost knew +"all was up." He must have those papers. He drew the revolver to +frighten the old man, and it went off, killing him instantly. He was +horror-stricken, but strove to collect himself. Flight would betray him +at once as the murderer. Why not make it a case of suicide--leave the +pistol by him? No--that would not do. It was Graham's--Ha! why not make +Graham the guilty one? Quickly he got the safe key from the old man's +pocket, unlocked and obtained the cash-drawer, with its five hundred +dollars in green-backs--opened the desk, and rummaged through the +letters till he found one from the headquarters of the Seventh Cavalry, +which gave a description of several men almost his height and general +appearance who had deserted. Among them he recognized his own and his +soldier name. With these he went to the cottage, leaving all dark at the +mill, burned the letter, hid portions of the money in Graham's mattress, +and was thinking, in terror, what to do next, when he heard voices on +the road. He dare not go out, and so wasted some time in the house. When +he heard Graham drive back with the buggy he hurriedly undressed and +went to bed. Then Schaffer came home and he called him in, that the boy +might say that he was in bed and undressed; but when Graham entered he +shammed sleep. Roused, at last, by Graham's demand for his money and the +news that he was going away, an idea occurred to him. Cutting a slit in +his finger with a razor, he let the blood fall on a couple of +five-dollar bills--smeared and quickly dried it--gave them to Graham +before he started, and as soon as he was gone went busily to work. Going +down to the mill as soon as satisfied that all was safe--Schaffer asleep +and Dick far on his way to the railroad--he found the east door locked. +Then he knew that Graham had been there; had locked the door and taken +the key to the hall of the mill-house, and of course had seen nothing of +the body. He got the key, obtained Graham's overalls from the mill, +burned them in the stove at the cottage--as he argued Dick could have +done had he bloodied them in the affray--and then in Graham's room had +found his cambric handkerchief. Once more he went down to the ghostly +mill, and dipped this into the blood of his victim; then locked the mill +door (he had locked the office door, leaving the key inside), put the +key back in the house, returned to the cottage, and to bed. He had woven +a chain for Graham that, added to the poor fellow's flight and his +previous disagreements, would fasten all suspicion on him as the +murderer. Then he thought of the money. He rose, bundled it loosely in +an old oyster-can, stole out in the gray light of approaching dawn, and +buried it in the loose sand down on the shore of the mill-pond, just +where all the cattle would go for water, and trample out all traces +within an hour; then once more he went back to bed, and to the +counterfeited sleep from which Schaffer had such difficulty in rousing +him. It was well planned--and when he heard the boy declare he had seen +Graham coming from the mill at 11 o'clock he thought it perfect. + +But he had failed to cross one track--the bloody print of a slender, +city-made, shapely boot on the flour-dusted floor under the peg where +Graham's overalls generally hung. It was the only footprint in that +corner of the old mill, and Frost's was the only boot in all Nemahbin +that would fit it. Keen eyes had noted this even while the wiseacres of +the law were urging the pursuit of Graham; and then came the inexorable +watch on every move that Frost might make. Even without his confession, +the relentless search of the detectives would have run him down. And now +Dick Graham was free. + +It wasn't such a mystery, after all. A greater one was being enacted +right here in the old mill-house, whither Nellie had hurriedly returned +on the telegraphic news of Sam's home-coming. She had sent Dick Graham +sorrowing to his fate only a month ago. She never wished to see him or +speak to him again. She had twined her girlish hero-worship around the +tall beauty of Mr. Frost, and seen it shrivel with aversion in a single +day. And now, surrounded by the halo of his sufferings, his self-imposed +exile, his years of patient, uncomplaining, unswerving devotion, here +was her brother's best friend, sharing with that brother the admiration +and homage of their little village circle; here was her true lover, +Dick, loving, forgiving, unreproaching, and yet unseeking, and one sweet +August night, calm and still and starlit, she stood at the very gate +where he had seen her parting with Frost that dread Sunday morning. And +now her little hand was trembling on his arm as he would have closed the +gate behind him. He felt the detaining pressure, and turned, gently as +ever: + +"What is it, Nellie?" + +"Dick, will you never forgive me for what I said--that night?" + +One instant he could hardly speak--hardly breathe; but then, slowly, +with swimming eyes and quivering lips, soft and tremulous, she looked up +into his radiant face. + +And now--eight years after--'Mahbin Mill hums and whirs more merrily +than ever. Dick Graham is master and manager, for Sam, with a +well-earned strap of gold-lace on each broad shoulder, has gone back to +the frontier life he learned to love in the old regiment. Frost +languished but a few months in his prison before death mercifully took +him away, and Nellie--Nellie is the happiest little woman around +Nemahbin for miles; only those two scamps, Sam and Dick, seven and five +years old respectively, keep her in a fidget and their father in a +chuckle with their pranks. They are always in mischief or the +mill-pond. + + + + + PLODDER'S PROMOTION. + + +For five years the life of Second Lieutenant Plodder, of the --th Foot, +had been a burden to him. For more than five years Second Lieutenant +Plodder had been something of a burden to the --th Foot. In the dreary +monotone in which the psalm of life is sung, or was sung, in frontier +garrisons before the introduction of such wildly diverting exercises as +daily target practice, or measuring-distance drill, the one thing that +became universally detestable was the man with the perennial grievance, +and Mr. Plodder's grievance was slow promotion. There was nothing +exceptionally harrowing in his individual experience; dozens of other +fellows in his own and in other regiments were victims of the same +malady, but for some reason Mr. Plodder considered himself the especial +target of the slings and arrows of a fortune too outrageous for even a +downtrodden "dough-boy" to bear in silence, and the dreary burden of his +song--morn, noon, and night--was the number of years he had served, and +might yet have to serve, with never a bar to his strap of faded blue. + +Entering the army as a volunteer in '61, he had emerged, after four +years of singularly uneventful soldiering, a lieutenant in the company +in which he started as private. Provost-guard duty and the like had +told but little on the aggregate of present for duty with his command, +and that sort of campaigning being congenial, Mr. Plodder concluded to +keep it up as a profession. A congressional friend got him a +second-lieutenancy at the close of the war, and the devil himself, said +Mr. Plodder, got him into that particular regiment. "I never saw such a +God-forsaken lot of healthy fellers in my life," he was wont to declare +over the second or third toddy at "the store" in the long wintry +evenings. "There ain't a man of 'em died in six years, and here I am +after nigh onto twelve years' consecutive service, and I ain't a first +lieutenant yit." + +We youngsters, with our light hearts and lighter pockets, used to rather +enjoy getting old Plodder started, it must be confessed; and when +pin-pool or auction-pitch had palled in interest, and we would be +casting about for some time-killing device, and the word would come from +the window, scattering the group of oldsters, that Plodder was on his +way to the store, somebody would be apt to suggest a project for +"putting up a job on Grumpy," and it would be carried _nem. con._ + +"Heard the news, Plod?" some young reprobate would carelessly inquire +while banging the balls about the table. + +"What news?" says Plodder. + +"You're in for a file. They say old Cramps is going to die. He's off on +leave now." + +"Who says so?" says Plodder, eying his interlocutor askance. He is +always suspicious of the youngsters. + +"Fact, Plodder. Ask the major, if you don't believe me." + +And before long Plodder would be sure to make his way into the inner +court --the _sanctum sanctorum_ of the store--sacred ordinarily to the +knot of old officers who liked to have their quiet game aloof from the +crash of pool-pins and the babel of voices in the main room, and there, +after more or less beating round the bush, he would inquire as to +whether the major had recently heard news of old Captain Cramps, and +what was the state of his health; returning then to the billiard-room +with wrath and vengeance in his eye, to upbraid his tormentor for +sending him off on such a cruel quest. + +"Well, what did you go for?" would be the extent of his comfort. "I only +said Cramps was going to die, and it's my profound conviction he +will--some time or other." + +And Plodder would groan in spirit, "It's all very well for you +youngsters, but just you wait till you've served as long as I have, +twelve years' consecutive service, by George! and if you don't wish +lineal promotion would come in, or the grass was growing green over +every man that ever opposed it, you can stop _my_ pay." + +It got to be a serious matter at last. It was Plod's monomania. We used +to swear that Plod spent half his time moaning over the army register, +and that his eyes were never fixed upon the benevolent features of his +captain but that he was wondering whether apoplexy would not soon give +him the longed-for file. Every week or two there would come tidings of +deaths, dismissals, resignations, or retirements in some other corps or +regiment, and second lieutenant so-or-so would become first lieutenant +_vice_ somebody else, and on such occasions poor old Plod would suffer +the tortures of the damned. "There's that boy," he would say, "only two +years out of that national charity school up there on the Hudson, in +leading-strings, by George! when we fellers were fightin' and bleedin' +an--" + +"Hello, Plod! I forgot you fought and bled in the provost-guard. Where +was it, old man? Take a nip and tell us about it," some one would +interpose, but Plodder would plunge ahead in the wild recitative of his +lament, and the floor would be his own. + +Tuesday evenings always found him at the store. The post-trader's copy +of the _Army and Navy Journal_ arrived soon after retreat, and it was +one of the unwritten laws of the establishment that old Plod should have +first glimpse. There had been a time when he resorted to the quarters of +brother-officers and possessed himself of their copy, but his +concomitant custom of staying two or three hours and bemoaning his luck +had gradually been the means of barring him out, and, never having a +copy of his own (for Plodder was thrifty and "near"), he had settled +into the usurpation of first rights with "Mr. O'Bottle's" paper, and +there at the store he devoured the column of casualties with +disappointed eyes, and swallowed grief and toddy in "consecutive" +gulps. + +It used to be asserted of Plodder that he was figuring for the Signal +Corps. He was at one time generally known as "Old Probabilities;" +indeed, it had been his nickname for several years. He was accused of +keeping a regular system of "indications" against the names of his +seniors in rank, and that godless young reprobate Trickett so far forgot +his reverence for rank as to prepare and put in circulation "Plodder's +Probabilities," a Signal Service burlesque that had the double effect of +alienating that gentleman's long-tried friendship and startling into +unnatural blasphemy the staid captains who figured in the bulletin. +Something in this wise it ran (and though poor fun at best, was better +than anything we had had since that wonderful day when "Mrs. _Captain_ +O'Rorke av ye plaze" dropped that letter addressed to her friend "Mrs. +Captain Sullivan, O'Maher Barrix"): + + "PLODDER'S PROBABILITIES. + + "_For Captain Irvin._--Higher living together with lower + exercise. Cloudy complexion, with temperament choleric veering + to apoplectic. Impaired action followed by fatty degeneration + of the heart. + + "_For Captains Prime and Chipsey._--Barometer threatening. + Squalls domestic. Stocks lower. Putler and Soaker bills falling + (due N.E., S., and W.) from all parts of the country. + + "_For Lieutenant Cole, R.Q.M._--Heft increasing. Nose and + eyelids turgid. Frequent (d)rains, Sp. Fru. Heavy shortage C. + and G. E., S. T. 187(-)X. + + "_Cautionary Signals_ for Burroughs, Calvin, and Waterman. + Something sure to turn up." + +We were hard up for fun in those days, and even this low order of wit +excited a high degree of hilarity. The maddest men were Prime, Chipsey, +and the R.Q.M., but their wrath was as nothing compared with the blaze +of indignation which illuminated the countenances of Mrs. Prime and Mrs. +Chipsey, next-door neighbors and bosom friends as feminine friendships +go. Each lady in this instance was ready to acknowledge the pertinence +of Mr. Trickett's diagnosis in the case of her neighbor's husband, and +confidentially to admit that there was even some justification for the +allegation of "squalls domestic" next door, but that anything of this +sort should be even hinted at in her own case, nothing but utter moral +depravity on the part of the perpetrator could account for it. Trickett +paid dear for his whistle, but for the time it seemed to hold Plodder in +check. The ruling passion soon cropped out again, however. Gray hairs +were beginning to sprinkle his scanty beard, and crow's-feet to grow +more deeply under his suspicious eyes. He never looked at a senior +without a semi-professional scrutiny of that senior's physical condition +as set forth in the clearness of his eye or skin. He never shook hands +without conveying the impression that he was reaching for a man's pulse. +If any old officer were mentioned as going off on "surgeon's +certificate" to visit the sea-shore, and the question should be asked, +"What's the matter with him?" the interrogated party invariably +responded, "Don't know. Ask Plodder." + +It was not only in the regiment that Plodder became a notoriety. For one +eventful year of its history the --th Foot was stationed in close +proximity to department headquarters, and department headquarters became +speedily and intimately acquainted with Mr. Plodder. Having once made +his calls of ceremony upon the commanding general and his staff, it +became his custom to make frequent visits to the city, and, passing +beyond the established haunts where his comrades were wont to dispense +for creature comforts their scanty dimes, to spend some hours pottering +about the offices at headquarters. But for a month no one really +fathomed the object of his attentions. "Trying to get a soft detail in +town" was the theory hazarded by some of the youngsters, who were well +aware of his distaste for company duty; "Boning for aide-de-camp," +suggested another. But not until the medical director one day +explosively alluded to him as "that ---- old vampire-bat," with an +uncomplimentary and profane adjective in place of the ----, and the +acting judge-advocate of the department impulsively asked if "that +infernal Mark Meddle couldn't be kept at home," did it begin to dawn on +us what old Plodder really was driving at. His theory being that army +casualties could be divided up pretty evenly between the Medical +Department and the Bureau of Military Justice as the expediting means, +he hoped by ingenious engineering of the conversation to pick up points +as to probabilities in the --th Foot, or to furnish such as might be +lacking. + +In plain words, it transpired about this time that Plodder had taken to +haunting the office of the judge-advocate at hours when he could hope +for uninterrupted conversation with that officer, and one day, with +very ruffled demeanor, he was encountered making hurried exit therefrom, +pursued, said Mr. Trickett, by the toe of the judge-advocate's boot. +Indeed, Mr. Trickett was not far wrong. He and his now reconciled +captain were about calling upon the judge-advocate when Plodder burst +forth, and surely there was every symptom of a wrathful intent in the +attitude of the staff-officer whom they met at the door. It was a minute +or so before he could recover his composure, though he politely invited +them to enter and be seated. No explanation was vouchsafed as to what +had occurred, but Trickett and Prime came back to barracks full of +speculation and curiosity, told pretty much everybody what they had +seen, and, all being convinced that Plodder and the judge-advocate had +had some kind of a row, it was determined to draw Plodder out. +Consequently there was a gathering in the billiard-room that night, and +when Plodder entered, with visage of unusual gloom, he ought to have +been put on his guard by the unexpectedly prompt and cheery invites to +"take something" that greeted him. But Plodder had been taking several +somethings in the privacy of his quarters, and, being always ready to +partake at somebody else's expense, he was speedily primed into +talkative mood, and then the inquisition began. + +"Saw you coming out of Park's office to-day," said Prime. "What was your +hurry?" + +No answer for a moment, then a rather sulky growl, "I'd finished my +business, and thought you might want to see him." + +"I? Lord, no! What should I want to see him for except socially?" + +No answer. + +"_Nice_ fellow, Park," said Trickett; "seems such a calm, self-poised +sort of man, you know." + +"One of the most courteous men I ever met," said Waterman. + +Then the others joined in with some kind of transparent adulation of the +official referred to, all keeping wary eyes on Plodder, who at last +burst forth, + +"You all can think what you like. _My_ idea is, he's no gentleman." + +Of course Plodder was assailed with instant demands to explain his +meaning. Everybody was amazed; but Plodder would only shake his head and +mutter that he knew what he was talking about. Nobody could tell _him_ +what constituted a gentleman. Park wasn't one anyhow, and all hopes for +light upon that interview were for the moment dashed; but a day or two +more brought everything out in startling colors, when it was announced +that Lieutenant Calvin, who had been commanding a detachment "up the +country," was ordered to return and explain certain allegations that had +been brought to the notice of the regimental commander. Plodder's +cautionary signal had been hoisted to some purpose after all. + +It seems that being cut off from congenial society, and having no +associates with whom to while away the weary hours of his detached +service, Lieutenant Calvin had sought solace in the flowing bowl, had +become involved in a quarrel with some rather hard cases among the +citizens, and in some mysterious way the matter had reached +headquarters. Calvin was on a sort of probation at the time, for his +conduct on some previous occasions had given great cause for complaint +to his colonel, and that officer had now received a note from +headquarters on the subject of Calvin's recent misdemeanor, and felt +himself called upon to investigate. This note had come three days before +the date of Plodder's last visit to town, and the colonel had +communicated its contents to no one but his adjutant, and yet it was +known throughout the garrison on the day after Plodder's visit that Mr. +Calvin was to be overhauled, and the colonel decided to inquire, among +other things, _how_ it became so speedily known. + +"I would prefer to have some officer sent from elsewhere to relieve +him," he had said to the commanding general in presence of the +judge-advocate. "It will then create no talk or speculation at the +barracks before he comes." + +"It is known there already," said the judge-advocate. + +"Most extraordinary!" said the colonel. "I don't see how that could be +and I not know it." And, indeed, there were very few matters on which he +was not fully informed. + +"It is so, nevertheless," said the staff-officer. "One of +your--a--subalterns--a gentleman with whom I have very slight +acquaintance, came to me to tell me about it, as he expressed it, +yesterday." + +Then the colonel insisted upon hearing the whole story, and it came out. +It seems that after one or two somewhat embarrassed visits, Mr. Plodder +had succeeded in finding the judge-advocate alone on the previous +afternoon, had then drawn his chair close to that officer's desk, and, +very much to his surprise, had bent forward, and in confidential tone +had remarked, "Say, I want to tell you about Calvin," and before the +astonished judge-advocate could well interrupt him he had rushed through +a few hurried sentences descriptive of the affair in which Calvin was +involved, and looked up in very great astonishment when the +judge-advocate suddenly checked him. + +"One moment, Mr. Plodder. I do not understand the object of this +narrative. Have you come to make an official complaint of Mr. Calvin's +conduct? I am not the person. Your colonel--" + +"Oh, no, no. You don't understand," interrupted Mr. Plodder. "_I_ don't +want to appear in the matter at all; but you see I happen to know--" + +"You don't mean to say that you have come to me to give confidential +information about an officer of your regiment?" burst in the +judge-advocate with growing wrath. + +"I thought you ought to know," said Plodder, sulkily. "You have charge +of the court-martial business, and I s'pose charges are to be +preferred--" + +"And you want to appear as a witness, do you? or do you mean to prefer +additional charges, or--what the devil do you mean?" + +"No, _I'm_ not a witness," exclaimed Plodder, hastily. "I just thought +you ought to know about this, you see, and all you've got to do is to +write to so-and-so, and so-and-so. _They_ were there and saw it. Oh, no, +I don't want to appear at all." + +"In plain words, then, Mr. Plodder, you came here as a tale-bearer, and +expect me to treat you like a gentleman," said the judge-advocate, +rising in wrath and indignation, while Mr. Plodder sat gazing at him in +pained surprise. "By G--gulp, sir, I did not suppose the uniform had got +so low as that. Go to your colonel, if you want to tattle, sir; don't +come to me. There's the door, Mr. Plodder; there's the door, sir." And +in utter amaze the gentleman of nigh on to twelve years' consecutive +service slipped out into the hall as ruefully ruffled in spirit as +though he had been kicked thither. It was there he encountered Prime and +Trickett, and it was in this shape that the interview was eventually +made known to the regiment, but not until some time after--not until the +grand evolution of a pet and long-projected scheme. Then it was that +this experience of Plodder's was told, with many unflattering comments; +and so it happened that not one grain of sympathy was felt for him in +the moment of his most supreme dejection--the crowning disappointment of +his life. + +For the first time in his "years of consecutive service" Plodder +actually saw a first-lieutenancy within his grasp, and this is how the +matter stood. + +Among a lot of desperately, hopelessly healthy and virtuous captains and +first-lieutenants there appeared the unfortunate Mr. Calvin, whose +record had been somewhat mottled in the past, and who was now in a very +precarious state. To get him out of the way would ordinarily secure for +Mr. Plodder only a step, for at this moment he stood third on the list +of second lieutenants; but here was a case of unusual combinations. The +senior second lieutenant was at that moment undergoing trial on charges +that must dismiss him from the service. There was no question as to his +guilt; indeed, he had hardly made any defence against the allegations. +But, even were he to be dismissed, how was that to help Plodder? Look at +the list: + + _Second Lieutenants --th Infantry._ + + 1. John B. Riggs (in arrest, undergoing trial). + + 2. William H. Trainor, _regimental adjutant_. + + 3. Pariah Plodder. + +The army reader sees the scheme at a glance. With Riggs dismissed, +Trainor came to the head of the list, and was entitled to immediate +promotion to first lieutenant, "he being the adjutant." This, then, made +old Plodder senior second, and now--_now_, if he could only get Calvin +out, there were his bars. Under these circumstances, Plodder was not the +man to hesitate. Knowing Calvin's weakness, he had "kept an eye on him;" +had obtained, through some mysterious correspondent, details of his +proceedings at his post of isolation, and it was not long before it +began to be suspected that it was he who inspired the rumors that +appeared in the local papers, and so drew the attention of the +authorities to Calvin's offence. + +Well, Calvin came in, had an interview with his colonel, who was stern +and non-committal. Calvin protested that his offence had been grievously +exaggerated. Britton, who took his place up the country, swore that the +best citizens up there came in to speak in high terms of Calvin. The men +with whom he had had the disturbance were rough characters, who had +purposely insulted him, and Britton said that he believed the whole +statement could be traced to one of the enlisted men, a bad fellow, whom +Calvin had disciplined. The man was known to be writing letters +frequently, and no one knew to whom they were sent. Calvin behaved well +around garrison, and the colonel was divided in his mind. He hated to +prefer charges he could not fully substantiate, and it was by no means +certain that the allegations against Calvin could be reliably supported, +although there was strong probability of their truth. Then it began to +be rumored about the post that the colonel was wavering, despite his +firm front against all Calvin's appeals, and that night Plodder was +observed to be in a high state of nervous excitement. He had a +confidential interview with one subaltern, and sought another with at +least one more, but was sternly and angrily rebuffed. "I cannot say what +the matter was," explained the offended youngster, "as he made me agree +to regard his offer, as he called it, confidential. But it lets me out +on Plodder, that's all." + +The next day Plodder had a long talk with Calvin. The latter looked +infinitely depressed at its close, and went up to town by permission of +the colonel to see some legal friends. When night came he did not +return, as was understood to be the arrangement, and the adjutant, +driving up in the ambulance immediately after retreat, reappeared at +tattoo, escorting Calvin; and Calvin, perceptibly intoxicated, was +conducted to his quarters, and bidden there to abide in close arrest. + +Two days more, and his unconditional resignation was forwarded +"approved" from regimental headquarters, and a few days later, sadly +bidding his comrades adieu, Calvin started homewards. "It was no use +trying to make a fight," he said. "Some fellow had been spying around up +the country, and had prejudiced the colonel, and he told me he meant to +bring up charges for the old matter. I could have stood up against them +separately, but not collectively; and I had no war record, no friends, +no influence. What was the use? Old Plodder gave me a check for four +hundred dollars, payable at the First National in Chicago. I'll go back +to railroading. Wish to God I'd never left it for soldiering, anyhow!" +And with that he was gone, to await at his home the acceptance of his +tendered resignation. + +Now there was unexpected sympathy for Calvin in the regiment. He was a +plain man, of limited education, who had run an engine on one of +Tecumseh Sherman's vitally important railways in '64, and when his train +was attacked by Hood's horsemen he had fought like a hero, had been made +an officer in a regiment doing railway-guard duty, and at the end of the +war a lieutenant in the regular infantry. Being sociable, warm-hearted, +and weak, he had fallen into drinking ways, had spent his money fast, +and so had fallen from grace. He had long been unhappy and out of his +element in the service. Perhaps it was best that he should go back to +the old life, where drink was an impossibility. + +But the wonder was, how could old Plodder bear to spend four hundred +dollars of his hoarded gains even for the coveted file? _That_ was not +answered until long afterwards, and really has no place in the immediate +_dénouement_ of this plot. It might come in handily elsewhere. He _had_ +given Calvin four hundred dollars to resign at once, and perhaps the +colonel breathed freer at having the case decided for him. Now we were +all agog for the result. It depended, of course, upon Riggs's sentence. + +Now Riggs was an anomaly. He had few friends in the regiment. He was a +shy, sensitive, retiring sort of fellow--a man who read a great deal, +was known to be very well informed, a man who rarely appeared at the +social gatherings at the store, never played cards or billiards, was +civil and courteous to the younger officers, but a little surly to the +seniors. He was disliked by most of the latter, and cordially hated by +his own captain. When they sat on courts together, Mr. Riggs invariably +carried the day in all discussions that came up. He knew more law than +any of them. Indeed, there seemed to be no point on which he had not +more information than all but two or three of his seniors, and he rather +delighted in drawing them out and exposing their ignorance. On the other +hand, in the thousand little ways in which superior officers can inflict +humiliation upon their juniors, his own and other captains made him feel +his dependent position, and poor Riggs, with all his knowledge, was a +very unhappy man. He had not a real friend, certainly not an intimate, +in the regiment; in fact, he incurred the hostility of many of the subs +at the very start by being transferred from an old regiment to near the +top of the list of this one when the consolidation took place in '71--a +transfer that drove Mr. Plodder nearly frantic at the time, and laid the +solid foundation of his undying hate. Riggs made no attempt to +conciliate anybody. He never mentioned his past life or services. No one +knew his war history, though it was known that he had served. No one +ever heard him refer to what he had seen or experienced. Yet the few +caustic comments with which he occasionally silenced Plodder's +reminiscences amid an explosion of laughter from the youngsters assured +every one that he knew whereof he spoke. He was sad, dreamy in +temperament; some said he took opium, all knew he took whiskey, and a +great deal of it, though never was he known to do or say an unseemly +thing under its influence. His face would flush and his speech sometimes +thicken, but for a long time that had been all. He was what was called a +steady drinker, and as an excuse, his wife (and she was a devoted little +woman) was wont to tell the ladies of the regiment who ventured to +allude to it that Mr. Riggs had a pulmonary difficulty, a bad cough, and +that his physicians had prescribed whiskey. + +Cough he certainly had, and at times a very consumptive look, and as +time wore on he had grown moody and sullen. Then came an exciting period +in the history of the regiment. Several days and nights of sharp and +stirring service against rioters in the streets of the adjoining city. +Several days with irregular food and nights with irregular sleep, and +after forty-eight hours of such experience Lieutenant Riggs, suddenly +summoned at daybreak by his captain to command a guard to be sent to +some public buildings, plunged, stupidly drunk, into plain sight of +assembled officers and men, and was sent back to the garrison in +disgrace and close arrest. This was the offence for which he had just +been tried. There was no hope for him said the colonel and the officers +of the regiment. Dismissal short and sharp was the only prospect before +him. A presidential announcement had but recently been made that _that_ +was the one thing not to be overlooked at an executive mansion where +dismayed diplomats were compelled to struggle through state dinners +unaided by the accustomed Château Yquem and Pommery Sec, and rushed away +chilled and alarmed to seek vinous aid for their offended stomachs. +Riggs was ruined, and must expect to go. + +But the case had been tried before a general court of considerable rank, +and composed of officers from other posts and commands. Only one of the +--th Foot was on the detail. Admitting the facts alleged in the +specification, Mr. Riggs had called upon one or two officers, his +colonel and the major, for evidence as to his general character and +previous conduct, and they could say nothing of consequence against him, +and _did_ say much that was favorable. When they had retired Mr. Riggs +surprised the court by calling upon one of its own members, an old +surgeon, and subsequently upon another, a veteran lieutenant-colonel of +artillery. + +"What in thunder could he have wanted of them?" was the amazed inquiry +down at the barracks that evening when it was there announced, and all +that was said in reply was, that they had known him during the war. Next +day some important documentary evidence was introduced, and then, asking +only twenty-four hours in which to write his defence, Mr. Riggs, in a +voice that trembled with emotion and with eyes that filled with tears he +strove in vain to dash away, proceeded to address the court. "My wife is +very ill, gentlemen, and her anxiety on my account has increased the +trouble. The order convening the court assigned the barracks as the +place of meeting, but it was changed, very properly, to suit the +convenience of the members who were in the city. As it is, I have to +leave there early in the morning, and be away from her all day. May I +ask, as a great favor, that you arrange to meet to-morrow at the old +place? I can then be near her in case--in case--" Here he stopped short, +and, covering his face with his hands, turned his back upon the court. + +The solemn silence was broken by the voice of the old surgeon. + +"I know Mrs. Riggs, and have known her for years; she is indeed very +much prostrated, and I have a note from Dr. Grant at the barracks +substantiating what Mr. Riggs says." The judge-advocate stepped out and +had a short consultation with the adjutant-general of the department in +his adjoining office, and when the court adjourned it adjourned to meet +at noon on the following day down at the barracks. + +It was perhaps an hour after adjournment when the judge-advocate of the +court, accompanied by one of its members, started out to take a drive. +Passing the headquarters building where they had been in session during +the morning, they were surprised to see Lieutenant Riggs standing alone +at the doorway and gazing anxiously down the street. + +"Why, I thought his wife was so sick, and supposed that he would be on +his way to barracks by this time," said the member. + +"And I, too; I don't understand it," said the junior, who was driving. +"At least," he added, hesitatingly, "he may be waiting for the +ambulance. It's a six-mile drive, and no hackman will go there for less +than a small fortune." + +There was silence for a moment as they trotted briskly along. Both the +judge-advocate and the member caught each other in the act of glancing +back towards the dim and lonely figure of Mr. Riggs, and in another +minute the younger officer pulled up his team. + +"Major, you want to go back and see what's the matter?" + +"Yes, and so do you. Hold up a minute; there's Coles now. He'll know +about the ambulance." + +Reining in towards the sidewalk, the sauntering quartermaster was +hailed, and that somewhat bulky official stepped up to the side of their +stylish turn-out. + +"Was the ambulance to take Riggs back to the post? He seems to be +waiting for something very anxiously," said the judge-advocate. + +The quartermaster started. "Why, yes; I thought it had gone long ago, +and had stopped below here where I met it. Captain and Mrs. Breen and +one or two others were doing a little shopping, I reckon." + +"Meantime poor Riggs is waiting to get back to his sick wife, and has +been waiting for an hour," said the legal adviser of the court, with an +impatient crack of the whip that startled his spirited grays as they +were whirled about and sent spinning up the street, leaving the dazed +quartermaster staring after them. At headquarters the team again +abruptly pulled up, and its driver called out, in cheery tones, + +"Riggs, we are going out to barracks. Can we give you a lift? It may be +some time before that ambulance comes along." + +"It was to have been here over an hour ago," said the infantryman, +slowly. "I don't know what's the matter, and I could not go in search of +it; my arrest limits me to this building when in town. I hate to trouble +you, yet I ought to have been home by this time." + +"Jump in, jump in! We'll get you there in less than no time," exclaimed +both occupants. And, only too willing, Mr. Riggs "leaped aboard," and +they sped away for the outskirts of the city. + +Passing a favorite restaurant, where officers and ladies were wont to +rendezvous when in town, they caught sight of the missing ambulance. + +"Weren't you ordered to be at headquarters for Lieutenant Riggs at +three o'clock?" demanded the judge-advocate of the driver. + +"Yes, sir," replied that party, glancing in nervous embarrassment over +his shoulder at somebody in the depths of the vehicle, "but--" + +A forage-capped head appeared from behind the curtain; the benign +features of Captain Breen slowly hove in sight, and a smile of greeting +spread thereover as his eyes met those of the staff-officers. + +"Oh, ah! Good-afternoon, colonel. How de do, Captain Park. Why--yes, +there was something said about going for Riggs when we got through--when +the ladies finished shopping, you know. I was just reading the evening +paper. If you are ready, Riggs, I--I'll hurry them out now," said the +captain, startled into civility to the subaltern on seeing the +distinguished company in which he drove. + +"Thanks; we won't trouble you. Hup there!" said Captain Park, dryly and +energetically, as once more the grays dashed off at rapid trot, and in +half an hour Mr. Riggs was landed in front of his quarters in the +garrison. + +He said very little as he stepped from the light road-wagon, but he +grasped the extended hands of the two officers, and looked up in their +faces with mute eloquence. The post surgeon happened along at the +moment, and Riggs turned eagerly towards him. + +"A little easier, if anything," said the doctor, in answer to the look +of anxious inquiry. "Better, I think, than she has been for the last two +days. Your telegram cheered her a good deal." + +"Excuse me now, will you, gentlemen?" said the lieutenant to his late +conductors. "You understand my haste, and will forgive my inhospitality +in not asking you in. You--you don't know how I thank you." And with +that he was gone. + +"Doctor, what seems the matter with Mrs. Riggs?" asked the +judge-advocate, impetuously. + +"Heart-trouble mainly. Any great anxiety tells right there. She was a +very sick woman yesterday. Won't you stop at my quarters?" + +"Thanks, no. We were just out for a drive, and must get back." + +Whether from motives of delicacy, or possibly from lack of curiosity, +very few of the older officers of the --th Foot were present in the +court-room when Mr. Riggs read his brief statement or defence on the +following day; but nothing could keep Plodder away. Among the group of +four or five junior officers his keen little eyes and eager face peered +out, ferret-like, glancing from member to member of the court as though +he sought to probe their inmost souls. Brief as it was, Riggs had +written an admirable little argument. He made no accusations, no +recriminations; indeed, he rather slightingly alluded to a portion of +the evidence which went to show that during the forty-eight hours +preceding his offence he had been kept almost continuously on duty night +and day, while the other company officer, his captain, slept almost as +continuously. He manfully admitted his guilt, he showed that never +before had he been accused of such an offence, and then, with brief +reference to the testimony of the surgeon and his old division +commander of war days, and the documentary evidence in their possession, +he threw himself upon the mercy of the court. + +The youngsters could not repress a murmur of admiration as he closed. +Plodder with open mouth and staring eyes looked around the long, +littered table like a military Shylock imploring the fulfilment of his +bond. His eyes brightened as the judge-advocate slowly rose; he knew how +trenchant he could be, at least, and he had confidence that his response +would shatter the favorable impression left by Mr. Riggs's defence. It +was with an almost audible gasp of dismay that he heard the next words +that broke the silence of the court-room. The judge-advocate calmly +said, "The case is submitted without remark." + +Not until Mr. Waterman had plucked him by the coat-sleeve and hoarsely +whispered, "Don't stand there like a stuck pig, you old idiot. Court's +cleared," could Mr. Plodder be made to understand that all outsiders +were required to withdraw that the court might proceed to its +deliberation. Even at the outer door he again stopped and looked back, a +half-formed project taking root in his bewildered brain, and again Mr. +Waterman unfeelingly interrupted him. "Come on, Plodder. D--n it all! +are you thinking of going in and haranguing the court yourself?" It was +in more than perturbation that Plodder finally sought his quarters and, +secure in his solitude, unlocked and uncorked his demijohn. + +In another hour the court had adjourned and gone its way. Issuing from +the stuffy room over the colonel's office, the members had been met by +hospitable invitations to take luncheon here, there, and elsewhere about +the garrison, and the story of the documentary and war evidence having +got around by this time, there was much questioning as to its exact +nature, and much wonderment that it had not been heard of before. The +surgeon had testified to Mr. Riggs's having been twice severely wounded, +once at Shiloh, again at Chickamauga. The artillery colonel to his +having twice noticed admirable and gallant conduct in action, which he +had praised in orders. The documentary evidence went even further. +Evidently Riggs's stock was looking up. Of course no member of the court +could give the faintest hint of the action taken, and as they finally +drove away, and the officers after evening parade were discussing the +probable fate of the accused, the colonel quietly put a stop to +speculation by the remark made to the second in command, "He pleaded +guilty. They had to sentence him to dismissal. Now only the President +can save him. He has no influence, and the President has just said he +would not overlook such offences in future. That settles it in my mind." + +That night, therefore, Mr. Plodder went to bed half full of comfort and +whiskey. + +But it was noticed that the judge-advocate, Captain Park, had gone off +with the surgeon after the adjournment of court, and while the rest of +the garrison were at lunch he, with Dr. Grant, had appeared at Riggs's +door. + +"She has begged to be allowed to see you," the doctor had explained, +"and what she needs is some little word of hope. _His_ hopefulness she +fears is only simulated for her sake." And nodding appreciatively in +response to the doctor's significant glance, Captain Park was shown into +the plainly furnished little parlor, where, reclining in a broad +sofa-chair, propped upon white pillows, white as her own wan face, was +the fragile form of the invalid. He had known her only slightly, but her +gentle, unassuming, sweet-tempered ways had often attracted his +attention, and her devotion to her husband was a matter that had excited +the somewhat envious remarks of Benedicts less favored. She held out her +thin white hand, and looked with glistening eyes up into the grave +bearded face that bent over her in courteous greeting and kindly +interest. + +"I wanted to see you and thank you," she said in her gentle voice. "More +than once Mr. Riggs has spoken of your consideration and courtesy in all +this--this sad affair; but yesterday he was quite overcome. They did not +get back with the ambulance until nearly seven, and all that time he +would have been kept waiting, and I--" + +"It was a pleasure to me to be of any service," he answered; "but I am +grieved to see you so prostrated, so ill. Do you know I--I think you are +worrying far too much?" + +Eagerly she glanced up into his face. "Oh, Captain Park! I know you +cannot tell me the sentence; I know you cannot tell me anything they +have done, but I am so torn with doubt, so unhappy! Mr. Riggs seems so +friendless here. No one knows him, no one understands him. Last night he +almost broke down as he said that in a whole year yours was the only +voice he had heard that seemed to have a ring of friendship or sympathy. +His people have written to him to come home. They think he must be +dismissed, and have so written to him and to me. They urge me to come at +once and get the little home they offer in readiness, so that he can be +induced to come right there if the order is--is against us. I am ill, +but if need be I could go. I would be glad to think of having that +little haven for him in case he were crushed by this, but _ought_ I to +go? Ought I to leave him here alone? It will be full three weeks or a +month before we can hear from Washington, I suppose." + +Still standing, he bent over her chair. "Shall I tell you what I think +you ought to do, at once?" he asked, almost smiling. "I believe I will, +anyway. It may be a very rude and impertinent thing to say, but it is my +belief that the best thing you can do is get well--get well right +away, and be ready, you and Mr. Riggs, to take Christmas dinner with us. +Mrs. Park will be back next week, and I know she will be delighted. +There! It is nearly a month away to be sure, but that will give you +abundant time. Meanwhile, of course you can't go home. Will you promise +me, Mrs. Riggs?" And the legal adviser held out his hand, gave her a +cordial grasp, and vanished before she could find one word in which to +thank him. When Mr. Riggs rejoined his wife she was sobbing like a +little child, and yet there was a world of hope and gladness in her +swollen eyes as she gazed up into his tired face and drew it down to her +lips. + +As for Captain Park, it was observed of him that he whistled with +considerable cheeriness on his way back to town, and as he sat at his +desk that evening completing the record of the court. Some weeks +afterwards, in speaking of the requirement that no officer of a court +shall make known its sentence except to the reviewing authority, Captain +Park was heard to mutter, "Wonder if inviting a fellow to a Christmas +dinner would be revealing the sentence of a court?" and somebody present +replied, "How could it be?" + +And yet Mrs. Riggs was gaining health and spirits with every day, and +Mr. Riggs, though still confined to the garrison in arrest, was serenely +enjoying life in her society. + +Three weeks later a brace of orders arrived from the War Department, and +there was uproar and excitement among the youngsters in the --th Foot. +Full information of course preceded the official announcement, but the +very enlisted men grinned with delight when those orders were read on +parade, for the story of Plodder's speculation had reached the ranks, +where he was no favorite. Divested of their official forms the orders +were, first, publication of the proceedings of the court-martial before +which Lieutenant Riggs was arraigned and tried, and in accordance with +his plea was found guilty and sentenced to be dismissed the service. All +of which was approved; but, said the order, "in view of the earnest +recommendation signed by the entire court, and concurred in by the +commanding generals of the department and of the army, the president has +been pleased to remit the sentence, and Lieutenant Riggs will resume his +sword and return to duty." + +Then came the second order from the A.G.O.: + + "PROMOTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS. + + * * * * * + + "--_th Infantry._ + + "Second Lieutenant John B. Riggs to be first lieutenant, vice + Calvin resigned. December 3, 187-. + + "Second Lieutenant William H. Trainor to be first lieutenant, + he being the adjutant. December 3, 187-." + +And Plodder's hoarded four hundred dollars had really purchased Riggs's +promotion. "Bless your generous heart, Plod!" burst out that +irrepressible scapegrace Trickett as the officers dispersed after +dismissal of parade. "Let me shake hands with you, old man. Now just +chip in another four hundred and buy me a file and I'll--" But the rest +was lost in the explosions of laughter, under cover of which poor +Plodder went raging to his quarters. + +As for Riggs, he wore his bars for the first time at Park's Christmas +dinner, and he wears them yet, only he hates to be spoken of as +"Plodder's Promotion." + + THE END. + + + + + * * * * * + +By CAPT. CHARLES KING. + + * * * * * + + CAMPAIGNING WITH CROOK, AND STORIES OF + ARMY LIFE. Post 8vo, Cloth, $1 25. + + A WAR-TIME WOOING. Illustrated by R. F. Zogbaum. + pp. iv., 196. Post 8vo, Cloth, $1 00. + + BETWEEN THE LINES. A Story of the War. Illustrated + by Gilbert Gaul. pp. iv., 312. Post 8vo, Cloth, $1 25. + +In all of Captain King's stories the author holds to lofty ideals of +manhood and womanhood, and inculcates the lessons of honor, generosity, +courage, and self-control.--_Literary World_, Boston. + +The vivacity and charm which signally distinguish Captain King's pen.... +He occupies a position in American literature entirely his own.... His +is the literature of honest sentiment, pure and tender.--_N. Y. Press._ + +A romance by Captain King is always a pleasure, because he has so +complete a mastery of the subjects with which he deals.... Captain King +has few rivals in his domain.... The general tone of Captain King's +stories is highly commendable. The heroes are simple, frank, and +soldierly; the heroines are dignified and maidenly in the most +unconventional situations.--_Epoch_, N. Y. + +All Captain King's stories are full of spirit and with the true ring +about them.--_Philadelphia Item._ + +Captain King's stories of army life are so brilliant and intense, they +have such a ring of true experience, and his characters are so lifelike +and vivid that the announcement of a new one is always received with +pleasure.--_New Haven Palladium._ + +Captain King is a delightful story-teller.--_Washington Post._ + +In the delineation of war scenes Captain King's style is crisp and +vigorous, inspiring in the breast of the reader a thrill of genuine +patriotic fervor.--_Boston Commonwealth._ + +Captain King is almost without a rival in the field he has chosen.... +His style is at once vigorous and sentimental in the best sense of that +word, so that his novels are pleasing to young men as well as young +women.--_Pittsburgh Bulletin._ + +It is good to think that there is at least one man who believes that all +the spirit of romance and chivalry has not yet died out of the world, +and that there are as brave and honest hearts to-day as there were in +the days of knights and paladins.--_Philadelphia Record._ + + * * * * * + +Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. + +_Any of the above works sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any +part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, on receipt of the price._ + + + + +BOOTS AND SADDLES; + +Or, Life in Dakota with General Custer. By + Mrs. Elizabeth B. Custer. With Portrait of General Custer, pp. + 312. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50. + + +A book of adventure is interesting reading, especially when it is all +true, as is the case with "Boots and Saddles." *** She does not obtrude +the fact that sunshine and solace went with her to tent and fort, but it +inheres in her narrative none the less, and as a consequence "these +simple annals of our daily life," as she calls them, are never dull nor +uninteresting.--_Evangelist_, N. Y. + +Mrs. Custer's book is in reality a bright and sunny sketch of the life +of her late husband, who fell at the battle of "Little Big Horn." *** +After the war, when General Custer was sent to the Indian frontier, his +wife was of the party, and she is able to give the minute story of her +husband's varied career, since she was almost always near the scene of +his adventures.--_Brooklyn Union._ + +We have no hesitation in saying that no better or more satisfactory life +of General Custer could have been written. Indeed, we may as well speak +the thought that is in us, and say plainly that we know of no +biographical work anywhere which we count better than this. *** Surely +the record of such experiences as these will be read with that keen +interest which attaches only to strenuous human doings; as surely we are +right in saying that such a story of truth and heroism as that here told +will take a deeper hold upon the popular mind and heart than any work of +fiction can. For the rest, the narrative is as vivacious and as lightly +and trippingly given as that of any novel. It is enriched in every +chapter with illustrative anecdotes and incidents, and here and there a +little life story of pathetic interest is told as an episode.--_N. Y. +Commercial Advertiser._ + +It is a plain, straightforward story of the author's life on the plains +of Dakota. Every member of a Western garrison will want to read this +book; every person in the East who is interested in Western life will +want to read it, too; and every girl or boy who has a healthy appetite +for adventure will be sure to get it. It is bound to have an army of +readers that few authors can expect.--_Philadelphia Press._ + +These annals of daily life in the army are simple, yet interesting, and +underneath all is discerned the love of a true woman ready for any +sacrifice. She touches on themes little canvassed by the civilian, and +makes a volume equally redolent of a loving devotion to an honored +husband, and attractive as a picture of necessary duty by the +soldier.--_Commonwealth_, Boston. + + * * * * * + +Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, N. Y. + +Harper & Brothers _will send the above work by mail, postage +prepaid, to any part of the United States or Canada, on receipt of the +price_. + + + + +BY W. D. HOWELLS. + +THE SHADOW OF A DREAM. A Story. 12mo, Paper, 50 + cents; Cloth, $1 00. + +A HAZARD OF NEW FORTUNES. Illustrated. 8vo, Paper, 75 cents; 12mo, +Cloth, 2 vols., $2 00. + + Never, certainly, has Mr. Howells written more brilliantly, + more clearly, more firmly, or more attractively than in this + instance.--_N. Y. Tribune._ + + This new novel is distinguished by the possession in an unusual + degree of all the familiar qualities of Mr. Howells's style. + The humor of it, particularly, is abundant and + delightful.--_Philadelphia Press._ + +MODERN ITALIAN POETS. Essays and Versions. With Portraits. 12mo, Half +Cloth, $2 00. + + Mr. Howells has in this work enriched American literature by a + great deal of delicate, discriminating, candid, and sympathetic + criticism. He has enabled the general public to obtain a + knowledge of modern Italian poetry which they could have + acquired in no other way.--_N. Y. Tribune._ + +ANNIE KILBURN. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50. + + Mr. Howells has certainly never given us in one novel so many + portraits of intrinsic interest. Annie Kilburn herself is a + masterpiece of quietly veracious art--the art which depends for + its effect on unswerving fidelity to the truth of Nature.... It + certainly seems to us the very best book that Mr. Howells has + written.--_Spectator, London._ + +APRIL HOPES. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50. + + Mr. Howells never wrote a more bewitching book. It is useless + to deny the rarity and worth of the skill that can report so + perfectly and with such exquisite humor all the fugacious and + manifold emotions of the modern maiden and her + lover.--_Philadelphia Press._ + +THE MOUSE-TRAP, and Other Farces. 12mo, Cloth, $1 00. + + Mr. Howells's gift of lively appreciation of the humors that + lie on the surface of conduct and conversation, and his skill + in reproducing them in literary form, make him peculiarly + successful in his attempts at graceful, delicately humorous + dialogue.--_Boston Advertiser._ + + * * * * * + + Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. + +_Any of the above works sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of +the United States, Canada, or Mexico, on receipt of the price._ + + + + +BY CONSTANCE F. WOOLSON. + + JUPITER LIGHTS. A Novel. 16mo, Cloth, $1 25. + + EAST ANGELS. A Novel. 16mo, Cloth, $1 25. + + ANNE. A Novel. Illustrated. 16mo, Cloth, $1 25. + + FOR THE MAJOR. A Novelette. 16mo, Cloth, $1 00. + + CASTLE NOWHERE. Lake Country Sketches. 16mo, + Cloth, $1 00. + + RODMAN THE KEEPER. Southern Sketches. 16mo, + Cloth, $1 00. + + Delightful touches justify those who see many points of analogy + between Miss Woolson and George Eliot.--_N. Y. Times._ + + For tenderness and purity of thought, for exquisitely delicate + sketching of characters, Miss Woolson is unexcelled among + writers of fiction.--_New Orleans Picayune._ + + Characterization is Miss Woolson's forte. Her men and women are + not mere puppets, but original, breathing, and finely + contrasted creations.--_Chicago Tribune._ + + Miss Woolson is one of the few novelists of the day who know + how to make conversation, how to individualize the speakers, + how to exclude rabid realism without falling into literary + formality.--_N. Y. Tribune._ + + Constance Fenimore Woolson may easily become the novelist + laureate.--_Boston Globe._ + + Miss Woolson has a graceful fancy, a ready wit, a polished + style, and conspicuous dramatic power; while her skill in the + development of a story is very remarkable.--_London Life._ + + Miss Woolson never once follows the beaten track of the + orthodox novelist, but strikes a new and richly loaded vein + which, so far, is all her own; and thus we feel, on reading one + of her works, a fresh sensation, and we put down the book with + a sigh to think our pleasant task of reading it is finished. + The author's lines must have fallen to her in very pleasant + places; or she has, perhaps, within herself the wealth of + womanly love and tenderness she pours so freely into all she + writes. Such books as hers do much to elevate the moral tone of + the day--a quality sadly wanting in novels of the + time.--_Whitehall Review, London._ + + * * * * * + + Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. + +_Any of the above works sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of +the United States, Canada, or Mexico, on receipt of the price._ + + + + +BY CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER + + +A LITTLE JOURNEY IN THE WORLD. A Novel. pp. iv., + 396. Post 8vo, Half Leather, $1 50. + +STUDIES IN THE SOUTH AND WEST, with Comments on Canada. pp. iv., 484. +Post 8vo, Half Leather, $1 75. + + A witty, instructive book, as brilliant in its pictures as it + is warm in its kindness; and we feel sure that it is with a + patriotic impulse that we say that we shall be glad to learn + that the number of its readers bears some proportion to its + merits and its power for good.--_N. Y. Commercial Advertiser._ + + Sketches made from studies of the country and the people upon + the ground.... They are the opinions of a man and a scholar + without prejudices, and only anxious to state the facts as they + were.... When told in the pleasant and instructive way of Mr. + Warner the studies are as delightful as they are + instructive.--_Chicago Inter-Ocean._ + + Perhaps the most accurate and graphic account of these portions + of the country that has appeared, taken all in all.... It is a + book most charming--a book that no American can fail to enjoy, + appreciate, and highly prize.--_Boston Traveller._ + +THEIR PILGRIMAGE. Richly Illustrated by C. S. Reinhart. pp. viii., 364. +Post 8vo, Half Leather, $2 00. + + Mr. Warner's pen-pictures of the characters typical of each + resort, of the manner of life followed at each, of the humor + and absurdities peculiar to Saratoga, or Newport, or Bar + Harbor, as the case may be, are as good-natured as they are + clever. The satire, when there is any, is of the mildest, and + the general tone is that of one glad to look on the brightest + side of the cheerful, pleasure-seeking world with which he + mingles.--_Christian Union_, N. Y. + + Mr. Reinhart's spirited and realistic illustrations are very + attractive, and contribute to make an unusually handsome book. + We have already commented upon the earlier chapters of the + text; and the happy blending of travel and fiction which we + looked forward to with confidence did, in fact, distinguish + this story among the serials of the year.--_N. Y. Evening + Post._ + + * * * * * + + Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. + +_Any of the above works sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of +the United States, Canada, or Mexico, on receipt of the price._ + + + + +THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. + +A Tale of the Times of Scanderbeg and the Fall of + Constantinople. By James M. Ludlow, D.D., Litt.D. pp. iv., 404. 16mo, + Cloth, $1 50. + + The author writes clearly and easily; his descriptions are often + of much brilliancy, while the whole setting of the story is of + that rich Oriental character which fires the fancy.--_Boston + Courier._ + + Strong in its central historical character, abounding in + incident, rapid and stirring in action, animated and often + brilliant in style.--_Christian Union_, N. Y. + + Something new and striking interests us in almost every + chapter. The peasantry of the Balkans, the training and + government of the Janizaries, the interior of Christian and + Moslem camps, the horrors of raids and battles, the violence of + the Sultan, the tricks of spies, the exploits of heroes, engage + Mr. Ludlow's fluent pen.--_N. Y. Tribune._ + + Dr. Ludlow's style is a constant reminder of Walter Scott, and + the book is to retain a permanent place in + literature.--_Observer, N. Y._ + + An altogether admirable piece of work--picturesque, truthful, + and dramatic.--_Newark Advertiser._ + + A most romantic, enjoyable tale.... As affording views of inner + life in the East as long ago as the middle of the fifteenth + century, this tale ought to have a charm for many; but it is + full enough of incident, wherever the theatre of its action + might be found, to do this.--_Troy Press._ + + The author has used his material with skill, weaving the facts + of history into a story crowded with stirring incidents and + unexpected situations, and a golden thread of love-making, + under extreme difficulties, runs through the narrative to a + happy issue.--_Examiner_, N. Y. + + One of the strongest and most fascinating historical novels of + the last quarter of a century.--_Boston Pilot._ + + A refreshing and remarkable production. There is here no + wearisome soul-searching, and no minute analysis of the + trivial, but a straightforward romance, written almost in the + great manner of Scott. As a story, it is absorbingly + interesting from first page to last. As a resuscitation of + history, it has the accuracy without the pedantry of the works + of German and other moderns. As a presentation of the physical + aspects of the Balkan peninsula, it is very striking, and shows + close familiarity with the regions described. As a study of the + life and manner of the remote epoch with which it deals, it + exhibits, without ostentation, a careful and minute research; + and as a literary composition, it has more merits and fewer + faults than most of the books written in this age of hurried + production.--_Dial_, Chicago. + + * * * * * + + Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. + + Harper & Brothers _will send the above work by mail, postage prepaid, + to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, + on receipt of the price_. + + + +BY LAFCADIO HEARN. + +Two Years in the French West Indies. By Lafcadio Hearn. pp.517. +Copiously Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, $2 00. + +The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard. By Anatole France. The Translation and +Introduction by Lafcadio Hearn. 8vo, Paper, 50 cents. + +Chita: A Memory of Last Island. By Lafcadio Hearn. pp. vi., 204. Post +8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 00. + + To such as are unfamiliar with Mr. Hearn's writings,"Chita" + will be a revelation of how near language can approach the + realistic power of actual painting. His very words seem to have + color--his pages glow--his book is a kaleidoscope.--_N. Y. Mail + and Express._ + + A powerful story, rich in descriptive passages.... The tale is + a tragic one, but it shows remarkable imaginative force, and is + one that will not soon be forgotten by the reader.--_Saturday + Evening Gazette_, Boston. + + Lafcadio Hearn's exquisite story.... A tale full of poetry and + vivid description that nobody will want to miss.--_N. Y. Sun._ + + A pathetic little tale, simple but deeply touching, and told + with the beauty of phrasing and the deep and subtle sympathy of + the poet.--_Chicago Times._ + + There is no page--no paragraph even--but holds more of vital + quality than would suffice to set up an ordinary volume.--_The + Epoch_, N. Y. + + ... A wonderfully sustained effort in imaginative prose, full + of the glamour and opulent color of the tropics and yet strong + with the salt breath of the sea.--_San Francisco Chronicle._ + + Mr. Hearn is a poet, and in "Chita" he has produced a prose + poem of much beauty.... His style is tropical, full of glow and + swift movement and vivid impressions, reflecting strong love + and keen sympathetic observation of nature, picturesque and + flexible, luxuriant in imagery, and marked by a delicate + perception of effective values.--_N. Y. Tribune._ + + In the too few pages of this wonderful little book tropical + Nature finds a living voice and a speech by which she can make + herself known. All the splendor of her skies and the terrors of + her seas make to themselves a language. So living a book has + scarcely been given to our generation.--_Boston Transcript._ + + * * * * * + + Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. + +_The above works sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the +United States, Canada, or Mexico, on receipt of the price._ + + + + +BEN-HUR: A TALE OF THE CHRIST. + + +By Lew. Wallace. New Edition. pp. 552. 16mo, + Cloth, $1 50. + + Anything so startling, new, and distinctive as the leading + feature of this romance does not often appear in works of + fiction.... Some of Mr. Wallace's writing is remarkable for its + pathetic eloquence. The scenes described in the New Testament + are rewritten with the power and skill of an accomplished + master of style.--_N. Y. Times._ + + Its real basis is a description of the life of the Jews and + Romans at the beginning of the Christian era, and this is both + forcible and brilliant.... We are carried through a surprising + variety of scenes; we witness a sea-fight, a chariot-race, the + internal economy of a Roman galley, domestic interiors at + Antioch, at Jerusalem, and among the tribes of the desert; + palaces, prisons, the haunts of dissipated Roman youth, the + houses of pious families of Israel. There is plenty of exciting + incident; everything is animated, vivid, and glowing.--_N. Y. + Tribune._ + + From the opening of the volume to the very close the reader's + interest will be kept at the highest pitch, and the novel will + be pronounced by all one of the greatest novels of the + day.--_Boston Post._ + + It is full of poetic beauty, as though born of an Eastern sage, + and there is sufficient of Oriental customs, geography, + nomenclature, etc., to greatly strengthen the + semblance.--_Boston Commonwealth._ + + "Ben-Hur" is interesting, and its characterization is fine and + strong. Meanwhile it evinces careful study of the period in + which the scene is laid, and will help those who read it with + reasonable attention to realize the nature and conditions of + Hebrew life in Jerusalem and Roman life at Antioch at the time + of our Saviour's advent.--_Examiner_, N. Y. + + It is really Scripture history of Christ's time clothed + gracefully and delicately in the flowing and loose drapery of + modern fiction.... Few late works of fiction excel it in + genuine ability and interest.--_N. Y. Graphic._ + + One of the most remarkable and delightful books. It is as real + and warm as life itself, and as attractive as the grandest and + most heroic chapters of history.--_Indianapolis Journal._ + + The book is one of unquestionable power, and will be read with + unwonted interest by many readers who are weary of the + conventional novel and romance.--_Boston Journal._ + + + * * * * * + + Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. + +_The above work sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United +States or Canada, on receipt of the price._ + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Campaigning with Crook and Stories of +Army Life, by Charles King + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMPAIGNING WITH CROOK; ARMY LIFE *** + +***** This file should be named 37480-8.txt or 37480-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/4/8/37480/ + +Produced by flink, Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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