ing a white flag. The scouts motioned to them to keep off. Forsyth remarked, "tell them this is no peace commission, shoot the first red devil who comes within range." Three dead bodies of their warriors were lying on the island. It was supposed the object of the party with the flag was to secure them, but Indian treachery was too well known. The savages retired.

It was now evident the Indians had no disposition to renew the conflict. A few of the scouts visited the old camping-ground. Several camp kettles were found and brought in, with some grains of coffee picked out of the sand. Fires were made out of the Indian arrows gathered in the vicinity and on the island. A refreshing but scant allowance of coffee was distributed among the wounded, which seemed to revive their energy and gave them a new lease of strength to endure their privations and sufferings. Fires were built in the trenches, and large quantities of horse-flesh, cut from the dead animals were jerked, after the fashion of the Indians, thus affording a supply for at least sev eral days. Graves were dug and the bodies of the dead were gathered for interment. No martial note, no tread of sorrowing comrades, no religious form, marked this closing scene of mortality. The wolf's low howl and the sighing north wind alone sings their requiem.*

From these sad and rude rites of burial, the living turned to thoughts of self. The same night two more messengers, Donovan and Plyly, were sent to seek relief.

Four long and weary days had passed. A small party of warriors remained in the vicinity watching the movements of the scouts, the main body, however, had departed. The well men, relieved of the constant watching, now gave some attention to the wounded. Their injuries, which had grown very painful, were rudely dressed. Soup was made out of horse-flesh. Shelters were constructed protecting them from the heat, damp, and wind.

*A party sent out from Fort Wallace the following winter to bring in the bodies returned, having been unsuccessful. The graves were found but no signs of the bodies, the savages evidently having exhumed them

On the sixth day the wounds of the men began to show more decided and alarming signs of neglect. Maggots infested them and the first traces of gangrene had set in. To multiply the discomforts of their situation, the entire party was almost overpowered by the intolerable stench created by the decomposing bodies of the dead horses. Their supply of meat was nearly exhausted. Under these trying circumstances, Forsyth assembled his men. He told them they "knew their situation as well as he. There were those who were helpless, but aid must not be expected too soon. It might be difficult for the messengers to reach the fort, or there might be some delay by losing their way. Those who wished to go should do so and leave the res. to take their chances." With one shout the men resolved to stay, and if all hope vanished to die together.

At last the supply of jerked horse-meat was exhausted and the chances of getting more were gone. By this time the carcasses of the animals were a mass of corruption. There was no alternative. Strips of putrid flesh were cut and eaten. The effect of this offensive diet was nauseating in the extreme. An experiment was made to improve the unpalatable flesh with gun-powder, but without avail. The men allayed only their most extreme cravings of hunger, trusting still that succor might reach them before all was over.

On the morning of September 25, the sun rose with unusual splendor, and upon its bright colors seemed to play the brighter effulgence of the ray of hope. The solitary plain, receding in all directions, possessed a deeper interest than ever before, though still it showed no signs of life, and presented the same monotonous expanse upon which the heroic band had gazed for so many days. Across the dim and indefinable distances which swept around the eye often wandered, wondering what might be the revelations of the next moment. Suddenly several dark figures appeared faintly on the horizon. The objects were moving. The question was, are they savages or the messengers of relief? As on such occasions of anxiety and suspense, time wore on heavily; yet every moment brought the sufferers nearer

to the realization whether this was their doom or their escape Over an hour had elapsed, when the objects were distinctly defined to be troops, and probably the relief party. The strong set up a shout such as men seldom utter. It was the unburdening of the heart of the weight of despair. The wounded lifted their fevered forms and fixed their glaring eyes upon the now rapidly-approaching succor, and in their delirium involuntarily reiterated the acclamations of their comrades.

As soon as the scouts made a signal of their presence, Carpenter and Fitzgerald and the scout Donovan, with thirty men, dashed ahead and were soon in the midst of the little band whose joy and relief now knew no bounds.

The day following, Bankhead arrived with supplies, while Brisbin, with a detachment of the second cavalry, arrived accidentally from the north.

The more

Those slightly,
After a march

The immediate demands of hunger were allayed, and the injuries of the wounded received a primary dressing. Preparations were made to return to the fort at once. severely wounded were put into ambulances. together with the well, were placed in wagons. of several days, the rescuers and the rescued arrived at Fort Wallace. The entire loss of the scouts, including Lieutenant Beecher and Dr. Moers, was five killed and fifteen wounded. The savages lost not less than seventy five killed and wounded. The bodies of five Cheyenne warriors killed were found by the troops on their way to the relief.

CHAPTER X.

SHERIDAN VISITS FORT WALLACE-A "NORTHER "-RETURN TO FORT HAYS— 66 UNDERGROUND MONITORS '—A RIDE ON A COW (BUFFALO) CATCHER— VOLUNTEERS CALLED FOR-INDIAN GUIDES.

HE warm reception which greeted Forsyth's little band on the tributaries of the Republican, had the effect of increasing, to the highest degree, the determination of the Commanding General to punish the refractory

tribes, not only to convince them of their weakness when brought into collision with the strong arm of the government, but to reduce them to such a condition of feebleness and fear that they would see the folly of opposition and be content to remain upon their reservations.

Sheridan, taking a practical view of the trouble, advocated a sound thrashing as the first step to quieting the tribes on the war-path. The government had been paying large annuities in goods and granting liberal supplies of food, as bribes, to keep the savages at peace. At the same time, the Indian trader subject to no responsibility, sold arms and ammunition. In 1867, it was an offence, subject to trial by court martial, to shoot an Indian under any circumstances. The savages naturally grew arrogant and insulting, while the soldier, under the rigid rules of discipline, was compelled to submit to his humiliation. On one occasion some Indians asked for rifles and powder; they were told they could have neither, as they would "shoot soldiers." They replied, "no, no, me no usee to puff soldiers, me usee kill buffalo heap; me chase soldier and drive way with sticks." Such was the contempt inspired by a pacific course. Sheridan's control of affairs, in connection with the new out

break, promised activity, summary punishment, and a conquered peace, three things novel in the history of our Indian wars.

The few days which I passed at Fort Wallace was not one of the most unpleasant experiences, but it certainly was one which I would not court as a steady duty. The quarters were small and well ventilated by a series of cracks, and other openings, which suggested no allowance in the construction for shrinkage. About a dozen officers, and three ladies, constituted the society of the post. In order to wile away the dreary hours off duty, all sorts of recreations were invented. Prolonged conversations upon a diversity of subjects, together with a sociable pull at the garrison pipe, absorbed more regularly and more largely that daily burden called time. Books, newspapers, and occasional letters, were a pleasing reserve. Owing to the hostility of the Indians, the manly sport, the chase, was almost excluded from the list of pastimes, and when participated in by a few of the more daring, was confined within a very. limited radius, the fort constituting the centre. The buffalo, alarmed by the martial demonstrations constantly invading his haunts, had left for more remote and secluded localities, leaving only a few herds of timid antelope, and an abundance of sneaking wolves, for those who were fond of hazarding a chase.

A military fort on the plains suggests very forcibly the peculiar inspiration of a ship at sea; isolation within and desolation without. The same rigid enforcement of discipline unremittingly exacted, as if in the face of the enemy. The commandant, a sort of supreme authority, executive, legislative, and judicial. All the forms of military etiquette observed. The flag hoisted every morning at sunrise and dropped at sunset, attended by the same roll of the drum, and the same reverberations of the evening gun. A furlough or brief “ leave was one of those pleasures in anticipation, which seemed to compensate for the lack of other mental relief. If there be any who deserve the sympathies of those who enjoy comfortable and secure homes in the settlements, they are the officers and soldiers condemned to the isolation of duty on the plains.