After A While He Grunted "How!" Again, And,
Assuming An Air Of Great Contempt For Soldiers, Guns, And Shiny
Pistols, Rode Away And Soon Disappeared Over The Bluff.
There was only
the one Indian in sight, but, as the old sergeant said, "there might
have been a dozen red devils just over the bluff!"
One never knows when the "red devils" are near, for they hide
themselves back of a bunch of sage brush, and their ponies, whose
hoofs are never shod, can get over the ground very swiftly and steal
upon you almost as noiselessly as their owners. It is needless to say
that we did not have fresh buffalo that day! And the buffalo calf ran
on to the herd wholly unconscious of his narrow escape.
We expect to return to Camp Supply in a few days, and in many ways I
shall be sorry to leave this place. It is terrible to be so isolated,
when one thinks about it, especially if one should be ill. I shall
miss Miss Dickinson in the garrison very much, and our daily rides
together. General Dickinson and his family passed here last week on
their way to his new station.
CAMP SUPPLY, INDIAN TERRITORY,
February, 1873.
UPON our return from the Cimarron we found a dear, clean house all
ready for us to move into. It was a delightful surprise, and after the
wretched huts we have been living in ever since we came to this post,
the house with its white walls and board floors seems like fairyland.
It is made of vertical logs of course, the same as the other quarters,
but these have been freshly chinked, and covered on the inside with
canvas. General Bourke ordered the quartermaster to fix the house for
us, and I am glad that Major Knox was the one to receive the order,
for I have not forgotten how disagreeable he was about the fixing up
of our first house here. One can imagine how he must have fumed over
the issuing of so much canvas, boards, and even the nails for the
quarters of only a second lieutenant!
Many changes have been made during the few weeks General Bourke has
been here, the most important having been the separating of the white
troops from the colored when on guard duty. The officers and men of
the colored cavalry have not liked this, naturally, but it was
outrageous to put white and black in the same little guard room, and
colored sergeants over white corporals and privates. It was good cause
for desertion. But all that is at an end now. General Dickinson is no
longer commanding officer, and best of all, the colored troops have
been ordered to another department, and the two troops of white
cavalry that are to relieve them are here now and in camp not far from
the post, waiting for the barracks to be vacated.
We have felt very brave since the camp has been established, and two
days ago several of us drove over to a Cheyenne village that is a mile
or so up the creek.
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