bre on a scout? So much the better. I have my
revolvers and a Sharp's carbine, but am destitute of anything in the
knife line." And with that Mr. Billings betook himself to the duty of
despatching the breakfast that was already spread before him in an array
tempting enough to a frontier appetite, but little designed to attract a
_bon vivant_ of civilization. Bacon, _frijoles_, and creamless coffee
speedily become ambrosia and nectar under the influence of mountain-air
and mountain-exercise; but Mr. Billings had as yet done no climbing. A
"buck-board" ride had been his means of transportation to the
garrison,--a lonely four-company post in a far-away valley in
Northeastern Arizona,--and in the three or four days of intense heat
that had succeeded his arrival exercise of any kind had been out of the
question. It was with no especial regret, therefore, that he heard the
summons of the captain, "Hurry up, man; we must be off in ten minutes."
And in less than ten minutes the lieutenant was on his horse and
superintending the formation of his troop.

If Mr. Billings was astonished at the garb of his brother-officers at
breakfast, he was simply aghast when he glanced along the line of
Company "A" (as his command was at that time officially designated) and
the first sergeant rode out to report his men present or accounted for.
The first sergeant himself was got up in an old gray-flannel shirt, open
at and disclosing a broad, brown throat and neck; his head was crowned
with what had once been a white felt _sombrero_, now tanned by desert
sun, wind, and dirt into a dingy mud-color; his powerful legs were
encased in worn deer-skin breeches tucked into low-topped, broad-soled,
well-greased boots; his waist was girt with a rude "thimble-belt," in
the loops of which were thrust scores of copper cartridges for carbine
and pistol; his carbine, and those of all the command, swung in a
leather loop athwart the pommel of the saddle; revolvers in all manner
of cases hung at the hip, the regulation holster, in most instances,
being conspicuous by its absence. Indeed, throughout the entire command
the remarkable fact was to be noted that a company of regular cavalry,
taking the field against hostile Indians, had discarded pretty much
every item of dress or equipment prescribed or furnished by the
authorities of the United States, and had supplied themselves with an
outfit utterly ununiform, unpicturesque, undeniably slouchy, but not
less und