them and they were finally shot down. Among the prisoners taken was a
white woman who had been captured by the Indians on one of their
raids. She had been appropriated by Tall Bull as his squaw, and when
the village had been attacked, he had shot her and left her in his
tepee supposedly dead. Soon after the fight commenced, she was found
by one of the officers who, entering in the lodge, saw her in a
sitting position with blood running down her waist. She was a German,
unable to speak English, and up to this time had supposed the fight
was between Indians. On realizing that white men were in the vicinity
and thinking when he started to leave her, that she was about to be
deserted, she clasped him around his legs and in the most pitiful
manner, begged him by signs and with tears not to leave her to the
savages. After the fight she was taken to Fort Sedgwick where she
recovered, and in a few months afterwards married a soldier whose time
had expired. During the fight the troops captured nearly six hundred
head of horses and mules, together with an immense amount of
miscellaneous plunder, including nineteen hundred dollars in twenty
dollar gold pieces that had been taken from the German woman's father
at the time he had been killed and she captured. Of this sum, nine
hundred dollars was turned over to the woman; six hundred dollars by
the Pawnees, and the balance by the regulars. Had the latter been as
generous as the scouts when the appeal for its restoration was made,
every dollar would have been returned.

The above incidents are but a few out of thousands that occurred
during the stormy construction days. They illustrate the trials and
dangers encountered by the hardy pioneers. It was not only at "the
front" that trouble was incurred, but after the building had
proceeded, the section men, station employees and train crews were in
constant danger. At the stations, it was a rule to build sod forts
connected by underground passage with the living quarters to which
retreat could be had in case of Indian attacks. For some time small
squads of soldiers were stationed at every station and section house
along the line, being quartered in sod barracks.

With the completion of the road and the establishment of regular train
service, immigration soon poured in to such an extent as to make the
settlers numerous enough to protect themselves, and it was not long
until "Lo," like the buffalo, was only a memory.

CHAPTER VI