mber becomes too feeble to keep pace with the flight.

Our scout, John Nelson, recognized the squaw as a relative of his
Indian wife. From her we learned that the redskins we were pursuing
were known as the Pawnee Killer band. They had lately killed Buck's
surveying party, consisting of eight or nine men. This massacre had
occurred a few days before on Beaver Creek. We had found a number of
surveying instruments in the abandoned camp, and knew therefore that
the Indians had had a fight with white men. After driving the Indians
across the Platte we returned to Fort McPherson, bringing with us the
old squaw, who was sent to the Spotted Tail Agency.

During my absence my wife had given birth to a son. Though he was
several weeks old when I returned no name had been given him. I called
him Elmo Judson, in honor of Colonel Judson, whose pen name was "Ned
Buntline." But the officers insisted upon calling him Kit Carson Cody
and it was finally settled that this should be his name.

Shortly after my return I received orders instructing me to accompany
Professor Marsh on a fossil-hunting expedition into the rough lands of
the Big Horn Basin. The party was to consist of a number of scientists
besides Professor Marsh, together with twenty-five students from Yale,
which institution was sending out the expedition.

I was to get together thirty-five saddle-horses for the party. The
quartermaster arranged for the transportation, pack mules, etc. But
General Sheridan, under whose direction the scientists were proceeding,
always believed in my ability to select good horses from a
quartermaster's herd.

In a few days Professor Marsh and his companions arrived. The Pawnee
Scouts, then in camp, had a year before unearthed some immense fossil
bones, so it was decided that Major North, with a few of these scouts,
should also accompany the expedition. Professor Marsh had heard of this
discovery, and was eager to find some of the same kind of fossils.

Professor Marsh believed that the Basin would be among the last of the
Western lands to be settled. The mountain wall which surrounded it
would turn aside pioneers going to Montana or northern Oregon. These
would head to the east of Big Horn Mountains, while those bound for
Utah, Idaho, and California would go to the south side of the Wind
River Mountains. He was confident, however, that some day the Basin
would be settled and developed, and that in its fertile valleys would
be found the m