bies, each piece in the form of
a buffalo head, as large as a silver half-dollar.

Reporters who accompanied the expedition telegraphed the story of this
order to their New York newspapers. When later I arrived in New York,
after this present had been given me, some of the papers said that
Buffalo Bill had come to New York to buy a shirt on which to wear the
jewelry given him by the Grand Duke Alexis.

Shortly after this, General Ord, who had accompanied the hunting party,
rode over with me to Fort McPherson. On the way he asked me how I would
like to have a commission in the regular army. General Sheridan, he
said, had suggested that I ought to have a commission, and the matter
could be arranged if I desired it.

I thanked the general, and asked him to thank General Sheridan. But
though a commission was a tempting prize, I preferred to remain in the
position I was holding. He said that if at any time I felt that I
wanted a commission, I only needed to ask for it, and it would be given
to me.

All I looked forward to was the life of the Plains. It was enough for
me to be in the saddle, trusting each day to find some new adventure.
Army life would mean a great deal of routine, and routine was something
I could not endure.

So, giving up forever any hope of wearing an officer's shoulder-straps,
I was about to turn back to the prairies to see what new opportunities
for excitement offered, when a strange new call came to me.

General J.J. Reynolds, who had just arrived at Fort McPherson with the
Third Cavalry, called me into the office one day and told me that he
had a letter, railroad tickets, and five hundred dollars for me.
Furthermore he informed me that a thirty days' leave of absence was
awaiting me whenever I wanted to take it.

All this was the doing of the "Millionaires' Hunting Party," headed by
James Gordon Bennett and the Jeromes, which I had guided the year
before.

I was, in short, invited to visit my former charges in New York, and
provided by them with money and mileage, and leisure for the trip.

CHAPTER IX

Of course going to New York was a very serious business, and not to be
undertaken lightly. The first thing I needed was clothes, and at my
direction the Post tailor constructed what I thought was the handsomest
suit in the world. Then I proceeded to buy a necktie, so that I could
wear the present which had come in the little box from the Grand
Duke--a handsome scarf-pin. The Grand D