oon
introduced himself to them, with a formality which they considered
highly amusing, and they entertained him with tales of various
thrilling adventures and hair breadth escapes, nearly all invented for
the occasion, to which he listened with an open-mouthed astonishment
that elicited many winks and grins from the blue-coats. Finally, two
of them escorted him to a small Indian camp, about a mile distant,
which was hidden from view by a sandy knoll, where, in some cottonwood
brush, beside a small creek, they found half a dozen tepees, around
which were squatted twenty or thirty disreputable-looking Indians,
their ponies tethered in the brush near by. The bucks were sullen and
uncommunicative, maintaining a solemn silence broken only by an
occasional grunt. Their dress was a combination of Indian costume and
articles purchased from the white people, the latter being put on to
suit the individual taste of the wearer, without the least regard to
the use for which it was originally intended. One, who seemed a leader
in the camp, in addition to his native toggery of feathers, beads and
brass rings, wore trousers of striped bed-ticking, two or three pairs
of gayly colored suspenders knotted together for a belt and sash, and
a flaming red necktie braided in his hair. The squaws in their
blankets were quite socially inclined, and the wig-wams at a little
distance looked very romantic to the young easterner, but the odors
wafted from them were sufficient for him, and he declined to penetrate
any further into the mysteries of an Indian camp; and after taking one
or two views of the Indians and their tepees, he returned to the
depot.

It was now nearly train time, and the number of loungers and loafers
had increased amazingly, considering the size of the town. There were
thirty or forty of them, all more or less resembling the first
specimens, and Rutherford wondered where they stowed themselves away,
not realizing that many came in from little shacks scattered over the
prairies; for to them, the coming of the train from the east was the
one great event of the day.

Among them Rutherford noticed a man, who, though clad as roughly as
the others, yet had an individuality so distinct from them as to be
noticeable even to a stranger. He wore an old soft hat and rough
blouse, his trousers being tucked into a pair of heavy, hobnailed
boots that reached to his knees. He was tall and stooped slightly, but
there was none of the slouchi