eath, I will fear no evil.'"

"It may be that's the Arickaree Valley for me," I said to myself. "If it
is, I will fear no evil." And I stretched out on the brown grasses and
fell asleep.

About midnight I wakened suddenly. A light was gleaming near. Some one
stood beside me, and presently I saw Colonel Forsyth looking down into
my face with kindly eyes. I raised myself on my elbow and watched him
passing among the slumbering soldiers. Even now I can see Jack
Stillwell's fair girl-face with the dim light on it as he slept beside
me. What a picture that face would make if my pen were an artist's
brush! At three in the morning I wakened again. It was very dark, but I
knew some one was near me, and I judged instinctively it was Forsyth. It
was sixty hours before I slept again.

For five days every movement of ours had been watched by Indian scouts.
Night and day they had hung on our borders, just out of sight, waiting
their time to strike. Had we made a full march on that sixteenth day of
September, instead of halting to rest and graze our horses, we should
have gone, as Stillwell predicted, straight into Hell's jaws. As it was,
Hell rose up and crept stealthily toward us. For while our little band
slept, and while our commander passed restlessly among us on that night,
the redskins moved upon our borders.

Morning was gray in the east and the little valley was full of shadows,
when suddenly the sentinel's cry of "Indians! Indians!" aroused the
sleeping force. The shouts of our guards, the clatter of ponies' hoofs,
the rattling of dry skins, the swinging of blankets, the fierce yells of
the invading foe made a scene of tragic confusion, as a horde of
redskins swept down upon us like a whirlwind. In this mad attempt to
stampede our stock nothing but discipline saved us. A few of the mules
and horses not properly picketed, broke loose and galloped off before
the attacking force, the remaining animals held as the Indians fled away
before the sharp fire of our soldiers.

"Well, we licked them, anyhow," I said to myself exultantly as we obeyed
the instant orders to get into the saddle.

The first crimson line of morning was streaking the east and I lifted my
face triumphantly to the new day. Sharp Grover stood just before me; his
hand was on Forsyth's shoulder.

Suddenly he uttered a low exclamation. "Oh, heavens! General, look at
the Indians."

This was no vision of brown rock and sun-blinded eyes. From every
directio