absolutely nothing about
the horse except what some one in Las Animas had told him. He rode him
around the yard only once, and then jumping down, pulled from his pocket
a fat roll of bills, counted off the amount for horse, saddle, and
bridle, and then, without saying one word more than a curt "good
morning," he mounted the horse again and rode out of the yard and
away. I saw the whole transaction from a window--saw it as well as
hot, blinding tears would permit. Faye thinks the man might have been
a fugitive and wanted a fast horse to get him out of the country. We
learned not long ago, you know, that King had been an Indian race pony
owned by a half-breed named Bent. He sent word from Camp Supply that I
was welcome to the horse if I could ride him! The chaplain has bought
Powder-Face, and I am to keep him as long as we are here. Hal will go
with us, for I cannot give up that dog and horses, too.

Speaking of Hal reminds me of the awful thing that occurred here a few
days ago. I have written often of the pack of beautiful greyhounds owned
by the cavalry officers, and of the splendid record of Magic--Hal's
father--as a hunter, and how the dog was loved by Lieutenant Baldwin
next to his horse.

But unless the dogs were taken on frequent hunts, they would steal off
on their own account and often be away a whole day, perhaps until after
dark. The other day they went off this way, and in the afternoon, as
Lieutenant Alden was riding along by the river, he came to a scene
that made him positively ill. On the ground close to the water was
the carcass of a calf, which had evidently been filled with poison for
wolves, and near it on the bank lay Magic, Deacon, Dixie, and other
hounds, all dead or dying! Blue has bad teeth and was still gnawing at
the meat, and therefore had not been to the water, which causes almost
instant death in cases of poisoning by wolf meat.

As soon as Lieutenant Alden saw that the other dogs were past doing for,
he hurried on to the post with Blue, and with great difficulty saved her
life. So Hal and his mother are sole survivors of the greyhounds that
have been known at many of the frontier posts as fearless and tireless
hunters, and plucky fighters when forced to fight. Greyhounds will
rarely seek a fight, a trait that sometimes fools other dogs and brings
them to their Waterloo. When Lieutenant Alden told me of the death of
the dogs, tears came in his eyes as he said, "I have shared my bed
with o