al danger, and he could
doubtless arrange to meet her himself at Kansas City, or send one of
his officers for that purpose.

This was the situation in May, but by the middle of June conditions had
greatly changed throughout all the broad Plains country. The spirit of
savage war had spread rapidly from the Platte to the Rio Pecos, and
scarcely a wild tribe remained disaffected. Arapahoe, Cheyenne,
Pawnee, Comanche, and Apache alike espoused the cause of the Sioux, and
their young warriors, breaking away from the control of older chiefs,
became ugly and warlike. Devere, isolated as it was from the main
route of travel (the Santa Fe stages still following the more northern
trail), heard merely rumors of the prevailing condition through
tarrying hunters, and possibly an occasional army courier, yet soon
realized the gravity of the situation because of the almost total
cessation of travel by way of the Cimarron and the growing insolence of
the surrounding Comanches. Details from the small garrison were, under
urgent orders from headquarters at Fort Wallace, kept constantly
scouting as far south as the fork of the Red River, and then west to
the mountains. Squads from the single cavalry company guarded the few
caravans venturing still to cross the Cimarron Desert, or bore
despatches to Fort Dodge. Thus the few soldiers remaining on duty at
the home station became slowly aware that this outburst of savagery was
no longer a mere tribal affair. Outrages were reported from the
Solomon, the Republican, the Arkansas valleys. A settlement was raided
on Smoky Fork; stages were attacked near the Caches, and one burned; a
wagon train was ambushed in the Raton Pass, and only escaped after
desperate fighting. Altogether the situation appeared extremely
serious and the summer promised war in earnest.

McDonald was rather slow to appreciate the real facts. His knowledge
of Indian tactics was exceedingly small, and the utter isolation of his
post kept him ignorant. At first he was convinced that it was merely a
local disturbance and would end as suddenly as begun. Then, when
realization finally came, was already too late to stop the girl. She
would be already on her long journey. What could he do? What
immediate steps could he hope to take for her protection? Ordinarily
he would not have hesitated, but now a decision was not so easily made.
Of his command scarcely thirty men remained at Devere, a mere infantry
guard, toget