r a time, but
could not be weaned from his loyalty to his own tribe and a desire to
avenge upon the white man the wrongs inflicted on his people.

What promised at the outset to be a long and cruel frontier war was
speedily quelled. The death of Sitting Bull had something to do with the
termination of hostilities. Arrangements for peace were soon perfected,
and Will attributed the government's success to the energy of its
officer in command, for whom he has a most enthusiastic admiration. He
paid this tribute to him recently:

"I have been in many campaigns with General Miles, and a better general
and more gifted warrior I have never seen. I served in the Civil War,
and in any number of Indian wars; I have been under at least a dozen
generals, with whom I have been thrown in close contact because of the
nature of the services which I was called upon to render. General Miles
is the superior of them all.

"I have known Phil Sheridan, Tecumseh Sherman, Hancock, and all of our
noted Indian fighters. For cool judgment and thorough knowledge of all
that pertains to military affairs, none of them, in my opinion, can be
said to excel General Nelson A. Miles.

"Ah, what a man he is! I know. We have been shoulder to shoulder in
many a hard march. We have been together when men find out what their
comrades really are. He is a man, every inch of him, and the best
general I ever served under."

After Miles was put in command of the forces, a dinner was given in his
honor by John Chamberlin. Will was a guest and one of the speakers, and
took the opportunity to eulogize his old friend. He dwelt at length on
the respect in which the red men held the general, and in closing said:

"No foreign invader will ever set foot on these shores as long as
General Miles is at the head of the army. If they should--just call on
me!"

The speaker sat down amid laughter and applause.

While Will was away at the seat of war, his beautiful home in North
Platte, "Welcome Wigwam," burned to the ground. The little city is not
equipped with much of a fire department, but a volunteer brigade held
the flames in check long enough to save almost the entire contents of
the house, among which were many valuable and costly souvenirs that
could never be replaced.

Will received a telegram announcing that his house was ablaze, and his
reply was characteristic:

"Save Rosa Bonheur's picture, and the house may go to blazes."

When the frontier war was en