r a long
time been terrorizing the settlers of that section and defying the
Government.

[Illustration: I Rope, Throw, Saddle, Bridle and Mount My Mustang in
Nine Minutes]

As we proceeded on our journey it became evident to us that we were only
a short distance behind the soldiers. When finally the Indians and
soldiers met in the memorable battle or rather massacre in the Little
Big Horn Basin on the Little Big Horn River in northern Wyoming, we were
only two days behind them, or within 60 miles, but we did not know that
at the time or we would have gone to Custer's assistance. We did not
know of the fight or the outcome until several days after it was over.
It was freely claimed at the time by cattle men who were in a position
to know and with whom I talked that if Reno had gone to Custer's aid as
he promised to do, Custer would not have lost his entire command and his
life.

It was claimed Reno did not obey his orders, however that may be, it was
one of the most bloody massacres in the history of this country. We went
on our way to Deadwood with our herd, where we arrived on the 3rd of
July, 1876, eight days after the Custer massacre took place.

The Custer Battle was June 25, '76, the battle commenced on Sunday
afternoon and lasted about two hours. That was the last of General
Custer and his Seventh Cavalry. How I know this so well is because we
had orders from one of the Government scouts to go in camp, that if we
went any farther North we were liable to be captured by the Indians.

We arrived in Deadwood in good condition without having had any trouble
with the Indians on the way up. We turned our cattle over to their new
owners at once, then proceeded to take in the town. The next morning,
July 4th, the gamblers and mining men made up a purse of $200 for a
roping contest between the cow boys that were then in town, and as it
was a holiday nearly all the cow boys for miles around were assembled
there that day. It did not take long to arrange the details for the
contest and contestants, six of them being colored cow boys, including
myself. Our trail boss was chosen to pick out the mustangs from a herd
of wild horses just off the range, and he picked out twelve of the most
wild and vicious horses that he could find.

[Illustration: My First Indian Fight]

The conditions of the contest were that each of us who were mounted was
to rope, throw, tie, bridle and saddle and mount the particular horse
picked for u