ing that night and very little attempt to
follow instructions. An Indian likes nothing better than a noisy,
standing sentry; but this savage preference hardly would be shown in the
vicinity of Council Grove. Woodson knew that discipline could not be
obtained and that every man would do as he pleased until the encampment
received a good scare, but his own sense of responsibility impelled him
to make an effort to get it.

The next day was passed in resting, in placing the wagons in their order
of march, and in drilling the drivers in caravan tactics; and that night
the guard was as noisy as it had been the night before. The squad which
went on duty at one o'clock contained two tenderfeet and between them
they succeeded in shattering the monotony.

A quarter of an hour after the guard had been changed tenderfoot Number
One thought he heard a sound and saw a movement. He promptly challenged
and fired in the same instant. His weapon was a double-barreled fowling
piece charged with buckshot, and there was no doubt about the deadly
efficiency of such a combination when the corporal found the carcass of
a mule with a hole in it nearly as big as a hat. The camp was thrown
into an uproar, guns flashed from the wagons to the imminent peril of
the rest of the sentries, and only the timely and rough interference of
a cool-headed trapper kept the two four-pounders from being fired. They
were loaded with musket balls and pebbles and trained on three wagons
not fifty yards from them. Orders, counter orders, suggestions, shouts
for balls, powder, flints, caps, patches, ramrods, and for about
everything human minds could think of kept the encampment in a
pandemonium until sense was driven into the panicky men and the camp
allowed to resume its silence.

Tenderfoot Number Two heard and saw an Indian approaching him and fired
his pistol at the savage. This took place near the end of the same guard
tour. Only his fright and the poor light which made his wobbling aim all
the more uncertain saved the life of his best friend who, restless and
lonely, was going out to share the remainder of the watch with him.
Again pandemonium reigned and weapons exploded, but this time the
cattle stampeded in the darkness, doing the best they could with their
handicap of hobbles.

At dawn the caravan was astir, the blast from the bugle not needed this
time, for almost every man had animals to hunt for and drive in, and as
a result of this breakfasts were