and he informed me that he
owned Brigham, and that he was at that time on his farm, only a few miles
out of town. The next day I rode out with Mr. Wilcox and took a look at
the gallant old horse. He was comfortably cared for in Mr. Wilcox's
stable, and looked the same clever pony that he always was. It seemed as
if he almost remembered me, and I put my arms around his neck, as though
he had been a long-lost child. Mr. Wilcox bought the horse at Wyandotte,
from the gentleman who had won him at the raffle, and he intends to keep
him as long as he lives. I am grateful that he is in such good hands, and
whenever I again visit Memphis I shall surely go and see Brigham if he is
still alive.

But to return to the thread of my narrative, from which I have wandered.
Having received the appointment of guide and scout, and having been
ordered to report at Fort Larned, then commanded by Captain Dangerfield
Parker, I saw it was necessary to take my family--who had remained with
me at Sheridan, after the buffalo-hunting match--to Leavenworth, and
there leave them. This I did at once, and after providing them with a
comfortable little home, I returned and reported for duty at Fort Larned.

CHAPTER XVI.

A COURIER.

The scouts at Fort Larned, when I arrived there, were commanded by Dick
Curtis--an old guide, frontiersman and Indian interpreter. There were
some three hundred lodges of Kiowa and Comanche Indians camped near the
fort. These Indians had not as yet gone upon the war-path, but were
restless and discontented, and their leading chiefs, Satanta, Lone Wolf,
Kicking Bird, Satank, Sittamore, and other noted warriors, were rather
saucy. The post at the time was garrisoned by only two companies of
infantry and one of cavalry.

General Hazen, who was at the post, was endeavoring to pacify the Indians
and keep them from going on the war-path. I was appointed as his special
scout, and one morning he notified me that he was going to Fort Harker,
and wished me to accompany him as far as Fort Zarah, thirty miles
distant. The General usually traveled in an ambulance, but this trip he
was to make in a six-mule wagon, under the escort of a squad of twenty
infantrymen. So, early one morning in August, we started; arriving safely
at Fort Zarah at twelve o'clock. General Hazen thought it unnecessary
that we should go farther, and he proceeded on his way to Fort Harker
without an escort, leaving instructions that we should return t