ng him that there were about a dozen, he said: "Let's drive the
wagon into the trees, and we'll lay for 'em." The team was hurriedly
driven in among the trees and low box-elder bushes, and there secreted.

We did not have to wait long for the Indians, who came dashing up,
lashing their horses, which were panting and blowing. We let two of them
pass by, but we opened a lively fire on the next three or four, killing
two at the first crack. The others following, discovered that they had
run into an ambush, and whirling off into the brush they turned and ran
back in the direction whence they had come. The two who had passed heard
the firing and made their escape. We scalped the two that we had killed,
and appropriated their arms and equipments; and then catching their
horses, we made our way into the post. The soldiers had heard us firing,
and as we were approaching the fort the drums were being beaten, and the
buglers were sounding the call to fall in. The officers had thought that
Satanta and his Indians were coming in to capture the fort.

It seems that on the morning of that day, two hours after General Hazen
had taken his departure, old Satanta drove into the post in an ambulance,
which he had received some months before as a present from the
government. He appeared to be angry and bent on mischief. In an interview
with Captain Parker, the commanding officer, he asked why General Hazen
had left the post without supplying the beef cattle which had been
promised to him. The Captain told him that the cattle were surely on the
road, but he could not explain why they were detained.

The interview proved to be a stormy one, and Satanta made numerous
threats, saying that if he wished, he could capture the whole post with
his warriors. Captain Parker, who was a brave man, gave Satanta to
understand that he was reckoning beyond his powers, and would find it a
more difficult undertaking than he had any idea of, as they were prepared
for him at any moment. The interview finally terminated, and Satanta
angrily left the officers presence. Going over to the sutler's store he
sold his ambulance to Mr. Tappan the past trader, and with a portion of
the proceeds he secretly managed to secure some whisky from some bad men
around the fort. There are always to be found around every frontier post
some men who will sell whisky to the Indians at any time and under any
circumstances, notwithstanding it is a flagrant violation of both civil
an