g learned that General Penrose's troops were in such bad shape,
General Carr ordered Major Brown to start out the next morning with two
companies of cavalry and fifty pack-mules loaded with provisions, and to
make all possible speed to reach and relieve the suffering soldiers. I
accompanied this detachment, and on the third day out we found the
half-famished soldiers camped on the Polladora. The camp presented a
pitiful sight, indeed. For over two weeks the men had had only quarter
rations, and were now nearly starved to death. Over two hundred horses
and mules were lying dead, having died from fatigue and starvation.
General Penrose, having feared that General Carr would not find him, had
sent back a company of the Seventh Cavalry to Fort Lyon for supplies; but
no word as yet had been heard from them. The rations which Major Brown
brought to the command came none too soon, and were the means of saving
many a life.

[Illustration: A WELCOME VISITOR]

About the first man I saw after reaching the camp was my old, true and
tried friend, Wild Bill. That night we had a jolly reunion around the
camp-fires.

General Carr, upon arriving with his force, took command of all the
troops, he being the senior officer and ranking General Penrose. After
selecting a good camp, he unloaded the wagons and sent them back to Fort
Lyon for fresh supplies. He then picked out five hundred of the best men
and horses, and, taking his pack-train with him, he started south for the
Canadian River, distant about forty miles, leaving the rest of the troops
at the supply camp.

I was ordered to accompany this expedition. We struck the south fork of
the Canadian River, or Rio Colorado, at a point a few miles above the old
_adobe_ walls, which at one time had composed a fort, and was the place
where Kit Carson once had a big Indian fight. We were now within twelve
miles of a new supply depot, called Camp Evans, which had been
established for the Third Cavalry and Evans's Expedition from New Mexico.
The scouts who had brought in this information also reported that they
expected the arrival at Camp Evans of a bull-train from New Mexico with
a large quantity of beer for the soldiers. This news was "pie" for Wild
Bill and myself, and we determined to lie low for that beer outfit. That
very evening it came along, and the beer that was destined for the
soldiers at Camp Evans never reached its destination. It went straight
down the thirsty throats of Gener