h that
telegram sent direct to Chicago. You know it is your duty to send it, and
it must go."

He knew very well that he was compelled to transmit the message, but
before doing so he called on General Bankhead and informed him of what I
had said, and told him that he would certainly have to send it, for if he
didn't he might lose his position. The General, seeing that the telegram
would have to go, summoned me to his headquarters, and the first thing he
said, after I got into his presence was:

"If I let you go, sir, will you leave the post at once and not bother my
agent at Sheridan again?"

"No, sir;" I replied, "I'll do nothing of the kind. I'll remain in the
guard-house until I receive an answer from General Sheridan."

"If I give you the horse and mule will you proceed at once to Fort Lyon?"

"No, sir; I have some bills to settle at Sheridan and some other business
to transact," replied I.

"Well, sir; will you at least agree not to interfere any further with the
quartermaster's agent at Sheridan?"

"I shall not bother him any more, sir, as I have had all I want from
him," was my answer.

General Bankhead thereupon sent for Captain Laufer and ordered him to
turn the horse and mule over to me. In a few minutes more I was on my way
to Sheridan, and after settling my business there, I proceeded to Fort
Lyon, arriving two days afterwards. I related my adventures to General
Carr, Major Brown, and other officers, who were greatly amused thereby.

"I'm glad you've come, Bill," said General Carr, "as I have been
wanting you for the last two weeks. While we have been at this post
several valuable animals, as well as a large number of government
horses and mules have been stolen, and we think that the thieves are
still in the vicinity of the fort, but as yet we have been unable to
discover their rendezvous. I have had a party out for the last few days
in the neighborhood of old Fort Lyon, and they have found fresh tracks
down there and seem to think that the stock is concealed somewhere in
the timber, along the Arkansas river. Bill Green, one of the scouts who
has just come up from there, can perhaps tell you something more about
the matter."

Green, who had been summoned, said that he had discovered fresh trails
before striking the heavy timber opposite old Fort Lyon, but that in the
tall grass he could not follow them. He had marked the place where he had
last seen fresh mule tracks, so that he could find it ag