d they fell headlong to the ground;
but I made no stop however just then, for I had my eye on the gentleman
who was riding Powder Face. It seemed to be fun for him to run away from
us, and run away he did, for the last I saw of him was when he went over
a divide, about three miles away. I bade him adieu. On my way back to the
Indian camp I stopped and secured the war bonnets and accoutrements of
the pair I had killed, and at the same time gently "raised their hair."

We were feeling rather tired and hungry, as we had started out on the
trail thirty-six hours before without a breakfast or taking any food with
us; but not a murmur or complaint was heard among the men. In the
abandoned Indian camp, however, we found enough dried buffalo meat to
give us all a meal, and after remaining there for two hours, to rest our
animals, we started on our return to Fort McPherson, where we arrived at
night, having traveled 130 miles in two days.

This being the first fight Lieutenant Thomas had ever commanded in, he
felt highly elated over his success, and hoped that his name would be
mentioned in the special orders for gallantry; sure enough when we
returned both he, myself and the whole command received a complimentary
mention in a special order. This he certainly deserved for he was a
brave, energetic, dashing little officer. The war bonnets which I had
captured I turned over to General Carr, with the request that he
present them to General Augur, whose daughters were visiting at the
post at the time.

Shortly after this, another expedition was organized at Fort McPherson
for the Republican river country. It was commanded by General Duncan, who
was a jolly, blustering old fellow, and the officers who knew him well,
said that we would have a good time, as he was very fond of hunting. He
was a good fighter, and one of the officers said that an Indian bullet
never could hurt him, as he had been shot in the head with a cannon ball
which had not injured him in the least; another said the ball glanced off
and killed one of the toughest mules in the army.

The Pawnee scouts who had been mustered out of service, during the winter
of 1869 and '70, were reorganized to accompany this expedition. I was
glad of this, as I had become quite attached to one of the officers,
Major North, and to many of the Indians. The only white scout we had at
the post, besides myself at that time, was John Y. Nelson, whose Indian
name was Cha-Sha-Cha-Opoyeo,[C