l Crook, with whom he held a council; the
result was that Crook's command moved on in the direction which they had
been pursuing, while Terry's forces marched back to the Yellowstone and
crossed the river on steamboats. At the urgent request of General Terry I
accompanied the command on a scout in the direction of the Dry Fork of
the Missouri, where it was expected we would strike some Indians.

The first march out from the Yellowstone was made in the night, as we
wished to get into the hills without being discovered by the Sioux
scouts. After marching three days, a little to the east of north, we
reached the buffalo range, and discovered fresh signs of Indians, who had
evidently been killing buffaloes. General Terry now called on me to carry
dispatches to Colonel Rice, who was still camped at the mouth of Glendive
Creek, on the Yellowstone--distant about eighty miles from us.

Night had set in with a storm, and a drizzling rain was falling when, at
ten o'clock, I started on this ride through a section of country with
which I was entirely unacquainted. I traveled through the darkness a
distance of about thirty-five miles, and at daylight I rode into a
secluded spot at the head of a ravine where stood a bunch of ash trees,
and there I concluded to remain till night; for I considered it a
dangerous undertaking to cross the wide prairies in broad
daylight--especially as my horse was a poor one.

[Illustration: CLOSE QUARTERS]

I accordingly unsaddled my animal, and ate a hearty breakfast of bacon
and hard tack which I had stored in the saddle-pockets; then, after
taking a smoke, I lay down to sleep, with my saddle for a pillow. In a
few minutes I was in the land of dreams.

After sleeping some time--I can't tell how long--I was suddenly awakened
by a roaring, rumbling sound. I instantly seized my gun, sprang to my
horse, and hurriedly secreted him in the brush. Then I climbed up the
steep side of the bank and cautiously looked over the summit; in the
distance I saw a large herd of buffaloes which were being chased and
fired at by twenty or thirty Indians. Occasionally a buffalo would drop
out of the herd, but the Indians kept on until they had killed ten or
fifteen. They then turned back, and began to cut up their game.

I saddled my horse and tied him to a small tree where I could reach him
conveniently in case the Indians should discover me by finding my trail
and following it. I then crawled carefully back to the s