ned,
and adding that he would roast that Doctor if he ever came back. I
was seeing the rugged side of life, indeed, and getting accustomed to
shocks.

Now the cavalry beauty gave a dinner. It was lovely; but in the midst of
it, we perceived a sort of confusion of moccasined footsteps outside
the dining-room. My nerves were, by this time, always on the alert.
I glanced through the large door opening out into the hall, and saw
a group of Indian scouts; they laid a coffee-sack down by the corner
fire-place, near the front door. The commanding officer left the table
hastily; the portiere was drawn.

I had heard tales of atrocious cruelties committed by a band of Indians
who had escaped from the reservation and were ravaging the country
around. I had heard how they maimed poor sheep and cut off the legs of
cattle at the first joint, leaving them to die; how they tortured women,
and burned their husbands and children before their eyes; I had heard
also that the Indian scouts were out after them, with orders to bring
them in, dead or alive.

The next day I learned that the ringleader's head was in the bag that I
had seen, and that the others had surrendered and returned. The scouts
were Apaches in the pay of the Government, and I always heard that, as
long as they were serving as scouts, they showed themselves loyal and
would hunt down their nearest relative.

Major Worth got tired of the monotony of a bachelor's life at Camp
Apache and decided to give a dance in his quarters, and invite the
chiefs. I think the other officers did not wholly approve of it,
although they felt friendly enough towards them, as long as they were
not causing disturbances. But to meet the savage Apache on a basis of
social equality, in an officer's quarters, and to dance in a quadrille
with him! Well, the limit of all things had been reached!

However, Major Worth, who was actually suffering from the ennui of
frontier life in winter, and in time of peace, determined to carry out
his project, so he had his quarters, which were quite spacious, cleared
and decorated with evergreen boughs. From his company, he secured some
men who could play the banjo and guitar, and all the officers and their
wives, and the chiefs with their harems, came to this novel fete. A
quadrille was formed, in which the chiefs danced opposite the officers.
The squaws sat around, as they were too shy to dance. These chiefs were
painted, and wore only their necklaces and the