sufficient guard for each of the eight or ten nights that
we remained in that vicinity. One night a young man of our party and I
were appointed to watch. He most thoroughly equipped himself with
several varieties of weapons, resolved to be prepared for any emergency.
I trusted to a quick-firing breech-loading rifle.

We gathered in the horses from the prairies, and were leading them
toward the barn when we met the leader of our party, a man past middle
life, most of whose years had been spent among the Indians, and in the
great west.

Looking at us who were to be the guards of the horses that night, he
said, with a sneer:

"Queer guards are you! I have some young Indians that could steal any
horse in that crowd to-night from under your very nose."

Stung by the sneers of this man, for it was not the first time that he
had tried to wound, I replied with perhaps too much emphasis:

"Mr -- I have the best horse in the company, and I will give him to
you, if either you, or any Indian living, can steal him out of that barn
between sundown and sunrise."

My comrade and I carefully fastened our horses along one side of the
barn where they could stand comfortably, or lie down on some old prairie
hay during the night. Then we examined the barn. At one end were the
usual large double doors sufficiently wide and high to admit of the
entrance of a wagon loaded with hay or sheaves of grain. At the other
end was a small door which we securely fastened on the inside. We then
carefully examined the building for other places of ingress to make sure
that there were no openings sufficiently large for even a naked savage
to squeeze through. When thoroughly satisfied with our survey, we
collected a quantity of dried hay, and made ourselves some comfortable
seats, where we could, without being seen, command the large end doors:
one of which was fastened inside with a hook and staple, while the other
had only the usual wooden latch.

We moved about and chatted on various subjects during the long beautiful
gloaming, and when the darkness settled down upon us, we made ourselves
comfortable in our assigned positions, and with rides in hand, were
indeed sentinels on the watch. As the excitement of the occasion wore
off, my young companion who was still in his teens, began to feel
exceedingly drowsy. I told him to cuddle down in the hay and go to
sleep for a while, and if there was any appearance of danger I would
instantly awak