TOM LOCKS THE STABLE DOOR 



jun, an' always tries to keep on good terms with 

 the whites. There's only about a hundred men in 

 his band, an' they're mostly ol' men what's had 

 experience enough to know that it pays better to 

 keep on good terms with Uncle Sam's people than 

 to be bucking again 'em. But the most of the 

 tribe now seems to be of the other way of think- 

 ing an' have split off from ol' To hausen, who 

 used to be head chief, an' taken to following the 

 lead of such devils as Satank, an' Satanta, an' Big 

 Tree; an' they're the ones we've got to look out 

 for." 



"Where do vou expect to find the Kiowa trail, 

 Bill?" 



"Well, from here, we'll follow this ol' lodge-pole 

 trail; it turns off from the Walnut a few miles up 

 the creek an' goes over to the Smoky Hill, which 

 is about twenty miles from here; an' about oppo- 

 site this point on the Smoky is a mail station on 

 the Denver stage route, an' I reckon we'll be able 

 to find out from the station men whether the 

 Kiowas have gone up or down the river an' lay 



our course to suit.' 1 



"When we first came here," I informed him, 

 "it looked like the last travel over the trail had 

 been about two months before that would have 

 been about September and the tracks were going 

 toward the Smoky Hill; but they might have been 

 made by Cheyennes or 'Rapahoes." 



"We'll be apt to find an old moccasin, or a 

 191 



