A Sportsman 145 



and General Sherman, who were nowhere to be found, 

 though one of the braves claimed to have discovered 

 their trail, taking a straight course for the town of 

 Breckenridge, which we had passed through on our 

 route over. We viewed the statement with some sus- 

 picion, and were inclined to think he knew more about 

 their disappearance than he might be willing to admit. 



A few pounds of sugar and a dozen cards of com- 

 mon matches amply rewarded our assistants in the 

 search, for sugar and especially matches were the usual 

 articles mostly prized by the Utes, and they asked for 

 these articles more than for anything else. A know- 

 ledge of this demand led us to lay in a good stock of 

 matches, and in a sudden burst of benevolence one of 

 us would occasionally at camp go among the group of 

 Indian visitors and gravely distribute two or three 

 matches to each one. These would be received with 

 many expressive grunts of gratitude, and the precious 

 illuminators would be carefully wrapped up in strips 

 of buckskin and stowed away. 



It will be related later on how we recovered Gen- 

 erals Grant and Sherman afterward, at a distance of 

 over one hundred and fifty miles from where we lost 

 them, showing that any suspicions we had that the 

 Utes had stolen them were groundless. The Ute In- 

 dians, always peaceful with the whites, were perhaps 

 more so than they otherwise would have been, but for 

 their situation as mountain Indians inhabiting the 

 parks and surroundings in Colorado. On the plains 

 below were the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, always at 

 war with the Utes, and on the other side of the Utes 

 were various tribes of Indians hostile to them. If 

 they had war with the Coloradians they saw that they 



