The Return Home 221 



flat in front of my tent brigade head-quarters. The 

 result was that after as fine a bit of rough riding as 

 one would care to see, in which one scarcely knew 

 whether most to wonder at the extraordinary vi- 

 ciousness and agile strength of the horse or at the 

 horsemanship and courage of the rider, Darnell 

 came off victorious, his seat never having been 

 shaken. After this almost every day we had ex- 

 hibitions of bronco-busting, in which all the crack 

 riders of the regiment vied with one another, riding 

 not only all of our own bad horses but any horse 

 which was deemed bad in any of the other regi- 

 ments. Darnell, McGinty, Wood, Smoky Moore, 

 and a score of others took part in these exhibitions, 

 which included not merely feats in mastering vicious 

 horses, but also feats of broken horses which the 

 riders had trained to lie down at command, and 

 upon which they could mount while at full speed. 

 Toward the end of the time we also had mounted 

 drill on two or three occasions ; and when the Presi- 

 dent visited the camp we turned out mounted to re- 

 ceive him as did the rest of the cavalry. The last 

 night before we were mustered out was spent in 

 noisy, but entirely harmless hilarity, which I ig- 

 nored. Every form of celebration took place in the 

 ranks. A former Populist candidate for Attorney- 

 General in Colorado delivered a fervent oration in 

 favor of free silver; a number of the college boys 



