208 SERIOUS NEWS. 



and wild duck, and some plover of the larger kind, but 

 had not killed any of them. Soon after striking camp, 

 old Chance brought me up to some prairie grouse, of 

 whom Brutus picked up three that fell to my gun, as 

 also a dotterel. 



The day then becoming very hot, I joined the waggons, 

 and met a single horseman, who reported that the tale 

 heard by me at the last camping place was true, for that 

 two thousand Indians in war paint had plundered the 

 Government mail and murdered the three Americans in 

 charge of it. Shortly after- this horseman had left us, a 

 considerable drove of oxen came from the same direction, 

 followed by two waggons. The retreating whites look 

 ed as wild as their cattle, and all seemed to have been 

 pricking in hot haste out of danger's way. The first 

 travellers in the first waggon confirmed the news of the 

 difficulty ; but from those who were bringing up the rear 

 I gained some very interesting intelligence. They in 

 formed me that they were some of Mr Peacock's men, a 

 frontier settler of considerable influence, whom I had 

 left at Kansas city, and to whose settlement I had pro 

 mised to pay a visit in my way to Pawnee Fork, whence 

 he assured me I could reach the buffalo, while at the same 

 time I could avail myself of the safety of his property 

 and the protection of his men during the time of my 

 stay in that vicinity. His protection and his hospitality 

 were thus alike out of the question, for his men had 

 abandoned his lands, and those with whom I thus spoke 

 advised me on no account to think of continuing my 

 hunting excursion to Pawnee Fork. My informants 

 observing that I doubted the estimated force of the 

 Indians, and that I was inclined to think their accounts sa 

 voured of a national inclination to magnify, when speak- 



