Expedition to the Bad Lands 63 



a dollar each, and consisted of hot soda biscuit, 

 black coffee, bacon, and mustard, without butter, 

 milk, or eggs. If, worn out from continued loss 

 of sleep, we dozed off for a moment, a sudden lurch 

 of the coach into a chuck-hole would break our heads 

 against a post or a neighbor's head. I remember 

 that once when the Professor was almost exhausted 

 from lack of sleep I took his head in my arms and 

 held it there, so that he might get a few hours' rest. 

 I should like here to express my gratitude to the 

 fellow passengers who so often gave me a seat by 

 the driver, where, buttoned in by the leathern apron, 

 I got more than my share of sleep. 



When we reached the mountains, the beauty of 

 the scenery and the absence of dust made the jour- 

 ney more endurable, but we had to walk up all the 

 steep ascents. 



At Helena we laid off for a few days. There the 

 news was fresh from the battle-field, of Custer and 

 the brave men who had followed him to death. A 

 letter of his, written just before he entered the val- 

 ley of death, was read to us by the proprietor of the 

 hotel. I remember one sentence of it : " We have 

 found the Indians, and are going in after them. We 

 may not come out alive." 



All was excitement, and the Professor was 

 strongly advised against the folly of going into the 

 neutral ground between the Sioux and their heredi- 



