102 TAKEN FOR A SCOUT. 



in, my dress consisting of a leather shirt, leather trousers and 

 moccasins, and a fur cap, all of them being very much the 

 worse for wear. Maronde, after looking into the dining-room 

 and seeing some ladies, refused to go in, and was accommodated 

 elsewhere. My appearance caused quite a sensation in the 

 room, and there was a great deal of whispering among the 

 guests, and a waiter was sent to find out who I was. Among 

 those present was a general officer of the United States' Army 

 and his staff, many of the latter having their wives with them, 

 and I had not been long at table when an aide-de-camp came 

 to tell me to go to the General at once, he evidently taking me 

 for a half-breed scout. I sent to say that I would come when 

 I had finished my dinner, and on my going to him, the General 

 apologized for his apparent discourtesy, although he did not 

 tell me what he had taken me for, nor could I blame him 

 much for the mistake he had made, when I looked at myself in 

 a full-length glass. 



I found that he had been sent to take command of some 

 twelve hundred men who were about to march against the 

 Indians, .and was therefore anxious to get any information he 

 could as to their whereabouts, the nature of the country, and 

 of the best route to take. 



I told him that the men he was taking with him would be of 

 very little service against such enemies, being almost entirely 

 infantry, and I advised him to raise a body of rangers from the 

 half-breeds of the Red River, any one of whom was equal to 

 two Indians; but I could not get him to agree with me, as he was 

 quite new to this kind of fighting. I told him that the Indians 

 would hang round his line of march, cutting off stragglers and 

 shooting his sentries, they themselves being always invisible. 



