ARRIVE AT THE RANCH E. 



141 



putting in some sugar, of which all Indians are very fond. 

 The only thing which made me feel uncomfortable was the old 

 man's musket, the muzzle of which pointed my way, so I told 

 the old fellow to lay it down on the grass, but he refused to do 

 this, making signs that the grass was wet and would hurt it; 

 so I took aim at him again with my rifle, on which he removed 

 his blanket, in spite of the rain, and wrapping the musket in it 

 laid it down. We now became quite friendly, so much so, 

 that they finished all my coffee before I had had any, and it 

 was necessary to get water to make some more, and this 

 involved going to the stream, which I managed to do walking 

 backwards, still holding my rifle. The Indians made up the 

 fire, and we soon had a second brew and some more kabobs, 

 which they made better than I did, it being a favourite Indian 

 way of cooking meat when on a hunt. 



It was now about time for me to go, and fortunately I had 

 already saddled the horse, and had only to make up my small 

 pack, put on the bridle, and mount, when they rose, evidently 

 expecting me to go with them, and were very much surprised 

 and gesticulated violently as I rode off, waving my hand to 

 them and feeling rather uncomfortable, till out of gunshot, 

 lest they might shoot me in the back. The last thing I saw 

 of them as I topped the next ridge was all three running 

 in the direction in which I supposed their camp to be, on 

 which I put my horse into a hand gallop, and kept him at 

 it for more than an hour, so as to get clear of the neighbour- 

 hood of the Indians as soon as possible. 



I arrived about three o'clock at Martin's ranche, and noticed 

 that they seemed surprised to see me, Martin telling me after- 

 wards that a report had been brought into Fort Kearney that 



