INTERVIEW WITH A DETECTIVE. 157 



in any capacity I thought proper, telling me that he had got 

 into a scrape, the nature of which he would not explain. I 

 replied that we had all the men we wanted, and after he had 

 tried very hard to induce me to change my mind, telling me 

 that he was an old plainsman and that I ought not to ride so 

 far alone, he left me, and I went down to the boat leading my 

 new pony, on which I had packed my small outfit. It took me 

 till the boat had started to make the pony comfortable, and to 

 put my saddle, &c., in my state-room ; but on going on deck I 

 was much surprised to see the man who wished me to engage 

 him, on the boat. 



I went up to him and asked him where he was going, and 

 whether he had found something to do, on which he told me 

 that he was going up the river to Omaha, where he had a friend 

 with whom he could stay, that place being about seventy miles 

 above Nebraska city. 



I thought no more of him, and soon got to know a number 

 of my fellow passengers, who were very much interested in my 

 proposed ride, thinking that anyone going on the plains when 

 the Indians were so bad must certainly be killed. Amongst 

 others, there was an old American general going up to Fort 

 Benton with his wife and daughter, who did their best to induce 

 me to go on with them, the general promising me an escort 

 to camp from Benton ; but this would have involved a very 

 long ride, and I had no time for it. 



Oil the morning of the day after we left, a stranger, whom I 

 had not noticed, called me on one side, and first giving me his 

 card, from which I saw that he was a captain in the New York 

 detective police, said that he had something very important to 

 tell me. He then asked me if I was not an Englishman who 



