364 ARRIVE AT FORT ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



time, and discovery meant death. His duty was to bring word 

 to General Terry at Fort Benton of any contemplated raid 

 over the American frontier, as Sitting Bull was then in 

 British territory. 



Nothing of any consequence occurred until we reached the 

 Big Heart "River, which was frozen over, but which the guide 

 thought would not bear the ambulance. The General, how- 

 ever, told the driver to " go ahead," and we drove on to the 

 ice, which gave way under us, and we went down suddenly about 

 two feet, the mules remaining on the ice; they struggled des- 

 perately to get us out again, but instead of doing so went in 

 themselves, and all was now confusion the mules tumbling 

 over one another, the driver beating them, and the General 

 shouting to " go ahead " ; and our difficulties were much in- 

 creased by its being a very dark night. The whip was kept 

 going on the team, and by breaking the ice all the way across 

 we reached the bank at last, and had to halt to repair damages, 

 as some of the harness was broken. 



Shortly after getting under weigh again, when crossing a deep 

 and narrow watercourse, the pole of our ambulance was run into 

 the opposite bank and broken off at the base, but the mules 

 managed to take us safely out of it. Here the General showed 

 what he was, as he took off his coat and spliced the pole him- 

 self, making a very good job of it. A few hours after this we 

 drove into Fort Abraham Lincoln. I found in command here 

 the General Sturgiss who had been so kind to me at Fort 

 Belknap in Northern Texas in 1878, and who now pressed me 

 to stop with him ; but I could not accept his kind invitation, as 

 I wished to return to the east for Christmas. 



Nothing can exceed the kindness of American officers to 



