80 CARE OF BACKS 



" I took two pack-mules with the men's rations ; they 

 were loaded with about eighty pounds each. We left the 

 post at 1.35 P.M. The day was quite hot, and knowing 

 what was before me, I did not push the animals very hard 

 for the first twenty-five miles, which distance we had made 

 by 6 P.M. This distance brought us to Kingfisher Creek, 

 where we halted for one hour unsaddled, got some- 

 thing to eat, let the horses roll and graze, then groomed 

 their backs and legs, saddled up and started at 7 P.M. 



"We started and walked for thirty minutes, then took a 

 trot for fifty minutes, when we dismounted and rested for 

 ten minutes ; adjusted the saddles, mounted, and took the 

 trot for fifty minutes, dismounted and walked for ten 

 minutes. We thus trotted at about a six-mile gait for a 

 little more than fifty minutes, and dismounted and walked 

 for ten minutes, until 12 P.M., when we halted and rested 

 for twenty minutes. We then mounted and kept up 

 the trotting for fifty minutes, dismounting and walking 

 for ten minutes, until about 4.50 A.M., a little after day- 

 break, when we were so overcome with sleep that I al- 

 lowed the men to dismount, unsaddle, and sleep for about 

 an hour. My mind was so busy that I could not sleep 

 much, so I awoke the men. We groomed the backs and 

 rubbed the legs of the horses for a short time and re- 

 sumed the journey as before. When we had gone about 

 one hundred and twenty miles we again halted, unsaddled, 

 let the horses rest, and made some coffee. This rest took 

 three-quarters of an hour, after which we started and trav- 

 elled as before until we reached Arkansas City at 8.30 P.M. 

 thirty-one hours. Men and horses were extremely tired ; 

 one horse was quite lame in front. We rested the remain- 

 der of the night, the next day and night, and then marched 

 to Caldwell, Kansas, thirty-five miles, the succeeding day. 

 We remained at Caldwell two nights and a day, and 



