THE WOLF HUNTERS 



was bullet-proof; but Bayard's bullet killed him 

 so quick that he hardly had time to feel disap- 

 pointed." 



**I don't know but what it was best, after all," 

 remarked old Tom, "seein' that the Injun had to 

 be killed, for an officer to do it, for after that shot 

 the Kiowas started on the war-path an' caused 

 the loss of a good many lives of innocent people 

 an' give the troops a whole lot of trouble an' hard 

 service for a year or more afterward. Ef it had 

 'a' been an enlisted man fired that shot he'd 'a' 

 been court-martialled an' punished, more'n likely, 

 instead of being honored. So I guess Peck lost 

 nothin' by it, for Bayard was sharply reprimanded 

 an' had to do a whole lot of explaining to get out 

 of trouble for that little job. As to the killing of 

 Pawnee bein' the real cause of the Kiowa out- 

 break, that was the idea that some fool people 

 back East got of it; but none of us ever believed 

 that, for we knew from the actions of ol' Satank 

 an' his band for some time before that, they was 

 bound to go on the war-path with or without 

 provocation, an' they seized on the killin' of one o' 

 their chiefs as an excuse for turnin' loose on the 

 Pike's Peak emigrants an' others along the road." 



"You'll remember," said Jack, "that I wasn't 

 with you the next summer on the Kiowa expedi- 

 tion, for I'd been left back at Fort Riley, in the 

 hospital, but I know Peck an' you" — speaking di- 

 rectly to Tom — "was both with Major Sedgwick's 



102 



