ANOTHER START. 183 



Plattsbtirg, N. Y., who assisted us materially in select- 

 ing medical stores, and who by his genial disposition 

 endeared himself to our entire party, so that when 

 we heard of his sad fate soon afterward, it seemed as 

 if death had crouched by our own camp-fire. Should 

 the Indians become troublesome, there was some 

 talk at the fort, he now informed us, of organizing 

 a company for operations against them, composed 

 of buffalo hunters and scouts under the lead of regular 

 officers, and in this case it was his purpose to accom- 

 pany it in the capacity of a surgeon. As good guns 

 were difficult to obtain there, and we had some extra 

 weapons, one of our party loaned the doctor an im- 

 proved Henry rifle and holster revolvers. Before we 

 again heard of him, he had crossed that shadowy line 

 which winds between the tombs and habitations of 

 men, and his name was added to the drearily long 

 list which bears for its heading "Killed by In- 

 dians." 



Commencing with those first entries after the May- 

 flower introduced our fathers to savage audience, and 

 chiseling separately each name on a marble mile- 

 stone, the white witnesses would girdle the earth. 



Sunrise next morning saw us again moving north- 

 ward, fully determined that no body of Indians, un- 

 less comprising the whole Cheyenne nation, should 

 force us back again. We had met the red man on 

 his native heath and familiarity had bred contempt. 

 All were in excellent spirits and felt the braver, per- 

 haps, because our late visitors had assured us that 

 their tribe was on the war-path against the Pawnees, 

 and meant only peace with the whites. 



