At St. Mary's 



Mountains, each noted for some remark- 

 able incident, the story of which we had 

 been many times told already by our lo- 

 quacious guide, who had joined our party 

 two days before. 



Ten days or so previous to this, had one 

 been spending a day at the military post 

 of Fort Assiniboine, Mont., which one 

 never does, he might have seen depart- 

 ing therefrom a column of dusky horse- 

 men, followed by several six-mule teams 

 drawing heavy red wagons, and headed by 

 two suspicious-looking men on horses 

 branded "U.S." 



The horsemen were a detachment of 

 " F " Troop, Tenth United States Cavalry; 

 the wagon-train consisted of four " army 

 wagons complete;" and the two evil-look- 

 ing men at the head of the column were 

 myself and a much better man, Lieuten- 

 ant Letcher Hardeman of the Tenth Regi- 

 ment United States Cavalry. 



This party left the post one hot day late 

 in the summer of 1894; and seven days 

 later, having made an interesting march 

 over two hundred miles of Montana soil, 

 it appeared at Blackfoot station on the 

 Great Northern Railroad. There it was 

 joined by a party of eight gentlemen who 

 had arrived that day on the west-bound 



266 



