I 



I 



\ 



i 



\ 



CHAPTER III 



LIFE ON THE PLAINS. 



Commence our March.— Priglitful Storm overtakes us.— Effects of the Storm 

 along the route.— Buffalo Tracks and Indian Trails.— Mexican Bull Trains, 

 Eeach Fort Harker.— Military Posts of the Western Country.— The 

 Indian Difficulty. — Ellesworth. — Harmless and Poisonous Snakes, Horned 

 Toads, and Prairie Dogs. — Antelope and Buffalo ; the First Death. — Indian 

 Troubles ahead. — Reports of Massacres come in from all sides. — Stage- 

 coach attacked.— Eeach Fort Hayes.— A Buffalo Hunt. 



Distances .•— Salina to Fort Harker, 36 miles ; Harker to Fort Hayes, 72 miles. 



Total, 106 miles. 



I* Eaely on the morning of Saturday, 7tli of June, our line of 



wagons, twenty in number, headed hy thi-ee ambulances, 



June 7. slowly moved away from our fii-st camping- 

 Left Salina. g^ound. The weather had been, and was, stiU. 



very xmpropitious ; every night, and in fact all night 

 through, the horizon was almost a continuous sheet of 



P flame, and constant thunder-showers drenched the ground, 



^ and filled the gullies to overflowing. I have passed 



through many a thimderstorm amongst the Alps, and have 



& seen "a storm in the Eocky Mountains," in reality as well 



as on canvas, but nowhere have I encountei'ed one in such 

 perfection as on the plains. Kowhere do the elements 



i\ appear so frantic with rage. The fight seemed to us almost 



endless, for if we were not actually on the battle-field, we 

 could see it raging all the same at some point on the horizon. 

 The thunder, I often noticed, was never as loud as I have 

 heard it iu the Eastern States and in Europe, but the thick bars 

 of lightning would remain visible for a much longer time, and 



