14 



R EC RE A TION. 



next morning the march was resinned, 

 but wherever the ground was not hid- 

 den, a bleak and blackened prairie ex- 

 tended before us, with every vestige of 

 grazing destroyed by fires, kindled, as we 

 had no doubt, purposely by the Indians. 

 This is a favorite scheme of theirs on 

 leaving their old camps, to cripple the 

 movements of any white neighbors in 

 time of peace and to prevent pursuit, if 

 necessary, in time of hostilities. Cer- 

 tainly we had good evidence of the tem- 

 per of the tribe we were soon to reach. 

 Everywhere, blackness and desolation 

 met the eye, with not a sign of game ; 

 not even the ubiquitous jack-rabbit or 

 the saucy praire dog. 



The third day out, the weather 

 moderated and the sun shone brightly. 

 About mid-day we reached the crest of 

 a low range of hills and mira ! there lay 

 the whole Indian encampment below us. 

 They had already observed our approach 

 and warriors were seen scurrying hither 

 and thither on their ponies, driving in 

 the herds, shouting and gesticulating 

 and evidently uneasy as to our inten- 

 tions. In a small grove of cottonwoods, 

 on the banks of Wolf Creek, about a 

 half-mile distant, we also descried the 

 white tents of the troop to whose relief 

 we had come, and whose commander 

 quickly came galloping to meet us with a 

 hearty welcome. 



We soon learned what we were ex- 

 pected to do, as well as the state of 

 affairs generally. The two tribes had 

 recently quarreled and had separated ; 

 the Cheyennes going farther northward 

 for their hunt, while the Arapahoes con- 

 tinued on their route towards the 

 Staked Plains. These latter had assumed 

 a decidedly hostile attitude also towards 

 the military sent with them for the pur- 

 pose of preventing them from interfer- 

 ing with, or being molested by white 

 hunters; and at the same time to prevent, 

 if possible, their going on the war-path. 

 The Cheyennes, had been whipped, 

 starved and cleaned out of almost all 

 their herds, during the preceding 

 autumn, by General Mackenzie's com- 

 mand, and to avoid being drawn into any 

 further conflict, they had wisely seceded 

 from the belligerent Arapahoes ; leaving 

 them for once to bear the brunt of the 

 war alone. A body of the northern 

 branch of these latter — between twenty 

 and thirty in number — had recently left 



their reservation, in the Department of 

 the Platte, made their way across the 

 country, massacred a small party of 

 buffalo hunters (whom they claimed 

 were interfering with the winter supplies 

 of their tribe), and were now secreted 

 in the camp of their friends. Powder 

 Face, the head chief of the Arapahoes, 

 had refused to deliver the murderers to 

 the troops, on the plea that it was im- 

 possible to identify them among the 

 Indians of his own tribe ; adding also 

 that we had no right to make such a 

 demand and threatening, that unless our 

 interference ceased, " somebody would 

 get hurt." 



POWDER FACE. 



ARAPAHOE CHIEF. 



Our duty was plain, and Powder Face 



was notified by Major C that we 



would call upon him at once and hold a 

 council. After putting our companies in 

 camp, beside the one already quartered 

 there, our party, consisting of half-a- 

 dozen officers, with an interpreter, rode 

 across to the Arapahoe encampment and 

 entered the lodge of Powder Face. 

 Here we found that surly chief, with 

 Little Raven (the second in command), 

 and all the other leading warriors of the 

 tribe, in full gala costume. A more 

 scoundrely array of faces it has rarely 



