I-fOW WE LOST OUR MULES. 



17 



were unable to get water for the horses. 

 We managed to get a drink ourselves by 

 melting snow. There was no timber along 

 this stream, and as the weather was very 

 cold, the only way we could keep from 

 freezing was by dividing our party into 

 reliefs, keeping one man at work gathering 

 the little willows that grew along the 

 si ream and adding them to the fire. 



I managed to get a little sleep during 

 the night by rolling myself in my overcoat 

 and lying near the fire; and what sweet 

 sleep it was! I shall never forget how 

 hard it was to arouse myself when called 

 to do my half hour's gathering of willows. 



At the first peep of day we were in the 

 saddle and following the trail, which then 

 bore a little North of East. At about 10 

 o'clock we came to the main stream of 

 Horse creek. There we halted long 

 enough to water our thirsty animals and 

 to prepare a cup of coffee. This, with a 

 few pieces of dried buffalo meat the In- 

 dians had lost and I had picked up, and 

 some hard bread, made a meal we greatly 

 enjoyed. 



After eating our scanty breakfast we 

 mounted and again took up the trail, which 

 then bore still more to the North. About 

 loaded with logs, such as are commonly 

 used in the West in building houses. We 

 wondered how their owners could have 

 escaped, as they were in advance of the 

 Indians and directly on the trail. Our 

 fears were soon confirmed, for on ap- 



proaching the wagons we found the har- 

 ness cut to pieces, and the bodies of 2 

 men near. They had been scalped and 

 horribly mutilated. One of the men was 

 bald, but had a light growth of hair around 

 the lower part of the head, which the In- 

 dians took as a scalp. It has been asserted 

 that an Indian warrior will not take the 

 scalp of a bald person, but in this case 

 they appropriated what little hair remained 

 on the poor unfortunate man's head. 



We found an axe near one of the 

 wagons, with which we cut the frozen earth 

 and buried the bodies as well as we could. 

 The men had been hauling logs to build 

 a road ranch on the North Platte river, 

 near Scott's Bluffs; but there was no clue 

 to their names, as the Indians had taken 

 every vestige of their clothing. 



We followed the trail until nearly sun- 

 set, when we came to the North Platte 

 river. There we found the Indians had 

 crossed and were evidently so far ahead of 

 us it would be impossible to overtake 

 them with our jaded animals; so we gave 

 up the chase and turned toward Fort 

 Laramie. We camped at the Cold Spring 

 ranch that night, and on the following 

 day rode in to the post. 



I have lately been looking over the his- 

 tory of Sitting Bull, and find that one of 

 his most daring feats was to "run off a 

 whole herd of mules." In all probability 

 the herd of mules he ran off was our 

 charge. 



AMAT6VR PHQTO BY E- A, NORWOOD. 



SNOWSHOEING ON MOOSEHEAD LAKE, 



