or an
invalid. Tete Rouge's sick chamber was a little mud room, where he and a
companion attacked by the same disease were laid together, with nothing
but a buffalo robe between them and the ground. The assistant surgeon's
deputy visited them once a day and brought them each a huge dose of
calomel, the only medicine, according to his surviving victim, which he
was acquainted with.

Tete Rouge woke one morning, and turning to his companion, saw his eyes
fixed upon the beams above with the glassy stare of a dead man. At this
the unfortunate volunteer lost his senses outright. In spite of the
doctor, however, he eventually recovered; though between the brain fever
and the calomel, his mind, originally none of the strongest, was so much
shaken that it had not quite recovered its balance when we came to the
fort. In spite of the poor fellow's tragic story, there was something so
ludicrous in his appearance, and the whimsical contrast between his
military dress and his most unmilitary demeanor, that we could not help
smiling at them.

We asked him if he had a gun. He said they had taken it from him during
his illness, and he had not seen it since; "but perhaps," he observed,
looking at me with a beseeching air, "you will lend me one of your big
pistols if we should meet with any Indians." I next inquired if he had a
horse; he declared he had a magnificent one, and at Shaw's request a
Mexican led him in for inspection. He exhibited the outline of a good
horse, but his eyes were sunk in the sockets, and every one of his ribs
could be counted. There were certain marks too about his shoulders,
which could be accounted for by the circumstance, that during Tete
Rouge's illness, his companions had seized upon the insulted charger,
and harnessed him to a cannon along with the draft horses. To Tete
Rouge's astonishment we recommended him by all means to exchange the
horse, if he could, for a mule. Fortunately the people at the fort were
so anxious to get rid of him that they were willing to make some
sacrifice to effect the object, and he succeeded in getting a tolerable
mule in exchange for the broken-down steed.

A man soon appeared at the gate, leading in the mule by a cord which he
placed in the hands of Tete Rouge, who, being somewhat afraid of his new
acquisition, tried various flatteries and blandishments to induce her to
come forward. The mule, knowing that she was expected to advance,
stopped short in consequence, and stoo