han a
hundred Indians. More Indians were dancing about the gun, although they
had not the slightest notion what to do with it.

Arms turned back with his command and drove the redskins from their
useless prize. The men dismounted and took up a position there.

A very lively fight followed. Five or six men, including Major Arms,
were wounded, and a number of the horses were shot. As the fight
proceeded, the enemy seemed to become steadily more numerous. It was
apparent that reinforcements were arriving from some large party in the
rear.

The negro troops, who had been boasting of what they would do to the
Indians, were now singing a different tune.

"We'll jes' blow 'em off'm de fahm," they had said, before there was an
enemy in sight. Now, every time the foe would charge us, some of the
darkies would cry:

"Heah dey come! De whole country is alive wif 'em. Dere must be ten
thousand ob dem. Massa Bill, does you-all reckon we is ebber gwine to
get out o' heah?"

The major, who had been lying under the cannon since receiving his
wound, asked me if I thought there was a chance to get back to the
fort. I replied that there was, and orders were given for a retreat,
the cannon being left behind.

During the movement a number of our men were killed by the deadly fire
of the Indians. But night fell, and in the darkness we made fairly good
headway, arriving at Fort Hays just at daybreak. During our absence
cholera had broken out at the post. Five or six men were dying daily.
For the men there was a choice of dangers--going out to fight the
Indians on the prairie, or remaining in camp to be stricken with
cholera. To most of us the former was decidedly the more inviting.

"The Rise and Fall of Modern Rome"--was the chapter of frontier history
in which I next figured. For a time I was part owner of a town, and on
my way to fortune. And then one of those quick changes that mark
Western history in the making occurred and I was left--but I will tell
you the story.

At the town of Ellsworth, which I visited one day while carrying
dispatches to Fort Harker, I met William Rose, who had a contract for
trading on the right-of-way of the Kansas Pacific near Fort Hays. His
stock had been stolen by the Indians, and he had come to Ellsworth to
buy more.

Rose was enthusiastic about a project for laying out a town site on the
west side of Big Creek, a mile from the fort, where the railroad was to
cross. When, in response to a reque