s weapons. Of course,
after the hunt we had roast turkey, boiled turkey, fried turkey, and
turkey on toast for our fare, and in honor of the birds which had
provided this treat we named the place Camp Turkey.

When we left camp we had an easy trail for several days. Penrose had
taken a southerly direction toward the Canadian River. No Indians were
to be seen, nor did we find any signs of them.

One day, while riding in advance of the command down San Francisco
Creek, I heard some one calling my name from a little bunch of willow
brush on the opposite bank of the stream. Looking closely at the spot,
I saw a colored soldier.

"Sakes alive, Massa Bill, am dat you?" shouted the man, whom I
recognized as a member of the Tenth Cavalry.

"Come out o' heah," I heard him call to someone behind him. "Heah's
Massa Buffalo Bill." Then he sang out to me: "Massa Bill, is you got
any hahdtack?"

"Nary a bit of hardtack, but the wagons will be along presently, and
you can get all you want."

"Dat's de best news Ah's heahd fo' sixteen long days, Massa Bill."

"Where's your command? Where's General Penrose?" I demanded.

"Dunno," said the darky. "We got lost, an' we's been starvin' ever
since."

By this time two other negroes had emerged from their hiding-place.
They had deserted Penrose's command, which was out of rations and in a
starving condition. They were trying to make their way back to old Fort
Lyon. General Carr concluded, from what they could tell him, that
Penrose was somewhere on Polladora Creek. But nothing definite was to
be gleaned from the starving darkies, for they knew very little
themselves.

General Carr was deeply distressed to learn that Penrose and his men
were in such bad shape. He ordered Major Brown to start out the next
morning with two companies of cavalry and fifty pack mules, loaded with
provisions, and to make all possible speed to reach and relieve the
suffering soldiers. I went with this detachment. On the third day out
we found the half-famished soldiers encamped on the Polladora. The camp
presented a pitiful sight. For over two weeks the men had only quarter
rations and were now nearly starved to death. Over two hundred mules
were lying dead, having succumbed to fatigue and starvation.

Penrose, having no hope that he would be found, had sent back a company
of the Seventh Cavalry to Fort Lyon for supplies. As yet no word had
been heard from them. The rations brought by Major Brown arrived