as off. I sold the animal to
Lieutenant Mason. I met many old friends in Cheyenne, among them R.S.
Van Tassell, Tim Dier, Major Talbot, Luke Morrin, Posey Wilson, and
many others. They constituted a pretty wild bunch, and kept me so busy
that I had no time to think about Mrs. Cody's furniture.

On my return, when she asked us for it, I told her I couldn't bring it
with me on the train, and that moreover there were no stores in
Cheyenne where I could get furniture that would be good enough for her,
so I had sent to Dewey & Stone at Omaha for what she needed.

I lost no time in getting over to the club, where I wrote to Dewey &
Stone for all the articles my wife required. In a week the furniture
arrived at Fort McPherson station. I got a couple of six-mule teams and
went after it quick. When it arrived at the house and was unpacked Mrs.
Cody was greatly delighted.

About this time General Emory was very much annoyed by petty offenses
in the vicinity of the Post by civilians over whom he had no
jurisdiction. There was no justice of the peace near the Post, and he
wanted some kind of an officer with authority to attend to these
troublesome persons. One day he told me that I would make an excellent
justice.

"You compliment me too highly, General," I replied. "I don't know any
more about law than a Government mule knows about bookkeeping." "That
doesn't make any difference," he said. "I know you will make a good
squire. You accompany Mr. Woodin and Mr. Snell to North Platte in my
private ambulance. They will go on your bond, and you will be appointed
a justice of the peace."

A number of officers from the Post went to North Platte for this
occasion. After I was duly sworn in, there was a celebration. I arrived
home at three o'clock in the morning, Mrs. Cody still being in
ignorance of my newly acquired honor. I was awakened by hearing her
arguing with a man at the door who was asking for the squire. She was
assuring him that no squire was on the premises.

"Doesn't Buffalo Bill live here?" asked the man.

"Yes," admitted Mrs. Cody, "but what has that got to do with it?"

By this time I had dressed, and I went to the door. I informed my wife,
to her amazement, that I was really a squire, and turned to the visitor
to learn his business.

He was a poor man, he said, on his way to Colorado. The night before a
large bunch of horses was being driven past his camp, and one of his
two animals was driven off with the herd.