of their sworn enemies, while their
commanding officer was tried for his commission by a jury of his peers.
The soldiers were sent to civil prison and the colonel to military
Coventry--estopped from further promotion, and Silver Hill (pronounced
with an "e" in those days) for as much as a month exulted and rejoiced
with exceeding joy. Then a new general came to the command. Then Silver
Hill thrust its hands deep in its pockets and whistled in dismay, for
the general's first deed was to order Minneconjou's big garrison into
summer camp long marches away, to leave only men enough at the post to
take care of the property and thus to defraud the denizens of fringing
settlement, known to the Army as Thugtown, of some thousands _per
mensem_ of hard-earned cash--very hard. Moreover, when winter set in,
the garrison was distributed much to the betterment of Meade, Laramie,
Robinson, Niobrara, etc., and to the howling protest of the sturdy
settlers of Silver Hill, "thus robbed," said their eloquent
representative in Congress assembled, "of the protection assured them by
the national government." It was rich to hear the appalling description
given that December of the perils and privations of the people of the
southwestern section of the Dakotas. The Sioux were on the point of
rising and butchering the helpless and scattered settlers, said Senator
Bullion, and to do the county justice it must be owned that it did its
level best to stir up the Minneconjous, but those "troubled waters" had
been stirred too much in the past and refused now to boil over at the
beck of the politicians, so what could not be done in one way was worked
in another. The cat, in shape of the command, came back, and with the
onward march of civilization men and women of a higher class were drawn
to Silver Hill, and the "e" from the last part of its name.

And then in army circles there came to the front a man with a head on
his shoulders and a hand on the steering gear. In the interest of
civilization and civilian dealers Congress had cleaned out the old-time
sutler shop, which was no deplorable loss, and transferred the traffic
of his successor, the post trader, to his ubiquitous rival, the
publican. "The soldier's pay comes from the people and should return to
the people," said the advocates of the measure, and the soldier
non-voter, having about as many friends at the seat of government as a
crow in a corn field, matters at Minneconjou speedily became bad