is always to be found in the region where the savages
take up an abode, feeding upon the carcasses of the many varieties of
game killed for food. He had not proceeded more than half a mile
from the camp when he discovered two Indians slowly riding over a low
"divide," driving a herd of ponies before them. The famous scout was
then certain their village could not be very far away. The savages did
not observe him, as he took good care they should not; so he returned
quickly to where Major Greer was standing by his camp-fire and reported
the presence of a village very close at hand.

The Major having sent for Tom Tobin and Uncle Dick Wooton, requested
them to go and find the exact location of the savages. These scouts came
back in less than half an hour, and reported a large number of teepees
in a thick grove of timber a mile away.

It was at once determined to surprise the savages in their winter
quarters by charging right among their lodges without allowing them time
to mount their ponies, as the gallant Custer rode, at the head of his
famous troopers of the Seventh Cavalry, into the camp of the celebrated
chief "Black Kettle" on the Washita, in the dawn of a cold November
morning twenty years afterward.

The command succeeded in getting within good charging distance of the
village without its occupants having any knowledge of its proximity; but
at this moment Major Greer was seized with an idea that he ought to have
a parley with the Indians before he commenced to fight them, and for
that purpose he ordered a halt, just as the soldiers were eager for the
sound of the "Charge!"

Never were a body of men more enraged. Carson gave vent to his wrath
in a series of elaborately carved English oaths, for which he was noted
when young; Leroux, whose naturally hot blood was roused, swore at the
Major in a curious mixture of bad French and worse mountain dialect,
and it appeared as if the battle would begin in the ranks of the troops
instead of those of the savages; for never was a body of soldiers so
disgusted at the act of any commanding officer.

This delay gave the Indians, who could be seen dodging about among their
lodges and preparing for a fight that was no longer a surprise, time
to hide their women and children, mount their ponies, and get down into
deep ravines, where the soldiers could not follow them. While the Major
was trying to convince his subordinates that his course was the proper
one, the Indians opened