ager for the trip, and as it was a nobby
and high-toned outfit which I was to accompany, I determined to put on a
little style myself. So I dressed in a new suit of light buckskin,
trimmed along the seams with fringes of the same material; and I put on a
crimson shirt handsomely ornamented on the bosom, while on my head I wore
a broad _sombrero_. Then mounting a snowy white horse--a gallant
stepper--I rode down from the fort to the camp, rifle in hand. I felt
first-rate that morning, and looked well.

The expedition was soon under way. Our road for ten miles wound through a
wooded ravine called Cottonwood Canon, intersecting the high ground, or
divide, as it is called, between the Platte and Republican Rivers. Upon
emerging from the canon we found ourselves upon the plains. First in the
line rode General Sheridan, followed by his guests, and then the
orderlies. Then came the ambulances, in one of which were carried five
greyhounds, brought along to course the antelope and rabbit. With the
ambulances marched a pair of Indian ponies belonging to Lieutenant
Hayes--captured during some Indian fight--and harnessed to a light wagon,
which General Sheridan occasionally used. These little horses, but
thirteen hands high, showed more vigor and endurance than any other of
the animals we had with us. Following the ambulances came the main body
of the escort and the supply wagons.

We marched seventeen miles the first day, and went into camp on Fox
Creek, a tributary of the Republican. No hunting had as yet been done;
but I informed the gentlemen of the party that we would strike the
buffalo country the next day. A hundred or more questions were then
asked me by this one and that one, and the whole evening was spent
principally in buffalo talk, sandwiched with stories of the plains--both
of war and of the chase. Several of the party, who were good vocalists,
gave us some excellent music. We closed the evening by christening the
camp, naming it Camp Brown, in honor of the gallant officer in command of
the escort.

At three o'clock next morning the bugle called us to an early start. We
had breakfast at half-past four, and at six were in the saddle. All were
eager to see and shoot the buffaloes which I assured them we would
certainly meet during the day. After marching five miles, the advance
guard, of which I had the command, discovered six buffaloes grazing at a
distance of about two miles from us. We returned to the hunters with