letter. It came to
General Ashley, and showed a skull and cross-bones, and said:

BEWARE!!! No Boy Scouts allowed on the Medicine
Range! Keep Off!!!

That didn't scare us, either.

When we were ready to start, Mayor Scott called us into his office and
told us that this was to be a real test of how we could be of service in
time of need and of how we could take care of ourselves; and that we
were carrying a message to Garcia, and must get it through, if we could,
but that he put us on our honor as Scouts to do just as we had agreed to
do. (See Note 2.)

Then we saluted him, and he saluted us with a military salute, and we
gave our Scouts' yell, and went.

Our Scouts' yell is:

B. S. A.! B. S. A.!
Elk! Elk! Hoo-ray!!

and a screech all together, like the bugling of an elk.

This is how we marched. The message was done up flat, between cardboard
covered by oiled silk with the Elk totem on it, and was slung by a
buckskin thong from the general's neck, under his shirt, out of sight.

We didn't wear coats, because coats were too hot, and you can't climb
with your arms held by coat-sleeves. We had our coats in the packs, for
emergencies. We wore blue flannel shirts with the Scouts' emblem on the
sleeves, and Scouts' drab service hats, and khaki trousers tucked into
mountain-boots hob-nailed with our private pattern so that we could tell
each other's tracks, and about our necks were red bandanna handkerchiefs
knotted loose, and on our hands were gauntlet gloves. Little Jed Smith,
who is a fatty, wore two pairs of socks, to prevent his feet from
blistering. That is a good scheme. (Note 3.)

General Ashley and Major Henry led; next were our two burros, Sally (who
was a yellow burro with a white spot on her back) and Apache (who was a
black burro and was named for Kit Carson's--the real Kit
Carson's--favorite horse). Behind the burros we came: the two other
first-class Scouts, and then the second-class Scouts, who were Jed
Smith and myself.

We took along two flags: one was the Stars and Stripes and the other was
our Patrol flag--green with a white Elk totem on it. They were fastened
to a jointed staff, the Stars and Stripes on top and the Patrol flag
below; and the butt of the staff was sharpened, to stick into the
ground. The flags flew in camp. We did not have tents. We had three
tarps, which are tarpaulins or cowboy canvas bed-sheets, to sleep in, on
the ground, and some blankets and quilts for o