Page:On the border with Crook - Bourke - 1892.djvu/315

 The Indians hung round our camps every night, occasionally firing a shot at our fires, but more anxious to steal back their ponies than to fight. To remove all excuse for their presence Crook ordered that the throats of the captured ponies be cut, and this was done on two different nights: first, some fifty being knocked in the head with axes, or having their throats cut with the sharp knives of the scouts, and again, another "bunch" of fifty being shot before sun-down. The throat-cutting was determined upon when the enemy began firing in upon camp, and was the only means of killing the ponies without danger to our own people. It was pathetic to hear the dismal trumpeting (I can find no other word to express my meaning) of the dying creatures, as the breath of life rushed through severed windpipes. The Indians in the bluffs recognized the cry, and were aware of what we were doing, because with one yell of defiance and a parting volley, they left us alone for the rest of the night.

Steaks were cut from the slaughtered ponies and broiled in the ashes by the scouts; many of the officers and soldiers imitated their example. Prejudice to one side, the meat is sweet and nourishing, not inferior to much of the stringy beef that used to find its way to our markets.

Doctor Munn, Doctor Ridgeley, and Steward Bryan were kept fully occupied in tending to the patients under their charge, and were more than pleased when the wagon-train was reached, and "travois" and saddles could be exchanged for ambulances and wagons.

Our reception by our comrades back at the wagon-train—Coates, Ferris, and Mason—was most cordial and soldier-like. The most gratifying proof of their joy at our return was found in the good warm supper of coffee, bacon, and beans prepared for every one of our columns, commissioned and enlisted. The ice in the Powder proved very treacherous, as all "alkali" ice will; it was not half so thick as it had been found on the Tongue, where it had ranged from two to three feet. General Crook distributed the troops to the various military posts, and returned to his headquarters in Omaha. The conduct of certain officers was the subject of an investigation by a general court-martial, but it is not my purpose to overcrowd my pages with such matters, which can be readily looked up by readers interested in them. On our way down to Cheyenne, we encountered squads