Page:On the border with Crook - Bourke - 1892.djvu/401

 timber, the dense growth of grape-vines, wild plums, and bull berries, already ripening under the warm rays of the sun and the constant showers. Where the picket lines of Terry's cavalry had been stretched during the spring, and the horses had scattered grains of corn from their feed, a volunteer crop had sprung up, whose stalks were from ten to twelve feet high, each bearing from two to four large ears still in the milk.

Our scouts and the advance-guard of the cavalry rushed into this unexpected treasure-trove, cutting and slashing the stalks, and bearing them off in large armfuls for the feeding of our own animals. The half-ripened plums and bull berries were thoroughly boiled, and, although without sugar, proved pleasant to the taste and a valuable anti-scorbutic. Trial was also made of the common opuntia, or Indian fig, the cactus which is most frequent in that section of Dakota; the spines were burnt off, the thick skin peeled, and the inner meaty pulp fried; it is claimed as an excellent remedy for scurvy, but the taste is far from agreeable, being slimy and mucilaginous.

On the 5th of September we made a long march of thirty miles in drizzling rain and sticky mud, pushing up Davis Creek, and benefiting by the bridges which Terry's men had erected in many places where the stream had to be crossed; we reached the head of the Heart River, and passed between the Rosebud Butte on the right and the Camel's Hump on the left. Here we again ran upon the enemy's rear-guard, which seemed disposed to make a fight until our advance got up and pushed them into the bluffs, when they retreated in safety, under cover of the heavy fog which had spread over the hills all day. Of the fifteen days' rations with which we had started out from the Yellowstone, only two and a half days' rations were left. When Randall and Stanton returned from the pursuit of the enemy, the Rees, who were still with us, gave it as their opinion that the command could easily reach Fort Abraham Lincoln in four days, or five; Glendive, on the Yellowstone, in our rear, could not be much farther in a direct line; but here was a hot trail leading due south towards the Black Hills, which were filling with an unknown number of people, all of whom would be exposed to slaughter and destruction. There is one thing certain about a hot trail: you'll find Indians on it if you go far enough, and you'll find them nowhere else. Comfort and ease beckoned from