Page:On the border with Crook - Bourke - 1892.djvu/433



STRANGE MESS-MATES—THE JOURNEY TO THE AGENCIES—GENERAL SHERIDAN'S VISIT—"SPOTTED TAIL"—THE STORY OF HIS DEAD DAUGHTER'S BONES—"WHITE THUNDER"—"RED CLOUD"—"DULL KNIFE"—"BIG WOLF"—THE NECKLACE OF HUMAN FINGERS—THE MEDICINE MAN AND THE ELECTRIC BATTERY—"WASHINGTON"—"FRIDAY"—INDIAN BROTHERS—"SORREL HORSE"—"THREE BEARS"—"YOUNG MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES"—"ROCKY BEAR"—"RED CLOUD'S "LETTER—INDIAN DANCES—THE BAD LANDS—HOW THE CHEYENNES FIRST GOT HORSES.

Camp Robinson was situated in the extreme northwestern corner of the State of Nebraska, close to the line of Dakota and that of Wyoming; aside from being the focus of military activity, there was little in the way of attraction; the scenery in the vicinity is picturesque, without any special features. There were great numbers of Indians of the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe tribes, to whose ranks accessions were made daily by those surrendering, but reference to them will be postponed for the present. The white members of our mess were General Crook, General Mackenzie, Colonel J. W. Mason, Lieutenant William P. Clarke, Lieutenant Hayden Delaney, Lieutenant Walter S. Schuyler, Major George M. Randall, and myself. Neither Mackenzie nor Mason could, strictly speaking, be called a member of the mess, but as they generally "dropped in," and as a plate was regularly placed for each, there is no direct violation of the unities in including them. Randall was still full of his recent perilous adventure with the Crows, and we often were successful in drawing him out about his experiences in the Civil War, in which he had borne a most gallant part and of which he could, when disposed, relate many interesting episodes. Schuyler had made a tour through Russia and Finland, and observed not a little of the usages and peculiarities of the people of those