Page:Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains.djvu/549

Rh one of them, he taking two corners and I two, and the third man poured a bucket of water in the center of it, and we carried it twenty rods and the water did not leak through it. The Lieutenant asked how long it took to make one of them, and the Indian said it took about six months. He bought a blanket for five dollars, being about all the silver dollars in the command. The blanket had a horse worked in each corner, of various colors, also a man in the center with a spear in his hand. How this could be done was a mystery to all of us, as it contained many colors and showed identically the same on both sides.

By this time our three months' supply was running short, and Lieut. Jackson commenced making preparations to return to headquarters with his entire command. We pulled out for the fort, and did not see an Indian or even a fresh track on our way.

When we arrived at the fort and Lieut. Jackson made his report Gen. Crook was more than pleased with the success we had met, and I succeeded in getting George's wages raised from seventy-five to one hundred dollars per month, unbeknown to him.

It was now in the fall of the year, and the General decided to send us back again with two companies of cavalry and one company of infantry, calculated more for camp and guard duty than for actual service.

After we had rested up a month or such a matter the General had six or eight mule teams rigged up, also fifty burros for pack animals, and started Lieut. Jackson back again with three hundred soldiers.