Year: 1875

male cast Of reality in all the brooks and streams which


Ne have vet crossed but they revive with the anticpa
ton OF encamping by stream flowing westward from


rus PATRIARCH OF THE EXPEDITION


is Colonel Bullock Of the Missouri cavaliers before
the national nightmare Of and rebellion. The
Colonel is guest Of one OF the officers Of the military
escort He wears a OF silver hair and his face,
genial and benevolent YET Keen IN expression, Is
bearded with gray The Colonel is ancient Of the
frontier YET Is but slightly bent ana rides horse 10
the hunt with the bearing OF youth He into the
then Far West 1853 and has been Indian and gov
ernment trader Few men know more Of Indian society
df may so speak or have had moro intimate inter
course with the savages


'.The Indians said he, "never were in this country
much, except to hunt There amt much game here,
because they've killed II pretty much all Oft y


Flashes from the camp fire lt up itfully the Coones
immobie cOuntenance but the drowsy film OF medita-
ton in his eye showed that his thoughts far away
as time rs measured


'They we're afraid to come in here much2"


eyes; they liked the woods and mountains, be-
among them the lightning struck They thought
that the Great Spirit angry with them and would
smte them with His thunderbolts If they in here
And they thought the woods and mountains were
sacred and not for man"


They must have chased the bison and elk here in the
season when there was no thunder and hghtning9n


There's hill north o. here where the lightning
they think always strikes in storm It's the
Bear Lodge, and they're tarnaly afraid Of going


aRed Dog did not seem uneasy when ne was here"


'No Red Dog IS an infdel Indian He believes mono
o. these superstitons and for thai he is hated
he very bad Indian but since he has adopted
the peace policy he has stuck TO his promises"


He says the snow here in winter is forty feet deep in
the valeys-n


ale lies; for have been here in winter and il
wasn't more than one foot on the level nowhere 1t
may have been deeper where 1t was drifted"


LIEUrESANr RoBISsoN's FATR


rambling chat thus began drfted like boat
nlght-shadowed seas whittier chance visited But |
viii not attempt to recount all the blood thrilling tales
10 which listened The Colonel dwe upon his adven-
ures with the red with slow meditatve uterance
and they ndened themselves IN the plates of memory
be eaced by subsequent Impressions One small
incident is connected with tragedy which has recently
stirred the depths Of the public heart, but failed
10 arouse the government TO move finger OF revenge
against the butcherers OF Its gallant young soldier,
Lieutenant Levi H. Robinson. He killed by In
dians of the Sioux Nation February 1874 Cot
tonwood or Horseshoe Creek, thirty miles north of
Fort Laramie.


ooh y said the Colonel '1 was on my way to Fort
Fettermann, having with me two mule teams and a
half-breed servant was camping at the head Of the
Horseshoe. The day before Robinson killed was
just through breakfast and had told the boy TO
put up the mess kit as soon he could
sudden heerd the sound Of the big drum and cries and
yels. From knoll saw large band Of Indians dane
ing the dance in the widest and hercest manner
their camp. That time they scared me. III never
forget the time Had they known that was there they
would have killed me- surely. AT any rate, they would
have taken my mules. But they kept their dancing
and remained quietly In camp all day, not daring TO
move away for fear that they would see me. But at
night pulled out and left them mighty glad TO escape
Next day Lieutenant Robinson was murdered. That's
what IL meant"


The scenery in proximity to this camp is tame Up
and down stream however the gorges and ravines
through which flows confined by rough and dark
precpices which stand hundreds Of feet in height
towering often 10 the SUBMITS Of the buttes All the
of the slate vertical and appear TO the eye
like bundles Of spnters, fitting naturally together as
before the lightning shattered them The timber is Of
the same character that have hitherto described
pines Of moderate size and thinly shadowing an i'm
mense extent Of rocky hills The strong gales OF the
autumn in this country, foretaste OF which we have
already had prevent the mature growth Of the
pines. After strong wind hundreds Of trunks are
seen uprooted and flung the ground


The bottom along the rapid in many Of the canyons
through which II rushes is crowded with dense brake
Of wows straight and 1.-the and standing high above
the head of horseman To ride through into it is like
plungng into darkness You neither see 10 right
nor left or in 'front.' But pleasant expedent is
10 cause your horse wade up the stream, whose bed
in a level graveed way and the water is seldom Of
greater depth than two feet


Brigadier General Crook left Camp Harney the Sd
OF August for Red Cloud Agency.