In Barracks and Wigwam — page 160: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

CHAPTER XXIV. A MYSTERIOUS COLUMN OF SMOKE. The narrative of the battalion’s march for six days after leaving the rendezvous could hardly be called a cam- paign, nor would it afford interesting reading. The two - great tribes of Sioux, under Gray Fox and Flying Thun- _ der, played the same tricky game they had played so often before. In widely scattered parties—which made a battle _impossible—they pushed through the Bad Lands and along the southern edge of the Black Hills, leaving death and destruction in their wake, and killing or driving away — all the game. | 3 The savage and impatient troopers pushed on from day — to day, their faces to the foe, and their backs to civiliza- — tion and the forts. They were soon beyond the reach ~ of dispatches and couriers, and hopelessly remote from — _ the wagon train. The grass was scorched off the prairie, and there was slight sustenance for the horses. The men’s rations began to get low, and then the September — rains added to the general misery and discomfort. | y Not an Indian was to be seen—only many and scattered ~ trails that zig-zagged this way and that, or described — semi-circular loops, but always trending toward the north- west. This line of retreat precluded the possibility of another column heading off the Sioux from in front, and, F. eas Major Dallas expressed it to his men, aes had to, go it alone.” : Dis _ ing about, and s so the battalion faa to be ey) nae a rate 3 eS, Hee ae ai gs ie oe at ore tae we, es eae Seu ee Sy aie ss ie sige A