In Barracks and Wigwam — page 161: what you’re looking at

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

A Mysterious ¢ Calter of Ghioke I 51 ter of separating. It shiek closely together, as a rule, but Dees araily 2 couple of troops would diverge right or left to follow a lively-looking trail. But in these cases _ the trail was invariably lost after a few hours, and the de- _ tachment had to return to the main column. There had been no time to warn the few and scattered inhabitants of this desolat. region, and so the Indians found victims here and there for their vengeance. Day after day, while on the march, the troopers would halt to view the scalped and mutilated bodies of-a settler and his family, and the cold ashes of their humble cabin; or they would discover, in some hollow of the plains, a_ slain teamster lying by the side of his shattered and half-burned wagon. | | | When the reveille rang at daybreak on the seventh morning, and waked the slumbering camp to life, the pros- pect was as gloomy as it well could be. ‘Tobacco and ra- tions were nearly exhausted. The men were haggard and hungry, and the horses weak and dejected. ‘The battalion was now two hundred miles from the nearest post. A drizzling rain was falling, and far in the rear the peaks of the Black Hills rose faintly above the gray and murky — horizon. Eighty miles in front—farther than the eye could reach—were the rugged ranges of the Big Horn . e ~ ‘ 2 5 ‘ | a n made by from a fot to fifty | Indians. ft was proba- Mountains in Montana. But orders were orders, and every man and officer knew what was expected of him. The Sioux must be as clear and resolute as ever as s he gave the command to _ march, For two hours the jaded column trotted forward over overtaken if it took a month, and Major Dallas’ voice was G @) 200kKS art _ *< “8 a> rag We ; * Sas : yo t ae —— 7 a) o ; Pa ohmatl, aoe! 2 Fae We OP te ae, tye 4 8) eee” Ee Nl eres ave a ry fee in te he Fo y ee eh ee Oe + i 2a > Fae a m |