"He is responsible for a great deal of this suffering," said Captain Moore. "Had he lived it is likely he would have been court-martialed and shot."
Both of the boys had been slightly wounded, yet each felt happy when the fighting was over and they were assured that from henceforth they would be safe to come and go as they pleased.
"It was like a regular campaign," said Darry. "Joe, we have become soldiers after all!"
"That's so, Darry," replied Joe. "We can call ourselves, after this, the boys of the fort!"
A few words more, and we will bring this story of fort life in the Great Northwest to a close.
Two weeks after the events just narrated Joe and Darry returned to their homes. Here they were received with open arms by their parents, who had heard all manner of ugly reports and who half expected to see them coming back wounded and crippled for life. But the lads soon proved that they were not so bad off as that, and inside of a few months both were as well as ever.
At the fort an active campaign was started under Captain Moore and the commander of the cavalry, and this resulted in the rounding up of six more desperadoes and thirty Indians. Lieutenant Carrol and four regulars were found as prisoners of the Indians and were released.
The desperadoes were turned over to the civil courts, and were dealt with severely, two being hung and the others being imprisoned for years.
Drossdell was court-martialed, and after a long trial was sentenced to imprisonment in a military prison for ten years. He served six years, after which he was released. To his credit be it said, he turned over a new leaf, and from the West went to Cuba, where he fought with the Cubans against Spanish rule. He was with the Cubans at the fall of Santiago and died a few weeks later of tropical fever.