At Bijou Station, six soldiers of the Colorado cavalry picked up the stage and escorted it, riding three on a side, for about 100 miles. At least they were there when Davy peeked out of the boot under the driver’s seat, where he slept, curled in a ball, very comfortably, while the coach rocked and swayed through the night.
The Seventh Iowa Cavalry next took the stage, galloping and trotting beside it down the trail along the Platte River.
The stage stations and the ranches looked as if they had been having a tough time. Most of the ranch buildings were in ruins and abandoned; many of the stage stations had been burned, and the station men were living in dug-outs, some of which were merely holes in the ground, roofed over with a pile of dirt loop-holed for rifles. Meals at the home stations were $1.50, cooked by the station agents’ brave wives or by the men themselves. Some of the meals were very poor, too—and some astonishingly good.
All went well with the stage until between Cottonwood and Fort Kearney the driver, who was known as “Waupsie,” pointed to the south with his whip.
“There they are,” he said quietly; and instantly flung out his lash.
The silken snapper cracked like a pistol shot, and out launched the team. Down from a low row of sandy buttes half a mile to the south and ahead were speeding a bevy of dark dots. Davy’s heart skipped a beat. The dots were making for the trail, as if to cut off the coach. They were Indians, sure.
“What’ll we do, Waupsie?” asked Ben, coolly. “Beat ’em in?”
“We’ll do the best we can. Six miles to go is all,” answered Waupsie, in grim manner. And he yelled to the cavalrymen: “You’ll have to ride faster than that, boys.”
The corporal in charge of the squad had spoken gruffly. Three before, three behind, the soldiers were rising and falling in their stirrups and urging on their horses. The grade was slightly down hill, and it was evident that the cavalry horses were no match for the stage team—six splendid blacks, grain fed and long-legged. Soon the coach gradually drew even with the leading soldiers and began to pass them in spite of their efforts.