“Yes, it’s an old saying out in my country,” said a hunter from Arizona, “that if you let things alone long enough they will even up of themselves.
“Take, for instance, the case of Jack Cade. There were two brothers of them—Jack and Bill—and one day a crowd got after Bill for horse stealing, and caught and strung him up. He protested his innocence, but it was no go. We found out a month later, however, that we had actually hung the wrong man and let the real thief get out of the country.”
“And did things even up later on?” he was asked.
“They did. We couldn’t restore Bill to life, and beg his pardon, and elect him alderman of the town, but when we caught his brother Jack, after he had robbed a settler of his outfit, we not only let him off the hanging, but made him sheriff and squared things in proper shape.
“Things don’t always even up for the man who’s been planted, but if he leaves any relatives behind, the public will see to it that his loss turns out to be their gain.”
Just before it grew dark several of the scouts and outposts who had been placed by Buffalo Bill rode into the fort, and reported that a very strong force of Indians was advancing over the prairie in three columns.
Some of the men estimated that the war party numbered more than four thousand men, but others placed it at not over half that number.
The colonel called Buffalo Bill and Hickok to him, and held a hasty council of war.
“It is as I expected,” said the border king. “The Indians are fondest of attacking either at dusk or just at daybreak. They think sentries are likely to be less vigilant at those times, and I guess they are right, as a rule.
“But luckily we are ready for them. If I might make a suggestion, colonel, I think it would be a good plan to pretend that we are much less numerous than we actually are. They are not likely to know our strength.