CHAPTER II.
AT FORT LARNED.
The officer in charge of the fort was a colonel named Mathers, who had had much experience in Indian fighting, and had taken part in several campaigns with Buffalo Bill and Hickok.
As Wild Bill entered his quarters, he rose from his chair and grasped him heartily by the hand.
“Thank Heaven, they didn’t get you, Bill!” the officer exclaimed. “I saw them through my field glasses chasing after you, and I immediately ordered out the men, but the outposts had done the work already.
“We shall need you badly before this business is over, for it looks as if it is going to be one of the most serious Indian wars we have had for years. You did not find it possible to get through to Fort Hays?” he concluded.
“I believe I could have got through,” Hickok replied. “I guess I could have ridden round the Injuns, and maybe got to Fort Hays all right. But it occurred to me that this fort might get surprised and rushed if ye didn’t know the Injuns had broken out at last.”
The commandant nodded his approval. If Wild Bill had been a soldier, he would have expected him to carry the message without exercising his own individual judgment. But a noted scout like Hickok was expected to think for himself, weigh the situation, and act for the best accordingly. That, indeed, was the very reason of his employment.
“Could you tell me who the Indians were—what tribes they belonged to?” the colonel asked.
“Yes, of course; I took care to find that out,” Wild Bill replied, almost in an injured tone of voice. “I waited till they got near enough so as I could find out from their feathers and war paint. They was mostly Sioux, but there was a few Cheyennes and Crows, and I shot an ’Pache. He was the only one in the bunch, so fur as I could see.”