Wild Bill made the acquaintance of all the officers and mingled freely with the men at the fort. From the latter he soon got several hints regarding the officers, without seeming to have any desire to do so. One officer, he discovered at the start, was unpopular with the men of the ranks, and it soon became evident that this man was disliked by his brother officers. Wild Bill immediately made it his business to cultivate the acquaintance of this man.
For reasons which will be obvious later in this tale, the true name of this officer will not be given. We will call him Captain Smith for convenience, simply because that was not his name.
Captain Smith well knew that he was generally disliked, and when the distinguished and daring plainsman appeared to favor his society, the captain hastened to meet his new-found friend halfway.
In card games that day Hickok found opportunity to size up all the officers, and skillfully led to some reference to the missing Lieutenant Avery. In the conversation that followed he remarked:
“I wonder if this Avery isn’t the same man I saw up Callatin way a few moons ago.”
“The same,” answered another; “that is where he found his wife.”
“Oh, yes; by the way, he must be the one who had a falling out with the Indian agent up there.”
“Yes. Did you meet Price?” asked Smith.
Wild Bill affected not to exactly remember the name.
“Let’s see,” he said, “was this Price the Indian agent?”