"Now, men," said old Tom as we gathered around the mess box for breakfast next morning, "we want to get an early start for we've got a big drive before us. It's only about thirty-eight miles from here to Fort Larned, but that's too much to do with a load in one day; an' we can't divide the distance equally because there's no water anywhere nigh the half-way p'int. By takin' the river road we could get water to camp at the half-way station, but that route, by way of the mouth of Pawnee Fork, would take us four miles out of our way, an' part of it's a sandy, heavy road for the team. So I've concluded it'll be best for us to go the main road by Pawnee Rock an' camp at Ash Creek. That'll make about twenty-nine miles for to-day's drive, an' then we'll only have nine miles to-morrow mornin' to knock off to reach the fort. We can easy do that by the middle of the forenoon, an' have the rest of the day to look up some old acquaintances there an' make some inquiries about the best p'int over on Walnut to locate our winter camp an' how best to get there. Ef French Dave, the interpreter, is at Larned he'll tell us all we want to know about it. If Wild Bill was here, he'd go right along an' guide us to a snug place for our camp, 'cause he knows every foot o' the ground. It's all open prairie from Pawnee to Walnut, an' once we get across Pawnee Fork we can't miss it ef we just follow the buffalo trails."
We rolled out from Big Bend by sunrise, made a short stop at Rath's ranch to renew old acquaintance with Charley, and in the evening camped at the crossing of Ash Creek, a small stream with a little timber along its banks.
We reached Fort Larned by ten o'clock next morning. I left Tom and Jack to inquire for mail, while I went to the adjutant's office to report our arrival and destination; after which I rejoined the outfit at the sutler's.
"Well, now, men," said old Tom, gathering up the mail matter and putting it away in the wagon, "we must first hunt a camp, an' then we can spend the rest of the day reading our papers an' letters an' rounding up old acquaintances about the garrison an' getting ready to go on to Walnut Creek in the mornin'. I'm told that we can get pretty good grass by crossin' the creek here an' going half a mile up on the other side. We'll go an' make camp an' eat dinner, an' then, leaving one man to take care o' camp, the others can come back and take in the garrison."
A little crowd of idlers had gathered around our team. A soldier volunteered to guide us to a good crossing and camp, and we soon had our animals turned out and tent pitched, and, while Tom and Jack were getting the dinner, at their request I overhauled first the letters and then the papers, reading to my comrades the most interesting items as I came to them.
The papers and magazines were full of exciting and interesting news concerning the progress of the war, then just getting under good headway. Of letters we got but few, the most interesting of which to me was one from the girl I had left behind me and another from the old storekeeper and postmaster back at the camp where we had encountered the jayhawkers.
The storekeeper informed us that no inquiry had been made for the black horse, and he did not think it likely that there would be as he had learned that Tucker and his gang had stolen many of their best horses from over the border in Missouri and the black horse was probably one of them.
He also informed us that, following out the plan suggested by Tom, his neighbor had trailed the jayhawkers to their new camp down on the Neosho River, near Emporia; that a few days after we left a company of cavalry had arrived from Fort Leavenworth, in answer to the letter he had written to the commander of the department, looking for the gang of outlaws, and the man who had followed them and located their camp guided the soldiers to the jayhawkers' new layout, where the cavalrymen succeeded in surrounding and capturing the whole gang and taking them as prisoners to Fort Leavenworth.
"Well, who's going to mind camp, an' who's going over to the fort?" said Jack when dinner was over.
"We'll draw straws for it," said Tom decisively. "Peck, you prepare the straws, two long ones an' a short one, an' the man who gets the short one stays."