He laughed and said, "The break of day has been your time, not mine, Mr. Drannan. You have done all the planning and led all the fights in this campaign, but I am glad to admit that it has been a grand success, and so far you have come out with flying colors."
I said, "Well, Capt., I think in this case we can take a little nap and be up in time to take that outfit before they have time to wake up, for it is no more than a mile from here to their camp."
Capt. McKee answered, "I reckon you are right. There are so few of them that we shall not have to delay breakfast to get them."
We all turned in, and, although we knew that Indians were so near us, we were not afraid to sleep without placing a guard over the camp.
When I awoke, I looked at my watch and saw it was two o'clock. I called the Capt. and told him that it was time we were moving. He asked whether we should go on horseback or on foot. I said, "We can walk there while we would be saddling the horses, it is so short a distance." He said, "All right, we will take twelve men with us," and in a few minutes we were on the road. When we came in sight of the dimly burning campfires of the Indians, I pointed to them and told the Capt. that was the place, and I said, "We will be very careful and not make any noise, and I think we can send them to the Happy hunting grounds while they sleep." But the reader may imagine our surprise when we crept to the Indian camp to find that there was not an Indian there. We looked around the camp where the Indians had cooked their supper, and then we looked for their horses, but they too had disappeared with their masters. Capt. McKee said, "Doesn't this beat you? What do you suppose caused those Indians to leave?"
I said, "This is one of the times that the Indians were smarter than we and have out-generaled us. Probably they too had a scout out, and he saw us before we discovered their trail and reported the fact to the others, and they made themselves scarce, which was a very wise proceeding on their part."
We turned and walked back to our own camp and found the boys we had left there still asleep. I said, "Capt., I think you had better stay here with your men and my scouts, and I will find the trail of those Indians and see where they have gone. It may be that they are a part of a large band and have gone to inform the main tribe of our being here. If this is the case, we will be sure to have some trouble with them."
The Capt. woke the men, and they cooked breakfast from some of the deer that was left over the night before, and in a short time my men and I were off on the trail of the Indians. I told my men they had better take something for a lunch, as it was no telling when we should come back.
We went to where the Indians had camped and soon found their trail leading from it. It led us in a southwestern direction, and we followed it until about twelve o'clock when all at once we came on the Indians laying around a camp fire sound asleep.
I said, "Now boys, there are only two ways to choose from. We have either got to tackle this outfit ourselves alone, or we must give up the idea of getting them at all. Now I will leave it to you to choose which to do."