We afterward met others of the scouts--intelligent, clear-headed fellows, with much more of cultivation than our rough friend possessed--and they corroborated his story in every particular. I have let him tell it in his own way, not only because vastly more graphic than any words of mine could be, but also to the end that the reader might become acquainted with a genuine frontiersman--one of that class which is wheeling into line with the immense multitudes of Indians and buffalo that time and civilization are bearing swiftly onward to hide among the memories of the past. That the savages suffered very severely in their several attacks upon that little band of heroes on the Arickeree, was evident from the number of bodies found by the relief, as it hastened forward from Fort Wallace. The corpses were resting on hastily-constructed scaffolds, and some had evidently been placed there while dying, as the ground underneath was yet wet with blood. CHAPTER XXVI. THE STAGE DRIVERS OF THE PLAINS--OLD BOB--"JAMAICA AND GINGER"--AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE--BEADS OF THE PAST--ROBBING THE DEAD--A LEAF FROM THE LOST HISTORY OF THE MOUND BUILDERS--INDIAN TRADITIONS--SPECULATIONS--ADOBE HOUSES IN A RAIN--CHEAP LIVING--WATCH TOWERS. The stage drivers of the plains are rapidly becoming another inheritance of the past, pushed out of existence by the locomotive, whose cow-catcher is continually tossing them from their high seats into the arms of History. What a rare set they are, though! No two that I ever saw were nearly alike, and they resemble not one distinctive class, but a number. The Jehus who crack their whips over the buffalo grass region, and turn their leaders artistically around sharp corners in rude towns, are made up on a variety of patterns. Some are loquacious and others silent, and while a portion are given to profanity, another though smaller number are men of very proper grammar. Some with whom I have ridden would discount truth for the mere love of the exercise, while others I have found so particular that they could not be induced to lie, except when it was for their interest to do so.