“An incident occurred on this voyage at Fort Rice,” said the Captain, “which illustrates some traits of General Custer’s military character. Custer was daily expected to arrive opposite Fort Rice, and General Stanley, who was commanding there, wanted me to delay a day or two and ferry him over. I made an arrangement with him to do this, and when Custer arrived I crossed the river with an order from Stanley to bring him over. I cleared the deck of the _De Smet_ entirely, and rigged stages so that the horses and wagons could be driven directly on board. As the command approached, I saw an officer come riding down, clad in buckskin trousers from the seams of which a large fringe was fluttering, red-topped boots, broad sombrero, large gauntlets, flowing hair, and mounted on a spirited animal. I had never seen Custer, but of course had heard a great deal of him, and there was no mistaking this picture. I went out on the bank to meet him. He stopped his horse, but did not get off. I said, ‘General Custer, I suppose?’ He nodded assent. I showed him my order for the transportation of the command and told him that if he would have the wagons brought down I would see to their proper disposition on the boat. ‘Stand aside, sir,’ he replied; ‘my wagon-master will take charge of the boat and see to ferrying the command over.’ ‘Not if I know myself,’ I replied, and started for the boat. Custer sent for a guard to arrest me, but I took time by the forelock, drew in the stage, and steamed across the river and reported to General Stanley. Stanley immediately sent me back with an officer and guard, who arrested Custer and brought him to his headquarters. “Custer seemed to me to be generally unpopular, that is, I rarely heard him well spoken of. Stanley, on the other hand, always appeared to be a gentleman of rare qualities, one who never forgot to treat a civilian as a man--something that many officers were little disposed to do.” [Sidenote: LA BARGE IN ARREST.]