Prairie dog villages were numerous. We went through one that must have been four or five miles in extent. We had an early dinner that day, and concluded to start on our return march, and about five o'clock in the evening we came to a pretty little valley with numerous water holes and some dead timber and went into camp. I took my shotgun and was having some good sport with the ducks when Mr. Spencer's orderly came to me and said, "the lieutenant's compliments and he would like some matches to start a fire." I replied, "give the lieutenant my compliments and tell him I gave the matches to the trooper to start a fire to heat the picket pins, and have not seen them since." When I returned to camp and was within hearing distance I saw two men riding away and heard Mr. Spencer hallow and say, "Corporal, it will be about midnight when you get back, and we will have a bonfire on the hill for you as a guide to our camp." When I got close enough I said, "Spencer, how are you going to get a fire?" and then it dawned on him that we had no matches. "My God," he said, "I never thought of that." But the men had gone at full gallop and we let them go. I thought of the powder I used in my shotgun and thought I would try an experiment. That was when muzzle loaders were still in vogue, the breechloader not having come into general use, and I cut a hole in the lining of my coat where it was padded about the shoulders and took out some cotton wadding which I tamped lightly down on the powder in the gun. At first I had too much powder and it would not work but after a few trials the wadding caught fire and with some dry sticks for kindling we soon had a fire under way and Mr. Spencer had his bonfire on the hill that night. The corporal and the careless troopers who had left the matches at our midday camp returned before midnight having made the round trip of about twenty-eight miles for a little box of matches. The following day was uneventful until toward night. Some troopers who had permission were out hunting. We had heard a shot occasionally but attached no importance to it, but late in the afternoon an Indian or two were seen off on the hills to the north and in a little while they became numerous enough to create some apprehension. It developed that one of the fool troopers had taken a shot at one of them, but fortunately had missed him and by nightfall there were great numbers of them in sight.