the troops sent in pursuit were defeated in battle about sixty miles from Reno, and afterwards proceeded in so careless a fashion, that the Indians were not again overtaken till they reached Sand Creek, about forty miles south of Dodge City. Here, however, the troops completely surrounded the Indian camp and might have recaptured the fugitives with ease, but the superior cunning and energy of the Indians were here again strikingly apparent, for they managed to slip away in safety during the night, the soldiers not discovering the escape until two days after it occurred. The flight and leisurely pursuit was resumed, but the Indians had killed very few Whites until they reached White Woman creek in Western Kansas. Here they were again overtaken by the soldiers and an engagement fought. If Colonel Lewis, who had joined the pursuing detachment with reinforcements, had not been killed, it is probable the Indians would have been defeated and recaptured, but the troops, deprived of a leader in Lewis’s death, showed the white feather, and once more allowed the Cheyennes to slip away in safety. From thence onward, emboldened by success and filled with contempt for the Whites by the indolence of the troops, the progress of the Indians was marked by horrible bloodshed and devastation. Their course was practically unchecked, and they reached the northern agency, at length, thus attaining the object of their expedition. “It was the Indian’s nature to be cruel, and many of the conflicts between him and the Whites of the Plains were caused by the Whites’ retaliatory measures for some atrocity born of Indian cruelty. On the other hand, as has already been hinted, many Indian cruelties arose from needless, petty cruelties and indignities, inflicted upon the latter by the Whites and afterwards avenged. These relations of hostility existed between the Indians and all classes of Whites on the Plains, excepting, possibly, the cowboy. He and the Indian had little to do with each other, therefore they had few encounters. [Illustration: BETTER CLASS OF FULL-BLOOD PLAINS INDIANS OF THIRTY YEARS AGO ]