"You have all heard that Sheridan has been promoted to be lieutenant-general, and Sherman to be general, as Grant has been elected to the Presidency?" said Buffalo Bill. "Sheridan received notice on Kansas soil of his well-deserved promotion, and it makes the place classic ground. I will tell you how it was. Of course, official notice of the promotion was daily expected, as it had been seen in the papers from Washington, but the mails were very irregular in the vast uninhabited region south of the Arkansas. It was carried by the scouts from Fort Hays, the nearest railroad point, and they also took despatches to the scattered military posts that had been established temporarily, in the form of camps, cantonments, or wherever a detachment of troops happened to be. Early one morning General Sheridan, accompanied by two officers of his personal staff, left Camp Supply in the Indian Territory for Fort Hays, to take the railroad for Washington, where he had been ordered to report. When the party had arrived at the foot of a high mountain, just on the border of this state, they saw far ahead of them on the trail made by the troops in going into the field, a dark object moving rapidly toward them. As the distance between them lessened, they noticed that it was a horseman whose animal, flecked with foam, and with distended nostrils, was straining every muscle to reach the ambulance. In a few moments the sound of the horse's hoofs were distinctly heard on the hard trail, and when he had approached near enough, its rider, the excited scout, recognized Sheridan among the occupants of the ambulance. He rose in his stirrups and waved his hat in one hand, while in the other he held up a piece of yellow paper, crying out at the top of his voice:-- "'Hurrah for the lieutenant-general!' The paper he handed to Sheridan was a telegram from the President, informing him of his promotion." "Well," said Colonel Keogh, looking at the old-fashioned clock in the corner of the room, "I had no idea it was so late. It's nearly ten. Come, Cody; we must get back to the fort." Then saying good-night to all, with an admonition to Joe not to forget the wolf hunt, of which he said he would send him word, they mounted their horses and rode off. Mr. Tucker was to remain until morning, so they all retired, after having passed one of the most cheerful Thanksgivings in their lives. FOOTNOTE: [2] The compass-plant, or rosin-weed, as it is commonly called, is the _Silphium laciniatum_ of the botanists. It is found in luxuriance on every hill-top on the great plains, and resembles an immense oak leaf, which, while growing, always points its thin edges north and south, consequently broad surfaces east and west. CHAPTER XII A WOLF HUNT--TWO SNAKE STORIES--TERRIBLE STRUGGLE WITH A MOUNTAIN WOLF--A MAIL RIDER EATEN--THE OLD TRAPPER'S EXPERIENCE WITH FOUR OF THE FIERCE BEASTS