"Captain," said Tom after we had eaten, "it's time that team was on the way to Fort Larned. What are your plans for getting these men there? If I can help you in any way, I'm at your service." "Thanks," replied Saunders. "My plan is to send a half dozen men along with the wagon as an escort and some responsible man in charge. I will then move down to your camp and, taking Wilson and party from there, move on down to To hausen's village and try to find out whether his people have been harboring these hostiles; and then to-morrow we'll all move into the fort. I will send a requisition in by the team to bring out some grain for the horses to-morrow and any other supplies that we may need. It will be best that we stay and see you all safely into Fort Larned." Then turning to Wild Bill, he asked: "Do you think, Bill, that six men will be a sufficient escort to go with the wagon and wounded men--do you think there is any danger of their meeting hostile Kiowas?" "None but dead ones," replied Bill. "The team can go through all right now." "Well," said Saunders, "I had thought of asking Mr. Vance or Mr. Peck to take charge of the wounded men and see them through." "Tom'll be the man for that," suggested Bill, "for the wounded men may need some help on the way." "Well, that's settled," said Tom impatiently, as he started for the wagon without waiting for the captain's decision. "Captain, please detail the escort and start them on after me; they can soon overtake us." And, climbing into the wagon, he took up the whip and lines and started. The captain quickly mounted the escort and hurried them after the wagon; and then he himself mounted the horse of one of the wounded men and we set out for our camp, I riding one of the Kiowa ponies captured in the fight. The horses were a rather scrawny-looking lot, as the Indian ponies generally are at this season of the year--the result of starvation through the winter--but, no doubt, there was in them good mettle that would show itself as soon as the grass came; for the Indian warrior always selects his fleetest and toughest horse to ride when going on the war-path. Arrived at the camp, Captain Saunders had his men unsaddle and water their horses and picket them out for an hour's rest before starting down to To hausen's village. Some of Lieutenant Wilson's men had killed several antelope and had cooked up a great lot of the meat, anticipating that Saunders' men would come in hungry, as they did. Saunders, Wilson, Bill, and I adjourned to the dugout to eat the meal Jack had prepared for us. While we were eating I told Captain Saunders something of my experience of the previous night and exhibited the bullet that old Broken Nose had fired into the bundle of blankets in my arms. CHAPTER XXV WE PART FROM FRIENDS