The captain's party returned from To hausen's village about sunset. He said that he had had an amicable and satisfactory talk with the old chief and his followers, all of whom reiterated their former professions of friendship for the whites and declared that they would have no intercourse with the hostiles. "We've got to take that," said Wild Bill, who had been interpreter at the talk, "with a grain of salt, for while I was there I found out, by pumping some of their youngsters and women, that they were pretty well posted about the whole affair up to the time that Lieutenant Wilson put in an appearance and stampeded them this morning, which goes to show that a few of To hausen's bucks were with Satank up to that time; and in the stampede these fellows must have skedaddled back to To hausen's camp and told about the fight as far as they had been in it. But they didn't seem to know about our part of the fight up the creek nor about old Broken Nose and this other Indian getting their medicine here. I told them about that part of it. And, to make it appear like old Nosey had gotten just what was coming to him, I told them that the man who got away with him was the same one that old Nosey had tried to burn up when he set fire to the grass out in the bottom that day." "Good for you, Bill!" exclaimed Jack. "I don't want to rob Peck of the credit, but it's better to let his people think that I evened up with the old rascal at last." After supper, as night settled down, the cold wind reminded us of another difficulty that few of us had yet thought of. What were we to do for bedding for the soldiers who had come away from the garrison in a hurry without any thought of being out overnight? About tattoo the rattling of a wagon was heard out on the trail toward Fort Larned. It seemed impossible that Tom could be coming back from the fort so soon with our mule team, but a wagon was approaching from that direction. We were all out upon the bank looking and listening and speculating as to who the coming parties could be when we heard the sentry on that side of the grounds challenge: "Halt! Who comes there?" And then, apparently assuming the right to pass upon the credentials of the newcomers without the regulation formality of calling for the sergeant of the guard, the sentry admitted two mounted men, who came cantering up to the camp-fire. The arrivals were two troopers who reported that a little way behind them two six-mule teams were coming, escorted by a dozen cavalrymen under charge of a sergeant. They had been sent out by the commanding officer, at Tom's suggestion, as quickly as they could be hitched up after our team with the wounded men had arrived at the fort.