"I've been thinking it over, Peck," he said, "and I've pretty near made up my mind that we'd better drop Jack and either pick up another man or else you and me go it without a third man. I am afraid that Jack's fondness for liquor will get him into trouble and so make trouble for us. I hate to go back on him, for he's a rattlin' good fellow when he is out of the reach of whiskey, but, when he can get it, he's a regular drunkard." "That's so, Tom," I answered; "but when we get started back to the plains we'll soon have him where he can't get whiskey, and then he'll be all right. I think we can manage him by making him turn over all his money except a few dollars to you or to me, and when his money is gone we'll see that he gets no more. If we can get him to promise that after he gets through he will let liquor alone, he will do it. Jack prides himself on being a man of his word." "Well," said Tom with some hesitation, "we'll take him then, but we must have a fair and square understanding with him and fire him if he don't come to time and behave like a man. We can't fool away time with a drunken man." Besides being an all-around good fellow, Jack had a fiddle and could play it and could also sing. On these musical accomplishments I counted for much enlivening of our lonely winter's work. When spoken to about binding himself to let whiskey alone, Jack readily promised that after one little spree when we got our pay he would swear off entirely till the wolf hunting trip was over. He was willing to turn over his money to Tom or to me when we should be paid off, reserving only a few dollars for the "good time" that he had promised himself. We now began trading with the Indians for the skins needed for our buckskin suits, and as we got them we smoked them, using for this purpose a large dry-goods box, to the bottom of which, on the inside, we tacked the hides in place. The box was then, turned over a little smothered fire in a hole in the ground. We found that this way of smoking skins was an improvement on the Indian method, smoking them more quickly and evenly and giving them a more uniform color. In 1861 the agency for the five tribes--Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Kiowas, Comanches, and Prairie Apaches--was at Fort Wise, and, as the time approached for the Indian agent to make the annual distribution of gifts from the government, the tribes would come in to receive their annuities. Our trading with the Indians had to be done quietly, because the post sutler had the exclusive privilege of all Indian trade on the post reservation, and, by order of the commanding officer, no one else might carry on any traffic with the Indians.