The war between the States was now in full blast, and blue cloth and brass buttons were seen everywhere. Several of our former comrades had enlisted in the volunteers, and some had obtained commissions. According to our previous understanding, I had been chosen as treasurer and bookkeeper for the expedition and began to keep accounts of receipts and expenses. Each man turned into a common fund, to be used in the purchase of an outfit, one hundred and fifty dollars--making a common capital of four hundred and fifty dollars. The balance of each man's money was left in his hands to use as he saw fit, except in the case of Jack, whom we had persuaded to turn over all his money to me. Jack begged ten dollars from me to go off and have a good time, and Tom advised me to give it; but he warned Jack that he would probably bring up in the lockup and declared that if he did so he should stay there until we were ready to start. Both Jack and I had so much respect for Tom's greater age and experience that we never thought of taking offence at his scoldings. For two days Tom and I were busy going about from one stable to another, hoping to find a ready-made camp outfit, team, and wagon offered for sale cheap. Nothing like that had as yet been seen. We had heard nothing of our Irishman, and I was getting a little uneasy about him and asked Tom if I should not go to the police station, pay Jack's fine, and get him out. Tom agreed, and expressed some sorrowful reflections on the blemish to Jack's character which his love for liquor implied. As expected, Jack was found behind the bars. He had evidently received a terrible beating, part of it from a gang of toughs who had tried to rob him, and the remainder from the police who had finally, with much difficulty, arrested him. I was obliged to pay a fine of twenty dollars to get Jack out. A further search of Leavenworth City failed to show us what we wanted, and we were getting discouraged. To buy a team and a camp equipment at the prices that were asked would take all the money we could raise and still leave us poorly prepared for our expedition. We were considering the possibility of doing better in Kansas City and Saint Joe and had half decided to go to those places when one day Jack came rushing in, exclaiming: