Part 27 (2/2)

I selected White to make this trip, and he was ready for duty in five minutes

We were then sixty-five miles froent and that he raph office as soon as possible At ten o'clock the next raeneral was ordered to disaruard of a coency

General Reynolds was very hted with the success of the expedition On his arrival at the Fort he received congratulations from General Ord and froraeneral wired back that Cody had gone along and also wrote a letter telling General Sheridan how he had reported in evening dress

Of course the papers were soon full of this raid Al Sorenson of the O clothes and silk hat in Oraphic story of my arrival on the Plains I soon found that the officers and men in the Third Cavalry knew all about the incident

During the spring of '72, the Indians were rather quiet We did a little scouting, however, just to keep watch on them One day, in the fall of that year, I returned fro expedition, and as I passed the store there were a lot of men crowded in front of it All of theht to the general's private office He also stood at attention and said:

”Good , Honorable”

”What does all this 'Honorable' mean, General?” I demanded He said: ”Of course, you have been off on a scout and you have not heard, but while you were gone you were nominated and elected to represent the twenty-sixth district of Nebraska in the Legislature” I said:

”That is highly complimentary, and I appreciate it, but I anation,” and tender it I did

My refusal to serve as a law about politics I believe that I ood justice of the peace, but that was because of no familiarity with the written law Ito my cases and did as I would have been done by The Golden Rule was the only statute I applied

I inquired how to free myself formally from the new honors that had been thrust uponin my stead--and quite welcoht have been mine

I returned back to the Plains for e to do The Indians, for a wonder, were quiet There was little stirring in the military posts I could have continued to serve in one of them if I had chosen, and the as still open to study for a commission as an officer But ar for me, and when Ned Buntline offered me a chance to come East and try ivings, naturally Hunting Indians across a stage differed fro them across the Plains I knew the estern Indian and his ways I was totally unacquainted with the ta audience looking at hts made me shudder

But when my old ”pards,” Wild Bill and Texas Jack, consented to try their luck with ether we epodge drama written for us by Ned Buntline himself

Before any of us would consent to be roped and tied by Thespis we insisted on a proviso that we be freed whenever duty called us to the Plains

The first season was fairly prosperous, and so was the second The third year I organized a ”show” of my oith real Indians in it--the first, I believe, who ever perforet accustomed to the new life, but in 1876 the call for which I had been listening ca out I closed the show earlier than usual and returned to the West Colonel Mills had written me several times to say that General Crook wanted o I had expected to catch up with Crook at the Powder River, but I learned en route that allant Fifth Cavalry, was on its way from Arizona to join him, and that General Carr, my foruide and chief of scouts, and had written to aro to learn where I could be reached

As soon as this news ca Crook

I hastened to Cheyenne, where the Fifth Cavalry had already arrived, and was , adjutant of the regiment, who had been sent by General Carr from Fort DA Russell

In later years, as General Charles King, this officer became a widely popular author, and wrote some of the best novels and stories of Indian life that I have ever read

As I accompanied the lieutenant back to the fort, we passed soldiers who recognized reat shout of ”Here's Buffalo Bill!” arose froround It was like old ti ns The followingthe command pulled out for Fort Laralad was I to see that brave and able commander once more Sheridan was accompanied by General Frye and General Forsythe, and all were en route for the Red Cloud Agency, near the center of the Sioux trouble, which was then reaching really alar proportions The command was to remain at Laramie for a few days; so, at General Sheridan's request, I accompanied him on his journey We were able to accomplish little in the way of peace overtures

The Indians had lately co the Black Hills trail Gold had been discovered there in many new places, and the miners, many of them tenderfoots, and unused to the ways of the red hbors

Massacres, sorant, had resulted and most of the treaties our Government had made with the Indians had been ruthlessly broken