This made him furious, and a few weeks after this powwow reports began starting that Crazy Horse was preparing to take the warpath. In the meantime, however, General McKenzie was relieved, General L. P. Bradley arriving as his successor! General Bradley had been at the fort only a few days when another alarming report came in, the result of which was that the entire command was ordered ready for action, and on the following morning left the fort to surround and capture Crazy Horse and his band.

There was only one cannon at the fort -- an old brass affair, used for firing the morning and evening gun -- and this constituted the artillery. An old Irishman named Murphy, who quarreled with the driver because the latter failed to keep the six mules in line with the rest of the command, had charge of the battery, while I was the gunner. Little Bad Man was on hand to guide us to the camp of his rival, and away we went in fine style. The work of surrounding the camp, which was in a low hollow or depression in the prairie, was very skillfully executed, but when the order came to close in, and we crossed the ridge that shut the camp off from view, not a tepee was in sight.

It appears that Crazy Horse had spies just as well as ourselves, and that he had gotten wind of this intended move some five hours beforehand. What happened in the Indian camp, I am not able to say, but at all events his band picked up in a body before davlight the following morning, and moved into Red Cloud agency, mixed among the Ogallalas in such a manner that they were not readily noticed, while Crazv Horse mounted a horse