always on the alert. I glanced through the large door opening out
into the hall, and saw a group of Indian scouts; they laid a
coffee-sack down by the corner fire-place, near the front door.
The commanding officer left the table hastily; the portiere was
drawn.

I had heard tales of atrocious cruelties committed by a band of
Indians who had escaped from the reservation and were ravaging
the country around. I had heard how they maimed poor sheep and
cut off the legs of cattle at the first joint, leaving them to
die; how they tortured women, and burned their husbands and
children before their eyes; I had heard also that the Indian
scouts were out after them, with orders to bring them in, dead or
alive.

The next day I learned that the ringleader's head was in the bag
that I had seen, and that the others had surrendered and
returned. The scouts were Apaches in the pay of the Government,
and I always heard that, as long as they were serving as scouts,
they showed themselves loyal and would hunt down their nearest
relative.

Major Worth got tired of the monotony of a bachelor's life at
Camp Apache and decided to give a dance in his quarters, and
invite the chiefs. I think the other officers did not wholly
approve of it, although they felt friendly enough towards them,
as long as they were not causing disturbances. But to meet the
savage Apache on a basis of social equality, in an officer's
quarters, and to dance in a quadrille with him! Well, the limit
of all things had been reached!