They gave chase, but the mule had a good start, and when it got its
second wind--always necessary in a mule--the Indian ponies gained but
slowly. When Ash Creek, six miles from Larned, was reached, the race
was about even, but two miles farther on, the Indians were uncomfortably
close behind. The sunset gun at the fort boomed a cynical welcome to the
man four miles away, flying toward it for his life.

At Pawnee Fork, two miles from the fort, the Indians had crept up to
within five hundred yards. But here, on the farther bank of the stream,
Will came upon a government wagon containing half a dozen soldiers and
Denver Jim, a well-known scout.

The team was driven among the trees, and the men hid themselves in the
bushes, and when the Indians came along they were warmly received. Two
of the reds were killed; the others wheeled and rode back in safety.

In 1868 General Sheridan had taken command of all the troops in the
field. He arranged what is known as the winter expeditions against the
Kiowas, Comanches, Southern Cheyennes, and Arapahoes. He personally
commanded the expedition which left Fort Dodge, with General Custer as
chief of cavalry. General Penrose started for Fort Lyon, Colorado, and
General Eugene A. Carr was ordered from the Republican River country,
with the Fifth Cavalry, to Fort Wallace, Kansas. Will at this time had
a company of forty scouts with General Carr's command. He was ordered by
General Sheridan, when leaving Fort Lyon, to follow the trail of General
Penrose's command until it was overtaken. General Carr was to proceed to
Fort Lyon, and follow on the trail of General Penrose, who had started
from there three weeks before, when, as Carr ranked Penrose, he would
then take command of both expeditions. It was the 21st of November when
Carr's expedition left Fort Lyon. The second day out they encountered a