With The Deer, Pete
Seemed To Think That The Evil One Had Gone, Too, And Consented To
Return To The Trail And To Cross The Stream Over To The Wagons.
The corporal had stopped the wagons until he saw that I was safely
down, and I asked him why
He had not killed the deer - we are always in
need of game - and he said that he had not seen him until he was in
front of the mules, and that it was impossible then, as the deer did
not wait for them to get the rifles out of their cases on the bottom
of the wagons. That evening at the whist table I told Colonel Palmer
about the deer and Pete, and saw at once that I had probably gotten
the poor corporal in trouble. Colonel Palmer was very angry that the
men should even think of going several miles from the post, in an
Indian country, with their rifles cased and strapped so they would
have been practically useless in case of an attack.
Faye says that the men were not thinking of Indians, but simply trying
to keep their rifles from being marred and scratched, for if they did
get so they would be "jumped" at the first inspection. Colonel Palmer
gave most positive orders for the soldiers to hold their rifles in
their hands on their way to and from the mountains, which perhaps is
for the best.
But I am afraid they will blame me for such orders having been issued.
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