He said:  “None whatever, and I will help you to do it; you can give the Indian another horse in his place.”

A few days after this, I persuaded the Indian, by making him several presents, to trade horses with me, and in this way I became the owner of the buckskin steed, not as my own property, however, but as a government horse that I could ride.  I gave him the name of “Buckskin Joe” and he proved to be a second Brigham.  That horse I rode on and off during the summers of 1869, 1870, 1871 and 1872, and he was the horse that the Grand Duke Alexis rode on his buffalo hunt.  In the winter of 1872, after I had left Fort McPherson, Buckskin Joe was condemned and sold at public sale, and was bought by Dave Perry, at North Platte, who in 1877 presented him to me, and I still own him.  He is now at my ranch on the Dismal river, stone blind, but I shall keep him until he dies.

The command scouted several days up the Beaver and Prairie Dog rivers, occasionally having running fights with way parties of Indians, but did not succeed in getting them into a general battle.  At the end of twenty days we found ourselves back on the Republican.

Hitherto the Pawnees had not taken much interest in me, but while at this camp I gained their respect and admiration by showing them how I killed buffaloes.  Although the Pawnees were excellent buffalo killers, for Indians, I have never seen one of them who could kill more than four or five in one run.  A number of them generally surround the herd and then dash in upon them, and in this way each one kills from one to four buffaloes.  I had gone out in company with Major North and some of the officers, and saw them make a “surround.”  Twenty of the Pawnees circled a herd and succeeded in killing only thirty-two.

“While they were cutting up the animals another herd appeared in sight.  The Indians were preparing to surround it, when I asked Major North to keep them back and let me show them what I could do.  He accordingly informed the Indians of my wish and they readily consented to let me have the opportunity.  I had learned that Buckskin Joe was an excellent buffalo horse, and felt confident that I would astonish the natives; galloping in among the buffaloes, I certainly did so by killing thirty-six in less than a half-mile run.  At nearly every shot I killed a buffalo, stringing the dead animals out on the prairie, not over fifty feet apart.  This manner of killing was greatly admired by the Indians who called me a big chief, and from that time on, I stood high in their estimation.”

CHAPTER XXII.

A DESPERATE FIGHT.