I was not at all
eager to have any communication with these gentlemen. Therefore, when I
resumed my journey at nightfall, I made a wide detour around the place
where I believed their camp would be. I avoided it successfully,
reaching Colonel Rice's camp just after daybreak.
The colonel had been fighting Indians almost every day since he
encamped at this point. He was anxious that Terry should know of this
so that reenforcements might be sent, and the country cleared of the
redskins. Of course it fell to my lot to carry this word back to Terry.
I undertook the mission willingly enough, for by this time I was pretty
well used to night riding through a country beset with perils, and
rather enjoyed it.
The strain of my recent rides had told on me, but the excitement bore
me up. Indeed, when a man is engaged in work of this kind, the
exhilaration is such that he forgets all about the wear and tear on his
system, and not until all danger is over and he is safely resting in
camp does he begin to feel what he has been through. Then a good long
sleep usually puts him all right again.
Many and many a time I have driven myself beyond what I believed was
the point of physical endurance, only to find that I was ready for
still further effort if the need should arise. The fact that I
continued in rugged health during all the time I was on the Plains, and
have had little illness throughout my life, seems to prove that living
and working outdoors, despite its hardships, is far better for a man
than any sedentary occupation can possibly be.
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