CHAPTER XVI
NIGHT PROWLING AT FRAYNE
In the full of the September moon the war-bands of the Sioux had defied
agents and peace chiefs, commissioners and soldiers, and started their
wild campaign in northern Wyoming. In the full of the October moon the
big chief of the whites had swept the last vestige of their warriors
from the plains, and followed their bloody trails into the heart of the
mountains, all his cavalry and much of his foot force being needed for
the work in hand. Not until November, therefore, when the ice bridge
spanned the still reaches of the Platte, and the snow lay deep in the
brakes and _coulees_, did the foremost of the homeward-bound commands
come in view of old Fort Frayne, and meantime very remarkable things had
occurred, and it was to a very different, if only temporary, post
commander that Sandy Ray reported them as "sighted." Even brave old Dade
had been summoned to the front, with all his men, and in their place had
come from distant posts in Kansas other troops to occupy the vacant
quarters and strive to feel at home in strange surroundings.
A man of austere mold was the new major,--one of the old Covenanter
type, who would march to battle shouting hymn tunes, and to Christmas
and Thanksgiving chanting doleful lays.
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