Carter's opinion,--she was a woman of experience, and had a married
daughter of her own. In the mean time Peter had better not broach the
subject to his sister, but trust to the arrival of the strangers,
who would remain for a week, and who would undoubtedly divert Mrs.
Lascelles' impressible mind, and eventually make the proposition more
natural and attractive.
In the interval Peter revisited the reservation, and endeavored to
pacify the irritation that had sprung from his previous inspection.
The outrage at Post Oak Bottom he was assured had no relation to the
incident at the reservation, but was committed by some stragglers from
other tribes who had not yet accepted the government bounty, yet had not
been thus far classified as "hostile." There had been no "Ghost Dancing"
nor other indication of disturbance. The colonel had not deemed
it necessary to send out an exemplary force, or make a counter
demonstration. The incident was allowed to drop. At the reservation
Peter had ignored the previous conduct of the chiefs towards him;
had with quiet courage exposed himself fully--unarmed and
unattended--amongst them, and had as fully let it be known that this
previous incident was the reason that his sister had not accompanied him
on his second visit. He left them at the close of the second day more
satisfied in his mind, and perhaps in a more enthusiastic attitude
towards his report.
As he came within sound of the sunset bugles, he struck a narrower trail
which led to the fort, through an oasis of oaks and cottonwoods and
a small stream or "branch," which afterwards lost itself in the dusty
plain. He had already passed a few settler's cabins, a sutler's shop,
and other buildings that had sprung up around this armed nucleus of
civilization--which, in due season, was to become a frontier town. But
as yet the brief wood was wild and secluded; frequented only by the
women and children of the fort, within whose protecting bounds it
stood, and to whose formal "parade," and trim white and green cottage
|