"Well, Tom," I asked as the old man seemed to be at the end of his yarn, "as the Kiowas are now living under a treaty, do you think their friendship is to be depended on?"
"I wouldn't feel a bit uneasy in the neighborhood of ol' To hausen's band, for him an' his followers has kept faith with the whites right along, through all the late troubles. He's one of the few good Injuns. But his band is a small part of the tribe now though he used to be their head chief. Most of the Kiowas follow the lead of Satank now, an' you know Satank hates a white man as the devil hates holy water, an', although he may keep the peace for a while, it ain't to be depended on. I would never feel perfectly safe in the neighborhood of Satank's band. An' then Satanta an' Big Tree run with him, an' they're as bad as Satank."
"What I was thinking of," I added, "is that the winter camp we're intending to establish, north of Fort Larned, will be right in the range of the Kiowas, and if they should happen to find our layout in the course of the winter they might make trouble for us."
"Well, we won't borry any trouble on that score. We knew there was a risk to run afore we undertook the expedition. When a man goes into the country of hostile or doubtful Injuns he takes his risk. But at this time of the year the chances are that we won't see any Injuns, 'cause they generally hole up in as snug shelter as they can find in winter an' don't ramble about much. An' then, ag'in, we'll not be more'n twenty miles from Fort Larned, and they'd hardly dare to disturb us ef they should find our camp."
"Now, men," said old Tom as we gathered around the mess box for breakfast next morning, "we want to get an early start for we've got a big drive before us. It's only about thirty-eight miles from here to Fort Larned, but that's too much to do with a load in one day; an' we can't divide the distance equally because there's no water anywhere nigh the half-way p'int. By takin' the river road we could get water to camp at the half-way station, but that route, by way of the mouth of Pawnee Fork, would take us four miles out of our way, an' part of it's a sandy, heavy road for the team. So I've concluded it'll be best for us to go the main road by Pawnee Rock an' camp at Ash Creek. That'll make about twenty-nine miles for to-day's drive, an' then we'll only have nine miles to-morrow mornin' to knock off to reach the fort. We can easy do that by the middle of the forenoon, an' have the rest of the day to look up some old acquaintances there an' make some inquiries about the best p'int over on Walnut to locate our winter camp an' how best to get there. Ef French Dave, the interpreter, is at Larned he'll tell us all we want to know about it. If Wild Bill was here, he'd go right along an' guide us to a snug place for our camp, 'cause he knows every foot o' the ground. It's all open prairie from Pawnee to Walnut, an' once we get across Pawnee Fork we can't miss it ef we just follow the buffalo trails."