"DEAR SIR.--Thanking you for your second warning by letter, I beg to say that I shall not leave my ranch, as I can see no reason for so doing, as I regard the Sioux as my friends, in spite of the war of the army upon them.
"Stubborn fool!" ejaculated the officer, while the courier drew from some secret receptacle about his clothing another note and handed it to his commander.
The Cheyenne Indians under the command of Lieutenant Carey had come to almost idolize their captain.
They knew his record as a border boy, when he had roamed the country fearlessly in company with the old hermit of the Black Hills, his adopted father, and afterward alone, as a young guide and hunter.
They knew him as a soldier later on, and now that he had them under his command they felt that his word was law, and they could follow him unflinchingly wherever he would lead them.
His manner toward them was gentle, yet firm.
He treated them as human beings, not as machines, and gave them the best of food and clothing.
He allowed no man to be forced to ride an inferior horse, or carry a weapon that was not the best, and with each half-dozen redskin soldiers went a pack animal, carrying supplies, blankets, and all to make them comfortable.
Not a thing would he ask of them that he would not do himself, and he was ready to face any danger that they did, and more.
His bearing commanded their respect, his indomitable pluck won their admiration, and his skill as a trailer and fighter made him their idol.
Such were the redskin soldiers under Kit Carey, and he knew that he could depend upon them to a man, and to the death.
Had they had a different captain the result would have been so far different that most of them might have been there in the hostile camp.
It is the perfect officer that makes the perfect soldier, and this is the rule without exception.
A soldier likes thorough discipline and a strict commander, if his comfort is looked to and his heart and spirit appealed to.
The courier who had been sent to the Bernard ranch had handed over the letter of the settler, as though that one was all that he was the bearer of.
Then, when he had seen his captain read it through, he had quietly dragged out another letter.