[Illustration:  ROBBING A STAGE COACH.]

CHAPTER XXI.

A MILITARY EXPEDITION.

A day or two after my return to Fort Lyon, the Fifth Cavalry were ordered to the Department of the Platte, and took up their line of march for Fort McPherson, Nebraska.  We laid over one day at Fort Wallace, to get supplies, and while there I had occasion to pass General Bankhead’s headquarters.  His orderly called to me, and said the General wished to see me.  As I entered the General’s office he extended his hand and said:  “I hope you have no hard feelings toward me, Cody, for having you arrested when you were here.  I have just had a talk with General Carr and Quartermaster Hays, and they informed me that you had their permission to ride the horse and mule, and if you had stated this fact to me there would have been no trouble about the matter whatever.”  “That is all right, General,” said I; “I will think no more of it.  But I don’t believe that your quartermaster’s agent will ever again circulate false stories about me.”

“No,” said the General; “he has not yet recovered from the beating that you gave him.”

From Fort Wallace we moved down to Sheridan, where the command halted for us to lay in a supply of forage which was stored there.  I was still messing with Major Brown, with whom I went into the village to purchase a supply of provisions for our mess; but unfortunately we were in too jolly a mood to fool away money on “grub.”  We bought several articles, however, and put them into the ambulance and sent them back to the camp with our cook.  The Major and myself did not return until reveille next morning.  Soon afterwards the General sounded “boots and saddles,” and presently the regiment was on its way to McPherson.

It was very late before we went into camp that night, and we were tired and hungry.  Just as Major Brown was having his tent put up, his cook came to us and asked where the provisions were that we had bought the day before.

“Why, did we not give them to you—­did you not bring them to camp in the ambulance?” asked Major Brown.

“No, sir; it was only a five-gallon demijohn of whiskey, a five-gallon demijohn of brandy, and two cases of Old Tom-Cat gin,” said the cook.

“The mischief!” I exclaimed; “didn’t we spend any money on grub at all?”

“No, sir,” replied the cook.

“Well, that will do for the present,” said Major Brown.

It seems that our minds had evidently been running on a different subject than provisions while we were loitering in Sheridan, and we found ourselves, with a two hundred and fifty mile march ahead of us, without anything more inviting than ordinary army rations.

At this juncture Captain Denny came up, and the Major apologized for not being able to invite him to take supper with us; but we did the next best thing, and asked him to take a drink.  He remarked that that was what he was looking for, and when he learned of our being out of commissary supplies, and that we had bought nothing except whiskey, brandy and gin, he said, joyously: