Our march proved be a lucky one so far as gaining on Penrose was concerned.  The route he had taken on the west side of the stream was rough and bad, and with our great wagon-train we made as many miles in one day as he had in seven.

His command had taken a high table-land whose sides were so steep that not even a pack mule could make the descent, and he had been obliged to retrace the trail for a great distance, losing three days while doing so.

The incident of this particular camp we had selected was an exciting turkey hunt.  We found the trees along the river bank literally alive with turkeys.  After unsaddling the horses, two or three hundred soldiers surrounded a grove of timber, and there was a grand turkey round-up.  Guns, clubs, and even stones were used as weapons.  Of course, after the hunt we had roast turkey, boiled turkey, fried turkey, and turkey on toast for our fare, and in honor of the birds which had provided this treat we named the place Camp Turkey.

When we left camp we had an easy trail for several days.  Penrose had taken a southerly direction toward the Canadian River.  No Indians were to be seen, nor did we find any signs of them.

One day, while riding in advance of the command down San Francisco Creek, I heard some one calling my name from a little bunch of willow brush on the opposite bank of the stream.  Looking closely at the spot, I saw a colored soldier.

“Sakes alive, Massa Bill, am dat you?” shouted the man, whom I recognized as a member of the Tenth Cavalry.

“Come out o’ heah,” I heard him call to someone behind him.  “Heah’s Massa Buffalo Bill.”  Then he sang out to me:  “Massa Bill, is you got any hahdtack?”

“Nary a bit of hardtack, but the wagons will be along presently, and you can get all you want.”

“Dat’s de best news Ah’s heahd fo’ sixteen long days, Massa Bill.”

“Where’s your command?  Where’s General Penrose?” I demanded.

“Dunno,” said the darky.  “We got lost, an’ we’s been starvin’ ever since.”

By this time two other negroes had emerged from their hiding-place.  They had deserted Penrose’s command, which was out of rations and in a starving condition.  They were trying to make their way back to old Fort Lyon.  General Carr concluded, from what they could tell him, that Penrose was somewhere on Polladora Creek.  But nothing definite was to be gleaned from the starving darkies, for they knew very little themselves.

General Carr was deeply distressed to learn that Penrose and his men were in such bad shape.  He ordered Major Brown to start out the next morning with two companies of cavalry and fifty pack mules, loaded with provisions, and to make all possible speed to reach and relieve the suffering soldiers.  I went with this detachment.  On the third day out we found the half-famished soldiers encamped on the Polladora.  The camp presented a pitiful sight.  For over two weeks the men had only quarter rations and were now nearly starved to death.  Over two hundred mules were lying dead, having succumbed to fatigue and starvation.