Late that afternoon we struck the trail of a small band of Indians.  I did not go far before I saw that it was quite fresh.  I told the Capt. that he had better camp there, for there was plenty of grass and a nice stream of water, and let my scouts and me follow the trail and see if we could find them, to which he consented.  My men and I left the main party and started on the trail of the Indians.  After trailing them four or five miles in an almost eastern direction, the trail turned to the southwest.  We kept on for four or five miles more, and then we came to where the Indians were in camp.  I had kept the lay of the country and the direction of our camp in my mind, and when I saw the Indians, I knew that their camp was near ours.

They had a fire and were cooking meat around it.  We counted them and found that there were thirteen Indians in the band.

I said, “Now boys, we will go back to our own camp and report to the Capt. at once,” and I was really surprised to find it was so short a distance between the Indians’ camp and ours.  It was not more than a mile from one to the other.

When we reached camp, we found the Capt. and the men waiting for us and very anxious to hear what we had found.  I reported to the Capt., and he asked when I thought it best to go after the Red wretches.  I told him there was so small a bunch of them I did not think it mattered, but as his favorite time for an attack seemed to be at break of day, I supposed we could wait until then for this one.

He laughed and said, “The break of day has been your time, not mine, Mr. Drannan.  You have done all the planning and led all the fights in this campaign, but I am glad to admit that it has been a grand success, and so far you have come out with flying colors.”

I said, “Well, Capt., I think in this case we can take a little nap and be up in time to take that outfit before they have time to wake up, for it is no more than a mile from here to their camp.”

Capt.  McKee answered, “I reckon you are right.  There are so few of them that we shall not have to delay breakfast to get them.”

We all turned in, and, although we knew that Indians were so near us, we were not afraid to sleep without placing a guard over the camp.

When I awoke, I looked at my watch and saw it was two o’clock.  I called the Capt. and told him that it was time we were moving.  He asked whether we should go on horseback or on foot.  I said, “We can walk there while we would be saddling the horses, it is so short a distance.”  He said, “All right, we will take twelve men with us,” and in a few minutes we were on the road.  When we came in sight of the dimly burning campfires of the Indians, I pointed to them and told the Capt. that was the place, and I said, “We will be very careful and not make any noise, and I think we can send them to the Happy hunting grounds while they sleep.”  But the reader may imagine our surprise when we crept to the Indian camp to find that there was not an Indian there.  We looked around the camp where the Indians had cooked their supper, and then we looked for their horses, but they too had disappeared with their masters.  Capt.  McKee said, “Doesn’t this beat you?  What do you suppose caused those Indians to leave?”