In an hour we were under way.

The darkies had never been in an Indian fight and were anxious to catch the band we were after and "Sweep de red debels from off de face ob de earth." Captain Graham was a brave, dashing officer, eager to make a record for himself, and it was with difficulty that I could trail fast enough to keep out of the way of the impatient soldiers.

Every few moments Captain Graham would ride up to see if the trail was freshening and how soon we should be likely to overtake the thieves.
At last we reached the Saline river, where we found the Indians had only stopped to feed and water the animals, and had then pushed on towards the Solomon.

After crossing the Saline they made no effort to conceal their trail, thinking they would not be pursued beyond that point--consequently we were able to make excellent time.

We reached the Soloman before sunset, and came to a halt; we surmised that if the Indians were camped on this river, that they had no suspicion of our being in the neighborhood.