As he approached he
pointed, and we looked down the valley toward the east.
Surely enough, we saw a faint cloud of dust coming toward us, whether of
vehicles or horsemen we could not tell. Auberry thought that it was
perhaps some west-bound emigrant or freight wagon, or perhaps a stage
with belated mails.
"Stay here, boys," he said, "and I'll ride down and see." He galloped
off, half a mile or so, and then we saw him pause, throw up his hand,
and ride forward at full speed. By that time the travelers were topping
a slight rise in the floor of the valley, and we could see that they
were horsemen, perhaps thirty or forty in all. Following them came the
dust-whitened top of an Army ambulance, and several camp wagons, to the
best of our figuring at that distance. We hesitated no longer and
quickly mounting our horses rode full speed toward them. Auberry met us,
coming back.
"Troop of dragoons, bound for Laramie," he said. "No Indians back of
them, but orders are out for all of the wagons and stages to hole up
till further orders. This party's going through. I told them to camp
down there," he said to me aside, "because they've got women with 'em,
and I didn't want them to see what's happened up here.
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