Little Pills, An Army Story

icer at Fort Garland, Colorado, for assignment to duty. From Fort Gibson I returned to Camp Limestone for my wife and little girl baby, who was born the previous November. We

had first taken in crossing the plains but in place of stoppi

discover it to be our own engine puttering along as though pleased with its job. We stayed over night at Pueblo and in the morning we found there was an ambulance to take us and Major Hartz over the mountains to Fort Garland. The major had introduced himself the previous night on our arrival from Denver. On the route to Garland we spent the night at the different stage stations and were made fairly comfortable. As we neared the summit of Sangre De Cristo Pass (Blood of Christ) the snow was very deep and soft. We thought it too much of a load for the mules and so the major and I concluded to walk. It wa

he highest peaks of the Sangre De Cristo range. It was a pretty location overlooking th

o duty as surgeon of the command. This camp was established as a base of supplies for government surveyors who were to survey the San Juan Indian reservation. There had been trouble for some years between the Ute Indians and prospectors who had gone into their rese

mp as a base from which to make additional surveys. I became very much interested in this work and they explained a good deal of it to me but I was surprised at the time it required and the figur

d each week these were relieved by others and returned to camp. There was practically no need for a surgeon with the camp that summer, the only

there was very little to do I spent a good deal of time hunting and fishing. Rainbow trout are very plentiful in the river for here it was a clear rushing mountain stream with deep pools and the water was cold throughout the summer from melting snows. We had fish at all times and cooked in every imaginable way until we were almost sickened at the thought of fish, although they were always pretty to look at. To this day my wife does not want to see or eat fish. All kinds of game were abundant but I never had much success with the larger varieties, I did not understand deer hunting and always managed it the wrong way. I did not know anything about

at one time but now he was white from age, but had been well cared for and although in fine condition, had been retired from actual service. I found him all that he was recommended to be, and with an additional merit that he was not afraid of a gun. I could fire from the saddle and he would not flinch, and because of this exceptional quality, I had a great deal of sport shooting jack-rabbits. They would jump up and run away f

near where I could tie him to a tree, to force him to accept the load and so a bright idea occurred to me. I have done a good many foolish things in my life, but I think nothing quite so idiotic as this. I decided that I would tie the end of the lariat rope to the antelope's hind legs, the other end being fastened around Paddy's neck and I would then get on the mule and pull the antelope up. This scheme worked pretty well at least part way. I was in the saddle and my gun across in front of me and I backed Paddy up toward the antelope, wrapping the lariat around the horn of the saddle as he backed. Paddy would look back and snort a little, but was quite gentle until I attempted to raise the antelope up to me. When Paddy saw it move I believe he thought the thing had come to life and was going to swallow him, for the way he went down the mountain side would have shamed John Gilpin and his foam covered horse. I tried to hold him but I might as well have tried to hold a cyclone. I had been raised on a farm and helped break the young horses to ride and work, and I thought I could hold anything, but I had never been on a scared mule before, and I found I was utterly helpless. My first impulse was to throw away my gun and try to get off and let the mule and the antelope have it out together but the lariat was across my right thigh and I could not get away from it. I believe the thing following him added to his terror, for we went over places I could not have forced him over in his sane condition. I went over the track of our runaway race a few days later and found a ledge of nearly four feet in height that we had gone over, and I really think it would have been the same thing to Paddy if it had been forty feet in place of four. The old saying "All's well th

uppose the front sight had been slightly moved by striking on a tree or something on my trip before I found t

after repeated throwing and have seen them sit on the bare ground apparently thinking they were hid, until I have walked up to within ten or fifteen feet of them, before they would take wing. Until well grown I found them most frequently in the open parks where there was a ravine with water and willows and other undergrowth, and more or less grass for cover, b

often went out with Mr. Henshaw in the morning when he would start on his day's round but generally lost out after the first hour. He was an athlete in size and finely proportioned and hardened to the work by constant practice, and could walk the legs off me in an hour's travel. I would then strike out for myself but was always looking for the Nut-cracker and trying to locate his nest. One day I saw him fly away from a hole some fifteen feet up in an old tree stump, the limbs having fallen away. This looked encouraging so I climbed up and found a nest but no eggs. I reported my find to Mr. Henshaw that evening and he was pleased with the prospects and said we would go together in about a week, and by that time we might find eggs in the nest. I had marked the plac

tional Geographical Magazine are particularly interesting and instructive. The rat mentioned is also one of the varieties of what is known as pack-rats. They construct a nest of sticks and other rubbish found in the neighborhood, and if near a house may carry off sp

e matter. The general and some other officers accompanied us as far as Wagon-wheel Gap and with a small escort we continued on to the park, the general and other officers returning to camp. We found the Hamilton brothers very cordial and hospitable. We talked the business over quite thoroughly and remained until near midnight before returning to our camp a short distance away. The following morning we found a half-inch or more of ice in a cup t

be about a half-mile high. Across the river from this was a beautiful valley sloping gradually up into

th which we got a shower of rain every morning during July and August, and we got into the habit of expecting it at eleven o'clock and were seldom disappointed. One day, August 17th, the water from the cloud in passing over became congealed and formed snow-flakes that for size were really astonishing. I was on my way to Loma on my faithful mule Paddy O'Rooney, and when it came it shut out practically everything from sight, a few yards away, and lasted probably twenty or thirty m

and one other engineer, whose name I cannot now recall, accepted commissions in the Egyptian

active for I had taken my tackle with me, so I left the party in charge of the driver and started out for some good sport. I did not meet with the ready response I expected from the fish, and kept going on up stream trying one pool after another until I was quite out of sight of the ambulance but still kept going, each pool looking more inviting than the one just passed. I finally came to an unusually large pool, deep and wide, and that ran close to the perpendicular bluff on the opposite side. I had made a number of casts when a voice from somewhere called out "What luck?" It might have been from the clouds and I would not have been more surprised, and at first I could not locate it, but looked up and down stream and back over the valley