in which he hopes to "round up" such bands as may have slipped away from
the general rush. Even as "boots and saddles" is sounding, other
couriers come riding in from Lieutenant Crane's party. He has struck the
trail of a big band.

When the morning sun dawns on the picturesque valley in which the
cantonment nestled but the day before, it illumines an almost deserted
village, and brings no joy to the souls of some twoscore of embittered
civilians who had arrived only the day previous, and whose unanimous
verdict is that the army is a fraud and ought to be abolished. For four
months or more some three regiments had been camping, scouting, roughing
it thereabouts, with not a cent of pay. Then came the wildly exciting
tidings that a boat was on the way up the Missouri with a satrap of the
pay department, vast store of shekels, and a strong guard, and as a
consequence there would be some two thousand men around the cantonment
with pockets full of money and no one to help them spend it, and nothing
suitable to spend it on. It was a duty all citizens owed to the
Territory to hasten to the scene and gather in for local circulation all
that was obtainable of that disbursement; otherwise the curse of the
army might get ahead of them and the boys would gamble it away among
themselves or spend it for vile whiskey manufactured for their sole
benefit. Gallatin Valley was emptied of its prominent practitioners in
the game of poker. The stream was black with "Mackinaw" boats and other
craft. There was a rush for the cantonment that rivalled the multitudes
of the mining days, but all too late. The command was already packing up
when the first contingent arrived, and the commanding officer,
recognizing the fraternity at a glance, warned them outside the limits
of camp that night, declined their services as volunteers on the
impending campaign, and treated them with such calmly courteous
recognition of their true character that the Eastern press was speedily