Sept 12. Just at sunrise & as we were preparing to start the mail carrier, engaged to bring our last mail up from Benton arrived. He was to have met us at E. Fork DepÙt, but not finding him there we left a notice for him & went on. It appears he had met with bad luck having been pursued by a number of indians after leaving Benton & driven into Bellnap. The indians caught sight of him about noon & kept up the chase till they lost him after dark. Finding that his horse was playing out he was obliged to cut loose one of his bags, containing a number of newspapers, his grub & a "new pair of pants." He says he "calculated" to keep about a mile ahead of the indians as long as it was light & to elude them after dark. He started out again from Bellnap & was fortunate enough to get through in safety.

The mail carrier had numerous stories of indian horrors recently perpetrated. Three men had been murdered on the Mussleshell R. lately, & one of them burned to a stake. Others had been driven back into Benton. The hired train which had brought our oats up on the way back had found, on the E. Fork lower down than our depot, the body of a white man tied up to a tree, but so offensive that they did not care about approaching it.

Made a long march today. Shortly after leaving camp a prairie fire sprang up behind us, near the line of march. Probably set by carelessness of some man with his pipe. A number of men

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