shoot from horseback when we meant nothing of the kind never thinking to ask for it. But up he got on his pony loosing 15 arrows in as much time as it takes a man to whistle Dixie keeping 2 or 3 in his fist at a time the bow twanging like a banjo string the next arrow in flight before the first had hit its mark as he galloped up one way & down the other 100 yds. or more from his goal. And all of them May God In Heaven Be My Witness struck home some splitting the shafts of the ones landed before them & deep in the tree they did lodge. I am telling you Sir you would need chop the tree down altogether to get them arrow heads back. I do not recall if this was done that day but it might of for Mr. Lo does not abide losing an arrow tip if he can reclaim it as they are made of iron or steel from melted skillets or the like or flattened & folded tin pales traded for furs & be hard enough to come by. Manys the time since coming to this valley I have seen them reaching down from horseback at full gallop for to reef them from the bodies of dead men on the ground which I now suppose makes the race Tom rode with the Brave to pick up the horseshoes of some use to them as practice surely.
But none of this did we think at Laramie for the days had the fine mood of a Fair. Puck Fair I did think at the time making me smile in a sad way of remembering fine days from Kerry summers past. Or it could be like the Horse Fair you have in Ballinasloe Sir you being a Galway man. It is a fine week out in Ballinasloe I am told & the Pow Wow at Ft. Laramie for 2 or 3 days was the same I tell you it was like the finest day of the finest summer you can picture in your head.
But you know as well as any man Sir that no Fair is a proper Fair without a few whores & Tom did not take long to find where his favourite wagon was set up & because he can betimes act a kind & thoughtful brother to me he asked if I cared to come with him away from the games & wagering for some sport of the softer kind at that very wagon.
Now in all God’s truth I had no mind to spend what little I had in the way of wages on such a rabble of whores. You see the Paymaster (God Bless Him!) had not factored on the number of men in camp that week in need of paying & did only issue us all 10$ each against our back pay & this I was happy to piss away on whiskey & gaming & cherry pie from Robber’s Row where the Sutlers sell their wares & not on whores at all. But something in my mind said to me that my brother may be in need of minding with him already gut deep in beer & Bust Head which is what we soldiers call trade whiskey stilled to kill them who care to drink it so I did consent to go with him & have a gander at the geese at least.
So we went forth through the Ft. passing the fine white tent they raised up on the parade ground for their talks with the Sioux & Cheyanne chiefs which in the heat they did open wide the flaps of for all the world to see them smoking the peacepipe good & proper while putting all the terrible troubles twixt White & Red to bed. Now you & me & the dog in the road knows it was but a sorry sham the whole lot of it for their Big Bugs in their eagle feathers who sat down with our Big Bugs with their polished brass & hanging braid for the Laramie Treaty talks well they were but a small crowd of peaceable Indians & could not speak for their more War minded brothers who we came to know so well here in this Valley of the Powder River. They could make no agreement them Chiefs no more than our gentleman Officers could speak for the multitudes of prospectors & panners tramping their way