The  wily  red  men  were  not  aware  of  the  fact  that
there  was  a  battalion  of  cavalry  camped  on  the  Red
Willow  Creek,  and  the  officers  were  soon  in  possession
of  all  the  facts,  and  scouts  soon  located  the  moving
band  of  Indians  going  east  on  their  mission  of  murder,
massacre  and  destruction,  and  to  leave  in  their  trail
ruin  and  destruction.  But  quick  action  on  the  part
of  the  soldiers,  under  the  command  of  efficient  officers,
headed  them  off  with  their  contemplated  raid,  and
after  a  parley  between  the  commanding  officer,  with
Jack  Stilwell  and  Charlie  Aleadows,  his  chief  scouts,
and  "Spotted  Tail"  and  some  of  his  assistants,  the
whole  band  were  turned  back  to  their  hunting  grounds
without  a  shot  being  fired  or  any  blood  shed,  and  the
Indians  were  allowed  to  camp  and  hunt  on  the  buffalo
range  as  before,  but  the  guard  was  more  rigid  for
some  time  than  it  had  previously  been,  and  the  hostiles
were  in  a  bad  mood  for  the  balance  of  the  winter,
and  but  few  hunters  ventured  out  among  them  or
even  near  them.
