delivery was in progress a party of warriors had already begun a raid

of murder and rapine, which for acts of devilish cruelty perhaps has

no parallel in savage warfare. The party consisted of about two

hundred Cheyennes and a few Arapahoes, with twenty Sioux who had been

visiting their friends, the Cheyennes. As near as could be

ascertained, they organized and left their camps along Pawnee Creek

about the 3d of August. Traveling northeast, they skirted around

Fort Harker, and made their first appearance among the settlers in