CHAPTER XX.
AN EXCITING CHASE.
General Carr, at my request, kindly granted me one month's leave of absence to visit my family in St.Louis, and ordered Captain Hays, our quartermaster, to let me ride my mule and horse to Sheridan, distant 140 miles, where I was to take the cars.

I was instructed to leave the animals in the quartermaster's corral at Fort Wallace until I should come back, but instead of doing this I put them both in the care of my old friend Perry, the hotel-keeper at Sheridan.

After a twenty days absence in St.Louis, pleasantly spent with my family, I returned to Sheridan, and there learned that my mule and horse had been seized by the government.
It seems that the quartermaster's agent at Sheridan had reported to General Bankhead, commanding Fort Wallace, and to Captain Laufer, the quartermaster, that I had left the country and had sold a government horse and mule to Mr.Perry, and of course Captain Laufer took possession of the animals and threatened to have Perry arrested for buying government property.

Perry explained to him the facts in the case and said that I would return in a few days; but the captain would pay no attention to his statements.
I immediately went over to the office of the quartermaster's agent, and had Perry point him out to me.

I at once laid hold of him, and in a short time had treated him to just such a thrashing as his contemptible lie deserved.
He then mounted a horse, rode to Fort Wallace, and reported me to General Bankhead and Captain Laufer, and obtained a guard to return with and protect him.
The next morning I secured a horse from Perry, and proceeding to Fort Wallace demanded my horse and mule from General Bankhead, on the ground that they were quartermaster Hays' property and belonged to General Carr's command, and that I had obtained permission to ride them to Sheridan and back.