I knew what fearful damage could be done by a sudden uprising of fanatical and infuriated Indians, and any danger to me personally was as nothing to the importance of preventing such, a thing, if possible.
Having no standing as an army officer or as a Government agent, it was necessary for me to be supplied with some sort of credentials, in order to secure the assistance I should need on my mission.

When I informed General Miles of this he took one of his visiting-cards from a case and wrote the following on the back of it: To COMMANDING OFFICERS OF UNITED STATES TROOPS: Furnish Colonel William F.Cody with any assistance or escort that he may ask for.
NELSON A.MILES.
I took the next train for Mandan, N.D., which was the station nearest the Standing Rock Agency.

There I hired a livery team and driver for the ride of sixty-five miles to the Agency.

I had considerable difficulty in securing a driver, as the report had gone abroad that all the Indians were on the warpath, and few of the settlers cared to risk their scalps on such a venture.

But I went higher and higher in my offers, till at last a liveryman figured that a hundred dollars was sufficient reward for the risk, and, hitching up his team, told me to come along.
After an intensely cold drive we reached the Agency, where I hurried into the trader's store to thaw out by his stove.