The guards had been doubled.
Captain Parker had all the scouts at his headquarters.

He was seeking to get one of them to take dispatches to General Sheridan at Fort Hays.
I reported to him at once, telling him of my encounter and my escape.
"You were lucky to think of that cattle story, Cody," he said.

"But for that little game your scalp would now be ornamenting a Kiowa lodge." "Cody," put in Dick Curtis, "the captain is trying to get somebody to take dispatches to General Sheridan.

None of the scouts here seem willing to undertake the trip.

They say they are not well enough acquainted with the country to find the way at night." A storm was coming up, and it was sure to be a dark night.