As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
There is a story in General Custer's My Life on the Plains, which puzzled me, because it just seemed odd in the telling as it had a hint of sodomy in it, even if upon inquiry, there was no homosexuality involved.
It was at a camping spot of the 7th Cavalry, and two Troopers had gone off to bathe in the river, and were jumped by Indians, and escaped naked with their lives.
It always puzzled me as to why two officers would be allowed to ride off from the command.
"At such a time these two daring fellows went down the stream some distance to bathe, and to their delight found water deep enough in which to swim. They forgot everything in the enjoyment of clear water, for many of the streams west of the Mississippi are muddy and full of sand. Their horses saved their lives. Their attention was called to the telltale ears, quivering and vibrating, the nervous starts and the snorts that many old cavalry horses give at sight of Indians or buffaloes. Heeding these warnings, the bathers sprang to the bank. Within a few hundred yards of them Indians approached. There was no pause for clothes or for saddles. Unfastening their horses, and with a leap that would have done credit to a circus rider, they sprang upon the bare backs of the terrified horses, and digging their naked heels into the sides of the animals, they ran a race for life."
The answer came in why these two officers were allowed to ride off, in a following blurb from General Custer, in he names one of the men, in it was his brother, Tom. That makes sense why he was allowed more leeway and why he was not named in the original recording of the story, as he was razzed about this, and the following event where he was sprayed by skunk, in he lost his clothes a second time.
"Colonel Tom plunged into the fight in an effort to drag Brandy off, when the animal used the defence that nature has provided, and Colonel Tom's clothes were gone the second time. He realized that with this adventure added to his late aquatic episode, which had been followed by a deluge of jokes from his brother officers, there would be no mercy shown him, and he quickly decided to share with the others his unsought baptism."
For my curious nature, it is at least pleasant to know who occupied the bathing story in clearing that up. I like bathing and all, but I do believe I would have hung blankets up about camp to do the absolution, as while fond of bathing, I am not so much in being cleanliness is next to being scalped.
I also do not wrestle skunks.
agtG
