IN THE CAMP.
Let us go back a little to see how the settlers had fared.
When night had settled down upon the emigrant encampment, there were a
number of gloomy faces around the impromptu fortifications, and many,
both men and women, were sorry that they had ever left their old homes
in the Eastern country to seek new ones on the frontier.
Yet, though gloomy, and dreading evil, they were none the less
determined to defend their lives and families unto the bitter end, and
Major Conrad was glad to see that he could depend upon his command as
brave men.
At length the Indians began the attack; and, warming to their work,
the emigrants grew less and less despondent, especially after they had
several times driven back their red foes with considerable loss, and
with no serious result to themselves.
By and by one of the teamsters, who had once been an old hunter and
trapper, crept out of the camp to reconnoiter, and returned with the
evil tidings that the Indians had been reënforced by a large band that
had just come up.
Then followed a long season of quiet, and the emigrants felt assured
that their enemies were plotting some scheme of devilment against them.
Then, how they longed for the return of Buffalo Bill. Suddenly there
was a scene of commotion in the enemy’s lines, and rapid firing
followed.
The emigrants believed that at last Buffalo Bill had returned and was
attacking Red Dick and his villainous crew with the band of Pawnee
braves for whom he had gone in search.
But they almost instantly knew that loud and ringing hello was not
from Indian throats, but that it was the hearty cheer of trained
soldiers; and the next moment a dark and rapidly moving mass was seen
approaching, and the stern order was heard:
“We are friends; open the barrier!”
“La Clyde! Hurrah, hurrah!” went up from the delighted emigrants.
Then into the encampment dashed a score of troopers, with Captain Percy
la Clyde at their head.
Warmly were the young officer and his men welcomed. Having listened to
the plan of defense adopted by Major Conrad, and stationed his troopers
at advantageous positions, the dragoon commander said:
“It is a mere accident I reached you, for after my leaving your train,
day before yesterday, you changed your course to the southward.”
“Yes; that traitor guide, Dick--or, rather, Red Dick, as he is known in
these parts----”
“What! Was your guide the notorious Red Dick? Now I know why he always
seemed to avoid me,” said Captain la Clyde, with surprise.
“Yes, he was Red Dick, the renegade leader of the Dog Soldier Sioux, I
believe.”
“Yes, they made him chief of their tribe, major; but what an escape you
had, for in changing your course he was doubtless leading you into his
hornets’ nest.”
“It is just what he was doing, and would have succeeded, had not my
daughter and Howard Lawrence been captured by a band of regular Sioux
warriors, and rescued by Buffalo Bill, who informed us of the character
of our guide.”
“Major Conrad, you surprise me; Miss Sibyl captured, and also Howard
Lawrence?”
“Yes, captain; they had ridden ahead to look up a camping ground,
and----”
“And were captured by Sioux Indians?”
“Yes; five warriors, and four of them Buffalo Bill killed in rescuing
Lawrence and Sibyl.”
“Strange, indeed; and it was the noted scout who told you of the
character of Red Dick?”
“Yes, he exposed him publicly; and they would have had a knife
encounter in camp, had not Sibyl interfered. Then the scout drove the
guide from the encampment, and an hour after Red Dick returned at the
head of his Dog Soldiers.”
“And what became of the scout, major?”
“He swam the river, and ran the gantlet of the Indian line most
gallantly, that he might seek some friendly Indians and bring them to
our aid.”
“He has certainly served you well. He is always doing noble work, such
as this! But how are the ladies, major?”
“Stout-hearted, as are the men; but come, we will go and see them,
captain.”
Leading the way, Major Conrad conducted the young officer toward the
large ravine running back from the river. There a motley sight met
their gaze, for the women and children were huddled together in the
bottom of the gulch, around several bright fires, and farther down
were closely packed the horses and cattle belonging to the train.
“Why, they are all as snug as bugs in a rug, major,” laughed Captain
la Clyde; and, as the firelight fell full upon him, it displayed
his handsome, graceful form, a little under six feet in height, and
compactly built.
His face was exceedingly youthful, beardless, the features good, the
mouth and dark-blue eyes indicating courage and determination.
Clad in the uniform of a captain of cavalry, and with his brown curling
hair worn long, and a slouch hat shading his face, Captain Percy la
Clyde looked just what he was, a dashing, handsome, daring soldier,
generous to a fault, and ever true in both love and hatred.
The only child of wealthy parents, he had preferred to lead a military
life to one of idleness and dissipation; and, after a successful career
at West Point, had been ordered to the frontier, where he rapidly
ascended the ladder of promotion on account of his courage and skill as
an officer.
Four days before the caravan reached their encampment on the river,
Captain la Clyde had joined them, by order of the commandant at Fort
Hays, to serve as an escort to the emigrants, and a guard until they
were securely settled in their frontier homes.
A most pleasant duty had the young officer found that he was detailed
upon, for he had fallen desperately in love with Sibyl Conrad, and felt
that she was the bright star that was to guard his future destiny.
As he now entered the ravine, he was given a cordial welcome; but a
shade swept over his face, as he beheld Howard Lawrence by the side of
the girl he loved.
Percy la Clyde had watched with jealous eye the regard of his rival
for Sibyl. In spite of the many seeming noble qualities possessed by
Lawrence, and his almost universal popularity, La Clyde could not like
him, and felt for him a distrust he could not overcome.
But then, this might have been on account of jealousy, for jealousy
always exerts an evil influence upon the person of whom it takes
possession. Yet Sibyl greeted the officer now in a friendly way, and so
did Ruth Whitfield, who had always exhibited warm regard for the young
soldier.
After a few words of comfort and hope to those around him, Percy la
Clyde said:
“Well, ladies, we must now leave you, for every man must be at his
post.”
He looked toward Howard Lawrence as he spoke; but that young man smiled
sweetly, and replied:
“So I think, captain; and should the enemy seek to enter this ravine, I
will defend it with my life, for I am stationed here to watch the river
approach.”
“You cannot even see the water, sir, from your present position; so I
would advise that you do a sentinel’s duty, as long as you represent
one.”
So saying, Captain la Clyde turned away, while Howard Lawrence’s face
flushed with anger. Sibyl felt that a storm was brewing, and that she
was innocently the cause; but with a sigh, she consoled herself with
the thought that she could not love everybody that loved her.
Returning to the line of fortifications, Major Conrad and Captain la
Clyde were surprised and startled by the sound of conflict going on in
the enemy’s lines, and for which they could not account, unless the
scout had returned.
After a moment’s attention to the sound, the young officer remarked:
“As I live, they are fighting among themselves--or pretending to, to
put us off our guard!”
Then all was silent once more.
Slowly the moments dragged away, until Major Conrad began to nod with
sleep. Then, feeling anxious about the river front, Percy la Clyde
cautiously crept there and reconnoitered.
At first he believed all quiet and safe, but his quick eye soon caught
sight of a dark mass upon the water. Closely he watched it, and he saw
it slowly moving down upon the point near which he stood.
Bounding into the ravine, he startled Howard Lawrence, who still
remained by the side of Sibyl, with the words:
“Be good enough to request Major Conrad to send me thirty men to this
point; and ask him to create no alarm.”
Howard Lawrence was off at once to obey the order, although he did not
like the tone in which the order was given; still, he felt he had been
negligent of his duty, and wished to repair it all in his power.
Before five minutes had passed, the men arrived, headed by Major Conrad.
As they came up, Captain la Clyde remarked quietly:
“We are to be attacked by water, it seems; but we have greatly the
advantage; so I will only keep my troopers with me, major, and you can
return with the remainder of the men, as the attack will doubtless
be made at more than this point. And, major, as there is no need of
a sentinel here now, perhaps you can find some other duty for Mr.
Lawrence.”
Major Conrad and his men returned to their post, and Captain la Clyde
was about to give the order to fire, when all were startled by the
discharge of the weapons of the Branded Brotherhood, which leveled so
many of the Dog Soldiers to the ground.
“By Heaven, we have friends near, when we little dreamed of it!” La
Clyde exclaimed, when he heard the firing. “Ha, it must be the scout,
who has kept his word. Ready, men; fire!”
At the order of the young officer the troopers poured in a rapid fire
with their repeating rifles. Thus Red Dick and his men found themselves
under two fires, and in dismay they broke and rushed for safety into
the river, as soon as the Indian warrior arrived with the news of the
massacre of their companions.
Unable to account for the turn in their favor, or why, if friends had
come, they did not make themselves known, Captain la Clyde was about
to go outside the fortifications for the purpose of discovery, when he
observed a dark form crawling toward the water.
Springing down the embankment, he seized this man in his powerful arms,
and dragged him back. It was an Indian warrior, with a broken leg and
otherwise wounded.
Speaking the Sioux tongue fluently, the captain soon learned of
him that Ricardo and his Branded Brotherhood were surrounding his
encampment, and the treachery of the outlaw chief toward his red allies
was also revealed.
“Well, it is dog eat dog, that’s certain. Now that we have Ricardo and
his band to fight, we must indeed defend more than our lives.”
And Percy la Clyde’s brow grew dark with dread, for he knew the
desperate courage of the Branded Brotherhood, and the awful fate that
would fall upon Sibyl and the others, if taken.