IN THE SIGNAL TOWER
"Yes, I heard all about it while you were asleep, as Captain Kendall
told you. The men have not yet been informed of the part they have to
perform, but I know that they are all ready."
Thus spoke Cyrus the scout when Guy Preston came rushing into his
quarters to tell him what Colonel Carrington was going to do with
the troops under his command. As he uttered the words, he leaned his
cracker box against the jamb of a window and looked at Guy as if to ask
him what he thought about it.
"If he is my Colonel I say that he was guilty of doing a mean thing,"
said Guy, spitefully. "There I was fast asleep, and he never told me a
thing about it."
"Of course he didn't. A Colonel, whose right it is to command a
thousand men, does not generally look to a Second Lieutenant for
advice. We must have wood, and that is the only way to get it."
"I don't expect him to look to me for advice; but when he is going to
send my whole regiment away from me, it is high time he was telling me
of it."
Cyrus laughed, but made no reply.
"He knew all the time that I wanted a hand in the first fight the
regiment got into, because he has often heard me say so; and then to
go and send them off into the presence of the Sioux--I think he should
have said something to me about it."
"You do your duty faithfully as Second Lieutenant, and when the time
comes for you to get in a fight, you'll go. The Colonel will not keep
you back. You will be safe up there in the signal tower--"
"And suppose the Sioux get whipped?"
"It is your regiment and you will share in the glory; but if the Sioux
are too many for them, and the last one of them gets wiped out, why
you will be safe."
"I see that I can't get any sympathy from you," said Guy in a doleful
tone; whereat Cyrus laughed louder than ever. "I thought when I came
here and told you of it, you would feel for me; but you are as bad as
the rest. What have you done with that letter I gave you?"
"Do you mean Winged Arrow's letter? The Colonel's got it."
"Honor bright?" said Guy, who wondered if Cyrus were not fooling him.
"He does not want that letter now."
"He has got it anyway. Look here, Guy, I will tell you something else,
if you will not speak about it. I am going to try it again."
"Are you going out in the face of the Sioux after the narrow escape you
had?" exclaimed Guy, almost paralyzed by the information. "That letter
is going to save one more prisoner, but it may not save you a second
time."
"I am going to try it; or, rather, I am going to see if I can't get
through their numbers without being caught. Such things have been done,
and I don't see why they cannot be done again."
"But what are you going to do this time? If the Sioux were on the watch
before, they will be doubly so now."
"Not much after that fight comes off. That will throw the Sioux crazy,
and that will be the time to try it, if at all."
"No matter whether we whip them or not?"
"That won't make any difference. If they fail, they will have their
mourning to go through with, and by the time they get through with that
I shall have passed through and be well on my way to Fort Robinson."
"Well, Cyrus, I bade you good-by once before when I never thought to
see you again, but I guess you are gone now," said Guy, advancing and
extending his hand, "and you had better bid me good-by too."
"Oh, you will be safe in that signal tower," said Cyrus, who did not
see the use of so much feeling on Guy's part. "If the Sioux wanted to
capture that tower, they could have taken it long ago. Good-by, but
remember that I will see you again."
"Then Perkins cannot have the letter if you want it," said Guy.
"I think he had better not. The Colonel thinks I ought to have it, and
he will give it to me before I start."
Guy went to his room and there he found his roommates sitting around
doing nothing. They had their weapons close at hand, but made no move
to put them on until they got orders.
"Well, boys, there will not be so many of us here to-night," said Guy,
breaking in upon the silence. "Some of us will leave this room for the
last time."
"You will be all right and tight," said Arthur, "and if we whip the
Sioux you will wish you had been along."
"Do any of you want to change places with me?" asked Guy, for he was
not at all pleased with the arrangement. "I will ask the Colonel----"
"You need not ask him anything on my account," said Arthur quickly. "I
would not go up in that signal tower for all the money there is in the
world. Our boys are going to fight, and I am going to fight too. There.
That lets you out. Good-by."
"The Colonel desires to see you, sir," said an Orderly, stepping up and
saluting.
Guy jumped up, put on his weapons, and turned to take leave of his
roommates, all of whom came forward to shake him by the hand, but he
did not see a sign of wavering on the part of any of them. Their faces
were white, but there was a determined look about their features which
showed that they fully comprehended the danger of their situation and
were ready to take the consequences.
"Good morning, Mr. Preston," said the Colonel, when he entered the
quarters and found him alone there with Colonel Fetterman. "I have put
you in command of the signal tower to-day."
"So I have understood, sir," said Guy. "But don't you think----"
"I have thought the matter all over and I have resolved upon my
course," replied the commanding officer, turning almost fiercely upon
Guy. "I want to see if you understand the signals."
"Yes, sir; I know them by heart," returned Guy, who saw that it would
be of no use to ask the Colonel to change that order.
"Very well. You are to keep a close watch on the party that goes out to
protect the wagons, and you will be careful to make the same signals to
them that I shall make to you."
"Very good, sir. I understand."
"Then my business with you is done. I see that the squad is getting
ready," said the Colonel, as the blast of a bugle echoed through the
Fort. "You will find three men out there, with rations, and you will
stand watch while you are there. That's all."
Guy made all haste to get out of the room, for he did not want to be
within reach of the Colonel's frown any longer than he could help,
and furthermore he was anxious to see what preparations had been made
for the party that was to go after the wood. The whole Fort was in
commotion, but everything was done in regular order. Those of the
soldiers who had nothing to do were standing in little groups and
watching their comrades whom they never expected to see again; forty
men were filing through the gate, mounted on their horses and forming
on the parade ground under command of Captain Kendall; three men, who
were evidently waiting for somebody, were there on foot with their
haversacks slung over their shoulders; and the yells outside the
stockade announced that the teamsters were busily hitching up their
mules. Guy saw all this at a glance, and then bent his steps toward the
three men who were standing there waiting for orders.
"Here's your party, Mr. Preston," said the Adjutant. "You will go out
and relieve the men in the signal tower. I suppose the Colonel gave you
orders before you left?"
"Yes, sir, what little he had to give," answered Guy. "I have never
been in the tower before, but I think I know what is required of me."
The Adjutant bowed and went away, and Guy, whose men were standing at
parade rest, had nothing to do but to wait until the escort was ready
to march. It was quickly done, and when he saw the Captain mount his
horse and turn to salute the Colonel, Guy ordered his men through the
gate to catch one of the wagons on which he intended to get a ride out
to the signal tower. When the Captain went by with his Company, he
returned Guy's salute and responded, "Thank you," to his expressions of
good luck and a safe return to the Fort with the wagon train.
"I am afraid, sir, that it won't be such good luck with him after all,"
said one of his men as the Captain rode on. "It does not seem as
though there were any Sioux around here, does it, sir?"
"No," replied Guy. "If that Red Cloud were only out of the way, what a
fine country this would be to live in. Such splendid hunting as there
is to be had here I never saw before. You can see prairie chickens
every day from the Fort."
There was no danger to be feared until they got to the signal tower,
but none of the men seemed to enjoy the trip, because they knew that
the Sioux were watching them from every hilltop within range of their
vision. The Captain again saluted when they reached the tower, and
Guy and his men jumped off the wagon to be admitted by the Second
Lieutenant who was in command there.
"Halloo, Guy," said he, and he was glad to see that his relief had
come. "Now you can have the fun of sitting here for twenty-four hours,
with nothing but the swells to look at. Say," he added in a lower tone,
"Who was that officer who went out hunting day before yesterday? I see
he had a Sioux to show him the way back. If I didn't see you here safe
and sound I should think it was you. His horse resembled yours."
"Well, sir, it was I, and no mistake," said Guy. "That Sioux came to
warn me to keep out of the way of an approaching massacre which I think
is going to happen now in less than two hours."
"Aw! Get out," exclaimed the Second Lieutenant, throwing back his head
and laughing immoderately. "That Sioux was a friend of yours, was he
not?"
"I have not time to explain matters to you now, for you had better go
inside the Fort as soon as you can. He gave me a letter--"
"Aw! Get out," said the Lieutenant again. "You have been listening to
some of Cyrus's stories, and he has made you believe that you have some
sort of medicine that will protect you from their bullets. Come on, all
my men, and we will go to the Fort while you are thinking about it. It
may be that we will find some Sioux who will give us a letter--"
Guy and his men were all inside the tower by this time, and they closed
the heavy door and bolted it, thus shutting off what else the officer
was going to say in regard to that letter. They heard his laugh ringing
on the outside, and through the loopholes saw him march away toward the
Fort.
"Did that Sioux really give you a letter, sir?" asked one of his men,
as they climbed the rude stairway to reach the top. "Who was that
letter directed to?"
"I have not time to go into all the particulars now," said Guy, as he
leaned on the walls on the top of the tower and looked after the wagon
train and its escort. "You will hear all about it when you get back to
the Fort. Is that flag all ready? Lay aside your guns, but have them
handy, and keep a close watch on that train."
As Guy had never been in the tower before, he looked around him with no
little curiosity. The ridge leading from the Fort to where good timber
was to be found was in plain sight, and every move the wagon train made
could be distinctly seen. The Fort stood considerably lower than this
tower, but there were several mountain howitzers in the Fort which had
been trained on this ridge. The gunners, however, could not shell the
ravines on each side of it with any accuracy, and Guy saw at once, with
a soldier's eye, that about a mile beyond them was a splendid place
for an ambush. His heart fell when he noticed it, but he did not say
anything to his men about it.
"The Sioux have got the better of us or I shall miss my guess," said
Guy, hauling his binoculars from its case and settling himself on a log
which had been cut off sufficient to serve for a seat. "If they make
their attack from one of those ravines, we cannot see it until we are
right on to it, and they will clean us out as sure as shooting."
Having observed the train and seen that it was all right so far, Guy
began an examination of the tower to see what chances he had for
making a successful resistance in case he were assaulted. He was more
than satisfied with it. The tower was built of green logs which could
not be set on fire by the hostiles at any reasonable distance, and was
well supplied with loopholes, so that a company of determined men could
hold their own until assistance could reach them from the Fort. While
he was thus engaged one of his men called his attention to a faint
sound which he heard coming from the further end of the ridge.
"It sounded to me like a war whoop, sir," said he. "It could not be
that. Yes, sir, that is what it is."
In an instant Guy Preston was on his feet with his glass pointed toward
the wagon train, and saw something that he hoped he never would see
again--a hundred Indians, all well mounted and armed, were making a
charge on the wagon train's escort. Where they came from was a mystery,
but they were there, and the faint yells which struck his ears now and
then showed that they were out there for no good purpose.
"Where's that flag," he exclaimed, "give it to me, quick!"
In less time than it takes to tell it, Guy had grasped the emblem and
was waving to the watching sentries on the palisades what was going on
a mile from them, but which was shut out from their view by the ridge:--
"About one hundred Indians going to attack the train."
Then he threw the flag down and waited with all the fortitude he could
command for some response to the signal. A moment afterward it came.
One of the mountain howitzers belched forth its contents, the shell
whizzed by so close to them that it seemed as if they could touch it,
and exploded in the air right in line for the Sioux, but a good way
above them. Another and another followed, but their firing was entirely
too wild to do any damage. Guy was on nettles.
"They will never hit the Indians at that rate," he exclaimed. "Why
don't they shoot lower?"
All the shells which came from the howitzers followed the same course,
and then Guy, forgetting that he was an inferior and in no condition to
offer advice, seized the flag again and signaled once more to the Fort.
"You are firing entirely too high. Shoot closer to the ground."
Whatever the commanding officer thought of his advice Guy never knew,
but he thought it a good plan to follow these instructions. The next
shell came lower and the next one lower yet, and then Guy raised the
flag once more.
"That is all right. You stand a chance of hitting them now."
"Oh, don't I wish that I was down there with my Winchester!" said Guy,
so excited that he could scarcely stand still. "By the way, do any of
you see Winged Arrow?"
"Don't know him, sir," said all the men at once.
"That is so; you did not see him, did you? This fellow wears a buckskin
shirt and rides a small sorrel horse----"
"Every fellow down there is stripped to the waist," said one.
"And they all ride small sorrel horses," said another.
"Well, I guess he is there," said Guy under his breath. "I hope he
will come off scot-free. But he said that the Sioux could raise three
thousand men. This doesn't look like it."
"There is something going on in the Fort, sir," said one of the men
after a little pause. "It looks to me as if they were going to send out
re-enforcements."
These words brought Guy back to earth again. If the Colonel was about
to send men to help the escort, he must send his own Company. The young
officer went off into a state of excitement again.