WHAT WINGED ARROW SAW
Winged Arrow had not been at his breakfast long before he was startled
by a noise and confusion in the camp outside. Any little bustle is
enough to excite a feeling of alarm in an Indian, and coming as it
did upon the quiet that reigned among the lodges, Winged Arrow was
on his feet and out of his tepee in an instant. He turned toward the
man on the highest point of the swell who had sat there with his
blanket around him, and saw that he was on his feet and waving that
blanket furiously aloft to attract the attention of the people in the
village. He was repeating the signals that the other Indians had made
to him--that there was something going on in the Fort. There could be
but one explanation of his signals: The soldiers were starting a wagon
train and were coming out to get wood. As he was about to turn into his
tepee again, he met Reuben hurrying up.
"Do you see that?" said he.
"Yes, I see it," replied Winged Arrow. "Now remember that every soldier
in that squad has some medicine with him that our bullets cannot
penetrate. When you come back, you don't want to say to yourself:
'There is one fellow that I have wiped out.'"
The boys went into their tepee only to re-appear again almost
immediately. A spectator would have had to look more than once before
recognizing them. They were stripped from the waist up, had bonnets on
their heads, and nothing in their hands but their rifles. Neither of
them carried a knife, for they did not believe in mutilating bodies
that fell into their hands. Each carried a belt of cartridges which was
slung around his waist. While they were going to get their horses, they
heard a whoop at the lower end of the village, and the next moment Red
Cloud dashed by, mounted on a snow-white pony, stripped to the waist,
as all his men were, and hideously painted, "making the picture the
very incarnation of exultant war."
"Come, come," he cried in his native tongue, "Come to the ambush and
then to victory."
Red Cloud was right in his element now. He was war all over. He slung
his rifle, his only weapon, around his head with frantic gestures and
yelled so loudly that he drowned every other shout that was sent up by
his triumphant warriors; for the Sioux looked upon their victory as
certain. He was a man who would have been picked out of all that throng
as a leader. He was not an hereditary chieftain, as we have explained,
but his chance had come for raising the war cry over those chiefs
who had signed the lease for that road. It just suited the turbulent
element of his tribe, and those who did not believe in his way could
just step aside and leave them the glory. But that did not suit the
old chiefs who were anxious to retain their authority, and they soon
found that they must acknowledge Red Cloud as their master, or be left
alone with nobody to obey their orders. And thus it happened that some
chiefs, some even who were friendly to the whites, joined his standard
and were as fierce for battle as Red Cloud.
It did not take Red Cloud's yells long to raise the fighting men of his
tribe, and when he saw so many men at his disposal, he turned and led
the way across the open prairie toward the Fort. There were a thousand
of them all armed to the teeth. All were silent and not a shout was
uttered, however much they might have felt inclined to let the soldiers
know that they were coming. Some were engaged in tying feathers and
ribbons in their horses' manes and tails; others put on their bonnets;
and still others were busy in anointing themselves with oil and grease
to make them more agile in their movements. The women gathered upon the
outskirts of the village and sent up wails over the prospective death
of husbands and lovers, who were going forth to battle.
On reaching the ravine out of sight of the Fort, the very place where
Colonel Carrington was afraid that an ambush might be formed for his
troops, the most of the warriors rushed into it, while the others were
sent off to annoy the cutters who were by this time at work upon the
wood pile. The rest stayed in the ravine, out of sight, to be ready
to assault the re-enforcements when they came up. This was the time
when Guy Preston sent his first signal to the Fort and it resulted
in Colonel Fetterman and his hundred men coming out to help the wood
cutters. We may say before we go further, that Colonel Carrington
did not believe that there was so large a village as his scouts had
reported to him. Red Cloud had been so sly about his movements, making
his attacks with smaller bodies of men on purpose to draw the soldiers
out, and the Colonel thought that with a hundred men, all experienced
Indian fighters, he would be able to hold his own with them; and that
was just where he made his mistake.
When the braves drew up in the ravine, Winged Arrow and Reuben were
with them. They clutched their rifles with a firm hold, as if they were
impatient to be in action, and all the while Winged Arrow was wondering
if that fellow to whom he gave his letter were there as an escort
to the wood cutters, or had he taken the young savage's advice and
remained in the Fort.
Red Cloud's orders to the warriors who went to attack the wood cutters
were not to make a good fight, but to hang around and worry the cutters
so that they could not do their work. Winged Arrow heard them yelling
as they galloped up and down in obedience to these orders, and he knew,
too, when the troops charged them, and when they were retreating. It
kept on in this way for half an hour; then the Indian who had been
sent to maintain a close watch on the Fort and tell them when to look
for the re-enforcements, came down the hill in great haste, swinging
his blanket around his head as he came. The re-enforcements had come,
a whole cloud of them were flocking out of the Fort, and soon they
would be close onto them. Now all was excitement in the ravine, and
the braves leaned forward and grasped their weapons, but not a yell
was uttered. Colonel Fetterman and his troops came on; the savages
heard their charging shout, and the body of warriors who for the last
half hour had kept up a bogus attack on the wood cutters, evidently
surprised at so large a force coming out, retreated into the ambuscade.
That was what the Sioux were waiting for.
"Come to victory!" shouted Red Cloud.
What happened next Winged Arrow could not have told; it was the first
fight he had ever been in, and it was his resolve that he would never
be in another. The Sioux divided right and left as they went out; he
heard the rattle of firearms and saw the smoke fill the air, and all
the while he was circling around close at the heels of a big warrior
who was shouting as if he were going wild, and his rifle spoke as often
as he could push in the cartridges. He did not know where the bullets
went and he did not care. He aimed high, and was certain that he did
not hit anybody.
At the end of half an hour it was all over. A succession of whoops and
yells from one section of the battlefield told him that the fighting
was done, and he drew rein upon his wearied horse and waited until the
smoke had cleared away, so he could see what the warriors had done.
Of the men who came out with Colonel Fetterman, not one remained. The
field, as far as he could see it from the smoke that settled over it,
was covered with men in blue uniforms and horses which were killed
while doing their utmost to take their riders to a place of safety.
Winged Arrow took no part in searching for plunder which commenced
immediately. He rode over the field, taking care that his horse did not
step upon any of the dead men, looking in vain for Guy Preston, for
of course he did not know that Guy, securely sheltered by the picket
tower, had seen almost as much of the fight as he had himself.
At last the wood cutters train came up the hill bound for the Fort. Red
Cloud was entirely satisfied with what he had done, or the braves did
not want to face the leaden bullets in the soldiers' rifles, for they
did not make any serious attempt to capture the wagons. He lost a few
men in charges he made upon it, and then allowed it to go on in peace.
Winged Arrow saw before he had surveyed the whole battlefield that the
Sioux had not escaped unharmed. Although the braves moved at a headlong
gallop, trusting to their speed to escape any balls that might be sent
after them, some of them went into that fight for the last time. Here
and there, scattered about among the blue coats, was a Sioux warrior,
with all his war paint yet upon him, whose medicine had not been strong
enough to keep off some soldier's bullets, and he was taken up and
carried to the village, in order to save the scalp upon his head. If
that were removed, his relatives would not go to the trouble of burying
him.
"Do you find that fellow here?" asked Reuben, riding up at this moment.
"No; he is in the Fort," said Winged Arrow. "I think that letter did
him some good."
The two friends stayed by each other while the plundering was going on,
and their hearts grew sick when they saw the mutilations which some of
the warriors practiced upon the dead bodies of the soldiers. At length
the lookout (for the Indians always have them when they are engaged in
a massacre), told them that still another squad of re-enforcements was
leaving the Fort, a large squad it was too, fully equal to the one they
had whipped, and in an instant all was confusion again. The Indians
were getting ready to retreat, and as soon as Major Powell's troops
appeared above the summit of the swell upon which stood the picket
tower, they took a few shots at him by way of farewell, and speedily
went out of sight. Not a single prisoner had been taken by the Indians.
To quote from one of the chiefs, who afterward told the story to one of
our soldiers, "the Sioux were too mad." They killed every one they came
to, hoping that the whites would get weary of trying to open the road
and that they would abandon the Fort in disgust.
And this was the way that John Turner and Reuben Robinson behaved in
every fight in which they were engaged. They always made two of the
attacking party, and whooped and yelled as loud as anybody, and always
took their chances of death with the others; but every bullet they
fired went wild, and they never had to say when they returned to camp,
"There was one fellow that I wiped out." They could not forget the
kindness and favors they had experienced at the hands of the whites.
While the troops under Major Powell had passed the picket tower and
were hesitating whether or not to go down to the battlefield and run
the risk of bringing off the dead, Guy and Amos were seated on the
steps, while the latter's arm was thrown around him protectingly, and
Amos was relating the story of the massacre.
"You have seen more of it than I did, for you were up here where you
had a good view," said Amos. "But the Colonel thought I had better come
and tell you that the Fort was keeping watch over you."
"I am grateful to know that," said Guy between his sobs. "I did the
best I could."
"Of course you did, and the Colonel appreciates it; but the only thing
you are sorry for is that you asked for help when nobody told you to.
Don't let that worry you. The Colonel will not say a word to you about
it."
"If you please, sir," said the soldier, who had been left on the top of
the tower to watch Major Powell's movements, "The Major has left the
ridge."
Guy and Amos jumped to their feet and went up to the top, and a
signal to that effect was at once sent to the Fort. No answer came
in response to it, and the young officers became aware that it was
all right. For two hours they turned their glasses first toward the
swells to see that the Sioux did not come back to assault them, and
then toward the soldiers who were tenderly gathering up the dead, but
nothing occurred that was worthy of note. All the soldiers obtained
were a hundred dead bodies, but not a single thing in the way of arms
or ammunition. Everything had gone with the retreating Sioux. They
came along on their way to the Fort after a while, and seeing that
Guy was watching them with interest, Major Powell sent an officer to
communicate with him.
"All are gone," said he, returning Guy's salute. "Did you see it?"
"I saw some of it," said Guy with a shudder. "I don't want to speak of
it. I suppose I am the only officer left in our Company."
"It looks that way to me. You don't want to go to sleep at all
to-night, for the Sioux may be down on you."
When the officer moved away, Amos decided that he would go back to the
Fort also, and thus Guy was left alone with his three soldiers for
company. He sat down on his block with his head resting on his hands,
and in that way he remained almost all night.