RE-ENFORCEMENTS ARRIVE
For a week after the massacre, Guy Preston and all the other officers
and men of the Fort acted as if they were in a dream. The orders were
given in a low tone of voice, the men responded to them with a silent
touch of their caps, for every one seemed to think that it would not
be long before they would be laid out awaiting burial, or be doomed
to a worse fate in the Sioux camp. Guy was there during the burial of
the men--he was one of twenty soldiers who fired the shots over their
graves--and then he braced up, dashed the tears from his eyes, and
tried to do his duty as he did before. He had ten men who had been
detailed for various other duties when the Company was ordered out, and
he was the sole officer in command of them.
Guy was not long in missing his old friend Cyrus, whose fate no one
knew. Did he get through in safety with his dispatches, or was he
captured by the Sioux who had taken revenge upon him for the braves
they had lost during the massacre? One morning, just after Guy had come
off duty during the night, the Colonel sent for him, but it was not to
reprimand him. He saw that as soon as he got into his room. The Colonel
had a paper in his hand which he handed to Guy.
"There is your medicine," said he. "Cyrus wanted me to give it to you
under the impression that you might some day fall into the power of
those thievish rascals outside."
"Why--why did not Cyrus take it with him, sir?" stammered Guy.
"No; he said the war was not yet over, and you might some day need it.
You do not intend to be a prisoner in the hands of those fellows, do
you?"
"No, sir," said Guy hastily. "They kill everybody who falls a captive
to them. And what is the reason Cyrus would not take it with him, sir?
I am afraid he----"
"Well, go on," said the Colonel, after waiting a moment or two for Guy
to say what he was afraid of, "Do you think he has been captured?"
"I think he would have been safer, if he had taken this letter with
him, sir," replied the young officer.
"Yes; but you know it has saved one civilian and the next must be a
soldier."
"That is so, sir. I will put it right there among the little money I
have left, and I hope it may do me some good, if I chance to fall into
their power. Don't you think it is about time to hear from Cyrus, sir?"
"I do; but if he has met with the usual luck that some of our scouts
do, it may be another week before we get news of him."
The Colonel picked up some papers which were lying near him on the
desk, thus intimating that their interview was at an end; but there was
one more question that Guy wanted to have answered before he left.
"Do you think he has got through in safety, sir?" said he.
"That is hard to tell," replied the Colonel slowly. "Cyrus is a brave
man, and if he fails I don't know what we shall do. That's all, Guy."
"Cyrus has failed," said Guy to himself, as he put on his cap and left
the room, "I could see that by the way the Colonel looked. By George! I
wonder what will be the next move the Sioux will make? Well, if worse
comes to worst I will have to go. I wish I could see my mother once
before my time comes."
Guy stopped after he passed the Orderly and dashed some tears from his
eyes. He was the commander of a Company now, and it would look very
unseemly for him to be found that way by any of his men. He took his
way to his room, that room which he occupied all by himself now, and
then the tears came forth afresh, until Guy began to be ashamed of
his conduct. He rolled over and tried to catch the slumber he so much
needed, but when the Orderly came to call him to dinner he was wide
awake.
But the Colonel was wrong in his predictions. Three days passed and
then a horseman was seen rapidly approaching the Fort. The sentry
called the corporal of the guard, and that officer did not stay beside
him for more than a moment when he shouted:--
"There comes Cyrus!"
Guy was off duty then, and he lost no time in climbing up beside the
sentry. The horseman was still so far away that they could not see
his face, but the way he waved his hat around his head and used it to
urge his horse to greater speed proclaimed who the newcomer was. The
Colonel was out by that time, and Guy turned to him with a face that
was beaming over with pleasure.
"It is Cyrus, sure enough, sir!" he exclaimed, "Re-enforcements are not
far off."
In a quarter of an hour the horseman, mounted on a nag that was almost
tired out, dashed through all the men assembled at the gate, and
presently was shaking hands with everybody that could get around him.
It was the scout sure enough, and judging by the grin that was on his
face he was glad to get back.
"Halloo, Guy," he shouted. "I haven't time to speak to you all now,
only to grasp your hands and say that I am overjoyed to see you all
above ground. Help is coming. Where's the Colonel?"
So Cyrus got through, after all. The story he told after he had
reported to the Colonel did not amount to much in passing through his
hands. He had not seen a hostile Indian from the time he left Fort
Phil Kearney until his journey was safely accomplished. The pow-wow
the Sioux held on the night of the massacre "threw them all crazy," as
Cyrus had predicted, and there was not one to dispute his attempt to
reach Fort Robinson.
"The General was awful uneasy about us, because he did not hear
anything," said the scout, in conclusion, "and he was on the point of
sending three hundred men to see about it; and I tell you he packed
them off in a hurry as soon as I got there."
"Bully for the three hundred men," said Guy. "Are they coming now
behind you?"
"Yes, sir. They are coming as fast as they can. We have got men enough
now to get that village out of there and make them take to the hills
where they belong. Well, Guy, the Sioux have not scalped you yet. Have
you been out after any more sage hens?"
"No, sir, and I don't think I shall go any more until we get the Sioux
out of there. Cyrus, you must have had a terrible time of it."
"Oh, nothing to speak of. I went out on purpose to get to Fort
Robinson, and I went. I wonder if you have anything to eat in the
house? We have been in such haste to get here that we did not stop to
cook any breakfast."
Guy took Cyrus under his charge and conducted him into the mess room,
intending to hear more of his story when he got him by himself; but
before he could ask him to go on with it, a cheering arose out by the
gate and Cyrus was left to finish his breakfast alone. There they were,
three hundred infantrymen, who were moving with weary steps as if it
was all they could do to drag one foot after the other--for they had
made a forced march since they left Fort Robinson--but the way the
garrison greeted them showed them that their trouble was over. Colonel
Smith was there, vigorously shaking hands with Colonel Carrington, and
when the two were through welcoming each other, they went into the
commander's headquarters. The troops assembled on the parade ground,
and when they had broken ranks, Guy speedily hunted up the Second
Lieutenants, one of whom he found to his astonishment to be an old
schoolmate of his. They had been at West Point together, had graduated
at the same time, one being ordered to the Cavalry and the other to the
Infantry. It took some little time for Guy to recognize Fred Bolton in
this muddy, travel-stained boy, but when he saw the smile that beamed
upon his face, and his extended hand, the old schoolboy came back to
him, and catching Fred around the waist he fairly raised him from the
ground.
"Fred, old boy, how are you?" he exclaimed, as he swung him around once
or twice before he put him on the ground again.
"Say," replied Fred, gently untangling himself from Guy's detaining
hands. "Have you an apple about you?"
"An apple?" echoed Guy, not understanding the question.
"Or peanuts; anything that will do to eat. I am so hungry that I can
smell the bacon in the storehouse clear out here."
"Why, come in," said Guy. "The Sioux have kept us on pretty short
rations, but I guess I can give you bacon enough to satisfy you."
Guy was introduced to the other Second Lieutenants as they were going
to the mess room, and the first thing the boys asked him about was the
massacre.
"Did they whoop and yell as the storybooks tell about?" said one of the
newcomers. "Tell us all about it, please. We have never seen an Indian
fight and we want to know what is in store for us."
"Don't ask me about it," said Guy.
"But you must have seen some of it, and we should like to know how it
looked," insisted Fred. "What is the reason you were not in it? Was not
your Company ordered out?"
Guy saw that there was no chance for him to plead ignorance, and while
the boys were waiting for their bacon and hard-tack he went into the
particulars of the fight, getting through with them as soon as he
possibly could. The Second Lieutenants must have seen how badly he felt
about it, and did not ask him any more questions; but when he came to
tell of Winged Arrow's medicine, they looked incredulous. They were too
polite to interrupt him, but exchanged significant glances with one
another as if to ask what their companions thought about it.
"I don't ask you to believe my word, but here is the evidence," said
Guy, producing his pocketbook. "That letter has saved the life of one
scout, and if I fall into their hands while I have that letter about
me, I shall expect that it will save my own."
Of course there was much to talk about and a good deal of time taken
to tell it, for the supports were not expected to go on duty that
day. They were given time to rest after their long, fatiguing march,
and they made the most of it. At dress parade the men appeared in
fine order, and then they received notice of what they were to do on
the following day. Their force was strong enough now to assume the
offensive, and to-morrow morning a battalion of three hundred men would
start out to break up that Sioux village and, as Cyrus had said, "drive
them into the hills where they belonged." Colonel Smith was to be in
charge of the troops, with Major Powell second in command. There was
one thing that made Guy grow an inch taller when the order was read:
his small company of men were not to be left out after all. There were
a hundred cavalry to go with the troops, to serve as eyes for them, and
Guy and his company were to make part of them.
"I hope the Colonel will lead us across that battlefield," said Fred,
as they returned to their quarters.
"Oh, he will," said Guy. "But we will not see anything--nothing but the
spot where brave men offered up their lives to try and 'pacify' those
Sioux. We will see the signal tower too. I hope that when you go there
to take charge of it, you will see a better time than I did."
"Well, wait until a history of this thing gets to Washington, and we
will see help coming out here enough to annihilate those Sioux. The
General was sorely put out about it, and he sent a dispatch that will
make those fellows open their eyes."
Morning came at length, and with it came the men who were to compose
the expedition, forming on the parade ground in view of all the
officers. There was one thing about it that Guy always disliked to
see, and that was their ammunition and provision train. Before the
troops could go into a fight with the Indians, they would be obliged
to take care of that train, because when that was lost, everything
they had was lost. The hostiles would make an attack upon that train
first, paying no attention to the other men, and if they could stampede
that, their-success was assured. The Indians did not believe in taking
any train with them. All the ammunition and food they needed during
their raids were carried on their horses, and if they were worsted in
the fight they got out of the way with wonderful celerity and their
ammunition and food went with them.
Fred and the other newcomers who had arrived with the re-enforcements
the day before gazed with interest at the picket tower, saw that the
soldiers who had come to relieve them took the place of the men who
had stayed there all night, and then went on to the battlefield. As
Guy had said they found nothing there, not even a bayonet with which
the soldiers had endeavored to defend themselves, for the Sioux had
searched the field thoroughly and everything had disappeared.
"Here's where Captain Brown and three others defended themselves," said
Major Powell, drawing Colonel Smith's attention to a place in the rocks
where the grass was all trampled down and empty cartridge shells were
scattered all about. "They must have made sure play for some of those
fiends who came at them. Captain Brown killed himself right here."
It was a gloomy place, the battlefield that but a short time before
had resounded with the war cry of the fierce Sioux and the rattle of
carbines from the soldiers, and Guy was glad when they left it behind.
Something kept telling him that he was going to see trouble before
he came back, but he banished all such thoughts and had no place for
them. His work lay in the expedition before him, and to that he gave
the whole of his attention. In a short time the memory of the scene
through which he had passed left him, and he was ready to join in with
what the others had to propose, so long as it did not attract the
attention of their commanding officer, Major Powell. So it is with
soldiers the world over. A disastrous battle, during which so many of
their old friends, perhaps their own tentmates, have gone to their long
home, will depress their spirits for a time, and they welcome anything,
no matter how trivial it is, that will draw their thoughts away to
other matters and make them soldiers as they were before.
In due time they reached the site whereon the Sioux village had stood
while they were engaged in the massacre, and where everything denoted
that they had abandoned it with the utmost haste. Plunder of every sort
which goes to make up the wealth of the Indian was scattered about, and
beside the lodge poles, for the tents were gone, were the remains of
half a dozen Indian ponies that had been sacrificed to go with their
owners to the Happy Hunting Grounds.
"I don't understand the meaning of that," said Fred Bolton. "Did they
kill their ponies on purpose?"
"Certainly," said Guy. "The Indian ponies have spirits as well as their
masters; and when one is killed and his scalp not removed----"
"Do their scalps have anything to do with it?"
"Of course they do. If you scalp an Indian, his body becomes so much
carrion which is not worthy of a burial; but if his friends can save
the Indian without letting him fall into our hands, he is given all the
rites that an Indian can think of. These ponies will go with him to the
spirit land, and if we had time to hunt up the places where the owners
are buried, we would find there their rifles, matches, scalping knives,
and every other thing they need to go right to work."
Guy had many things to tell the newcomers, and during the two weeks
that the expedition was out he had plenty of time around his camp fire
at night to tell them all he knew about the hostile Indians. What he
did not know the guides took up, and if the new men did not learn
something about the Sioux before they got through, it was their own
fault. They generally told some funny stories, but a wink from Guy told
how much of them they had better believe.