A WARNING LETTER.
The trail of Red Hatchet was followed at a pace which Lieutenant Kit
Carey hoped would bring him up with the Sioux chief, and then and there
Captain Wallace and the other gallant soldiers of the Seventh would
have been avenged, or another one would have fallen a victim to the
cunning and desperate fugitive.
But Red Hatchet had been bent upon escaping, for the blow he had struck
must be followed up quickly and cruelly. So he rode at a pace that
defied pursuit with the start he had of several miles.
Finding as he came to a ridge that gave him a view a long distance
ahead, that no dust was in sight to mark the presence of the Sioux
chief, Kit Carey determined not to punish his own and his two red
comrades' horses by pressing them so hard, so he drew rein.
He had, in his short interview with Colonel Forsythe, been told
to notify the other commanders of the fight at Wounded Knee, the
treacherous act of the Indians.
So he rode at once for the nearest of his red sentinels' camps, and,
arriving by night, at once dispatched couriers with hastily penciled
reports of the affair, dispatching them to the various commanders who
were tightening the line around the retreat of the hostiles.
There was another red courier sent also on a mission, but not to a
military commander.
His destination was the Bernard ranch, and he bore the following note,
hastily written:
"IN CAMP OF RED SKIN SCOUTS,
"Near Bad Lands, Dec. 29, 1890.
MY DEAR MR. BERNARD:
"I write but a few lines to say that after the surrender of Big Foot's
Band, on Wounded Knee Creek, yesterday, to Colonel Forsythe, the
Indians broke faith, fired on the troops of the Seventh Cavalry, and a
fierce fight followed, resulting in the killing and wounding of many
soldiers and redskins. I regret to say, women and children being among
the latter.
"The instigator of the treacherous act was a Sioux chief, who
professes friendship for you and your family, and he escaped to the
Bad Lands, in spite of my hot pursuit of him.
"That he will strike another blow quickly, I do not doubt, and I
therefore beg of you, by the love you bear your family, to remove them
without a moment's delay, to a place of safety.
"I go from here to visit my line of scouts, and shall then come to my
main force near your ranch, where I hope to find you and yours far
away.
"In haste, and with remembrances to your wife and daughter, believe me.
"Very sincerely yours,
"KIT CAREY,
"Lieutenant of Cavalry, U.S. Army."
Having ordered the Indian soldier who bore this letter to deliver it
with all dispatch, and then go to the main camp of the redskin scouts
and await his coming, Kit Carey, accompanied by two of his men, set off
on his rounds of visiting the other posts.
Tired though he was, and greatly needing rest, he did not spare
himself, but held on his way, determined to visit each post and reach
his main position, near the Bernard ranch, as soon as possible.
He felt that his last appeal to Vance Bernard would move him to a
realization of the danger in remaining longer at his home, and he
hoped to find the place deserted when he next went there.
"That Sioux chief will not delay in striking his blow by capturing the
settler's pretty daughter, I feel certain, and it will be criminal in
Bernard if he should allow her to be taken through his stubbornness,"
mused Kit Carey, as he rode along on his night trail to his posts.
"If I could go into the Bad Lands I could discover just what is going
on there, and I am half tempted to do it. I have my Indian make-up with
me, costume and all, and the temptation to again play the spy is great.
I believe it would get me a captaincy if I did it successfully and with
good results; but it would the more surely get me an obituary notice in
the papers if I was suspected. I'll see what my two red soldiers think
of it."
He called the two Indians alongside of him then, and said:
"Flying Wolf, what do you and Foe Killer think of my going into the
camp of the hostiles?"
The two Indians were delighted with a man who had the pluck to
contemplate such a daring act, but they at once urged against it, as
certain death would be the result of discovery.
This the officer felt confident of, and yet he was so anxious to
discover just what the force in the Bad Lands was, and the intentions
of the hostiles, that against all risks he determined to go, so he said
to the Indians:
"We will seek a hiding-place yonder among the rocks, and I will put on
my costume as a Sioux chief."
They rode toward the place indicated, when suddenly there came a
warning from Flying Wolf, and the three barely had time to seek shelter
when there came in sight a long file of Indian horsemen, and they were
moving toward the settlements.