“Ah,” she continued, “perhaps one day you will be his father.”
I thought then, bitter fool that I was, that it was sort of a leading question. I thought that she had grown tired of a single life and wanted to shift some of the burdens of existence onto the shoulders of a second husband. That thought I carried away with me like a shadow. But when I started out with our men, I forgot other troubles. I forgot Zintcallasappa and Morris and my father, and even the blue eyes of Mary Kearney shone dim and far away.
There were nine hundred and forty-six braves, all told. Each carried a rifle in excellent condition, and each man could use his gun at least as well as the average white infantryman. Each had a strong wide-bladed hatchet slung on the saddle, also some dried buffalo meat, and some parched corn. We traveled with over a thousand horses herded behind us by some of the older of the Indian boys, with Sitting Wolf in charge of the entire party. In this fashion we pressed ahead. I kept a party of thirty men on fast horses in the van a whole day’s march. I had out three other parties, two far away on the flanks, and another body well to the rear. So, with four feelers far extended to take the first news of danger, we crawled across the prairies.
Standing Bear was much concerned because I had mounted the men on the worst horses and left the best to be herded behind us, but I kept my reasons for mat maneuver to myself. A little mystery never does any harm when one is handling Indians. Though I was not quite twenty-two, I had learned to know the Indians as well as most men.
We crossed a vast stretch of the plains in a three weeks’ march before word came in that a party of two hundred Pawnees was paralleling our advance on the right, keeping a good distance away. Standing Bear was for rushing at them at once, but I was in a quandary. I wanted to flesh my pack, so to speak, before the real shock of battle against Bald Eagle, but I did not know how to get at the Pawnees. They were out there as a strong observation party, feeding information about our movements to Bald Eagle who, somewhere on the bosom of the prairie, waited with his organized force to fall upon us. How to come near them, either by night or day, I could not tell. It is impossible for a considerable body of horsemen to move in any silence. There is always a certain amount of snorting and squealing from the horses, especially from wild Indian ponies, and one snort would be enough to alarm the Pawnee scouts.
Finally I made up my mind I must make some sort of an effort because the whole body of my Sioux was growing restless. I picked out three hundred men, took Three Buck Elk along as a second in command, and, after dark on a black, moonless night, we cut across the prairie. The Pawnees, it was said, were about twenty miles from us, keeping small bodies, of course, constantly flung in our direction. I made a forced march of five miles straight to the rear, and then we rode straight across the prairies for three hours at a stiff pace. In that time I felt that we must have covered a full twenty-five miles. Whereas the Pawnees expected us to be on the south, I hoped that we had marched around them and now lay about five miles north of them and a little more to the east.
Here I dismounted the entire body. I ordered them to wrap their rifles so that the steel might not strike against steel. We left fifty men to watch the horses. Then we started southeast. I kept two small parties of young braves scattered ahead of my main body to bring in intelligence, and at the end of two hours three messengers came back to state that they had seen the Pawnee encampment plainly under the stars.
How my heart leaped then. If God were willing, I was ready to do a thing now that would make the first black mark on the Pawnee record since Bald Eagle had taken command of their wars. If they kept many sentinels close to their camp, we had small chance of surprising them, but I felt that they would be more apt to send out their scouts to a considerable distance toward the south to guard against a surprise from that direction. And that was exactly what they had done.
When we came in view of them, we could make them out only dimly by the starlight, but here and there in the faintly silhouetted mass there were red eyes where the last embers of their small campfires were dying slowly. At least there was enough light for our purposes. I divided the men into three bodies of about eighty each. I sent them upon all three sides of the camp except the south, and I ordered them to wait until a gun was discharged. Not a man was to advance until firing was opened by that signal. My idea was that the southerly direction would be the last toward which they would flee.
With the blood thundering in my temples almost as much as though Bald Eagle himself were among those huddled shadows, I watched my men deploy. How silently they worked themselves along the ground, for here was a stroke of war they could perfectly execute. Only they would have preferred to follow their instincts and rush at once upon the sleepers.
Still, I kept them waiting while the night died and the day began to be born. I was breathless. Every moment now increased our chances of shooting straight, for the day was coming swiftly, and still not so much as a whisper from my waiting Sioux. Then a brave beside me touched my shoulder. Against the southern horizon I made out a dozen forms of horsemen swiftly approaching - scouts from the Pawnee advance parties to report what they had seen - perhaps to report that a large body of the Sioux were away and on mischief bent. There was no use waiting longer. I drew my revolver and fired it in the air.
That my lessons had not been given in vain I learned by the answering roar. Every Sioux, during the wait, had chosen a target and had been nursing his aim upon it. The answer to my shot was one instantaneous rush of fire from three sides of the circle, and the frightened shouts as the Pawnees wakened to find death in their midst were mingled with the death-scream of a score of warriors.
There was a brief interval of silence from my lines as the men, lying still, reloaded. The Pawnee camp was a scene of the wildest confusion, but, before they could surge away to their horses, the second volley crashed among them. The effect was terrible. My Sioux had before them standing targets, huddled in a thick mass and at point-blank range. I was too excited to handle my own gun. I merely stood up and watched the shock of the second volley sweep down what seemed to me half of the Pawnees.
Now they were at their horses, but right into the face of my line they stormed off to the north. It was a trying moment to me. I knew that my Sioux were by no means sure of themselves on foot. I had sworn to them a thousand times that no cavalry could ride down fast-firing infantry, but I could not tell how my assurances would weigh with them. So, holding my breath with a groan, I watched and waited. On went those rushing Pawnees, screaming like frightened demons, but the Dakotas lay still and finished the rapid reloading. Then up went their guns into a flashing line. The fire spurted in jets and broad masses. The Pawnee charge staggered, swayed, and then rushed away to the south. Ah, to have had only fifty horsemen to throw on their flank on the rear at that moment. How I cursed the stupidity that had kept me from bringing up even a handful of mounted men and keeping them in the distance until the moment when the fighting began. However, enough was done. Out of that deathtrap some four score Pawnees rushed away to the south. When we poured through the camp, we found and counted a hundred and sixty-five dead. It was frightful work for such a short combat. I say dead advisedly. Not all died under the rifle, but the rest were finished by the knives of the scalpers. I could not check them. I turned away from the horrible business and went off to a little distance, for I knew that there would be no holding back the Dakotas. It had been too long since they had really fleshed themselves thoroughly in a slaughter. Now their yells of victory were more terrible than the shouts of the Pawnees as the remnant fled over the horizon of the dawn. Horses and rifles and bows and arrows were the booty we carried back with us. As for trinkets, I ordered them piled in one heap and set fire to the lot. I did not want my army encumbered with useless baggage.