Considering that we had every advantage of surprise and discipline, training and weapons on our side, it was not a battle at all. It was simply a massacre that might as well have been of women and children. Even the rush of the Pawnees toward our lines had been the flight of desperate fugitives rather than a charge. I was glad of one thing, at least - that my men had seen how rifle fire will blow a cavalry charge to nothingness. As for the Sioux themselves, they rejoined their comrades of the main body as though they came back from conquering the world, and they were received like so many heroes. It does not take a great deal to depress Indian warriors, neither does it take a great deal to raise them to the skies. They started that campaign fairly confident they were a formidable lot, but pretty certain, in their hearts of hearts, that Bald Eagle and the Pawnees would be too much for them. That single surprise attack was enough to convince them they were invincible. From that moment my thousand were willing to attack ten thousand, if I gave the word for it. This was all very well. I was glad to have their courage redoubled, but I was wondering how long it would take Bald Eagle to sweat the confidence out of them.
Every day I kept them at their books. In the morning they practiced their maneuvers and handled their guns. In the afternoon they proceeded with the march. On the twelfth day after the surprise of the Pawnees, I received word for which I had been waiting. It did not come in the way of a prisoner’s confession. It was a Pawnee herald who took his life in his hands by risking himself among my cutthroats. He was a battered elder with a face that would have served in the worst nightmare that ever frightened a child. He came up to me and looked me over haughtily. Then he informed me that Bald Eagle was weary of seeing fish hawks in his lands and had come to take scalps. However, he was a gentle and a kindly chief. If we would abandon all our horses and half of our rifles, he would allow us to retreat safely from his presence. Otherwise he would fall upon us and cut us to bits.
It was the plainest sort of bluff, delivered in a loud voice for the purpose of overawing my men. But I was not raw enough to let such stuff pass. I pulled myself straight on the back of White Smoke, who was sniffing noses with the Pawnee’s stallion and telling him in the very plainest sort of horse talk that he was aching to get at him and knock him to bits.
I said: “Go back to your chief and tell him that a carrion crow may hide in a cloud and make the Pawnees think that he is an eagle, but the Sioux are men, not children. They have come to show the Pawnees they are children and fools.”
This was rather strong, and the Pawnee glared at me like an incarnate devil for a moment. Then he wheeled his horse and darted away.
ON BALD EAGLE’S TRAIL
I knew Bald Eagle was no gullible young fool who would fly into a blind rage. But I felt that my message might make his gorge rise a bit. I had talked like a boaster, but I was also determined to act like a coward to lead him on. Frankly I felt that in a real campaign I should never have a chance to win against this Napoleon of the prairies. I wanted to encourage him to a headlong attack. So that very hour I ordered my little host to wheel about and start a retreat. I had them dismount from the tired and worn ponies that had carried them up to this time and mount, instead, the fresh animals that had been herded at our heels by the boys. I sent the horse herd toward home as fast as they could jump. I followed with the army at a brisk gait.
It was a hard thing to do. The Sioux glared at me as though I had turned into a mangy dog, and Standing Bear came to me almost trembling with impatience. I explained to him the real truth. We were out to take vengeance on Bald Eagle. The minute he felt that we were shaking cowards, he would swarm after us as fast as he could. Otherwise we might have to attack him behind entrenchments. The Sioux could recall what had happened the last time they besieged that warrior. This was enough for Standing Bear. He spread the word along the line - it was only a ruse - this was a false flight and was conducted merely to lure the great Bald Eagle toward us. Then we would turn and strike him down.
That was enough. They marched on again as happily as children bound for a picnic ground. For me it was a fearfully anxious week that followed until, at length, the scouts to the rear announced they had sighted the van of the Pawnees, swarming hotly over the prairie. There might still be other stratagems working in the cunning brain of Bald Eagle, but it seemed that he was at least preparing to close with me at once, and this was all that I could ask. While my men felt the invincibility, and before a bit of maneuvering had revealed me as the very foolish young general that I was, I wanted to come to grips with the warrior. To this extent he was playing into my hands.
When I asked my scouts how many Pawnees were following me, they said they thought about six hundred and fifty men. Again my heart jumped with relief. This being a true history, and not a foolish story, I have to admit that I was not at all anxious to meet Bald Eagle on even terms. I had a slight advantage over him, and I felt that this was just about what I should need. He had thrashed five times his number of Sioux in the open field, for that matter. Now he prepared to swallow me alive. There was no faltering, no pausing to skirmish or to recruit his tired men. He brought them straight on at me while I drew up my Dakotas. He was dismounting his fellows almost as soon as I was dismounting mine.
It was the same sort of tactics on both sides. The Indians were off horseback and ready to engage on foot - by preference. While their horses were herded to the rear, I arranged my fine fellows in two lines - exactly as my enemy did. In the first line was Three Buck Elk, a wild and headlong fighter, as I well knew. In the second line was Standing Bear, far brainier and more apt to act with caution, though every whit as well qualified to maintain a resolutely fierce front against the enemy. Where was the chief who commanded the army, whose almost legendary duty it was to stand in the forefront of the host? Well, I should like to say that I was in the very van, standing like a hero, or riding along the line to encourage the men, but as a matter of fact the post I chose for myself was in the rear with a guard of fifty men around me. There were a hundred more, but they were stationed among the horses and directed to keep themselves out of sight until they heard from me. Then they were to come, and come mounted. My idea was partly, I confess, to keep away from death, and partly I wanted to be where I could overlook the whole battlefield and see the point where I might be most needed. To that point I intended to march and strike with my hundred and fifty men of the reserve as hard as we might, with the greater ease because we would be mounted and, though our fighting might be less effective, our shock would be the greater. In the two main battle lines I had eight hundred men that I thought ample to hold in check the six hundred and fifty of Bald Eagle - or at least throw their attack into confusion until I could strike the decisive blow with my horsemen.
It seemed to me a neat plan. It still seems a clever one to me as I look back from a distance. Still, I was not at ease. I knew that I had no ordinary man opposed to me. Yet the attack started exactly as though Bald Eagle were a bloodthirsty madman. I still feel that his many successes had turned his head a little. He knew that the Sioux dreaded him like an incarnate devil, and that they felt he was more than half invincible. What he could not estimate was the value of the lessons we had recently been learning and, above all, the moral effect of that night stroke at the Pawnees.