CHAPTER XIV.THE BLACK TROOPERS AT BAY.
As Buffalo Bill knew just how urgent the demand for haste might become, he set a pace that, though he knew many of the troopers might not be able to keep up, yet many would do so, and these could make the attack on the Indians, while the others would constantly be coming up as reënforcements.
Major Armes had also promised to send a wagon with rations, a six-pounder gun, and a company of infantry, mounted, as a reserve, in case the Indians should be in still larger force than Buffalo Bill had supposed them to be.
To the black troopers in the little hill retreat it was a sad sight to see Buffalo Bill leave them, though they knew that by his going alone was there a chance for their rescue.
They knew their danger, and the warning the scout had given them, that “if he could get into their retreat an Indian could also do so,†had made them keep the closest watch, and not an instant did they close their eyes.
“If I wakes up arter a nap, I wants it ter be in this world, not de next, so I doesn’t go ter sleep,†said a trooper, and he voiced the sentiments of all.
To add to their wakefulness the corporal, in goinghis rounds, was seen to suddenly fall and lie motionless.
The sergeant hastened to his side to find that an arrow had penetrated his eye—he was dead.
Sergeant Mobile Buck dragged the body into hiding and wisely said nothing. He then went the rounds of the men himself, and very cautiously, for he knew that Indians were within arrow range and watching.
Then the sergeant discovered how it was that the corporal had lost his life, for the moon was rising, and he had stood with its light behind him, his form in bold relief against its silvery face.
“Be careful of showing yourselves with the moon behind you, for there are Indians watching for a chance to send an arrow at you,†said the sergeant, and he was cautious how he moved, for not only did he desire to escape what he had warned others of, but he thought also of the men, should he be killed or seriously wounded, and how readily they would get into a panic with no one to govern them.
So the hours passed, the sergeant going on his rounds every half hour, and one time discovering a dark object out upon the open plain, and which he was sure was not there when last he passed that way.
“Give me your gun, Benton,†he said to the sentinel nearest the dark object.
The trooper obeyed, and the sergeant took a restwith the carbine over a rock, aimed well and pulled trigger.
A wild yell, a form springing into the air, measuring a few feet, and a heavy fall followed.
“You must keep better watch, Benton, for that redskin would have plugged you in half an hour more,†said the sergeant.
Benton was thoroughly alarmed now, and said:
“Yas, sah, you done sabe my life, an’ I ain’t gwine ter fergit it, nuther. You bet I’s keepin’ watch now, sergeant, I is.â€
The shot had startled the troopers, as it was answered by yells from the Indians across in the timber.
But the sergeant continued his round, and to each man he told of Benton’s narrow escape, until several shots were fired at rocks fearing they might be large groups of Indians.
That a random shot thus fired sounded a death-knell a choking war cry told.
The sergeant had got the rifles of the corporal and of the other slain trooper, and kept them ready for use when the time came.
But he continued his rounds through the night.
Then he ordered all to be ready, for he felt sure an attack would be made.
That Buffalo Bill had not got back was a cause of deepest anxiety, but the sergeant was brave and told his men that the scout with help was doubtless closeat hand, only waiting for the Indians to attack the retreat, and this gave them hope.
Soon a dark mass was visible, moving out from the distant timber. The Indians were advancing to the attack, and they were mounted.
“Men, we’ll empty these extra guns at them first, for they’ll reach them, and then you fire only when I give the order,†cried the sergeant.
The three guns rattled forth their seven shots each, and they must have hit hard, for the redskins wavered, yelled like demons, and came on with a rush.
“Fire!â€
All the rifles opened fire, and the shots told, for ponies fell and riders dropped to the ground.
But the rush was on, the Indians were in heavy force, hundreds against a score of black troopers, and the showers of arrows, the maddened yells and the roar of the charging ponies, struck terror to the hearts of the troopers.
“Hold ’em, men, or all is lost,†shouted the sergeant, adding:
“Revolvers now!â€
But as the rattle of revolvers began and the redskins were almost up to the retreat, above the wild yells of the redskins arose the piercing, thrilling notes of a bugle, followed by the ringing war cry of Buffalo Bill, and a stern command from Captain Keyes:
“Ride them down, men!â€
The bugle notes broke upon the ears of the redskins just in time to deprive them of their prey, for, wheeling to one side of the retreat, they drove on at full speed, for they knew that United States cavalry was upon them and in large force.
“After them, men!†shouted Buffalo Bill, and with Captain Keyes by his side, and nearly a hundred troopers following, they rode hot on the heels of the flying redskins.
It was a complete surprise, of the kind that causes a stampede, and the Indians only sought to escape their pursuers until they reached a place where they could rally and ambush their foes.
But Captain Keyes was too good a soldier to be caught in a trap, with tired-out horses and men, and he called a halt when his command drew near a heavily timbered hill.
“Halt here, men, and let them think this is all the force, while Cody, you go back, meet the other men and flank yonder ridge with them, ordering a courier to go to the reserve and fetch them, with the gun, to your aid with all speed.â€
It was almost daylight now, and the tired men rested where they were in line of battle, while Buffalo Bill rode back, checking the troopers still coming up and ordering them to keep out of sight in the timber, while he went to the retreat of those who had been rescued in the nick of time.