"Yes, sir," said the officer who had the glass, taking one look at the Sioux who speedily retreated out of sight behind the swell, and a longer look at the liberated captive who came toward the Fort at rapid strides, swinging his cap around his head as he came; "that is Cyrus, if I ever saw him. He fell into the hands of the savages, and for some reason best known to themselves they have turned him loose."
If it were certain that it is possible for a boy to become amazed and delighted at the same instant, Guy Preston experienced both those emotions. While Guy was wondering how this state of affairs could be brought about, the officer of the guard suddenly appeared upon the platform and was saluted by the officer in command of the gun.
"The Colonel says you have a better view of that man, whoever he is, than he has, and he begs to know what you make of him," said Captain Kendall. "Is it Cyrus?"
"Yes, sir, it is Cyrus," replied the Second Lieutenant. "Take the glass and look for yourself."
Captain Kendall's observation was not a long one. He leveled the glass for a minute, and then handed it back.
"Guy," said he, forgetting that he was an officer and speaking to his subordinate, "your letter has worked wonders."
"Do you really think my letter had anything to do with that?" inquired Guy, so excited that he could hardly stand still.
"Know it? Of course it did. It was the only thing he had in his possession that kept him clear of being staked out."
The officer of the guard went back to the Colonel who had sent him to make inquiries, and Guy leaned upon the palisades and watched Cyrus as he came toward the Fort. As soonas he found out that he had attracted the attention of the soldiers, Cyrus put on his cap, took one look behind him to see what had become of the Sioux, and broke into a run. He had strange things to communicate and he was in haste to unbosom himself. The officer of the day admitted him at the gate, shook hands with him, and then, in obedience to some request that Cyrus made of him, conducted him to the Colonel. A few moments afterward the order came for the soldiers to march down to the parade ground and break ranks, and this left Guy at liberty to finish his nap from which he had been so violently aroused; but Guy had no intention of doing anything of the kind. When he broke ranks he hurried away to hunt his roommates, and found that they were on the same mission as he was.
"I say," whispered Perkins, "I believe your letter had something to do with Cyrus being among us safe and sound."
"So do I," said Guy. "Now how was itbrought about? Has anybody seen Cyrus to speak to him since he came back?"
Nobody had, and we will take the liberty of going with him when he was led to where the Colonel stood. To say that Colonel Carrington was delighted to see him once more would be putting it very mildly. The commanding officer had almost as much affection for him as he would have had if Cyrus had been a younger brother, and it showed itself in the heartiness with which he grasped the scout's hand.
"Well, Cyrus, you ran plump into their hands, did you not?" said he.
"Just as fair as a man could," returned Cyrus. "If they had been waiting for me down by the creek in the bushes, they could not have bounced me quicker. It is impossible for a man to get through those lines without being caught." Then in a lower tone he added: "I have got your dispatch all right."
"Did they read the bogus one?" asked the Colonel.
"They did, but it did not disturb Red Cloud any. You said in that dispatch, 'Your letter of a certain date has been received.' That gave you away, for the savages knew that no man could go through their lines with news for you from the other side of the world. They simply sent out scouts to see if your expedition was coming, and that was all they did do."
"Do you think they are going to attack us to-day?"
"No, sir. They are going to wait for that train that is to bring you fuel, and then you are going to catch it."
"And that will come to-morrow," said the Colonel, walking up and down. "Our wood is nearly out and we must have some. Captain Brown, break ranks and let the men go to their quarters. Cyrus, come with me."
The Colonel went off toward his room followed by his scout, and when they were once inside of it, the commanding officer threw off his hat and paced back and forth as if he did not know what to do with himself, whileCyrus took a seat on the nearest cracker box pulled out his knife, and proceeded to bring the real dispatch to light,—for be it known that the frontiersmen who were employed by the government as scouts did not hold themselves subject to military law the same as soldiers did. A captain or even the Major would have thought twice before taking off his coat in the Colonel's quarters without being asked, but Cyrus did not wait for any invitation.
"There is your dispatch, Kurn," said Cyrus, as he brought out the document. "And I will tell you what is a fact: The time for you to send it will be after the massacre occurs."
"But my goodness! I cannot think of that thing without shuddering," exclaimed the Colonel. "Must I send men, who have been with me so long through thick and thin, out to be massacred by those thievish Sioux? I won't do it, and that's all there is about it."
"Then we will starve and freeze to death for the want of a little pluck on your part," said Cyrus. "We've got to have wood."
"How did that Winged Arrow manage to get you off on this letter?" said the Colonel, who wanted time to think the matter over.
"I don't know. He was probably around when my clothes were examined, and Red Cloud told him that he could do as he pleased. That letter will save just one more person; and after that it is of no account."
After a little time the Colonel cooled down so that Cyrus could begin and tell him his story from beginning to end. He never once interrupted him until he got through, and then he dismissed Cyrus with the remark that he would send for him after a while. There were a good many points to think over and he wanted a little time to himself. But there was one thing about it, he said: If anybody was going out there to fall a victim to those Sioux, he would be one of the party.
"Of course we shall all be sorry for that," said Cyrus. "The massacre has not taken place yet. They may make the attack in such a way that they will be nicely whipped."
When Cyrus went out on the parade ground, he was besieged by officers who had been awaiting his appearance and who wanted to know all about the matter. Of course Guy Preston and his chums were there, but they were obliged to keep in the background until their superior officers had heard all there was to tell. When Cyrus had finished with them he started toward his quarters and the boys followed him; but all they learned in addition to what he had already told was in regard to what he thought of Winged Arrow.
"It is just as Guy said yesterday," said he, kicking off his moccasins and throwing himself down upon his bunk, "Winged Arrow has no business to be a Sioux. He knows too much to be associated with that race of people; but the more he learns about the way those folks of his are being swindled by the government, the more he determines to stick to them."
"Did you see Red Cloud while you were a prisoner among them?" asked Perkins.
"I did not see anybody," replied Cyrus. "They kept themselves to themselves, and all they had to do was to bring me out and release me. I tell you, boys, we are going to see some fun right here, and the Colonel says it will begin to-morrow."
"The massacre?" asked all the boys at once.
"Yes, sir. We must have some wood, and about the time that the train and its escort get ready to march out, you will hear the war whoop."
"Well, let it come," said Perkins. "They will find that American soldiers are not the men to run just because they hear a whoop. We enlisted to fight, and now we are going to see what sort of a beginning we can make at it."
The other boys did not say anything, but the expression on their faces said that they were ready for anything the Sioux had to spring upon them. Cyrus's move toward his bunk was a hint that he had not got all thesleep he should have had, and after asking a few more unimportant questions, they left the quarters, Guy going toward his room to finish his nap and the others to attend to various duties about the Fort. But slumber was a thing that Guy could not court just then. He was too busily thinking. He heard everything that passed outside his room, and when the Orderly softly entered and told him that "supper was on," he got up without having closed his eyes.
The watch from six o'clock until midnight was a long and tedious one to Guy, though he, of course, had the officer of the day to talk to. Guy was thinking of what Winged Arrow told him—that if he ever saw one Indian battlefield he never would want to see another—and every chance he got he asked Mr. Kendall about it.
"You could not have been in the war of the Rebellion, for that happened when you were a child," said Mr. Kendall; "but I saw seven of them, and I tell you they were all Iwanted to see. The men were not mutilated, of course, but there was no need of that. I don't want to talk about it."
"But did they never make an attack on our folks on a dark night like this, sir?" asked Guy.
"Oh, yes; the darker the better. But you need not fear an Indian's coming near us on a night like this. It is so dark that I can not even see a star; and if you were in their camp now you would find them all in their tepees fast asleep. When the moon rises or the day is just breaking, you will want to keep a bright lookout for them. That is the time they make the assault."
"Why is that, sir? When it is dark you can't see how many of them there are."
"I know that; but every one you kill will go to the Happy Hunting Grounds in a way that he won't like. He goes there in just the condition that he leaves this life. If it is dark, he will have to grope around through all Eternity in darkness, no hunting for him andno scalping forays to show how much of a man he was in the days gone by. But if he is killed in broad daylight in the full possession of all his faculties, he will be just that way in the Happy Hunting Grounds. He will be full of strength and vigor, and that is the kind of life he can live forever. He never grows old. Go out that way and see what is the matter with those horses. They act as though they were alarmed about something."
"The Indian carries his religion with him even to death," said Guy to himself, as he went out to the horses with his heart in his mouth to find out what had disturbed them. "And I suppose that every man he scalps is there to be his slave. I would look pretty being the slave of a sneaking Sioux warrior, would I not?"
Although Guy did not like the idea of being so far from camp to find out what was the matter with the horses, he did his duty faithfully, and by questioning some of the sentries who were there to watch them, found out thatthere was nothing the trouble, only some of the horses were uneasy, and by continually lying down and getting up had communicated their restlessness to others. With this report he returned to Captain Kendall, who was perfectly satisfied with it.
The hours flew away and at last his relief came on; and Guy, feeling the need of sleep, went to his room and tumbled into his bunk without removing his clothes. He went to breakfast, and when he entered the room he saw in an instant that something had happened to throw a gloom over the officers, some of whom were pale and all devoted themselves to the beans and hard-tack without paying attention to anybody else. There was not any of that joking and laughing, not any of the "sells" which some of the young officers were so prone to give out during the meal hour, but each one seemed to be occupied with his own thoughts. There was something about them that affected Guy more than he liked, and he too became somewhat gloomy.
"What's up?" said he in a whisper, nudging Perkins, as he took a seat beside him. "Anybody killed?"
"No, but there will be some that way before the day is over," said Perkins, in the same cautious whisper. There were ranking captains there at the table and the youngsters had to be careful what they said in their hearing. "Where's your letter?"
"By George! Do you have to go out?" said Guy, in dismay.
"There is a train about to go out for fuel and our Company is ordered to be in readiness to aid them if they get into trouble," said Perkins. "Forty men are to go with the train, and if they get more than they can attend to, we have to go out."
"I may want that letter myself," answered Guy, drawing a long breath when he thought of the number of Sioux that could be brought against them. "Cyrus has it, and I did not think to ask him for it yesterday."
"Oh, you are all right. You won't have to go."
"Why, how is that? Did you not say the whole Company—"
"Yes, but that does not include you. You are to command the signal tower and keep watch of us."
Guy's first impulse was to settle back in his chair and give vent to his satisfaction by drawing another long breath of relief; and his next was a fit of anger that he should be selected to command the signal tower out of reach of danger, while his whole Company, Perkins included, should be ordered to hold themselves ready to march to their aid if the Sioux proved too strong for them.
"It is the meanest thing I ever heard of," exclaimed Guy, speaking in his ordinary tone of voice before he thought, "I will see the Colonel and have him put somebody else in the signal tower."
"No, I guess I would not bother the Colonel if I were in your place" said Captain Kendall, with a smile. "The Colonel does not want to be troubled by anybody. You will get thesharp edge of the old man's tongue, if you speak to him."
"But just see here, Captain," began Guy.
"I heard all about it when you were asleep," continued the Captain. "You can thank your lucky stars that you are not going out there to be killed by the Sioux Indians."
The tone in which the Captain uttered these words made it clear to the young officer's comprehension that he did not want any more such talk around that table, and none of the other officers liked it either. The Colonel was supreme there, and an order once issued by him was to be taken as final. He devoted himself to his food, but he kept up a terrific thinking all the while. Of course, there was an even chance that the Sioux would be whipped if they made their attack upon the soldiers, and that was another thing that worried Guy. If they were whipped he wanted a hand in it; but he could not assist them any, if he were confined in that tower to pass signals.
"Do you think you can get that letter?"asked Perkins, when he had given the officers a little time to forget Guy's interruption. "If it is to save one more prisoner, it may stand me well in hand."
"I will try it as soon as I get through breakfast," said Guy. "I don't know why he should want to keep it now. I wish Captain Kendall had not said what he had. I would have had the Colonel change that order sure."
"Well, you had better take his advice and thank your lucky stars that you are well out of the scrape."
"Will you change places with me?" asked Guy, a bright idea striking him, "you go to that signal tower—"
"Not by a great sight, I won't," said Perkins hastily. "If the other boys are going to fight, I am going to fight too. You will see me coming back covered with glory and three or four scalps in my hand."
Guy did not want much breakfast. He got through with what he had on his plate, asked to be excused, and left the table.
"Yes, I heard all about it while you were asleep, as Captain Kendall told you. The men have not yet been informed of the part they have to perform, but I know that they are all ready."
Thus spoke Cyrus the scout when Guy Preston came rushing into his quarters to tell him what Colonel Carrington was going to do with the troops under his command. As he uttered the words, he leaned his cracker box against the jamb of a window and looked at Guy as if to ask him what he thought about it.
"If he is my Colonel I say that he was guilty of doing a mean thing," said Guy, spitefully. "There I was fast asleep, and he never told me a thing about it."
"Of course he didn't. A Colonel, whoseright it is to command a thousand men, does not generally look to a Second Lieutenant for advice. We must have wood, and that is the only way to get it."
"I don't expect him to look to me for advice; but when he is going to send my whole regiment away from me, it is high time he was telling me of it."
Cyrus laughed, but made no reply.
"He knew all the time that I wanted a hand in the first fight the regiment got into, because he has often heard me say so; and then to go and send them off into the presence of the Sioux—I think he should have said something to me about it."
"You do your duty faithfully as Second Lieutenant, and when the time comes for you to get in a fight, you'll go. The Colonel will not keep you back. You will be safe up there in the signal tower—"
"And suppose the Sioux get whipped?"
"It is your regiment and you will share in the glory; but if the Sioux are too many forthem, and the last one of them gets wiped out, why you will be safe."
"I see that I can't get any sympathy from you," said Guy in a doleful tone; whereat Cyrus laughed louder than ever. "I thought when I came here and told you of it, you would feel for me; but you are as bad as the rest. What have you done with that letter I gave you?"
"Do you mean Winged Arrow's letter? The Colonel's got it."
"Honor bright?" said Guy, who wondered if Cyrus were not fooling him. "He does not want that letter now."
"He has got it anyway. Look here, Guy, I will tell you something else, if you will not speak about it. I am going to try it again."
"Are you going out in the face of the Sioux after the narrow escape you had?" exclaimed Guy, almost paralyzed by the information. "That letter is going to save one more prisoner, but it may not save you a second time."
"I am going to try it; or, rather, I am goingto see if I can't get through their numbers without being caught. Such things have been done, and I don't see why they cannot be done again."
"But what are you going to do this time? If the Sioux were on the watch before, they will be doubly so now."
"Not much after that fight comes off. That will throw the Sioux crazy, and that will be the time to try it, if at all."
"No matter whether we whip them or not?"
"That won't make any difference. If they fail, they will have their mourning to go through with, and by the time they get through with that I shall have passed through and be well on my way to Fort Robinson."
"Well, Cyrus, I bade you good-by once before when I never thought to see you again, but I guess you are gone now," said Guy, advancing and extending his hand, "and you had better bid me good-by too."
"Oh, you will be safe in that signal tower," said Cyrus, who did not see the use of so muchfeeling on Guy's part. "If the Sioux wanted to capture that tower, they could have taken it long ago. Good-by, but remember that I will see you again."
"Then Perkins cannot have the letter if you want it," said Guy.
"I think he had better not. The Colonel thinks I ought to have it, and he will give it to me before I start."
Guy went to his room and there he found his roommates sitting around doing nothing. They had their weapons close at hand, but made no move to put them on until they got orders.
"Well, boys, there will not be so many of us here to-night," said Guy, breaking in upon the silence. "Some of us will leave this room for the last time."
"You will be all right and tight," said Arthur, "and if we whip the Sioux you will wish you had been along."
"Do any of you want to change places with me?" asked Guy, for he was not at all pleasedwith the arrangement. "I will ask the Colonel——"
"You need not ask him anything on my account," said Arthur quickly. "I would not go up in that signal tower for all the money there is in the world. Our boys are going to fight, and I am going to fight too. There. That lets you out. Good-by."
"The Colonel desires to see you, sir," said an Orderly, stepping up and saluting.
Guy jumped up, put on his weapons, and turned to take leave of his roommates, all of whom came forward to shake him by the hand, but he did not see a sign of wavering on the part of any of them. Their faces were white, but there was a determined look about their features which showed that they fully comprehended the danger of their situation and were ready to take the consequences.
"Good morning, Mr. Preston," said the Colonel, when he entered the quarters and found him alone there with Colonel Fetterman. "Ihave put you in command of the signal tower to-day."
"So I have understood, sir," said Guy. "But don't you think——"
"I have thought the matter all over and I have resolved upon my course," replied the commanding officer, turning almost fiercely upon Guy. "I want to see if you understand the signals."
"Yes, sir; I know them by heart," returned Guy, who saw that it would be of no use to ask the Colonel to change that order.
"Very well. You are to keep a close watch on the party that goes out to protect the wagons, and you will be careful to make the same signals to them that I shall make to you."
"Very good, sir. I understand."
"Then my business with you is done. I see that the squad is getting ready," said the Colonel, as the blast of a bugle echoed through the Fort. "You will find three men out there, with rations, and you will stand watch while you are there. That's all."
Guy made all haste to get out of the room, for he did not want to be within reach of the Colonel's frown any longer than he could help, and furthermore he was anxious to see what preparations had been made for the party that was to go after the wood. The whole Fort was in commotion, but everything was done in regular order. Those of the soldiers who had nothing to do were standing in little groups and watching their comrades whom they never expected to see again; forty men were filing through the gate, mounted on their horses and forming on the parade ground under command of Captain Kendall; three men, who were evidently waiting for somebody, were there on foot with their haversacks slung over their shoulders; and the yells outside the stockade announced that the teamsters were busily hitching up their mules. Guy saw all this at a glance, and then bent his steps toward the three men who were standing there waiting for orders.
"Here's your party, Mr. Preston," said theAdjutant. "You will go out and relieve the men in the signal tower. I suppose the Colonel gave you orders before you left?"
"Yes, sir, what little he had to give," answered Guy. "I have never been in the tower before, but I think I know what is required of me."
The Adjutant bowed and went away, and Guy, whose men were standing at parade rest, had nothing to do but to wait until the escort was ready to march. It was quickly done, and when he saw the Captain mount his horse and turn to salute the Colonel, Guy ordered his men through the gate to catch one of the wagons on which he intended to get a ride out to the signal tower. When the Captain went by with his Company, he returned Guy's salute and responded, "Thank you," to his expressions of good luck and a safe return to the Fort with the wagon train.
"I am afraid, sir, that it won't be such good luck with him after all," said one of his men as the Captain rode on. "It doesnot seem as though there were any Sioux around here, does it, sir?"
"No," replied Guy. "If that Red Cloud were only out of the way, what a fine country this would be to live in. Such splendid hunting as there is to be had here I never saw before. You can see prairie chickens every day from the Fort."
There was no danger to be feared until they got to the signal tower, but none of the men seemed to enjoy the trip, because they knew that the Sioux were watching them from every hilltop within range of their vision. The Captain again saluted when they reached the tower, and Guy and his men jumped off the wagon to be admitted by the Second Lieutenant who was in command there.
"Halloo, Guy," said he, and he was glad to see that his relief had come. "Now you can have the fun of sitting here for twenty-four hours, with nothing but the swells to look at. Say," he added in a lower tone, "Who was that officer who went out hunting day before yesterday?I see he had a Sioux to show him the way back. If I didn't see you here safe and sound I should think it was you. His horse resembled yours."
"Well, sir, it was I, and no mistake," said Guy. "That Sioux came to warn me to keep out of the way of an approaching massacre which I think is going to happen now in less than two hours."
"Aw! Get out," exclaimed the Second Lieutenant, throwing back his head and laughing immoderately. "That Sioux was a friend of yours, was he not?"
"I have not time to explain matters to you now, for you had better go inside the Fort as soon as you can. He gave me a letter—"
"Aw! Get out," said the Lieutenant again. "You have been listening to some of Cyrus's stories, and he has made you believe that you have some sort of medicine that will protect you from their bullets. Come on, all my men, and we will go to the Fort while you are thinking about it. It may be that wewill find some Sioux who will give us a letter—"
Guy and his men were all inside the tower by this time, and they closed the heavy door and bolted it, thus shutting off what else the officer was going to say in regard to that letter. They heard his laugh ringing on the outside, and through the loopholes saw him march away toward the Fort.
"Did that Sioux really give you a letter, sir?" asked one of his men, as they climbed the rude stairway to reach the top. "Who was that letter directed to?"
"I have not time to go into all the particulars now," said Guy, as he leaned on the walls on the top of the tower and looked after the wagon train and its escort. "You will hear all about it when you get back to the Fort. Is that flag all ready? Lay aside your guns, but have them handy, and keep a close watch on that train."
As Guy had never been in the tower before, he looked around him with no little curiosity.The ridge leading from the Fort to where good timber was to be found was in plain sight, and every move the wagon train made could be distinctly seen. The Fort stood considerably lower than this tower, but there were several mountain howitzers in the Fort which had been trained on this ridge. The gunners, however, could not shell the ravines on each side of it with any accuracy, and Guy saw at once, with a soldier's eye, that about a mile beyond them was a splendid place for an ambush. His heart fell when he noticed it, but he did not say anything to his men about it.
"The Sioux have got the better of us or I shall miss my guess," said Guy, hauling his binoculars from its case and settling himself on a log which had been cut off sufficient to serve for a seat. "If they make their attack from one of those ravines, we cannot see it until we are right on to it, and they will clean us out as sure as shooting."
Having observed the train and seen that it was all right so far, Guy began anexamination of the tower to see what chances he had for making a successful resistance in case he were assaulted. He was more than satisfied with it. The tower was built of green logs which could not be set on fire by the hostiles at any reasonable distance, and was well supplied with loopholes, so that a company of determined men could hold their own until assistance could reach them from the Fort. While he was thus engaged one of his men called his attention to a faint sound which he heard coming from the further end of the ridge.
"It sounded to me like a war whoop, sir," said he. "It could not be that. Yes, sir, that is what it is."
In an instant Guy Preston was on his feet with his glass pointed toward the wagon train, and saw something that he hoped he never would see again—a hundred Indians, all well mounted and armed, were making a charge on the wagon train's escort. Where they came from was a mystery, but they were there, and the faint yells which struck his ears now andthen showed that they were out there for no good purpose.
"Where's that flag," he exclaimed, "give it to me, quick!"
In less time than it takes to tell it, Guy had grasped the emblem and was waving to the watching sentries on the palisades what was going on a mile from them, but which was shut out from their view by the ridge:—
"About one hundred Indians going to attack the train."
Then he threw the flag down and waited with all the fortitude he could command for some response to the signal. A moment afterward it came. One of the mountain howitzers belched forth its contents, the shell whizzed by so close to them that it seemed as if they could touch it, and exploded in the air right in line for the Sioux, but a good way above them. Another and another followed, but their firing was entirely too wild to do any damage. Guy was on nettles.
"They will never hit the Indians at thatrate," he exclaimed. "Why don't they shoot lower?"
All the shells which came from the howitzers followed the same course, and then Guy, forgetting that he was an inferior and in no condition to offer advice, seized the flag again and signaled once more to the Fort.
"You are firing entirely too high. Shoot closer to the ground."
Whatever the commanding officer thought of his advice Guy never knew, but he thought it a good plan to follow these instructions. The next shell came lower and the next one lower yet, and then Guy raised the flag once more.
"That is all right. You stand a chance of hitting them now."
"Oh, don't I wish that I was down there with my Winchester!" said Guy, so excited that he could scarcely stand still. "By the way, do any of you see Winged Arrow?"
"Don't know him, sir," said all the men at once.
"That is so; you did not see him, did you? This fellow wears a buckskin shirt and rides a small sorrel horse——"
"Every fellow down there is stripped to the waist," said one.
"And they all ride small sorrel horses," said another.
"Well, I guess he is there," said Guy under his breath. "I hope he will come off scot-free. But he said that the Sioux could raise three thousand men. This doesn't look like it."
"There is something going on in the Fort, sir," said one of the men after a little pause. "It looks to me as if they were going to send out re-enforcements."
These words brought Guy back to earth again. If the Colonel was about to send men to help the escort, he must send his own Company. The young officer went off into a state of excitement again.
Guy Preston turned with his glass to his eyes again. There was something going on in the Fort—it was so far away that he could not hear the words of command, but he knew that horses were going in and that the men were running about as if they were getting ready for something. Presently the column appeared—a hundred men, who seemed to be intent on going to the rescue, for they had hardly time to clear the gate before they broke into a trot and then into a gallop. A little nearer and Guy recognized the faces of his old Company, Perkins, Arthur Brigham, all his roommates, as well as several of the rank and file. Colonel Fetterman was in command, and though Guy thought he looked rather white, he heard the order "gallop"which rang in his ears the same as of old. Did they know that they were going to their death? If they did there was not one of the hundred men who seemed to realize it.
"Oh, Oh!" shouted Guy, prancing about in his excitement until he came near missing his steps and going back through the trapdoor with more haste than he had come up a few minutes before. "All my Company are there, every one of them, and I am to stay here cooped up like a rat in a trap! Why did not the Colonel remember this? They will come back flushed with victory and I will have had no hand in it!"
"Do you see any men in company D there, sir?" asked the Sergeant, who stood close at Guy's elbow.
"Look for yourself," replied the young officer, handing his glass over to the man. "I don't know all the men in Company D."
The Sergeant took the glass, and one look was enough to satisfy him. He gave it back without saying a word.
"I guess you are in the same boat with me," said Guy, once more leveling the glass to take a nearer view of the approaching re-enforcements. "They will get all the glory of this fight. I see Captain Brown and three or four 'old timers' who are going out with them, and we are bound to whip; but it seems hard to me to stay here and do nothing!"
As the horsemen tore by, Guy Preston raised his cap and swung it lustily around his head, and there were a dozen men, among whom were Perkins and Arthur, who returned the salute. A moment afterward the support was gone, and Guy, with a long breath which seemed to say that there was no help for it, settled down to watch them and keep a close view of their movements. Nor were they obliged to wait long. The Indians seemed surprised at the approach of so large a re-enforcement to support the train, and at once became confused and started to retreat; and that was enough for the supporting column. Guy saw Colonel Fetterman turn in his saddleand swing his sword above his head, and in an instant more a yell came to his ears and his men turned down the ridge.
"Bully for our side of the house!" yelled Guy Preston, once more swinging his cap around his head. "It shows what you can do, Mr. Sioux, when you get some men to oppose you."
"They are retreating, sir?" asked the Sergeant.
"Of course they are. They cannot stand against anything like their own number."
While Guy stood with the flag in his hand, and wondering whether or not he ought to signal Colonel Fetterman's movement to the Fort, something surprising happened down there at the foot of the ridge. Where there were a dozen Indians before, there were two dozen now and more still coming. They were coming from one of those ravines that ran back from the left of the Fort. These two dozen Indians were promptly joined by two dozen more, and before Guy could think twice, the plain was fairly covered with them.
"My goodness! What is the meaning of that?" said he.
"They have run into an ambuscade, sir," said the Sergeant.
The young officer was so astonished at what he saw, that he never once thought of the flag he held in his hand. It was done so quickly that it appeared like a dream. While he looked more Indians came out. They made their appearance in a large body too, and, dividing right and left as they approached the column, soon surrounded it entirely, and nothing but frantic and yelling Sioux could be seen from the tower.
"My goodness!" he repeated, his face turning as white as the flag he held in his hand. "I must signal that, but I don't know what to say."
His men, one and all, offered some advice, but the signal Guy sent was something like this:—
"Large bodies of Indians in the ravine at the foot of the hill. They have attacked the re-enforcements."
Almost immediately there came an answer from the Fort:—
"Signal for them not to leave the ridge."
"What good will it do to signal to them now?" cried Guy, stamping about on the tower and making no effort at all to brush the tears from his eyes. "I can't see the column at all,—nothing but Indians!"
But Guy was a good soldier, and he made all haste to signal the post commander's orders to Colonel Fetterman: "Don't leave the ridge," "Don't leave the ridge," but that was all the good it did. None of Colonel Fetterman's men saw the signal, or if they did, they were too busy to reply to it. Guy watched them for a minute or two through eyes which were blinded with tears, but could not see that the Indians were retreating in any way. On the contrary, he seemed to grow almost frantic when he saw the white men falling back. The Indians were gaining ground at every step.
"This beats me," said he, leaning one handon the Sergeant's shoulder and burying his face on the top of it, "We are whipped! The massacre's come!"
"They might send some re-enforcements from the Fort, sir," suggested the Sergeant, who was also crying like a schoolboy. "They have another hundred men that they can spare for Colonel Fetterman."
"That's so," said Guy, as he caught up the flag again; and he lost no time in sending the state of affairs to the commanding officer.
"The troops are retreating. Fetterman needs re-enforcements. They cannot come too soon."
"There, now, I have done my duty," moaned Guy, seating himself on the block of wood again, "I must stay right here now and see our men whipped."
But Guy did not sit there long. The noise of the fight came plainly to his ears, and every exultant yell of a Sioux, that now and then rose loud and clear above the tumult,was almost as bad as torture to himself. Again and again he signaled to the Fort, "Our men are being overpowered. Fetterman needs re-enforcements," but no response came. They could see the men standing idly by leaning on their guns, but no attempt was made to send support to them.
"I almost wish that Colonel Carrington were out there," said Guy, for the sense of responsibility that rested upon him was almost too great for him to bear. "Have I done what I could, Sergeant? I would go myself, if he would let me!"
The men all joined in with the Sergeant in assuring him that no officer, situated as he was up there in the picket tower, could have done more than Guy did to stop the massacre, and he was forced to be satisfied with this. He sat there and watched, but was powerless to do anything. Now and then signals came from the Fort, "How goes the battle now?" and Guy's answer was always the same: "The Indians are whipping our mencompletely out. Fetterman needs re-enforcements"; but that was the last of it. In much less than half an hour it was all over. Then he sprang up and caught the flag again:
"All killed. Field covered by more than one thousand Sioux."
Guy felt while sending this signal, as if he had signed his own death warrant. He tossed the flag upon the floor, seated himself on his block of wood again and covered his face with his hands. Perkins, Arthur Brigham—O Lord, they were all gone! He thought of the many acts of kindness which the boys had lavished upon him, and his feelings were too great for utterance. Sobs which he could not repress shook his frame all over.
"There is something else that wants signaling too," said the Sergeant. "The wood train is coming."
Guy jumped to his feet, and looked out over the field again. There was nothing but Sioux in sight, and they were running as if anxiousto get away from the leaden hail that was rained upon them. Guy seized the flag and this went to the Fort:—
"Wood train coming, having beaten off assailants."
As Guy turned to look at the wagon train, he saw to his immense relief the long line of ladened wagons at the foot of the ridge. As it passed the battlefield Guy, repeating the signal made from the Fort, warned it not to attack, and it did not. A frightened lot of teamsters and soldiers went by him after a while, but where was Guy's salute this time? He did not make any, but stood leaning on the top of the tower and silently regarded them as they went by.
"It is all over," he said, mournfully. "I said this morning that there would not be so many of us left in our room to-night, and this proves it. I am alone and have not even a squad of men to command."
Leaving one of his men to watch the Fort so as to be ready to answer any signals thatmight come, Guy turned his attention to the battlefield; and now that the smoke had cleared away they saw the Sioux in pursuit of plunder—clothes, arms, and valuables, anything that could add to their wealth. Occasionally a faint yell would come up to their ears, faint and far off, but still plainly audible:—
"Come down here, you pickets. We have whipped some of you, and are able to whip the rest."
Having now a respectable force at his command, Colonel Carrington sent one hundred and ten men to the battlefield with orders not to leave the ridge unless they felt strong enough to attack. The howitzers went with them, and the wagons by this time being emptied of their fuel, went along also to bring in the dead; for it was rightly supposed that the Sioux did not leave any wounded behind them. Guy saw them pass by, and set himself to observe their movements. There were but few Indians left upon the field and these fledupon the approach of the troops, and so opportunity was had to find out the cause of the defeat. It was just as Winged Arrow had told Guy: If he saw one battlefield, he never would want to see another. The dead were all stripped, and the positions of most of them led to the belief that they were killed while trying to escape. The horses' heads pointed toward the Fort. The soldiers lying near the base of the ridge appeared to have met their death as they were fleeing from the field, having seen that their re-enforcements would amount to just nothing at all. There were some few, but not very many, mutilations among the bodies, and so the soldiers recognized every one of the slain. Guy did not learn this until late that evening, when all the bodies were brought in by wagons, and then he saw his roommates cold in death. Every one of them wore a happy smile upon his face, as if he knew his fate and was ready to give up his life in the service of his country.
"There is somebody coming out from the Fort, sir," said the Sergeant, breaking in upon Guy's reverie.
Two horsemen were coming at a rapid lope, and Guy's glass showed him that they were the Lieutenant whom he had relieved in command of the tower and an after rider, who was probably a cavalryman, to hold his horse. Guy went down to the door to receive them, and when he opened it Amos Billings, that was the Lieutenant's name, must have been surprised at his greeting, although he himself was not far from shedding tears over the thing he could not prevent.
"The commanding officer said I had better come and let you hear something of that massacre," said Amos. "I tell you, Guy, it is awful!"
"Oh, my dear fellow!" exclaimed Guy, throwing his arms around Amos's neck and burying his tear-stained face on his shoulder. "What are they going to do to me?"
"To you?" repeated the Lieutenant. "Why,nothing. Guy, don't take on this way. You were ordered up here in the tower and you stayed here. Did you not answer all the signals?"
"Yes; and I made some I ought not to have made. Fetterman never asked for help. I saw that the Sioux were too many for him, and so I asked for re-enforcements."
"Well, what of that? I guess he needed them bad enough. Now let us sit down here on the steps and I will tell you as much as I know about it."
"I would like a chance to kick that Winged Arrow, or whatever else he calls himself," said Colonel Carrington, as he returned Captain Kendall's salute and saw him mount his horse and lead his forty men through the gate to escort the teamsters to their post of duty. "He had no business to give Guy Preston that letter. He has thrown the whole garrison into a panic. Every man believes that a massacre is coming, and, to tell the honest truth, I really begin to believe it myself."
"Well," said Colonel Fetterman, as he walked with the commanding officer to a prominent place on the palisades from which they could keep watch of the train and its escort, "I don't see but that the latter has done some good after all. It has returned your bestscout to you when everybody thought he was a doomed man."
"That's so," replied the Colonel, after thinking the matter over. "Perhaps in that respect it has been of some use after all; and I am going to try it again."
Colonel Fetterman was somewhat surprised, but said nothing in answer to this proposition. The commanding officer had things his own way out there on the prairie, and it was not for him to offer any amendments until he was asked to give them.
"If the Sioux pitch into us, as I really believe they will, they will hold a big jubilee in their camp to-night, no matter whether they whip us or not. That will be the time for me to get a letter through; don't you think so?"
"Yes, sir, that will be the time, if any," said Colonel Fetterman, thinking of what Cyrus would have to go through with before he could get the letter safe into the hands of their superior officer who could grant the re-enforcementsfor which they asked. "Are you going to try the letter on again?"
"I am, and Cyrus is waiting to see how the fight comes out before he makes the start. Now we must keep that train in sight as long as we can," said the Colonel, pulling his binoculars from its case. "The trouble is that we cannot see them after they get into a fight."
"We shall have to depend upon the picket tower after they have disappeared from our view," said Colonel Fetterman. "My command has been informed and is all ready to start."
"I hope I shall not have to send you out," said the Colonel honestly. "They are all good men in that escort, and I think they ought to come through."
The commanding officer seated himself and awaited the issue of events with his feelings worked up to the highest point at which they could go and not drive him wholly frantic. He knew that some of his men were goingto their death, but he had expected that. Not one wagon train had ever gone out from that Fort after fuel but it had always come back and reported that the Sioux had fired into them, and that so many were dead and so many wounded. But there was one thing that he always thought of with satisfaction: the train always brought their dead and wounded back with them. They left none of them for the Indians to maltreat after they had gone. The two officers saw the train when it reached the signal tower, and the men who had been on watch there for twenty-four hours were relieved by Lieutenant Preston and his squad. Five minutes more and the wagons were out of sight.
"There now," said the Colonel. "Half an hour more will tell the story."
"Yes, and I might as well get ready to move when I get your orders," said Colonel Fetterman. "You are bound to give them and I know it."
"Let us hope not, Colonel; let us hope not. It seems as though I ought to have more menthan I can muster to send out there. It is like sending a boy to mill."
The officers relapsed into silence and sat with their glasses to their eyes watching the signal tower. It came in a good deal less than half an hour. It seemed to them that the wagon train had scarcely got out of sight before the white flag, with a star in the middle of it, began to wave frantically from the top of the picket tower: "About one hundred Indians going to attack the train."
"All ready with that gun down there?" shouted the Colonel, jumping to his feet.
"All ready, sir," was the response.
"Fire!" was the next order; and a five-second shell flew over the tower and away to the further end of the ridge.
"All ready with that other gun? Fire!"
The guns on that side of the Fort were fired in quick succession, and when the smoke cleared away the flag was seen flying again from the top of the tower: "You are firing entirely too high. Shoot closer to the ground."
"Depress those guns a couple of points and fire away," said the Colonel. "That boy is keeping a close watch of the way the shells are going. I wish he had a gun up there so that he could try his own hand at it."
The guns spoke again, and this time the answer that came back was encouraging. "That is all right. You stand a chance of hitting them now."
"One would think that boy was a commanding officer," said the Colonel. "I hope we have the right range of them now."
This is all that was said in regard to Guy Preston's orders which came all unasked. He saw that the shells were flying all too wild, and did not hesitate to say so. Guy would have felt a great deal better if he had known just what was thought of it.
"Shall I go now sir?" asked Colonel Fetterman.
"Yes, I guess you had better," said Colonel Carrington sadly. "A hundred Indians is most too many for those forty men to handle.Remember, George, I depend entirely upon you. I will bid you good-by now. I will see you start from here."
The two officers shook one another by the hand, and that was the last time they ever met. Colonel Carrington did not want to go down to see him off. Fetterman was a brave man and an Indian fighter, but somehow the Colonel did not feel right about letting him go. Fetterman became all activity at once. He sprang down from the platform upon which he was standing, shouting: "Fall in, my men!" and disappeared in his room. When he came out he had his sword and revolver, and mounting his horse, which was ready for him by this time, he rode up and down in front of his men, who were rapidly forming in line, and urged them all to make haste.
"There are a hundred Indians out there and we are going for them," he shouted, swinging his sword around his head. "They will stand just long enough to see us gettingready for a charge, and then they will run. You are not afraid of a hundred Indians, are you?"
"Not by a great sight, sir," said the Sergeant, who was riding down the other side of the line pushing the men into their places. "Get in there, men, and be lively about it. Lead on, sir. We are ready to face five hundred, if you say so."
"All ready, sir," said Colonel Fetterman, riding up to the palisades where he had left his commanding officer.
"Go on," was the response. He raised his hand and waved it in the air, but could say no more. Colonel Fetterman wheeled his horse, gave the commands, "Fours right. Forward march!" and rode through the gate and turned toward the picket tower; and Colonel Carrington could only settle back in his camp chair and wait to see what events were going to bring forth.
"Something tells me that I will never see those men again," said he, turning to MajorPowell, who at that moment stepped upon the platform and took a stand beside his Colonel. "I have shaken hands with Colonel Fetterman for the last time."
"Oh, Colonel, I would not talk in that way," said the Major. "Fetterman is an old Indian fighter, and it will take more than one hundred Sioux to clean him out."
"But a hundred warriors are not all they can bring into a fight," said the Colonel. "If Cyrus tells the truth, there must be a larger village than we are aware of situated behind those swells."
"Well, suppose there are a thousand of them; Fetterman can easily beat them off until he can come within range of the Fort. He has taken Captain Brown, Tony, and Mike, and three or four old Indian fighters with him, and they are bound to come out with flying colors."
The Colonel said no more, but watched the re-enforcements. He saw them break into a trot and then into a gallop, and very shortly they disappeared over the swells.
"I am a little afraid of an ambush down where they are," said the Colonel, after a few moments pause. "If Fetterman runs into it, we are gone."
"But Fetterman will not run into it. He has too much at stake for that."
Major Powell's words were intended to be encouraging, and in almost any other case they would have been so; but this time they did not have any effect upon the Colonel. He was disheartened before he sent him off to face that unknown danger, and now that he was out of sight and almost within sight of it, he felt more distress than ever he did before.
"Why don't they signal to me?" he exclaimed, when he had watched the top of the tower in vain for a sign of the white flag. "I want to know what is going on there."
"Probably there has nothing happened yet," said the Major. "If the Indians are retreating——"
The Major suddenly paused, for at that moment the flag came into view from the top ofthe tower. He paused to read the signal it conveyed and as he spelled it slowly out that there were large bodies of Indians who were assaulting the re-enforcements, the Colonel jumped to his feet and seized the flag that lay near him.
"I think you said that Fetterman would not run into an ambush, if there was one formed for him," said he angrily. "He is in it now."
Then went up the signal from the Fort: "Tell them not to leave the ridge," but it was a signal that came too late to be of any use. Colonel Fetterman and all his men were so busy at that time charging down upon the enemy, that no one thought of looking for signals in their rear. But Guy saw and understood and did his best to turn the column to a place of safety, but the waving of his flag was time and strength wasted. With a yell, which Guy had often helped raise when the troops were drilling on the parade ground, and which the men now gave in order to let the Sioux know they were coming to savethe wagon train, they charged down the ridge and into the ambush. It was too late to do anything then, and Colonel Carrington leaned back in his camp chair and looked at Powell. Not another word was said by either of them, and pretty soon there came another signal from the tower: "Fetterman needs re-enforcements."
"It will take the last hundred men I have, and the Fort with every one in it will be at their mercy," said the Colonel. "You will have to go with them. Go down and call the men together——"
"Colonel, with your permission I will protest against sending them any help," said the Major. "The Colonel may be retreating, but he is retreating toward the ridge where he knows he will be comparatively safe. I tell you that man can't be whipped."
"Well, we will wait and see," said the Colonel. "I hope he has men enough with him to resist them, but I am afraid. I think I should have sent more."
"And if you had, you would certainly have left the Fort at the mercy of the thievish Sioux. You have done the best you could. Leave Fetterman alone. He is going to come out all right."
If Major Powell believed this, he was certainly doomed to be disappointed. Colonel Fetterman was whipped almost at the start, and there was no one to lend him a helping hand. In response to the signals "How goes the battle?" the reply was the same as it had always been, "He needs re-enforcements," and then Colonel Carrington got up and paced the platform in agony. The help was repeatedly called for and several times the Colonel was on the point of exerting his authority as post commander and sending the re-enforcements that Colonel Fetterman so much needed; but each time the calm voice of Major Powell was raised in protest, and the commander thought it best to wait a little longer and see how the fight was coming out.
"It seems to me that Fetterman has been allowed all the time he wanted to get backto the ridge and hold the Sioux at bay," he often said. "Do you not think so, Major?"
It was almost half an hour since the signal had been made that the Sioux were attacking the re-enforcements, and something should have been done in that time; but the next signal that was made fairly took his breath away: "All killed. Field covered with more than a thousand Sioux."
"Oh, heavens and earth!" groaned Colonel Carrington. "I wish I had died before I had seen that signal."
Major Powell turned away to hide the tears that streamed from his eyes, and could not say a word in reply. He had protested against the sending out of help, and he would do it again under the same circumstances; but at what cost? Fully a third of the men that composed the garrison had been sacrificed, and surely that was better than to send out another hundred to share the same fate. Colonel Carrington buried his face in his hands, and it did not seem to him that he could everlook up again; while Major Powell, after subduing the first violence of his grief, raised his eyes to watch the tower again and saw another signal waving to them.
"The wagon train is coming, having beaten off its assailants," said he. "If we can save that much, we will do well."
This aroused the Colonel, who caught up the flag and signaled to them not to attack, but to make all haste into the Fort.
"If they get back safe it will give me a hundred and ten men to send out to that battlefield," said he, after thinking a moment. "You will have to go with them. Don't leave the ridge until you see that you are sufficiently strong to hold them at bay."
"But you want me to go to the battlefield," said the Major.
"But don't go into that ambush whatever you do. Steer clear of that. Bring the bodies of all the men you can find with you."
Then the Colonel relapsed into his melancholy mood again, and Major Powell knewthat he had to do everything that was necessary for getting the relief party under way, and he lost no time in doing it either. While he was thus engaged, the gate flew open and the wagon train, well loaded with fuel, came in with a rush. A more frightened set than the teamsters were it would have been hard to find, and even the old soldiers, who had passed through more than one Indian fight, were heard to draw a long breath of relief as they came into line.
"Oh, Major, it was just awful!" said the Lieutenant, who was the first to salute him.
"Fetterman has gone up," said Captain Kendall; and there were traces of tears on his face that he was not ashamed of. "I never saw so many Sioux before. Where's the Colonel?"
"Up there on the platform," said the Major. "Go up and report to him. And, mind you, don't say anything to him that will make him feel worse than he does now, for he is completely prostrated."
"But I shall have to tell him the truth, or I might as well stay away from him," protested the Captain. "It was nothing that he could help, but we are just a hundred men short."
The Major, who did not want to hear any more about the fight until he saw the battlefield, waved his hand toward the Colonel, and the Captain dismounted and went to report the disaster of which the post commander knew almost as much as he did.
"It is not necessary for you to say anything, Captain," said he. "The signals from the tower have kept me posted. Are they all gone? Is there not one left?"
"Not one, Colonel," said Captain Kendall. "From where I stood on the ridge, I could not see anything but Sioux."
"They were retreating?" said the Colonel.
"Toward the ridge where they would be safe; but they didn't any of them live to get there. They were wiped out completely."
"You lost some men, I suppose."
"We lost seven, and were glad to get off with that. Shall I break ranks, sir?"
"Yes; and then come up and talk to me. I feel as though I were going crazy. I have sent out some men to go to that battlefield. Do you think they can go there without another fight?"
"Perhaps so, sir. We killed any number of them, and perhaps they have got all they want of fighting."
The Captain went down and said something to his men before he broke ranks, and it made them feel a great deal better for what they had done; but there was one thing that they never could blot from their minds. There was that battlefield, a mile long and half a mile wide, of which they had a plain view as they passed along the ridge, covered by the bodies of men whom they would never shake by the hand again, and the memory of it would disturb their sleep for many a night afterward. While this was going on and the Colonel sat listening to his speech, AmosBillings, the officer who Guy Preston had relieved in command of the tower, came up to the commander and saluted him.
"What is it, Billings?" said he. "I can't ask you to sit down, for there is no place."
"I don't want to stop, sir," he replied. "There are our boys alone in that tower—"
"And you want to go out and inform them that they are not forgotten by the garrison, do you? Well, go on. Take a cavalryman with you to hold your horse. Tell Guy that I would have answered his signal for re-enforcements, but Major Powell told me that I ought not to. Guy did his duty up to the handle."
This was what Billings wanted to tell Guy, while they were sitting there on the steps that led to the top of the tower.