The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-02

| the village and peaceably, if he could. but
forcibly if he must escort it back within
the reservation lines. Bat had ridden up
| Just as the sun was disappearing, to say
| that the Indians seemed to be heading for
a deep cleft in the foothllls through winch
the buffalo in bygone days had made
their way Now, if Fenton could only
! send Farwell or Amory with half the
SQUADRON to gallop in wide detour to the
west under cover of the darkness, and seize
the bluff overhanging the cany meantime
making every pretense OF keeping up the
pursuit with the remainder of his force, he
might trap the village while most of its de-
| tenders were still far away, Darkness set
| tied down over the desolate winterv land
scape, and the two troops dispatched on
this stirring and perilious mission were
those of Farwell and Malcolm Leale. the
latter led by its boy lieutenant, Will Farrar.
One hour later, as the advance was still
CROPPING along the trail, and the weary
troopers, alternately leading afoot and rid
ing sleeplly IN narrow column, pushed
steadily in their tracks, two horsemen ON
jaded mounts came squirting from the rear
and Wayne, with sorrowfnl face. handed
his dispatches to the colonel Bv the liobt
of little pocket lantern Fenton read
while in brooding silence knot of half
dozen officers gathered about them The
closing paragraph is all we need to quote;
You will, therefore, turn over the com
| mand to jor Wayne and report in person
at these headquarters without unnecessary
delay. Acknowledge receipt" At any
other time the colonel might have been
expected to swear vigorously, but the
trouble in Wayne's face and the unspoken
sympathy and sorrow were too much for
him.
"All right, old boy" said he, as he re-
folded the papers. pitch in now and
finish up the business, with my blessing.
swarthy guide, chow far is it over to the
Allison ranch? l think I'll sleep there"
and no further words were needed to tell
the little group that their colonel had been
| removed from command just on the eve of
| the consummation of his plans, and he
was the only man of the lot who didn't
look as though all heart had been taken
out of him as the immediate result.
g. that fellow Thorpe It's his do
ing" swore the adjutant between his set
teeth "He has never forgiven US for
| spelling his scheme to clean out the whole
band"
Don't waste time swearing" said Fen
| ton, grimly. "I'll take that Job off your
hands. They're heading for Elk Springs,
! Wayne, and I've sent Farweu with two
troops around to the left to find their way
| to the bluffs and get there first. Every
| thing ponds on that"
But even Fenton hardly realized how
very much depended. 1t was now about z
O'Clock and ever since the early dawn the
cavalry had been pressing steadily at the
heels of the Indian rear guard, never
firing, never responding to the challenge
of shot or shout from the scampering war
! riors before them. Again and again had
| Bat and his halfbreed cousin, La Bonte,
striven to get Big Road to halt and parley,
but, though the signals were fully under
| stood, old Road was mad with the
! mingled rage of fight and whisky and
\ haIin ha Af
break that should rival that of 1876
and place him, as battle chief, head
| of an army of warriors that should over
run the Northwest. Anxious only to get
the women and children safely in among
the Businesses of the hills. he contented
himself, therefore, the livelong day, with
| holding the troops at long arms length,
opening lively fire when they sought to
| push ahead. 1t was glorious fun for him
| and his. Well they knew that so far at
least the soldiers were forbidden to attack.
| With the coming of another day Bid Road
| planned to have his village far in among
| the clefts and canyons of the range, where
a few resolute warriors could defend the
| pass against an advance, while he and his
braves, REINFORCED by eager recruits from
the young men of other bands at the reser-
walton, could fall upon the TANKS and rear
of Fenton's force and fritter it away as
Red Cloud had massacred Fetterman's
men long years before at old Fort Kearny.
Everything depended on who should get
| there first and, as the Sioux said of Clusters
column, the bloody day on the Little Horn,
1.-THE soldiers were tired"
Extending southwark from the peaks of
the Big Horn was wild range of irregu-
| lar heights, covered in places with thick
growth of hardy young spruce and cedars
! and scrub oak, slashed and severed here
| and there by deep and tortuous canyons
| with precipitous sides. Somewhere in
| among these hills was big amphitheater
! known as the Indian racecourse, approach
| able in winter, at least, only through the
| crooked rift or pass known for short as
Elk Gulch. In just such another natural
| fastness. and only few miles away to the
northeast, had the Cheyennes made their
| famous stand against FIVE times their
| weight in fighting men the bitter winter of
! 1864 battle the cavalry long had cause to
remember-and now with but handful of
| troops as compared with the force led in
| by Mackenzie, Wayne had right before
him similar problem to tackle. The only
points in his favor were that Big Roads
braves were as few as mis- own, and that
Fenton had already sent force to race the
Indians to their refuge.
At o'clock the darkness was intense
There was no moon to light their way, and
their only guide was the deep trail in the
snowy surface left by the retreating In
dams. The darkness was no deeper than
the gloom in every heart, for Fenton was
gone, a wrong and illuminated man, and
they, his loyal soldiers, obedient to a
higher duty still were forced to push on and
finish his work without him. For an hour
only at snail's pace had they followed the
trail. Bat and his associates had had many
narrow escape. Lieutenant Martin, COM
manding the advance, had had his horse
shot under him. Sergeant Roe had a bull
let through his coat, and Corporal Wer-
rick, riding eagerly in the lead, got an
other through the shoulder. Luckily it
was not very cold, but all the same, most
OF the men were becoming sluggish and
sleepy, and that was just about the time
Wayne might be expected to wake up-and
wake up he did.