Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-05

went to war or when their " hearts were bad
and they sought to kill in private quarrel So
habited and painted, their forebears sought
their enemies away back in the dim past
when their race dominated much of the Atlantic
coast. when even the Mound Builders were
still Young. Naked also to the bride were
their war ponies.
But however habited, whatever their
motives OF allegiance, whether of attach
ment and fidelity to their white chief or, what
was far more likely, of pride of Office and
conceit of authority, -welcome indeed these
brave lads were to US.
Coming of the End
A ND they got to us none too soon; for be-
4 fore they were well settled behind the
wall (Which made us an excellent breastwork)
here came the Brhles, quirts pounding on
straning- shoulders, moccaslned heels drum
ming on heaving TANKS, the fierce riders lying
low over the wIthers and getting every last
Jump out of their piebald cayuse mounts.
Here they came, nearly four hundred OF
them, charging straight on our position before
the Office, irregular but sohd mass OF strain
ing horses and yelling riders, apparently bent
on riding us down,-a living, breathing, SEN
tient yet remorseless tide weighty enough to
rae wall and office to the ground at the first
impact, and leave naught behind but splintered
boards and bones.
Here they came, and there we sat, ours tar
the hardest part of it. theirs the excitement
and hope of conquest born of charge IL over
whelming numbers; ours the dull, chill wait
for the end bred of sense OF hopeless odds
against us; theirs the hot, savage lust Tor
blood; ours the despair of men condemned
past hope of reprieve. Hope, Such senti-
ment for us no more existed Even were we
able to withstand the Brnles for time, it still
remained a certainty that the prevailing hos
tility to the police would bring the whole
Oglala tribe IN upon US so soon as powder
burned and blood ran.
The doctors orders were simple: Fire
under no circumstances till ordered i''-nothing
more
On they came and yet on. Time and again
! caught a bead on the chiefs breast with my
.4s-1ao Sharps, which easily might have sent
him into permanent camp on Ghost Creek,
and it is miracle that l, or none OF the others,
pulled trigger.
AT length, when their steady onrush must
have become trying even to McO1lhcuddy
iron nerves, they relned IN and stopped
scant sixty yards in front of us Why, God
only knows, unless the steady nerve OF the
doctors control of us got on their nerves.
But stop, happily they did, grim, heavlng,
threatening mass, darkly outlined against the
bonnets dancing, ponies pranc1ng, shields
rafting, weapons cleaning. And there they
stayed, for Heaven only knows how long, until
it would have been a relief to see the charge
renewed.
With the best OF us there is always break
ing point Presently Doctor McGillicuddy's
was reached.
lump out there, Louis" he called to
the interpreter. and tell that old devil to
chase himself back to camp III give
him five minutes before we fire, no more.
Tell him if he bats his eyes at me again,
III lust choke him to death for luck!'-
a cropping out of the old Anglo-Saxon con-
fidence in good bare hands against armed
brute
Out sprang Changro with the message and
up jumped the doctor on the wall watch in
hand, prepared to time the making of his
message good.
Changro stopped halfway and shouted his
message, and then returned to US. 1t was a
plucky deed of his; for none of us expected
to shake his hand again.
Then opened brief heated parley among
the Brnles. Judging by his angry gesticula-
tons, the chief, bursting with resentment,
wanted to charge. The rest of the band, most
of them at least seemed to be opposing IT.
Apparently seven or eight minutes contem
plation of the mouths of our hundred
rifles left the Briles little stomach to wait to
hear them speak
Hold them the old chief could not. and they
turned and rode off south, up White Clay,
toward Sun Dance Flat.
A Curious Thirst
A Nd then l awakened to curious fact
y wish some clever psychologist would ex
plain,-an experience l had had before this
incident as we'll as since, when placed in like
circumstances either under threatened or