The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1913-07-24

troops had melted away into the dark
and disappeared. No word, no sound
had come back. They could only wait
In faith on their comrades. The men
were dismounted. each holding his
OWE horse in instant readiness for &C
ton. Not a few, wearied with the
days work, while still ~clinging to their
brides, wrapped the capes of their
o%vercoats over their heads and threw
themselves down in the snow, and fell
asleep.
At the first sight Of dawn Hamlin
was sent down the line to rou them.
Overcoats were taken off and strapped
to the saddles, carbines loaded and
slung, pistols examined and loosened
in their holsters, saddles recinched,
and curb chains carefully looked after.
This was the work of but a few mo-
ments, the half-frozen soldiers NOV
ing with an eagerness that sent the
hot blood coursing ~fiercely through
numbed limbs. To the whispered COM
mand to mount, running from lip to
lip along the line, the men sprang
joyously into their saddles, their
Quickened ears and eager eyes ready
for the signal.
Slowly. at a walk. Custer led them
forward toward the crest of the hill,
where the Usage guide watched
through the spectral light Of dawn
the doomed village beneath. To the
uplift of a hand the column halted,
and Custer and his bugler went for
ward. A step behind crouched the
Sergeant, grasping the reins of three
horses, while a little to the right, be.
yond the sweep Of the coming charge,
waited the regimental band.
Peering over the crest, the leader
saw through the dim haze, scarcely
five hundred yards distant, dotting the
north bank Of the Washita for more
than a quarter of a mile, the Indian
village. There was about it scarcely
q sign of human life. From the top
of two or three of the tepees light
wreaths Of smoke ioated ~languidly
out on the wintry air, and beyond the
pony herd was restlessly moving.
Even as he gazed, half convinced that
the Indians had been warned, the vii.
lage deserted, the sharp report or a
rife rang out in the distance.
Hamlin saw the General spring up
right, his lips uttering the sharp com
mand, Sound the charged" Even
while the piercing blare Of the bugle
cut the frosty air, there was a jingle
Of steel as the troopers behind spurred
forward. Almost at the instant the
three dismounted men were in saddle,
Custer waved his hand at the band
shouted PLAY" and to the rollicking
air of Garry Owen" the eager col
umn Of horsemen broke into a mad
gallop, and with ringing cheers and
mighty rush, swept over the ridge
straight down into the startled village,
TO Hamlin, at Clusters side, reins In
his teeth, a revolver in either hand
what followed was scarcely a memory
1t remained afterward as a blurred
indistinct picture Of action, changing
so rapidly as to leave no definite out
lines. He heard the answering cal
Of three bugles; the d%eafening thut
of horses hoofs; the converging cheers
of excited troopers: the mingling rims
Of revolver shots; a sharp order cleav
ing the turmoil; the wild neigh Of
stricken horse; the cultural yells o.
Indians leaping from their tepees into
the open. Then he was In the hear
of the village, firing with both hands
before him, about him, h~alf-naked a
ages fighting desperately, striking a
him with knives, firing from the shell
ter of tepees, %spyinging at him will
naked hands in a fierce effort to draf
him from the saddle. 1t was all con
fusion, chaos, a babble Of noise. hii
eyes blinded by CLINT Of steel and glare
of fire. The impetus Of their rush car
ried them irresistibly forward; ove
and through tents they rode, across the
bodies of living and dead; men reelet
and fell from saddles; riderless horses
swept on unguided; revolvers emptie(
were flung aside, and hands CLOSED
hard on sabre hits. Foot by foot
yard by yard, they drove the wedge
Of their charge, until they swept
NAiou6h IhO ih6 VI eCpCSob ~ AA>N
the stampeded pony herd.
The bugle rang again, and they
turned, facing back, and charged once
more, no longer in close formation, but
every trooper fighting as he could
Complete as the surprise had been
the men Of the Seventh realized now
the odds against them. the desperate
nature Of the fight. Out from the shell
tering tepees poured a flood Of war
riors; rifles in hand they fought SAY
agely. The screams Of women and
children, the bowling and baying OF
Indian dogs, the crack Of rifles. the
wild wal cries, all mingled into an in
describable din. Black Kettle was al
most the first to fall. but other chiefs
, rallied their warriors, and fought like
fiends, yielding ground only by inches
until they found shelter amid the trees
and under the river bank.
:. ITO BE Continued