Part 31 (1/2)
When Terry and Crook's commands joined on the Yellowstone both couards were placed to prevent surprise The scene was typical of the Old West, but it would astonish anyone whose whole idea of warfare has been gained by a visit to acamp, or the vast camps where the reserve forces are drilled and equipped for the great European war
Generals Crook, Merritt, and Carr were in rough hunting rigs, utterly without any mark of their rank Deerskin, buckskin, corduroy, canvas, and rags indiscriminately covered the rest of the command, so that unless you knew the uish between officers and enlisted men However, every one in the commands knew every one else, and there was no confusion
A great part of that night was spent in swapping stories of recent experiences All of theners fresh fro bow in those days The truth was plenty exciting enough to suit thein each other's tales, and telling our own in exchange
A story of a personal adventure and a hairbreadth escape in which Lieutenant De Rudio figured was so typical of the fighting days of the West that I want my readers to know it I shall tell it, as nearly as I can, just as it ca fire in that picturesque border camp
De Rudio had just returned from his adventure, and he told it to us between puffs of his pipe so realistically that I caught several ofabout into the darkness as if toup on theuarding a pony crossing with eight et your horse, quick Reno (the co!” No truiven, so the lieutenant hesitated to retire Hisfor the call
Presently, looking behind hiallop He wheeled and started to get into safer quarters As lie did so they cut loose with a volley He leaned low on his horse as they shot, and the bullets sang hare of thick underbrush along the river, and into this he forced his unwilling horse The bullets followed and clipped the twigs about hiained the creek, forded, and mounted the bank on the other side Here, instead of safety, he found hundreds of Indians, all busily shooting at the soldiers, ere retreating discreetly in the face of a greatly superior force He was entirely cut off from retreat, unless he chose to h theIndian, who had observed him, sent a shot after hi over and over, while he ed to scramble to his feet
The shot had attracted the attention of all the Indians in that ihborhood, and there were plenty of them there for all offensive purposes De Rudio jumped down the creek bank and hid in an excavation while a hail of bullets spattered the water ahead of him and raised a dozen little clouds of dust at his feet
So heavy had this volley been that the Indians decided that the bullets had done their work, and a wild yell broke froed to another sort of outcry, and the firing abruptly ceased Peering out, De Rudio saw Captain Benteen's coluan to hope that his rescue was at hand
But in a few minutes the soldiers disappeared and the Indians all started off after them
Just beyond the hill was the noise of a lively battle, and he made up his mind that Reno's coht be saved
Working his way softly through the brush he was nearing the summit of the slope when he heard his name whispered and saw three of his own company in the brush Two of them were mounted The horse of the third had been killed
The threeas low as they could andout now and then, they could see an old Indian wo the bodies of the soldiers who had been slain Most of the warriors were occupied with the battle, but now and then a warrior, suspicious that soldiers were still lurking in the brush, would ride over in their direction and fire a few shots that whistled unco on the hill ceased, and hundreds of Indians came slowly back But they were hard pressed by the soldiers, and the battle was soon resuht
In a quiet interval the two soldiers got their horses, and with their co to the animals' tails forded the river and made a detour round the Indians Several times they passed close to Indians Once or twice they were fired on and answered the fire, but their luck ith theeneral attack down upon thee of the clearing they saw directly before theed uniforms of American cavalrymen, and all drew deep breaths of relief Help see forward to join their supposed comrades a fiendish yell broke from the horsemen In another instant the four unfortunates were rushi+ng to cover, with a dozen Indians, all dressed in the clothing taken from dead soldiers, in hot pursuit
The Indians had been planning a characteristic piece of Sioux strategy
As fast as it could be acco fro the the outposts of Reno's co the Americans as soon as day broke Had it not been for the accidental discovery of the ruse by De Rudio's party it ht have succeeded only too well
The lieutenant and his coet away safely and to find shelter in the woods But the Indians immediately fired the underbrush and drove theun to despair of their lives, their pursuers, who had been circling around the tangle of scrub growth, began singing a slow chant and withdrew to the summit of the hill
There they rele file
Fearing another trap, the white -place, but at last were coer to come out
No Indians were visible, nor did any appear as, worn out and dispirited, they dragged theht hours since he had been cut off froone all the horrors of Indian warfare and a hundred tiiven himself up for dead
Bullets had passed many times within a few inches of him Half a dozen times only a lucky chance had intervened between him and the horrible death that Indians knoell how to inflict Yet, save for the bruises from his fall off his horse, and the abrasions of the brush through which he had traveled, he had never received a scratch