Buffalo Bill: His Life and Adventures in the Wild West — page 40: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

it P ; ‘ ai a ‘ SP » é * ; ' mer, at | :* ius ey « Oyhe : . on a4 Je , Caer = 2 he: ’ » _ i bl a, = *h* P hoe , - x sy ‘) af ‘ : i. i 4 upon Bill, for he dared not urge his horse rapidly down the steep hillside. But once in the valley and the roan bounded forward at a swift pace, and not a moment too soon, for the revolver shots began to rattle, and the bullets to fly un- comfortably near, On, at a swifter gait the roan went, and though Bill heard the clatter of hoofs in chase, he had no fear, as he well knew the speed of the animal he rode, After a few miles’ pursuit the dospe- radoes gave up the chase and returned toward the mountains, while Buffalo Billy urged the roan on, and a couple of hours before dawn he reached the station, roused the men, and in fifteen minutes two score horsemen were on the way to the moun- tains, led by the boy, though a man went in command of the company. fe But though they found the dug-out, and the grave of the man Billy had killed, the birds had flown, leaving one of their number in his last resting-place to mark the visit of the youth to the desperadoes’ den, CHAPTER XX, THE FIGHT WITH THE SIOUX CHIEF, N 1876, the Sioux Indians broke out i into a terrible war with the white men, and committed outrages along the frontier, The leader was Sitting Bull, rival of the celebrated Red Cloud, a demon who executed the Minnesota massacre, and with three thousand war- rilors managed to escape the soldiers and volunteers, hot in pursuit, until over the Red River of the North. , | Kted Cloud, as chief of the Teton Sioux, was in his prime. Main-in-the-Face, to whom we have ailuded in the elevent chapter of this life-story, was a boy, and sitting Bull was a cook in the great cap- tain’s camp. ) | It was a wild time in the history of the tribe, From the south the settlers were preparing to drive them north. In the north the Crows were rising war painted, and from the east the soldiers were floclx- ing to battie with the hostiles. West of the Red River, the Mandans, the Rick- arees, @id thie Gros Ventres held wild hunting grounds to which no Sioux were welcome, The lake and the land breezes were laden with war, and the Tetons, pre- ferring open conflict with an enemy they knew to 4 warfare with a persistent enern whose tactics they conld not MRE at ‘Rickarees and the Gross Ventres stood 7 * af . 4 se “ fled before the long knives to tales: chances with a foe whose weapons they could meet by strategy, if not by. battle, The Minnecongers had no guns ‘The Sans Arcs (Bowless) had no bow nc | arrow. The Uncapapas had needle rifles, which their women had purchased at the” forts, but they were destitute of cart. ridges. A renegade Crow, stripped by the women of his lodge for a wan on attack, was killed for his gun and bullets, And of such was the Teton nation, bereft of every fighting power, powerless against an enemy, yet fleeing from a few soldiers and trusting Red Cloud for their deliyer- ance, oS ag On the west bank of the river they were a met by the Winnebagoes, well armed, and fortified by a most successful hunt, It was a question of winning or be ne destroyed, and, led by Red Cloud ar Long Dog, the Tetons ploughed a furr through the lodges of their antagonists, Until that battle they had been a de- graded race, Even the peaceful Mandans’ regarded them with contempt, but the defeat of the Winnebagoes put even the” warlike Crows on their guard, while the ~ a : “ ~ | rye | - * . t, >a Lng ae back and gave the invaders a free right of way through jtheir hunting grounds, Elated by success, Long Dog, the bravest of all the Sioux, was for routing the an- tagonistic tribes, and, when confronted) with Red Cloud’s stern refusal, souzht to divide the band, and would have prevailec had it not been for Bear Bonnet, whose” epigram, ‘““E Toncha washta meafea Ij Toncha washtela heapa!” “God is good to one, but God is better to a crowd,” crushed the imsurrection, and restored order, Se a Sitting Bull was ready to run-away, He had but two scalps to his bridle then, a Winnebago and a settler, He could count neither on his coup-stick, and he. saw no chance for his ambition so long as Red Cloud controlled the tribe, | Che ; coup-stick is a notched rod, on which is marked all the exploits of a warrior, Little Knife was the chief by descent, bub he was nota warrior. Pretty Bear was waiting for his shoes, and Rain-in-the Face, bold, ambitious, headstrong, was looking for the leadership of the fichting bucks. With a band thus broken by ims ternicine troubles, poorly armed, anc aur 4 i "nL 7 * a Bonnet, hed Cloud passed on, pa ssing . through the hunting lands of the Wix the Gros Ventres, het!y cbooks.com