Page:On the border with Crook - Bourke - 1892.djvu/307

 the advance of cavalry difficult. Their report was favorable, nothing being seen to occasion fear that a mounted force could not approach quite close to the lodges. It was a critical moment, as Frank indicated where the Indian boys were getting ready to drive the herds of ponies down to water, which meant that the village would soon be fully aroused. At last we were off, a small band of forty-seven all told, including the brave "Teddy" Egan himself, Mr. Strahorn, the representative of the ''Rocky Mountain News'', a man who displayed plenty of pluck during the entire campaign, Hospital Steward Bryan, and myself. We moved out from the gulch in column of twos, Egan at the head; but upon entering the main valley the command "Left front into line" was given, and the little company formed a beautiful line in less time than it takes to narrate it. We moved at a fast walk, and as soon as the command "Charge" should be given, we were to quicken the gait to a trot, but not move faster on account of the weak condition of our stock. When the end of the village was reached we were to charge at full gallop down through the lines of "tepis," firing our revolvers at everything in sight; but if unable to storm the village, we were to wheel about and charge back. Just as we approached the edge of the village we came upon a ravine some ten feet in depth and of a varying width, the average being not less than fifty. We got down this deliberately, and at the bottom and behind a stump saw a young boy about fifteen years old driving his ponies. He was not ten feet off. The youngster wrapped his blanket about him and stood like a statue of bronze, waiting for the fatal bullet; his features were as immobile as if cut in stone. The American Indian knows how to die with as much stoicism as the East Indian. I levelled my pistol. "Don't shoot," said Egan, "we must make no noise." We were up on the bench upon which the village stood, and the war-whoop of the youngster was ringing wildly in the winter air, awakening the echoes of the bald-faced bluffs. The lodges were not arranged in any order, but placed where each could secure the greatest amount of protection from the configuration of the coves and nooks amid the rocks. The ponies close to the village trotted off slowly to the right and left as we drew near; the dogs barked and howled and scurried out of sight; a squaw raised the door of her lodge, and seeing the enemy yelled with all her strength, but as yet there had been not one shot fired.