Page:On the border with Crook - Bourke - 1892.djvu/408

 our eyes. But, whenever a particularly good chance for doing mischief presented itself, the rifle of the Sioux belched out its fatal missile. Private Kennedy, Company "C," Fifth Cavalry, had all the calf of one leg carried away by a bullet, and at the same time another soldier was shot through the ankle-joint.

The ground upon which Captain Munson and I were standing suddenly gave way, and down we both went, landing in the midst of a pile of squaws and children. The warriors twice tried to get aim at us, but were prevented by the crooked shape of the ravine; on the other side, "Big Bat" and another one of Stanton's men, named Cary, had already secured position, and were doing their best to induce the Indians to surrender, crying out to them " Washte-helo" (Very good) and other expressions in Dakota, the meaning of which I did not clearly understand. The women and pappooses, covered with dirt and blood, were screaming in an agony of terror; behind and above us were the oaths and yells of the surging soldiers; back of the women lay what seemed, as near as we could make out, to be four dead bodies still weltering in their gore. Altogether, the scene, as far as it went, was decidedly infernal; there was very little to add to it, but that little was added by one of the scouts named Buffalo White, who incautiously exposed himself to find out what all the hubbub in the ravine meant. Hardly had he lifted his body before a rifle-ball pierced him through and through. He cried out in a way that was heart-rending: "0, Lord! 0, Lord! They've got me now, boys!" and dropped limp and lifeless to the base of the hillock upon which he had perched himself, thirty feet into the ravine below at its deepest point.

Encouraged by "Big Bat," the squaws and children ventured to come up to us, and were conducted down through the winds and turns of the ravine to where General Crook was; he approached and addressed them pleasantly; the women divined at once who he was, and clung to his hand and clothing, their own skirts clutched by the babies, who all the while wailed most dismally. When somewhat calmed down they said that their village belonged to the Spotted Tail Agency and was commanded by "Roman Nose" and "American Horse," or "Iron Shield," the latter still in the ravine. General Crook bade one of them go back and say that he would treat kindly all who surrendered.