"The major was impatient because of the delay, and, when he saw this, he too was angry. He turned and talked a few minutes with General Forsyth, both speaking so low that I couldn't catch what they said, though I seen the general was as angry as the major, but he kept cool. You see, the major was managing the business, but he made sure that everything was done as General Forsyth wanted.
"The cavalry was now ordered to dismount, and they done so, forming a square about fifty feet back and closed in, standing within a half-dozen yards of the Indians that was in the centre.
"It was plain that the latter didn't mean to obey orders, though they pretended to. Accordingly a body of cavalry was sent to make the search themselves. When they came out, which they did in a few minutes, they brought sixty good rifles with 'em. That was doing the business up in style; but the general and the major didn't intend there should be any half-way work about it. The soldiers were directed to search the bucks themselves, for there was no doubt that all of 'em had their guns hid under their blankets.
"The Sioux stood scowling, ugly and savage. When about a dozen had been searched and their rifles brought out, they couldn't stand it. They were furious. Like a flash, the rest of 'em whipped out their guns from under their blankets and let fly at us. It was so sudden that before we knew what it meant, a hundred guns had been fired, and the reports sounded like one volley.
"It was all done in a twinkling. There we were, close enough almost to touch the redskins, and the flash of their rifles was right in our faces. I remember that I was looking into the muzzle of one of 'em, when the gun went off, and I felt the bullet nip my ear; but others weren't so fortunate, and the poor boys dropped as though so many thunderbolts had fallen among 'em.
"It didn't take us long, howsumever, to get in our work.
"I can tell you," added Scout Jackson, "there were lively times for twenty minutes or half an hour. During the battle we stood off some distance when firing at each other, but it was like you and me standing near enough almost to shake hands, and blazing away. Them redskins fought hard. It was bang, bang, with the soldiers dropping all around, and no saying when your own turn was to come.
"But the hostiles got the worst of it. Some of 'em, seeing how it was going, broke through our lines and dashed for the hills to the south-west. We followed 'em, and the fighting kept up as bad as ever, though the shots wasn't so rapid. We lost about thirty, and more than that wounded, and of them some are likely to die."
"Where were the squaws and children during the fight?" asked Brinton.
An expression of scorn passed over the face of the scout as he made answer—