“All right, colonel?” demanded the general, his eyes roving anxiously along the winding line.
“All right, general. But we had quite a brush. That is, Cook and Robbins did. Myers and I arrived just in time to see the enemy disappear.”
“Mrs. Custer here?” queried the general, sharply.
“No, general. She didn’t leave Hays, fortunately. Cook can tell you about it.”
Didn’t leave Hays! The general seemed to heave a great sigh of relief. Camp and trail were no places for a white woman, even so plucky a one as Mrs. Custer, or as pretty Diana. He dashed along the column, seeking Lieutenant Cook.
“Well, Cook! Had a fight, I hear.”
“Yes, sir. They attacked us pretty severely, on our way out from Wallace, before West and Myers joined us. We saw them coming, and formed with the men on foot and the wagons and horses in the middle. Then we kept right on moving forward, but they circled us savagely. There were between six and seven hundred of them, weren’t there, Comstock?”
“Fully so,” agreed Scout Will Comstock, who was riding near. “But there ain’t as many now, gen’ral. We toppled five of ’em for keeps, an’ there’s more red hides that’s got troublesome holes in ’em. But it looked for a time as though our scalps was goin’ to pay. Six or seven hundred Injuns warn’t goin’ to let fifty men stop ’em from gettin’ at the sugar an’ coffee in those wagons.”