Next, to throw a cordon of soldiers around the camp and hold it would be easy.
Custer and his men rode away at about eight o’clock on the morning of the Twenty-fifth. They were in high spirits, for the cramped quarters on the transports made freedom doubly grateful.
They disappeared across the mesa and through the gray-brown hills, and soon only a cloud of dust marked their passage.
After five miles had been turned off on a walk, Custer ordered a trot, and then, where the ground was level, a canter.
On they went.
They pitched camp at four o’clock, having covered forty miles. The horses were unsaddled and fed, and supper cooked and eaten.
But sleep was not to be—these men shall sleep no more!
The bugles sounded “Boots and Saddles.” Before sunset they were again on their way.