Pretty soon we stopped again and the War Chief ordered us to camp there for the night. “We know now,” he said, “that we must fight or go back, and we have gone back so much that the Crows begin to think we are afraid of them. I feel that we ought to give them a lesson this time that they will not forget soon.”
“That is the way I look at it,” said Washakie. “Now is the time to show them that we will fight for our rights.”
This seemed to be the way most of the warriors felt, for I heard them talking about it in their council that night.
We camped right there, all in a bunch, with hardly room to make down our beds. A strong guard was sent to look after the horses, but the night passed off without any trouble. When morning came, ten men were sent to see if they could find any signs of the Crows. They were gone about an hour, when back they came and reported that about a thousand Crows were camped over the ridge just ahead of us.
“We will go on to our hunting grounds,” said the War Chief, “if there are ten thousand of them.”
The Indians painted up in grand style. They drew black streaks all over their faces to make themselves look fiercer, and then we got ready and started forward. We had not gone far when the squaws were ordered to stop. The warriors went on and passed over a small ridge out of our sight.
Pretty soon we heard shooting, then an Indian came and told us to go back until we came to good water and stay there until we heard from the chief. “They are fighting now,” he said.
We had hardly reached the stream of water before we saw Indians come up on the hill and then disappear, then come in sight again. They seemed to be fighting fiercely, and they were yelling to beat Old Billy. They had not been fighting over an hour before half or two thirds of them were on top of the hill and slowly coming down the side towards us.
Dr. T. M. Bridges