“And Sitting Bull is to blame for that?”
“Yes—and Red Cloud. They are as strongly in favor of the dance as anyone they have got under them, and they are keeping it up in defiance of all the army officers can say and do against it. They are very sly; they talk only in their own language, although some say that Sitting Bull can sign his name in English; but I don’t believe it. Nobody can get at anything an Indian does, and when this outbreak comes, it will come like an avalanche.”
“All you have said is news to me,” said Lieutenant Parker thoughtfully. “I believe that the Ghost Dance is not a myth; but, as you say, it will lead to something else.”
The lieutenant grew uneasy after that, and wished his companion would offer some advice about watching over the men in his little train; but he did not act as if there was an Indian within a thousand miles of him. Carl knew all about the plains and those who inhabited them, and when he began to be uneasy it would be time enough for him to do something; but he thought it would be worth while to ask some counsel on the subject.
“You said that this outbreak would come before we are aware of it,” said he. “How do you know that it will not come on us who are out hunting?”
“There is little danger of that, unless some Indian saw us when we left the fort or will run against some of us while we are away from the camp. This country all belongs to them, and it would be right and proper that we should be wiped out.”
Of course Lieutenant Parker did not feel any easier for asking his guide to express an opinion on the situation. He did not show it in his face, but he felt the cold chills run all over him.
“I don’t know that he talked that way in order to frighten me,” thought Parker, “but I hope that we shall not see any Indians while we are gone. I would not know how to act.”
The hunters did not stop when they reached Lost River, but drove past a camp which those who had gone before them had made during their hunt in the foothills. The sergeant did not halt at that camp, for he wanted a “fresh spot” in which to pass the night. Half a mile farther on he found a place that suited him, and there he stopped his men and rode back to Lieutenant Parker, who had been riding behind the wagons all the way.
“Will this place suit you, sir?” said he, with his hand to his cap.