“I have been sent here with dispatches for General Miles,” said the young officer. “I am Lieutenant Parker, and this man is my guide.”
“Well, I guess you are all right, so you can come on,” said the corporal. “How did you get through the Sioux lines, sir?”
“We did not have any trouble with the Sioux at all,” said Parker. “I guess that Kicking Bull is holding a Ghost Dance somewhere, is he not? We listened, but we heard no yelling.”
“That’s where he is now, sir; but the agent sent to him to give up the man, and old Bull told him that he was going to send him home. But what’s the use of that, sir? The Indians will learn all they want to know in that time, and they can go on with the dance without his help.”
When Lieutenant Parker followed the corporal through the gate, which stood wide open, he kept his eyes on the watch for some of those wily Sioux braves who were there to apprise Sitting Bull of their coming, but he saw none. In fact he had not seen a Sioux Indian since he left Fort Scott. He began to breathe a good deal easier.
“I believe we can go out as we came in,” said he in a low voice to his guide. “The Indians are all away learning the Ghost Dance, and there is not one of them here to carry the news to headquarters.”
“I hope it is so, but I am afraid it isn’t,” said Carl. “Some brave, somewhere, has seen us come in here, and when we are ready to go out he will have help enough to stop us.”
Parker sent in his name by the orderly who stood in front of the general’s door, who in a few moments came out, again, with an invitation to the lieutenant to step inside. Parker obeyed, and presently found himself in the company of an elderly gentleman who had evidently just got up out of a warm bed, for his hair was all rumpled up, and he had thrown on a dressing-gown which enveloped him from his head to his heels.
“I believe I have seen you before, Lieutenant Parker,” said the general, taking the papers which were handed him.
“Yes, sir; that was when you ordered me to report to Colonel Dodge of the —th Cavalry.”