"Oh, if you could do that, you would win my everlasting gratitude. I can't bear to be tied up and burned, just because I happen to wear the blue. Have you a drink of water about you, sir?"
Water was something that Guy did not have, and he began to feel as though he would like a drink himself. He approached the Indians, who were now sitting on the ground engaged in the formality of smoking, and holding his right hand as if he were grasping a cup, carried it to his mouth and turned it up as if drinking from it. He knew this much of the signs that Cyrus had taught him. One of the Sioux immediately said something in his own tongue and pointed down the gully, and then went on with his smoking.
"There is not any water here," said Guy, returning to the soldier. "We must wait until we reach the village. Now brace up, and don't let these people see that you are afraid of them. If you do they will torment you in every way that they can think of."
When Guy went to speak a word of encouragement to the other prisoner, he cast his eyes around among the horses that were standing a little distance away, and saw that there were five of them that belonged to the government. There were thirty of the Indian ponies, and twenty-eight savages sitting in that circle on that ground; and by counting the two who had been sent out as look-outs, it proved to his satisfaction that the Sioux made that attack upon the cavalry and came off without losing a man. No wonder that they felt jolly over it.
Guy spoke such words to the other captive as he thought would serve to encourage him in the ordeal which he knew was coming, and by that time the lookouts came in from the hills and the Indians all got up in readiness to resume their march to the village. But before they went they determined to examine the pockets of their captives and see what they could find that was worth stealing. In obedience to a sign from one of his captors, Guy got up and the Indian thrust his brawny arm into his pants. His pocketbook was the first thing he pulled out. The small amount of money that Guy had was looked at and thrown aside, the Indian not knowing what the bills were. The next thing was Winged Arrow's medicine; and when the savage unfolded that and looked at it, he uttered a grunt which brought all his companions to his side. Guy's heart beat against his ribs with a sound like a trip hammer, for he knew that something was going to happen now. First one Indian examined it and then another, all uttered grunts indicative of surprise or indignation, he couldn't tell which, and another savage, the same one who had gone through the motions of scalping him before and was ready to do it again, for he held his knife in his hand, quietly put it in his belt and made no move toward Guy. The Indians now became excited and wanted to get to their village as soon as possible. The talking and laughing suddenly ceased. The horses were brought up and at a sign Guy and one prisoner mounted; and when it came to the captive who was too weak to help himself, he was not jerked and hauled around as he was before, but an Indian lifted him in his arms and put him on the horse as tenderly as if he had been an infant. There was something in Winged Arrow's medicine after all, and when he saw how prompt the savages were to obey it, it made the chills creep all over him.
"No one need ever tell me again that the Sioux are nothing but savages, and have no hearts at all in them," muttered Guy, as he fell in with the others and rode down the ravine. "But that paper is not through yet. If it pass Red Cloud and the other big chiefs at the village, I shall really begin to believe there is SOMETHING in Indian medicine."
The ride now was a very intricate one, and Guy marveled greatly when he saw the Indian who was leading turn first into one gully and then into another, and never seem to be at a loss which way to go. If a body of troops ever got in there with Indians all around them, their destruction was certain. The next thing was the village which came into view. A sudden turning of one of the gullies, when everything seemed to be deserted, and there were the tepees scattered along both banks of a little stream which came murmuring down from the hills. That was too much for one of Guy's companions in trouble. He dismounted from his horse, stretched himself out at full length beside that stream and drank as if he had not seen any water for a month.
Guy's fear and anxiety increased now, for he longed to see Winged Arrow, to tell him what had been done with his medicine and to ask him if there were the least grounds for hope for any prisoner besides himself. Somehow he could not get it out of his mind that his men had seen the prairie for the last time, but that was too dreadful to think of. The Indians along the stream took but little notice of the party as they rode through the village, with the exception of one who gazed at them as if there were something on his mind. This one fell in behind and walked along with them until they came to a lodge which he entered without ceremony. It was Reuben who was hunting for Winged Arrow. There was something about Guy's shoulder straps which attracted his attention, and he wanted to see his friend before it was too late. The lodge he entered was the one Winged Arrow occupied, and he found that person just getting ready to go out.
"He has come," said Reuben.
"So I have heard, and I am going to see about it," said Winged Arrow. "I wonder if he has that letter with him."