Was the little band doomed?
All glanced into the face of their young leader, who, surrounded now by odds too numerous to break through, had stood at bay.
"Stand and die right here, over the body of the Sioux chief!" cried Lieutenant Carey, and his red cavalrymen rallied around him.
But though shots rang out thick and fast, though the Indian guards fell dead and wounded, and the Sioux went down under the fire of the little band, they were not doomed to be sacrificed, for with a ringing cheer the gallant Boys in Blue, led by Captain Fechet, came dashing to the rescue, and now the cry became, "Soldiers to the rescue!"
Like an avalanche they came on, breaking the Indian line about the little band of captors, hurling back the surprised Sioux, and forcing them upon their village in temporary disorder.
But still the odds were terribly against the soldiers, and, maddened into frenzy by the death of their chief, the Sioux again formed for a rush, when into sight dashed Colonel Dunn and his infantry at a run, the machine guns being brought up in good style, and before this onslaught the followers of the mighty Tatanka Yotanke broke in wild disorder and fled.
Loud roared the guns, as the soldiers pursued, and the Sioux only stopped their flight when they reached the shelter of the ravines, where the small force dare not follow them.
Then suddenly the firing ceased, but the battle was won, and the Sioux chieftain lay dead upon the field where he had fallen.
"Lieutenant Carey, I congratulate you upon your escape, for it was a miraculous one. We knew you had gotten into trouble when we heard the firing, but, though we came to the rescue at a run, we expected to find you dead, you and every man of your force. Again, I congratulate you, sir," and the commanding officer warmly grasped the hand of the young soldier, who said in his modest way:
"It was a close call, sir, and your coming when you did, alone saved us. I am sorry Sitting Bull was killed, but the Sioux began the fight, and the man who killed him had already received his death wound. I shall never forget the look of reproach that the chief turned upon me as he felt the death grip upon him. There was a world of meaning in it."