“I should say that he is a man to be reckoned with,” observed Buffalo Bill. “I have found that Indians fight better, as a general rule, when they are led by a white renegade.”
“Durn my cats! but I hope I get a chance for a shot at him!” exclaimed Wild Bill.
The three men then left the quarters, and made the round of the fort to see that all was in readiness to repel the attack which they knew might come at any moment.
Several settlers from the country round about had already come into the fort with their wives and families, and such of their household goods as they could move, for the news of the Indian rising had already begun to spread.
The men among the newcomers were all tough frontiersmen, fine riders, and good shots; and Buffalo Bill saw that they would form a valuable addition to the regular troops who garrisoned the fort.
After they had seen that all was in order, the colonel and the two scouts chatted with the fugitive settlers, and found that they were all eager for a fight with the Indians at the earliest possible moment.
They were all true-blue Americans, who hated to be on the defensive when a fight was in prospect.
They discussed the situation, and there was not a man who did not seem convinced that the Indians would get the worst of it before long.
Several of the settlers denounced the redskins in unmeasured terms, saying that hanging and shooting were too good for “sech varmints.”
“The durned skunks hev got every reason ter be grateful to us,” said one old man, “but there ain’t an ounce of gratitude in their natoors. We give ’em lands and huntin’ grounds, and don’t trouble ’em anyways; but whenever they see a chance they want to scalp us and lift our cattle.”