Whether Kansas King suspected the hermit chief of bad faith, or determined to strike a blow himself against the settlements, is not known; but certain it is, that, as soon as darkness set in, he moved his men at once toward the Ramsey stockade, and after a gallant charge up to the walls, discovered that the occupants had deserted the place.
Chagrined at this discovery, the outlaw chief rode with all dispatch toward the stronghold of the miners, and arrived there about the time that Gray Chief and his red warriors reached the camping ground of the robbers, to find that they had fled.
With rage at the move of Kansas King, the Indians at once set out for the Ramsey settlement, gloating over their anticipated revel in blood. Again were they doomed to disappointment, and in fear that their enemies had escaped them they rode rapidly for the stronghold of the miners.
Before they arrived, however, they heard the rattle of firearms. Then it flashed across the hermit chief that Kansas King had outwitted him and was determined to alone take the plunder from the miners and reduce their stronghold to ashes.
The firing grew louder, and then the fort came in sight, the flashes of the rifles lighting up the dark mountainside. As the band of warriors pressed on, Kansas King suddenly confronted the hermit chief, and, with coolness, said:
“Well, old man, you procrastinated too much, so I have begun the fight!”
Both men felt that the other was playing some deep game; yet they were anxious to receive aid, the one from the other. The outlaws had already suffered severely, and at a glance the hermit chief and White Slayer felt that the stronghold would not be easily taken.
So the outlaws and the Sioux concluded to fight together against the miners. The Indians were thrown into position, and the battle at once raged in all its fierceness. In vain the outlaws, under their reckless young leader, hurled themselves against the stockade walls; in vain the warriors resorted to every cunning artifice known to them.
The brave little garrison poured in constantly a galling fire upon their enemies, and many an outlaw and Indian bit the dust.
“Come, this will never do. We must charge in column with our whole force and throw ourselves over the walls. I will lead,” cried Kansas King, almost wild with fury at the stubborn resistance of the gallant defenders.