d, or what
was goin' on. All we c'd see was that they was mighty excited like. All
except Charlie. He musta had his say an' then stopped--Injun like.
'Cause Charlie, he was just a white Injun.

"I got Lieutenant Hodgson to let me have a peep through his glasses.
After a ride like that, in a Injun country, a regular c'n be quite on
speakin' terms with his officers, an' when I looked through them glasses
what I seed didn't mean much t' me. 'Way off, down by th' river, was
some tepees an' stuff layin' 'round, just like it was a Injun camp.
That's what it looked like t' me, an' that's what I found out afterwards
was what it looked like t' th' Old Man.

"Benteen an' Reno, they wasn't expressin' much opinion, as they was
expectin' t' stay right where they was an' wait devel'pments, like Terry
said they was t' do, but th' Old Man, he said, 'Attack!' An' right there
was where Charlie Reynolds come in.

"He says that th' Injun village was a decoy; that he c'd tell by th'
stuff, th' buffalo robes an' all, that was layin' 'round; that there was
eight thousand fightin' Injuns in that part of th' country, an' that it
was a safe bet that seven thousand nine hundred an' ninety-nine was
layin' right in behind them hog-backs--low hills--a-waitin' for us.

"But th' Old Man was mad. He was out t' do somethin' an' he was a-goin'
t' do it. An' he says, 'You're all wrong, but we're goin' t' attack,
anyhow.'

"An' Charlie he says somethin', an' walks away, an' I seen th' Old Man
starin' an' glarin', an' I says t' m'self, 'When we git back t' th' Fort
it's a court-martial for Charlie, sure.' An' then it all happened.

"Boots an' saddles, an' we that was so all-in we c'd just stretch out
an' groan with tiredness, was up an' on th' move. My hoss, Long
Tom,--an' he was as game a animal as ever lived,--just wavered an'
swayed when I hit th' saddle. Gee, boys! we was sure an all-in bunch!

"Why did th' Old Man do it? How in thunder do I know? He just done it.
I'm supposin' he was sort o' smartin' under them stay-back orders he
had, an' such like, an' just nachally cut th' cable; same as Admiral
Dewey done at Manila Bay, only Dewey, he won out, an' our Old Man--well,
that's th' story.

"But just to digress or switch off, or whatever that big word is, for a
minute. I want t' say that our Old Man, whatever his faults was,--an' I
guess he had a-plenty,--he was game. He was a fighter. He said, 'Come
ahead,' every time: he never said, 'Go ahead,