surrounded in an open plain. The men in
th' companies fell in platoons, an', like them on th' skirmish line,
lay just as they fell, with their officers behind 'em in th' right
places.

"Th' Old Man, General Custer, was in th' middle, an' round him lay th'
bodies of Captain Tom Custer an' Boston Custer, his brothers, Colonel
Calhoun, his brother-in-law, an' young Reed, his nephew. An' right near
was Mark Kellogg, th' Bismarck Tribune's newspaper man. He wasn't
scalped or touched; just lay as he fell.

"Kellogg savvied Injuns, an' used t' say in his paper, 'Hold on a
minute, let's talk this over,' when all th' long-whiskered grangers,
what had come in from Illinois, would raise a holler, an' want th'
United States soldiers t' kick th' Injuns off th' land what they owned.
An' th' Injuns remembered, even when they was crazy with fightin'. An'
just th' same as they didn't touch th' White Chief, Custer, just th'
same they didn't touch th' feller what shoved a lead pencil an' once in
a while said, 'Give 'em a chance.'

"Did they ever find out how many Injuns was there? Not def'nite, but
near enough. On th' tenth annivers'ry of th' fight th' survivors held a
reunion on th' battle-field, an' bein' as I was line-ridin' for Tracy's
Tumble H outfit at th' time, I sneaked off an' went over.

"They'd done a wonderful thing; somethin' that'd never bin done before,
an' most likely never'll be done ag'in. Dave Barry--him as th' Injuns
called 'th' Shadow Catcher'--was a great friend o' Charlie Reynolds,
Barry speakin' Injun talk, an' bein' adopted into th' tribe, an'
savvyin' Injun ways just th' same as Charlie did. An' Dave wanted t' get
the real dope on th' fight on Charlie's account, an' him bein' also a
close friend of old John Gall, th' chief what led th' Injuns in th' big
fight.

"Now, Barry he persuaded--nobody knows how he done it--he persuaded John
Gall t' go along t' this reunion. An' then, as if one miracle wasn't
enough, he pulled another. By golly, he got th' old man t' make a talk.
Boys, it sure was some picture, on that June evenin', t' see that Injun
when th' blanket fell off his shoulders, standin' like one o' them
bronze statutes, with th' settin' sun a-hittin' him. I sure never will
forget it. Old Gall, he pointed here an' there, showin' where
Rain-in-th'-Face was, an' where Crazy Hoss was, an' where Crow King
was--an' all th' rest of th' other chiefs.

"An' then Barry, who was interpretin' for th' old Injun, as