when he heard his name whispered and saw three of his own
company in the brush. Two of them were mounted. The horse of the third
had been killed.

The three men remained in the bushes, lying as low as they could and
making no sound. Looking out now and then, they could see an old Indian
woman going about, taking scalps and mutilating the bodies of the
soldiers who had been slain. Most of the warriors were occupied with
the battle, but now and then a warrior, suspicious that soldiers were
still lurking in the brush, would ride over in their direction and fire
a few shots that whistled uncomfortably close to their heads.

Presently the firing on the hill ceased, and hundreds of Indians came
slowly back. But they were hard pressed by the soldiers, and the battle
was soon resumed, to break out intermittently through the entire night.

In a quiet interval the two soldiers got their horses, and with their
companion and De Rudio holding to the animals' tails forded the river
and made a detour round the Indians. Several times they passed close to
Indians. Once or twice they were fired on and answered the fire, but
their luck was with them and they escaped bringing a general attack
down upon them.

As they were making their way toward the edge of the clearing they saw
directly before them a party of men dressed in the ragged uniforms of
American cavalrymen, and all drew deep breaths of relief. Help seemed
now at hand. But just as they sprang forward to join their supposed
comrades a fiendish yell broke from the horsemen. In another instant
the four unfortunates were rushing to cover, with a dozen Indians, all
dressed in the clothing taken from dead soldiers, in hot pursuit.

The Indians had been planning a characteristic piece of Sioux strategy.
As fast as it could be accomplished they had been stripping the
clothing from dead and wounded soldiers and garbing themselves in it
with the purpose of deceiving the outposts of Reno's command and
surprising the Americans as soon as day broke. Had it not been for the
accidental discovery of the ruse by De Rudio's party it might have
succeeded only too well.

The lieutenant and his companions managed to get away safely and to
find shelter in the woods. But the Indians immediately fired the
underbrush and drove them further and further on. Then, just as they
had begun to despair of their lives, their pursuers, who had been
circling around the tangle of scrub growth, began singing a