rd fifty yards, and the warrior advanced a like distance.
The two rifles spoke, and the Indian's horse fell; but at the same
moment Will's horse stumbled into a gopher-hole and threw its rider.
Both duelists were instantly on their feet, confronting each other
across a space of not more than twenty paces. They fired again
simultaneously, and though Will was unhurt, the Indian fell dead.

The duel over, some two hundred warriors dashed up to recover the
chieftain's body and to avenge his death. It was now Colonel Merritt's
turn to move. He dispatched a company of soldiers to Will's aid, and
then ordered the whole regiment to the charge. As the soldiers advanced,
Will swung the Indian's topknot and war-bonnet which he had secured, and
shouted, "The first scalp for Custer!"

The Indians made a stubborn resistance, but as they found this useless,
began a retreat toward Red Cloud agency, whence they had come. The
retreat continued for thirty-five miles, the troops following into the
agency. The fighting blood of the Fifth was at fever heat, and they were
ready to encounter the thousands of warriors at the agency should they
exhibit a desire for battle. But they manifested no such desire.

Will learned that the name of the chief he had killed that morning was
"Yellow Hand." He was the son of "Cut Nose," a leading spirit among the
Cheyennes. This old chieftain offered Will four mules if he would return
the war-bonnet and accouterments worn by the young warrior and captured
in the fight, but Will did not grant the request, much as he pitied Cut
Nose in his grief.

The Fifth Cavalry on the following morning started on its march to join
General Crook's command in the Big Horn Mountains. The two commands
united forces on the 3d of August, and marched to the confluence of
the Powder River with the Yellowstone. Here General Miles met them, to
report that no Indians had crossed the stream.

No other fight occurred; but Will made himself useful in his capacity of
scout. There were many long, hard rides, carrying dispatches that no one
else would volunteer to bear. When he was assured that the fighting was
all over, he took passage, in September, on the steamer "Far West," and
sailed down the Missouri.

People in the Eastern States were wonderfully interested in the stirring
events on the frontier, and Will conceived the idea of putting the
incidents of the Sioux war upon the stage. Upon his return to Rochester
he had a play writ