"I prepared for death. I painted as usual like an eclipse of the sun,
half black and half red."

His eyes gleamed and his face lighted up remarkably as he talked,
pushing his black hair back from his forehead with a nervous gesture.

"Now the signal for the charge was given! I started even with Wapaypay,
but his horse was faster than mine, so he left me a little behind as we
neared the fort. This was bad for me, for by that time the soldiers had
somewhat recovered from the surprise and were aiming better.

"Their big gun talked very loud, but my Wapaypay was leading on, leaning
forward on his fleet pony like a flying squirrel on a smooth log! He
held his rawhide shield on the right side, a little to the front, and
so did I. Our warwhoop was like the coyotes singing in the evening, when
they smell blood!

"The soldiers' guns talked fast, but few were hurt. Their big gun was
like a toothless old dog, who only makes himself hotter the more noise
he makes," he remarked with some humor.

"How much harm we did I do not know, but we made things lively for a
time; and the white men acted as people do when a swarm of angry bees
get into camp. We made a successful retreat, but some of the reservation
Indians followed us yelling, until Hohay told them that he did not wish
to fight with the captives of the white man, for there would be no honor
in that. There was blood running down my leg, and I found that both my
horse and I were slightly wounded.

"Some two years later we attacked a fort west of the Black Hills [Fort
Phil Kearny, Wyoming]. It was there we killed one hundred soldiers."
[The military reports say eighty men, under the command of Captain
Fetterman--not one left alive to tell the tale!] "Nearly every band of
the Sioux nation was represented in that fight--Red Cloud, Spotted
Tail, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Big Foot, and all our great chiefs were
there. Of course such men as I were then comparatively unknown. However,
there were many noted young warriors, among them Sword, the younger
Young-Man-Afraid, American Horse [afterward chief], Crow King, and
others.

"This was the plan decided upon after many councils. The main war party
lay in ambush, and a few of the bravest young men were appointed to
attack the woodchoppers who were cutting logs to complete the building
of the fort. We were told not to kill these men, but to chase them into
the fort and retreat slowly, defying the white men; and if the soldiers