e
top of a butte half way between the Redwood and Yellow Medicine rivers,
and guide me in.

I then made a requisition for troops on the commander of the post at
Ridgely, who sent me a lieutenant and fifteen men. It chanced to be
Lieutenant Murray, who had accompanied the expedition to Spirit lake.
While waiting for the soldiers, I raised a volunteer force of about
twenty men, among whom was a son of the celebrated electrician,
Professor Morse, and some other young gentlemen who were visiting the
agency, all of whom insisted on going for the fun of the thing. The
balance consisted of employes, most of whom were half-breeds. The
soldiers arrived about five o'clock in the afternoon, and I put them in
wagons. I mounted my squad on good horses, and every man was furnished
with a double-barrelled shotgun and a revolver. We started about dark,
and at midnight arrived at the butte. I galloped to the top of it, and
found sitting there in the most composed manner possible smoking his
pipe, An-pe-tu-toka-sha, or John Otherday, who had been deputed by Brown
to guide us in. He said he knew where we could find the enemy, and
indicated six lodges standing together about four miles above the Yellow
Medicine Agency, on the open prairie. He left the road, and guided us
through the open country to a point on the river about a mile below the
lodges, they being on the other side of the river. We arrived at about
four o'clock in the morning, just as the light of day was breaking. It
was an engrossing study to observe how skillfully he kept us concealed
from view of the enemy, by keeping rolls of the prairie between us. All
his movements were like those of a wary animal, stealthy and noiseless.
The fact is, the education of a savage is learned from the wild animals
on which he lives, and that is what makes him such a good hunter and
fighter.

The river, with a narrow stretch of bottom land and a bluff of about
thirty feet in height, lay between us and the plateau on which was the
camp where Ink-pa-du-ta was supposed to be. Here we formed our plan of
attack. As soon as we crossed and attained the high prairie, and located
the enemy, we were to divide our force into two squads, one of which was
to be the soldiers and the other the mounted men. The soldiers were to
double-quick up the edge of the bluff, to intercept a retreat into the
river bottom, while the mounted men took the open prairie to cut off
escape in the other direction. Lieutenant