izon, but the clouds were
gorgeous with his livery of red and gold, and the stars had shrunk from
sight before the ardor of his beams. The level "bench" through which
the stream meandered, the billowing slopes to the north and south, were
bare of foliage and uninviting to the eye, yet keen and wary eyes were
scanning their bald expanse, studying every crest and curve and ridge
in search of moving objects. Only at the very brink of the flowing
waters, and only in far-scattered places along the stream, little
clumps of cottonwood-trees gave proof that nature had not left the
valley utterly without shade and refuge when the summer's sun beamed
hotly down upon the lower lands of the Dakotas. And now only among
these scattered oases could even practised eyes catch any sign of life.

Here and there under the banks and shielded from outer view, near-by
watchers might discover little, dull-red patches glowing dimly in the
semi-darkness. Here and there among the timber and along the brink
little groups of dark objects, shifting slowly about, betrayed the
presence of animal life, and afar out upon the prairie slopes tiny
black spots on every side, perhaps a dozen in all, told the
plains-practised eye that here was a cavalry bivouac--a little detached
force of Uncle Sam's blue-shirted troopers, thrown out from the shelter
of fort or garrison, and lurking for some purpose in the heart of the
Indian country.

For Indians there were by scores right here at the old antelope
crossing only the night before. The sands of the ford were still
trampled by myriad hoofs of ponies and streaked by the dragging poles
of the travois. The torn earth on the northward rise out of the stream
was still wet and muddy from the drip of shaggy breast and barrel of
their nimble mounts. No need to call up Iron Shield or Baptiste or
young Touch-the-Skies, Sioux scouts from the agency, to interpret the
signs and point the way. The major commanding and all his officers and
most of his men could read the indications as well as the half-breeds,
natives to the soil. A big band of young warriors, with a few elders,
had yielded to the eloquence of the messengers of Sitting Bull and were
out for mischief. They had been missing from the agencies several
weeks; had been ghost-dancing with their fellows from Pine Ridge to the
west, and were by this time probably on their way to swell the ranks
and stiffen the back of that big chief of the Minniconjou Sioux--"Big
Foot