now, and
says I, suddenly, 'Captain, there is a white horse in front, by gum!'

"A sort of hoarse cry came from the Captain, and he spurred his horse
agin, although the critter was going at its best speed. They war two
miles from us yet, but I could soon make out as the white horse and
another was a bit ahead, then came eight or ten Injins in a clump, and a
hundred or more straggling out behind. It seemed to me as they war all
going slow, as if the horses war dead-beat; but what scared me most was
to see as the clump of Injins war gaining on the two ahead of them, one
of whom I felt sure now was the Captain's daughter, and the other I
guessed was Dick.

"The Captain saw it too, for he gave a strange sort of cry. 'My God!' he
said, 'they will overtake her.' We war still a mile from them, when we
saw suddenly the man in front--this chap Dick here--part sudden from the
white horse, wheel straight round, and go right back at the Injins. They
separated as he came to them. We saw two fall from their horses, and the
wind presently brought the sound of the cracks of pistols. There war no
'Colts' in those days, but I knew that Dick carried a brace of
double-barrelled pistols in his holsters. Then the others closed round
him.

"There was a sort of confusion; we could see tomahawks waving, and blows
given, and when it was over there war but four Injins out of the eight
to be seen on their horses. But the white horse had gained a hundred
yards while the fight was going on, and the Injins saw that we war
a-coming on like a hurricane, so they turned their horses and galloped
back again.

"Three minutes later the Captain's daughter rode up. She war as white as
death, and the Captain had just time to leap off and catch her as she
fainted dead away. The rest of us didn't stop, you bet; we just gave a
cheer and on we went, and the Dacotas got a lesson that day as they will
remember as long as they are a tribe. Their horses were so dead-beat
they had scarcely a gallop in them, while ours were fresh, and I don't
think ten of the varmints got away.

"We didn't draw rein till it was dark, and next morning we counted two
hundred and fifteen dead redskins on the plains. The first thing in the
morning, Rube and me rode back to where the fight began, to give Dick a
burial. We looked about, but couldn't find him. There was Black Dog,
with one of his bullets through his forehead, two others shot through
the body, and one with his skull stov