74 ADVENTURES OF DR ALLEN. 



stone removed, a blade of grass bent, is sufficient to guide 

 them. The slightest indication is noted and followed as 

 accurately as a bloodhound follows its scent. 



These six thousand warriors had met in this valley from 

 many trails leading through jungles, over mountains and 

 across plains for the avowed purpose of exterminating "The 

 Yellow-haired Chief." Sitting Bull and his followers had 

 made the camp with this end in view, as there was one place 

 only where the river might be crossed. The wily old chief 



knew that the soldiers must cross from the east to the west 







side, and that the valley where they occupied the ridge be- 

 tween the Little Horn and Rosebud rivers was well defined. 

 They could easily watch the line of march and place their 

 warriors contiguous to the ford by the time Custer arrived 

 there. This was promptly done while the soldiers made the 

 last two miles of their march. Never was a more strategic 

 movement carried out than that last one against Custer. 

 Swift and terrible was the execution. While the Indians 

 were all under cover, the soldiers were in plain view and 

 they were killed from every side. 



The last forty or fifty men died among the bodies of the 

 horses, which had been killed for breastworks of defense as 

 a last resort. These heroes of the plains well knew what to 

 expect at the hands of the savages, many of whom were then 

 being fed, clothed and armed by the government of the 

 United States, whose agencies really furnished headquarters 

 for their fiendish operations. Had these wards of the gov- 

 ernment been put under military control, these raids would 

 never have been made, and Chief Joseph would never have 

 tried his scheme of cutting his way through the country, had 

 it not been for the Custer massacre. 



Custer's battle was the last one of any note fought by 

 the blanket Indians of the plains. This last bloody stand, 



