IN COWBOY LAND. 



237 



too began to ride near the troops, and one 

 of them was unable to refrain from firing 

 on Captain Edwards' troop, which was in the 

 van. This gave the soldiers their chance. 

 They instantly responded with a volley, and 

 Captain Edwards' troop charged. The fight 

 lasted but a minute or two, for Sword-Bearer 

 was struck by a bullet and fell, and as he 

 had boasted himself invulnerable, and 

 promised that his warriors should be invulner- 

 able also if they would follow him, the hearts 

 of the latter became as water and they broke 

 in every direction. One of the amusing, 

 though irritating, incidents of the affair was 

 to see the plumed and painted warriors race 

 headlong for the camp, plunge into the stream, 

 wash off their war paint, and remove their 

 feathers; in another moment they would be 

 stolidly sitting on the ground, with their 

 blankets over their shoulders, rising to greet 

 the pursuing cavalry with unmoved composure 

 and calm assurances that they had always 

 been friendly and had much disapproved the 

 conduct of the young bucks who had just 

 been scattered on the field outside. It was 

 much to the credit of the discipline of the 

 army that no bloodshed followed the fight 

 proper. The loss to the whites was small. 



The other incident, related by Lieutenant 

 Pitcher, took place in 1890, near Tongue 

 River, in northern Wyoming. The command 

 with which he was serving was camped near 

 the Cheyenne Reservation. One day two 

 young Cheyenne bucks, met one of the govern- 



