Campfire Stories of Indian Qoaractcr 533 



ready brought mourning into nearly all their lodges. If, 

 then, the Great Father wished them to die — very well, 

 only they would die where they then were, if necessary by 

 their own hands. They would not return to the south, and 

 they would not leave their barrack prison. 



Captain Wessells knew that Dull Knife's complaint was 

 well founded. Still, bound by the rigid rules of the service, 

 he had absolutely no latitude whatever. He therefore 

 directed the interpreter to explain to Dull Knife that the 

 orders were imperative and must be obeyed, and to assure 

 him that the cavalry escort would do all in their power to 

 save the Indians from any unnecessary hardship on the 

 journey. 



Dull Knife, however, remained firm, and his companions, 

 when appealed to, only growled a brief assent to Dull 

 Knife's views. 



"Then, Interpreter," said Wessells, "tell them their 

 food and fuel will be stopped entirely until they conclude 

 to come peaceably out of their barrack, ready to march 

 south as ordered. " 



The three chiefs silently heard their sentence, and were 

 then quickly marched back to their barrack prison by a file 

 of soldiers. 



All this occurred shortly after "guard mount" in the 

 morning. 



Apart from its inhumanity, Wessells's order was bad 

 policy. Hunger drives the most cowardly to violence. 

 Then, to add to the wretched plight of the Indians, they we 

 all but naked. No clothing had been issued to them 

 since their capture, and they were clad only in tattered 

 blankets and fragments of tent cloth. Requisitions for 

 clothing had been sent to the Indian Bureau, but none had 

 come. 



Thus, half naked, without food or fires, these miserable 



