But presently the old puncher awoke from his dream and looked at the surrounding faces, some coarse, some wicked, but all attentive, all plainly inviting him to talk.

“Yes, sir, a feller that was in th’ Seventh Cavalry, in th’ old days, got a good many lessons ‘bout Injuns,” he began.  “An’ if you like, I c’n tell you some things ‘bout th’ biggest Injun fight that ever happened in these parts, ’cause I was there.”

So he told the story, and I shall leave out the questions with which it was interrupted.

CHAPTER XX

THE STORY OF THE CUSTER FIGHT

“You know my bein’ with Major Reno is why I’m able t’ tell this story, ‘cause all th’ Old Man’s outfit—­’Old Man’ bein’ what we called General Custer—­was wiped out.

“Us soldiers didn’t know all th’ ins an’ outs o’ what was goin’ on, but we did know that th’ Old Man was a whole lot dissatisfied.  There’d bin a lot o’ talk ‘bout him havin’ gone t’ Washington, an’ havin’ a talk with President Grant, at which interview, so ‘twas said, th’ President’d told him th’ first duty of a soldier was obedience, but we didn’t know nothin’ ’bout that—­whether ’twas true or ’twasn’t true.  All we knowed was that he was away a long time, an’ when he come back he sure had fire in his eye.

“General Terry was in command at old Fort Buford, an’ when th’ Injuns broke out, he was in command of all th’ soldiers in that part of th’ country.  General Phil Sheridan was his chief, but we never seen him.

“Well, when the Injuns broke loose, Terry he thought as it was th’ spring o’ th’ year, it was a good time t’ get ’em.  So ‘bout th’ first o’ June, ‘76, all th’ get-ready stuff was gone over, an’ all th’ good-byes was said with them as had famblies, an’ we was loaded onto th’ steamer Far West, an’ headed down th’ old Missouri.

“When we got to th’ mouth o’ th’ Yellowstone it was June twenty-first.  We unloaded.  An’ General Terry says t’ our Old Man—­don’t forget we just called him that; General Custer was only thirty-eight years old—­Terry says, ‘You take your Seventh men an’ scout ahead an’ let Charlie Reynolds go ahead o’ you.’  ’Cause everybody knowed that Charlie Reynolds savvied Injuns an’ Injun ways better’n any white man that ever lived—­him that was known as ‘Lonesome Charlie.’

“An’ Terry he says t’ Custer, our Old Man, ‘When you get t’ th’ Little Big Horn country you wait for me, as I’m travelin’ heavy.  I’ll be four days makin’ it.’

“An’ again says Terry t’ our Old Man:  ’If you see any Injuns in force, halt an’ stay there till I come up, but don’t start any fight unless they force it on you, an’ if they do force it on you, fight on th’ defensive’—­which, as you all know, is backin’ up.  ‘Fight on th’ defensive till I come up with you, an’ then we’ll give ’em hell.’

“Our Old Man he said, ‘You bet,’ an’ we left.