Presently they began singing themselves. Major North walked over to
General Carr and said:
"General, those are our men. They had had a fight. That is the way they
act when they come back from battle with captured scalps."
The Pawnees came into camp on the run. We soon learned that they had
run across a party of Sioux who were following a big Indian trail. The
Sioux had evidently been in a fight. Two or three had been wounded, and
were being carried by the others. The Pawnees "jumped" them, and killed
three or four of their number.
Next morning our command came up to the Indian trail where the Sioux
had been found. We followed it for several days. From the number of
campfires we passed we could see that we were gaining on the Sioux.
Wherever they had camped we found the print of a woman's shoe. This
made us all the more eager to overtake them, for it was plain that they
had a white woman as their captive.
All the best horses were selected by the general, and orders were given
for a forced march. The wagon-train was to follow as rapidly as
possible, while the command pushed on ahead.
I was ordered to pick out five or six of the best Pawnees and proceed
in advance of the command, keeping ten or twelve miles ahead, so that
when the Indians were overtaken we could learn the location of their
camp, and give the troops the required information in time to plan an
effective attack.
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