soldiered together! Don’t let me die!”
“Is that man a friend of yours?” Falcon asked.
Coletrain shook his head. “He’s a long way from being a friend,” he said. “But he is a soldier, so it doesn’t matter whether he is a friend or not.”
“Who is your best shot?”
“Well, sir, I don’t mean to brag, none,” Coletrain said. “But that would be me.”
“All right,” Falcon said. He turned to speak to the remaining soldiers, speaking just loudly enough for them to hear him.
“Men, Sergeant Major Coletrain and I are going to take out the two Indians who are holding Depro. I want all of you to pick out one of the other Indians as a target. As soon as we fire, you fire in volley. If we can take down seven or eight of them all at the same time, the rest of them are likely going to pull back, and that will give Depro a chance to come across the river.”
The soldiers all nodded, then got into position and each of them picked out a target.
“You take the one on the left, I have the one on the right,” Falcon said.
“What about Mean to His Horses?” Coletrain asked.
“He’s sitting up on his horse, thinking he is in command,” Falcon said. “But I’m shooting a Winchester, and as soon as we kill the two who are holding Depro, I’ll re-chamber a round and kill Mean to His Horses.”
Coletrain chuckled. “Damn if it ain’t worth gettin’ shot a couple of times, just so’s I can see the expression on ol’ Mean to His Horses’s face when he realizes what’s happened.”
“Take aim,” Falcon said, raising the rifle to his shoulder. “I’ll count to three.”
“Get ready, men,” Coletrain called to the others, as he raised the carbine to his shoulder.
“One, two, three, fire,” Falcon said.
Falcon and Coletrain fired at the same time, their shots followed almost immediately by the rest of the soldiers. The two Indians who were holding Depro fell, as did at least six more Indians. Mean to His Horses was totally shocked, and for just a second, he looked on in disbelief. Then, quickly, he realized what happened and he turned his horse to gallop away, but it was too late. As a coda to the previous volley, one more shot rang out, and Mean to His Horses fell from his saddle.
Depro was as shocked as Mean to His Horses had been, and he was still standing in place.
“Depro, run!” Coletrain said. “Come over here to us!”
Depro started across the water toward the island, and as he did so, the remaining men of Coletrain’s platoon fired a second volley to keep the Indians back. As Depro reached the island, Schuler reached up and pulled him down to safety.
“Thank you,” Depro said. “Thank you. I thought I was a goner for sure.”
“What were you doing with them, Sergeant Depro?” Coletrain said. “I thought you were back at Fort Keogh.”
“I had to go back,” Depro said. “I couldn’t leave the wagon.”
“You couldn’t leave the wagon? What wagon? Leave it where?”
“Sarge! Someone is comin’!” Schuler yelled.
“Get ready men,” Coletrain said.
Once again, the men got into position to repel an attack, then as the body of men grew closer they could be seen riding in column of twos. Also, they saw the red and white guideon fluttering at the head of the column.
“It’s Lieutenant Bond and our men!” Schuler shouted excitedly, and all the men stood then, and began cheering and waving.
“It looks like you men had quite a battle here,” Cody said, taking in all the dead Indians.
“It kept us from getting bored,” Falcon said.
“Damn, I went with the wrong group,” Ingraham said. “I should have been here, where the battle was.”
Cody chuckled. “Don’t worry about it, Prentiss. I’m sure a man with your fertile imagination will be able to compensate.”
Ingraham squinted his eyes for a moment, then suddenly saw the possibility in what Cody said, and he laughed out loud.
“You know, Colonel Cody. I do believe you are right,” he said.
The wounded and dead were brought back to the Ninth Cavalry bivouac area. One of the wounded, Private Travis Jackson, had died before they could get him back. The remaining wounded were treated by Dr. Urban, who was brought from town by Benteen, just for that cause.
“Did you have a surgeon in the field with you?” Dr. Urban asked as he looked at Sergeant Major Coletrain’s wounds.
“No, sir,” Coletrain said.
The doctor examined the wounds closely. “Well, someone took the bullet out.”
“Yes, sir, that would be Colonel MacCallister.”
Dr. Urban clucked his tongue and shook his head. “Is there nothing that man can’t do? He did as good a job as
