When Crazy Horse awakened, he saw, flying over his head, a red-backed hawk, and he knew that it was a symbol for him. Like the warrior in his dream, Crazy Horse wore his hair long and unbraided, and he decorated his face and body with the lightning bolt and dots of hail. He also wore a headdress, adorned with a red hawk feather.
He was so attired now as he swung down from his horse, upon which he had put a red palm print. Crazy Horse and Cut greeted each other.
“Where do you take your band?” Crazy Horse asked.
“I go to join with the others at Greasy Grass.”
“Join your band with me. I have many Cheyenne and Oglala.”
“I am Lakota,” Cut Nose reminded Crazy Horse.
“We have Oglala, Brule, Minneconjou, Cheyenne. We are gathered from everywhere to defeat the white man in battle once and for all. It is in this way that we may forever reclaim our land,” Crazy Horse said.
“I will join you,” Cut Nose said. “But when I come, I will bring great medicine with me.”
“What medicine will you bring, my brother?”
“I will bring gun that shoots many times very fast,” Cut Nose said. He made a cranking motion with his hand, then began making popping sounds.
“Geetleen gun?” Crazy Horse asked, not quite sure how to pronounce it.
“Geetleen gun, yes!” Cut Nose agreed enthusiastically. “I will have Geetleen gun.”
“With Geetleen gun, you will be a chief that many will look up to,” Crazy Horse said. Then, as if noticing it for the first time, Crazy Horse put his finger on Cut Nose’s wound.
“How?” he asked.
“It is honor wound for my brother, Running Bear. He was killed by Tall Warrior.”
“I do not know Tall Warrior,” Crazy Horse said.
“You will not know him, for I will kill him.”
“Yes, I can see,” Crazy Horse said. “It is right that you must kill him.”
Crazy Horse remounted, then looked down at Cut Nose. “When you have Geetleen Gun, you will join me,” he said.
“Yes, when I have Gatleen Gun, I will join you,” Cut Nose promised.
Custer raised one of the rifles Falcon and Dorman brought back to camp—sighted down the barrel, pulled the trigger on an empty chamber, cocked it, and pulled the trigger a second time, still on an empty chamber. Then he lowered the rifle and examined it.
“These rifles do fire faster,” he said. “But the Sharps has greater range. The truth is, if the ammunition manufacturers would do something about the cartridge cases, I do believe the Sharps would be a better weapon.”
“The Sharps is better for infantry troops, I agree,” Falcon said. “But for cavalry, I think the Henry would be better.”
Custer sighed. “I think you are right. Unfortunately, the decision is not ours to make.” He handed the weapon back to Falcon. “I’m sure you would prefer to keep this, but if you don’t mind, I would like to pass the others out to my scouts.”
“Of course I don’t mind.”
“Well, I just ask, because they are your weapons after all. It is clearly marked on the rifle butt.”
“Please, General, don’t rub it in,” Falcon said.
Custer chuckled. “I’m sorry, I meant nothing by it. Anyway, it is the Gatling guns that we are worried about now. No sign of them anywhere?”
“Not yet,” Falcon said. “But we will be going out again tomorrow.”
Chapter Fourteen
They had been on the scout for four days when they saw several buzzards making circles over one spot.
“You see that?” Dorman asked, pointing to the birds.
“Yeah, I see them.”
“There sure are a lot of them. Whatever is dead up there is bigger than a rabbit, or a deer,” Dorman said.
The two riders slapped their legs against the sides of their horses to hurry them into a trot, and they closed the distance in just over a minute. They could smell the stench long before they got there. They saw the wagon first; then, as they drew closer, they saw the two dead mules. Wolves had been at the mules and much of the flesh was eaten away, leaving exposed rib cages and entrails…There was an arrow protruding from each of the mules, and three other arrows sticking out of the wagon.
“Damn,” Dorman said. “That is one powerful stink. What is it, do you suppose? Prospectors?”
“I don’t know, I don’t see any bodies,” Falcon said. “Wait a minute, look at this.”
