if there are as many as you say, that’s ideal for us. Indians don’t organize into a cohesive military unit. If they have six hundred warriors, that means they have six hundred individuals, unled and uncoordinated. And you do remember what Euripides said, don’t you?”
“Euripides?” Dorman shook his head, then spit out a wad of tobacco. “I don’t rightly remember ever meetin’ the fella.”
Custer laughed out loud. “It’s unlikely that you would have met him, since he died a long time ago. But he said, and I quote; “Ten men wisely led are worth one hundred without a head.’ No, my friend, regardless of how many Indians we may meet, the advantage is ours.”
After the break, Custer ordered the column to get under way once more and at seven forty-five that evening, they camped again on the right bank of the Rosebud, having come twenty-eight miles that day.
Dinner that evening consisted of hard bread fried in bacon grease, called skillgilly by the soldiers. As Falcon was finishing his meal, Keogh called over to him.
“Colonel MacCallister, m’ boyo, come and join us. I’ve saved a snug nook with beautiful grass just for you.”
“Thank you, Myles,” Falcon replied, carrying his saddle and saddle blanket with him. There he found Captain Keogh, Captain Benteen, Captain Godfrey, Lieutenant Porter, and Lieutenant DeRudio.
Though the other horses were kept together in a roped-in “stable”, Keogh’s horse, Comanche, was tethered to a nearby tree. As Falcon walked by the horse, it whickered and ducked its head. Falcon rubbed Comanche’s ears.
“Comanche, you old rake,” Keogh said. “Sure’n you’re tryin’ to make me jealous now, are you, by cavortin’ so with the colonel and here himself bein’ an outsider?”
“Comanche is a good horse,” Falcon said.
“Aye, that he is,” Keogh replied. “Twas in a fight against the Comanche on the Cimarron River at Beaver Fork, back in sixty-eight it was, that he showed his true mettle. Two wounds he had, either one of which would have stopped the ordinary horse. But Comanche never lost a step, carried me through till the end. Saved my life, he did. That’s why I bought him from the army, and made him my own personal horse. Yes, sir, I went from Ireland to Italy, where I fought with Papal forces at the Battle of Castelfidardo, served as a Vatican Guard, then came to America to fight in the Civil War. I was at Shenandoah Valley, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Brandy Station, Battle of Five Forks, and Gettysburg, but never once did I come across a horse the equal of Comanche. I named him Comanche after the heathens we did battle with that day.
“Comanche, that’s a fitting name,” Falcon replied.
“Say, there’s Reno over there,” Godfrey said. Reno had found a tree and was sitting under it all alone. “Myles, didn’t you invite him to join us?”
“Aye, lad, that I did,” Keogh replied. “But the major declined. He is a bit of a loner, methinks.”
“Maybe he thinks he is too good for us,” DeRudio said.
“Lieutenant, I’ll not have junior officers speak disparagingly of senior officers in my presence,” Benteen said rather sharply.
“Sorry, sir, I meant no disrespect,” DeRudio replied contritely.
“We’re sharin’ some personal stories here, Colonel MacCallister,” Porter said to break the pregnant pause. “That is, all of us but DeRudio. DeRudio is spinnin’ yarns, expectin’ us to believe them.”
“Hey, what do you mean, spinning yarns?” DeRudio complained as the other officers laughed.
“I didn’t say we weren’t enjoyin’ them, Charley,” Porter said. “I just said we didn’t believe them.”
The others laughed again.
“Colonel MacCallister, I have a question,” Benteen said. “The couple who came to entertain us, Andrew and Rosanna MacCallister, they are you brother and sister-in-law?”
“No, they are my brother and sister,” Falcon replied. “They are twins.”
“Sure’n didn’t I say as much, Fred?” Keogh asked.
“You did,” Benteen admitted. “It’s just that if they are your brother and sister, your blood kin, does that mean you also have talent?”
Falcon laughed. “I’m afraid not,” he said. “When it came to our family, I’m afraid they got all the talent.”
“Well, they certainly are entertaining,” Benteen said. “I think when this campaign is over, I shall take a leave, then take my family to New York to see them.”
“Don’t just go see them in a play,” Falcon said. “Please call upon them socially. I know they will appreciate it.”
“I will, and thanks.” Benteen stretched, then looked at the others. “If you boys think we are going to camp here all night, you have another think coming. If I were you, I’d quit all the palavering and try to get some sleep.”
“Do you know something we don’t?” Keogh asked.
“No, but I know Custer,” Benteen said. “And there’s not a doubt in my little military mind but that we’ll be pulling out of here in the middle of the night.”
Chapter Twenty- one
Because it was a moonless night, it was pitch dark when the camp was awakened at eleven o’clock and told to
