In  this  mad  attempt  to  stampede  our  stock  nothing  but
discipline  saved  us.  A  few  of  the  mules  and  horses  not
properly  picketed,  broke  loose  and  galloped  off  before
the  attacking  force,  the  remaining  animals  held  as  the
Indians  fled  away  before  the  sharp  fire  of  our  soldiers.
"  Well,  we  licked  them,  anyhow,"  I  said  to  myself  ex-
ultantly as  we  obeyed  the  instant  orders  to  get  into  the
saddle.
The  first  crimson  line  of  morning  was  streaking  the
•east  and  I  lifted  my  face  triumphantly  to  the  new  day.
Sharp  Grover  stood  just  before  me;  his  hand  was  on
Forsyth's  shoulder.
264


IN    THE    ARICKAREIB    VALLEY

Suddenly  he  uttered  a  low  exclamation.    "  Oh,  heav-
ens! General,  look  at  the  Indians/'

This  was  no  vision  of  brown  rock  and  sun-blinded  eyes.
From  every  direction,  over  the  bluff,  out  from  the  tall
';  grass,  across  the  slope  on  the  south,  came  Indians,  hun-
dreds on  hundreds.  They  seemed  to  spring  from  the  sod
like  Roderick  Dhu*s  Highland  Scots,  and  people  every
curve  and  hollow.  Swift  as  the  wind,  savage  as  hate,
cruel  as  hell,  they  bore  down  upon  us  from  every  way
the  wind  blows.  The  thrill  of  that  moment  is  in  my
blood  as  I  write  this.  It  was  then  I  first  understood  the
tie  between  the  commanding  officer  and  his  men.  It  is
easy  to  laud  the  file  of  privates  on  dress  parade,  but  the
man  who  directs  the  file  in  the  hour  of  battle  is  the  real,
power.  In  that  instant  of  peril  I  turned  to  Forsyth  wfehi
that  trust  that  the  little  child  gives  to  its  father.  How
cool  he  was,  and  yet  how  lightning-swift  in  thought  and
action.
