Black Eagle by Charles G. West

Author:Charles G. West [West, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 1998-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER X

Black Eagle was furious. After the attack on Tall Bull’s camp, he had learned that Jason Coles had been with the soldiers. One of the Sioux warriors had told him this two days after they, along with his Cheyenne brothers, had escaped into the hills. He questioned everyone in the camp but no one could say they had seen Coles in the fight on the Powder. Possibly he was hidden in the bluffs across the river with the soldiers waiting in ambush. The Sioux warrior, Swift Runner, knew before the battle that Coles would be there. The white scout, Bone, had told him so. Bone had promised to warn them when the soldiers were going to attack but he did not keep his promise.

Black Eagle’s mind was obsessed with thoughts of the white scout who had taken Stone Hand’s life and had shamed him by displaying the Cheyenne legend’s head on a pole in the reservation. Too many of his people had softened to be petted by the white man like so many dogs awaiting a handful of food. They had forgotten the cunning and the power of Stone Hand . . . and the many scalps he had taken. But Black Eagle would not forget. He would avenge Stone Hand’s death and then he would find Stone Hand’s son and bring him back to the people where he belonged.

“Black Eagle.” Black Eagle looked up to see Swift Runner walking toward him. “Tall Bull wishes to speak with you.” Black Eagle grunted and rose to follow the Sioux warrior.

Upon seeing the Cheyenne approaching, Tall Bull came to meet him. “I have news that will interest you. I know how your hatred for the white scout Coles burns inside your heart. One of my scouts said he saw two white scouts and followed them. They were trailing our village. I think one of them may be this Jason Coles.”

Black Eagle’s heart immediately started pounding in his chest. “Where?” he demanded. “Where did he see him?”

Tall Bull replied calmly, “One day behind. He said he did not attack the scouts because they were well armed and he was not sure he could surprise them. They followed us to the mouth of this river basin and then they turned back. They are maybe two days back by this time.”

There was no time taken to make a decision. Black Eagle knew what he must do and he immediately gathered his weapons, and selecting his best pony, he rode out to pick up the trail where the Sioux scout had last seen the white scouts.

* * *

The few solitary structures of Fort Fetterman rose reluctantly on the horizon late in the afternoon. The faint traces of a dust cloud, drifting lazily on the evening breeze, told Jason that the retreat formation was either in progress or just finished.

“That’s a sorry-lookin’ sight, ain’t it?” Shorty commented dryly.

Jason understood what he meant. It was a rude assembly of tents and rough log buildings and the few Indian tipis on a somewhat barren plain.

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