Cut Nose by Ron Schwab

Author:Ron Schwab [Schwab, Ron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Uplands Press

31

Cut Nose looked around as he prepared to enter one of the ravines east of Fort Ridgely. He estimated that at least one hundred fifty warriors would be attacking the fort from the east. Three other bodies of warriors would be striking from the other sides. The fort was surrounded, and there was no place for the whites to retreat. They must crush the invaders.

He and Round Bear would lead nearly fifty warriors against the big gun at the northeast corner of the fort. Beaver Tooth and Swims Like Otter had also just joined them. They were formidable warriors, whose habits he did not always approve, but they would be welcome fighting assets.

He did not like the big guns, and without their thunder the fort would fall quickly. There would be no quarter, and every white would die. Not a single woman or child would be spared this time. The fools who had taken prisoners guaranteed that soldiers would follow to recover the bounty. The Soldiers Lodge would see to their destruction once the white soldiers and trespassing settlers had been driven out.

The sun was at its highest when the warriors swarmed into the ravines. Cut Nose was not pleased with the lateness of the hour. He had argued for attack at dawn, or earlier, catching the whites by surprise and before they had more time to shore up defenses. But, again, Little Crow and the other chiefs had wasted time debating. Talk. Talk. Talk. Their tongues were impotent weapons that had never killed a white man.

As they moved silently through the twisted ravines and approached the fort, Cut Nose crept ahead of his followers before stopping to hide behind a bank of dirt and peer out at the point of attack. He decided he would send a third of his warriors to seek cover behind the old stable and a like number behind the northernmost log huts. He would lead the others in a direct charge against the defenders surrounding the cannon. The two-story, stone barracks that lined the eastern side of the fort west of the huts concerned him. He had been told that women and children were secured there but he feared soldiers might have claimed the second floor, where they could rain fire upon the attacking Dakotas. He saw no sign of movement behind the closed windows, however.

He instructed Round Bear to inform the other warriors of his plan and to split their attackers. “Otter and Beaver Tooth will attack with us,” he said.

Cut Nose waited impatiently for the sound of gunfire west and south of the fort. That would be the signal to attack. Then he heard it, the cracking of rifles and roars of shotguns. He signaled his warriors, and they poured out of the ravine. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Medicine Bottle’s other screaming, whooping hordes south of his position racing toward the fort.

He led his warriors on the direct charge as the other two groups branched off to find protection behind the buildings.

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