He dipped over a sharp ridge and came suddenly upon the rear-guard.

They were a little squad of dusty, brown-faced troopers, who instantly

wheeled into line at sound of approaching hoofs, the barrels of their

lowered carbines glistening in the sun. With a swing of the hand, and

a hoarse shout of "Despatches!" he was beyond them, bending low over

his saddle pommel, his eyes on the dust cloud of the moving column.

The extended line of horsemen, riding in column of fours, came to a

sudden halt, and he raced swiftly on. A little squad of officers,

several of their number dismounted, were out in front, standing grouped

just below the summit of a slight elevation, apparently looking off

into the valley through some cleft In the bluff beyond. Standing among

these, Hampton perceived the long fair hair, and the erect figure clad

in the well-known frontier costume, of the man he sought,--the proud,

dashing leader of light cavalry, that beau ideal of the sabreur, the

one he dreaded most, the one he loved best,--Custer. The commander

stood, field-glasses in hand, pointing down into the valley, and the

despatch bearer, reining in his horse, his lips white but resolute,

trotted straight up the slope toward him. Custer wheeled, annoyed at

the interruption, and Hampton swung down from the saddle, his rein

flung across his arm, took a single step forward, lifting his hand in

salute, and held forth the sealed packet.

"Despatches, sir," he said, simply, standing motionless as a statue.

The commander, barely glancing toward him, instantly tore open the long

official envelope and ran his eyes over the despatch amid a hush in the

conversation.

"Gentlemen," he commented to the little group gathered about him, yet

without glancing up from the paper in his hand, "Crook was defeated

over on the Rosebud the seventeenth, and forced to retire. That will

account for the unexpected number of hostiles fronting us up here,

Cook; but the greater the task, the greater the glory. Ah, I thought

as much. I am advised by the Department to keep in close touch with

Terry and Gibbons, and to hold off from making a direct attack until

infantry can arrive in support. Rather late in the day, I take it,

when we are already within easy rifle-shot. I see nothing in these

orders to interfere with our present plans, nor any military necessity

for playing hide and seek all Summer in these hills. That looks like a

big village down yonder, but I have led the dandy Seventh into others

just as large."




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