The Last of the Chiefs: A Story of the Great Sioux War

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Altsheler Joseph Alexander. The Last of the Chiefs: A Story of the Great Sioux War

Chapter I The Train

Chapter II King Bison

Chapter III The Pass

Chapter IV Treasure-Trove

Chapter V The Lost Valley

Chapter VI Castle Howard

Chapter VII An Animal Progression

Chapter VIII The Trap Makers

Chapter IX The Timber Wolves

Chapter X Dick Goes Scouting

Chapter XI The Terrible Pursuit

Chapter XII The Fight with Nature

Chapter XIII Albert's Victory

Chapter XIV Prisoners

Chapter XV The Indian Village

Chapter XVI The Gathering of the Sioux

Chapter XVII The Great Sun Dance

Chapter XVIII The Circle of Death

Chapter XIX A Happy Meeting

Chapter XX Bright Sun's Good-by

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Breakfast over, the train took up its march, turning at a right angle from its old course and now advancing almost due north. But this start was made with uncommon alacrity and zeal. There were no sluggards now. They, too, had golden visions, and, as if to encourage them, the aspect of the country soon began to change, and rapidly to grow better. The clouds of dust that they raised were thinner. The bunch grass grew thicker. Off on the crest of a swell a moving figure was seen now and then. "Antelope," said the hunters. Once they passed a slow creek. The water was muddy, but it contained no alkali, and animals and men drank eagerly. Cottonwoods, the first trees they had seen in days, grew on either side of the stream, and they rested there awhile in the shade, because the sun was now out in full splendor, and the vast plains shimmered in the heat.

He found in one of the depressions between the swells a stunted cottonwood, to which he hitched his horse, knowing it would be well hidden there from the observation of the herd. He then advanced on foot. He had heard that the antelope was a slave to its own curiosity, and through that weakness he intended to secure his game.

.....

He watched the last blaze sink and go out, he saw the last coal die, then, when a few sparks flew upward, there was blank darkness where the fire had been. All the other fires were out, too, and only the dim figures of the wagons showed. He felt, for a little while, as if he were alone in the wilderness, but he was not afraid. All was darkness below, and the wind was moaning, but overhead was a blue sky filled with friendly stars.

He fell asleep himself in another half hour, but he awoke about midnight, and he was conscious at once that he had been awakened not by a troubled mind, but by something external and unusual. He was lying with his right ear to the ground, and it seemed to him that a slight trembling motion ran through the solid earth. He did not so much hear it as feel it, and tried to persuade himself that it was mere fancy, but failed. He sat up, and he no longer observed the trembling, but when he put his ear to the ground again it was stronger.

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