Chapter 91

The shots, when they came, were fired like a volley. Cut looked at me pleadingly. With Lone Eagle at my side, I rode back to the crest. The four prisoners had broken away, deliberately courting death. All were cut down. Soldiers rolled the bodies into blankets as one of the army scouts watched us carefully.

The council that night was a noisy and contentious affair. Buffalo Shoulder’s cousin decried the betrayal of his kinsman, declaring that honorable men were bound to ride to his aid. Were the Yanube so infected by fear of whites they could not stand up for their own? The furious young man’s words found favor with some in the assemblage. Cut Hand heard every last voice before he rose.