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Driven thus to bay, the strea farther retreat

iht carbines of the soldiersback lead for lead But already every chance

for successful attack had vanished; the whole narrow valley see coulées and

shadowed ravines; they dashed down in countless nue Custer, now far away behind the bluffs, and alnored Every savage chief

knew exactly where that column was, but it could await its turn; Gall,

Crazy Horse, and Crow King mustered their red warriors for one

deterrind him into dust beneath their

ponies' hoofs Ay, and they nearly did it!

In leaderless effort to break away fro cordon,

before the red, rehter and crush them

to death, the troopers, half of them already dismounted, burst from

cover in an endeavor to attain the shelter of the bluffs The deadly

Indian rifles flamed in their faces, and they were hurled back, ain that eway across the streah some rare providence of

God, they chanced to strike the banks at a spot where the river proved

fordable They plunged headlong in, officers andup the water on every side; they struggled