Stránka:book 1913.djvu/554

532 The Book of Woodcraft January opened with very bitter weather. Six or eight inches of snow covered the ground. The mercury daily made long excursions below zero. Even the troops in cantonment at Canby were suffering severely from the cold — some with frozen feet and hands. It was all but impossi- ble weather for marching. Nevertheless, on January 5th, Captain Wessells received orders from the War Department to immediately start Dull Knife's band, as quietly and peaceably as possible, and un- der proper escort, on the march to Fort Reno, six hundred miles away in the south! This was the decision of the Indian Bureau, and the Secretary of War was requested to have the decision immediately enforced. Hence the order which reached Captain Wessells. Captain Wessells sent a guard to the barrack and had Dull Knife, Old Crow, and Wild Hog brought into his pres- ence at headquarters. On the arrival of the Indians a council was held. Captain Wessells advised them of the order of the Department that they were to return to the Indian Territory. Dull Knife rose to reply. His whole figure trembled with rage; his bronze cheeks assumed a deeper red; the fires of suppressed passion blazed through his eyes until they glit- tered with the ferocity of an enraged beast at bay. Never- theless, he spoke slowly and almost calmly. He did not have much to say. He made no threats or gestures. He said he had listened to what the Great Father had ordered. It was the dearest wish of him and his people to try to do what the Great Father desired, for they knew they were helpless in his hands. But now the Great Father was telHng them to do what they could not do — to try to march to the Indian Territory in such weather. Many would be sure to perish on the way, and those who reached the reser- vation would soon fall victims to the fevers that had al-