Anderson seized the reins and held them until Cramer could come forward, then he returned to the use of his rifle. The horses with the heavy ambulance could not keep pace with the light-footed Indian mustangs, and it soon became evident that the Indians would close around them. Captain Mitchell and Anderson Were shooting, but the roughness of the prairie, and the shaking of the ambulance, made the aim uncertain. The Captain finally determined to stop upon an eminence ahead and fight it out, or stand off the Indians until Bentz could return with assistance.
Cramer, the driver, had lost his head ; he disobeyed, and kept on lashing the horses past the strategic point. Anderson sprang forward to jam his foot upon the brake, but a sudden lurch sent him rolling upon the prairie. Then Captain Mitchell assayed to reach the driver's seat, but another jolt sent him to the ground and the undefended ambulance, with its wild driver and sick soldier went lumbering on.
Mitchell rolled into a gully near where he fell, and as he did so, saw Anderson hide in a clump of scrub brush. The Indians immediately following came to the ridge and stopped, for it was plain that those ahead were closing in on the luckless ambulance, and its occupants.
One Indian dismounted and looked long and intently on the ground. He wore a spotted head dress of wild turkey feathers gayly colored, and reaching nearly to the ground. Captain Mitchell knew him to be none other than the famous Spotted Tail, and there he stood a good mark, not more than thirty yards distant.