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Essentials of error control coding 1st Edition Castiñeira
Moreira Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Castiñeira Moreira, Jorge; Farrell, Patrick G
ISBN(s): 9780470035726, 0470035722
Edition: 1
File Details: PDF, 1.94 MB
Year: 2006
Language: english
ESSENTIALS OF
ERROR-CONTROL
CODING

Jorge Castiñeira Moreira

University of Mar del Plata, Argentina

Patrick Guy Farrell

Lancaster University, UK
ESSENTIALS OF
ERROR-CONTROL
CODING
ESSENTIALS OF
ERROR-CONTROL
CODING

Jorge Castiñeira Moreira

University of Mar del Plata, Argentina

Patrick Guy Farrell

Lancaster University, UK
Copyright 
C 2006 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester,
West Sussex PO19 8SQ, England
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We dedicate this book to
my son Santiago José,
Melisa and Belén,
Maria, Isabel, Alejandra and Daniel,
and the memory of my Father.
J.C.M.
and to all my families and friends.
P.G.F.
Contents
Preface xiii

Acknowledgements xv

List of Symbols xvii

Abbreviations xxv

1 Information and Coding Theory 1

1.1 Information 3
1.1.1 A Measure of Information 3
1.2 Entropy and Information Rate 4
1.3 Extended DMSs 9
1.4 Channels and Mutual Information 10
1.4.1 Information Transmission over Discrete Channels 10
1.4.2 Information Channels 10
1.5 Channel Probability Relationships 13
1.6 The A Priori and A Posteriori Entropies 15
1.7 Mutual Information 16
1.7.1 Mutual Information: Definition 16
1.7.2 Mutual Information: Properties 17
1.8 Capacity of a Discrete Channel 21
1.9 The Shannon Theorems 22
1.9.1 Source Coding Theorem 22
1.9.2 Channel Capacity and Coding 23
1.9.3 Channel Coding Theorem 25
1.10 Signal Spaces and the Channel Coding Theorem 27
1.10.1 Capacity of the Gaussian Channel 28
1.11 Error-Control Coding 32
1.12 Limits to Communication and their Consequences 34
Bibliography and References 38
Problems 38
viii Contents

2 Block Codes 41
2.1 Error-Control Coding 41
2.2 Error Detection and Correction 41
2.2.1 Simple Codes: The Repetition Code 42
2.3 Block Codes: Introduction and Parameters 43
2.4 The Vector Space over the Binary Field 44
2.4.1 Vector Subspaces 46
2.4.2 Dual Subspace 48
2.4.3 Matrix Form 48
2.4.4 Dual Subspace Matrix 49
2.5 Linear Block Codes 50
2.5.1 Generator Matrix G 51
2.5.2 Block Codes in Systematic Form 52
2.5.3 Parity Check Matrix H 54
2.6 Syndrome Error Detection 55
2.7 Minimum Distance of a Block Code 58
2.7.1 Minimum Distance and the Structure of the H Matrix 58
2.8 Error-Correction Capability of a Block Code 59
2.9 Syndrome Detection and the Standard Array 61
2.10 Hamming Codes 64
2.11 Forward Error Correction and Automatic Repeat ReQuest 65
2.11.1 Forward Error Correction 65
2.11.2 Automatic Repeat ReQuest 68
2.11.3 ARQ Schemes 69
2.11.4 ARQ Scheme Efficiencies 71
2.11.5 Hybrid-ARQ Schemes 72
Bibliography and References 76
Problems 77

3 Cyclic Codes 81
3.1 Description 81
3.2 Polynomial Representation of Codewords 81
3.3 Generator Polynomial of a Cyclic Code 83
3.4 Cyclic Codes in Systematic Form 85
3.5 Generator Matrix of a Cyclic Code 87
3.6 Syndrome Calculation and Error Detection 89
3.7 Decoding of Cyclic Codes 90
3.8 An Application Example: Cyclic Redundancy Check Code for the Ethernet Standard 92
Bibliography and References 93
Problems 94

4 BCH Codes 97
4.1 Introduction: The Minimal Polynomial 97
4.2 Description of BCH Cyclic Codes 99
4.2.1 Bounds on the Error-Correction Capability of a BCH Code: The Vandermonde
Determinant 102
Contents ix

4.3 Decoding of BCH Codes 104

4.4 Error-Location and Error-Evaluation Polynomials 105
4.5 The Key Equation 107
4.6 Decoding of Binary BCH Codes Using the Euclidean Algorithm 108
4.6.1 The Euclidean Algorithm 108
Bibliography and References 112
Problems 112

5 Reed–Solomon Codes 115

5.1 Introduction 115
5.2 Error-Correction Capability of RS Codes: The Vandermonde Determinant 117
5.3 RS Codes in Systematic Form 119
5.4 Syndrome Decoding of RS Codes 120
5.5 The Euclidean Algorithm: Error-Location and Error-Evaluation Polynomials 122
5.6 Decoding of RS Codes Using the Euclidean Algorithm 125
5.6.1 Steps of the Euclidean Algorithm 127
5.7 Decoding of RS and BCH Codes Using the Berlekamp–Massey Algorithm 128
5.7.1 B–M Iterative Algorithm for Finding the Error-Location Polynomial 130
5.7.2 B–M Decoding of RS Codes 133
5.7.3 Relationship Between the Error-Location Polynomials of the Euclidean and
B–M Algorithms 136
5.8 A Practical Application: Error-Control Coding for the Compact Disk 136
5.8.1 Compact Disk Characteristics 136
5.8.2 Channel Characteristics 138
5.8.3 Coding Procedure 138
5.9 Encoding for RS codes CRS (28, 24), CRS (32, 28) and CRS (255, 251) 139
5.10 Decoding of RS Codes CRS (28, 24) and CRS (32, 28) 142
5.10.1 B–M Decoding 142
5.10.2 Alternative Decoding Methods 145
5.10.3 Direct Solution of Syndrome Equations 146
5.11 Importance of Interleaving 148
Bibliography and References 152
Problems 153

6 Convolutional Codes 157

6.1 Linear Sequential Circuits 158
6.2 Convolutional Codes and Encoders 158
6.3 Description in the D-Transform Domain 161
6.4 Convolutional Encoder Representations 166
6.4.1 Representation of Connections 166
6.4.2 State Diagram Representation 166
6.4.3 Trellis Representation 168
6.5 Convolutional Codes in Systematic Form 168
6.6 General Structure of Finite Impulse Response and Infinite Impulse Response FSSMs 170
6.6.1 Finite Impulse Response FSSMs 170
6.6.2 Infinite Impulse Response FSSMs 171
x Contents

6.7 State Transfer Function Matrix: Calculation of the Transfer Function 172
6.7.1 State Transfer Function for FIR FSSMs 172
6.7.2 State Transfer Function for IIR FSSMs 173
6.8 Relationship Between the Systematic and the Non-Systematic Forms 175
6.9 Distance Properties of Convolutional Codes 177
6.10 Minimum Free Distance of a Convolutional Code 180
6.11 Maximum Likelihood Detection 181
6.12 Decoding of Convolutional Codes: The Viterbi Algorithm 182
6.13 Extended and Modified State Diagram 185
6.14 Error Probability Analysis for Convolutional Codes 186
6.15 Hard and Soft Decisions 189
6.15.1 Maximum Likelihood Criterion for the Gaussian Channel 192
6.15.2 Bounds for Soft-Decision Detection 194
6.15.3 An Example of Soft-Decision Decoding of Convolutional Codes 196
6.16 Punctured Convolutional Codes and Rate-Compatible Schemes 200
Bibliography and References 203
Problems 205

7 Turbo Codes 209

7.1 A Turbo Encoder 210
7.2 Decoding of Turbo Codes 211
7.2.1 The Turbo Decoder 211
7.2.2 Probabilities and Estimates 212
7.2.3 Symbol Detection 213
7.2.4 The Log Likelihood Ratio 214
7.3 Markov Sources and Discrete Channels 215
7.4 The BCJR Algorithm: Trellis Coding and Discrete Memoryless Channels 218
7.5 Iterative Coefficient Calculation 221
7.6 The BCJR MAP Algorithm and the LLR 234
7.6.1 The BCJR MAP Algorithm: LLR Calculation 235
7.6.2 Calculation of Coefficients γi (u  , u) 236
7.7 Turbo Decoding 239
7.7.1 Initial Conditions of Coefficients αi−1 (u  ) and βi (u) 248
7.8 Construction Methods for Turbo Codes 249
7.8.1 Interleavers 249
7.8.2 Block Interleavers 250
7.8.3 Convolutional Interleavers 250
7.8.4 Random Interleavers 251
7.8.5 Linear Interleavers 253
7.8.6 Code Concatenation Methods 253
7.8.7 Turbo Code Performance as a Function of Size and Type of Interleaver 257
7.9 Other Decoding Algorithms for Turbo Codes 257
7.10 EXIT Charts for Turbo Codes 257
7.10.1 Introduction to EXIT Charts 258
7.10.2 Construction of the EXIT Chart 259
7.10.3 Extrinsic Transfer Characteristics of the Constituent Decoders 261
Contents xi

Bibliography and References 269

Problems 271

8 Low-Density Parity Check Codes 277

8.1 Different Systematic Forms of a Block Code 278
8.2 Description of LDPC Codes 279
8.3 Construction of LDPC Codes 280
8.3.1 Regular LDPC Codes 280
8.3.2 Irregular LDPC Codes 281
8.3.3 Decoding of LDPC Codes: The Tanner Graph 281
8.4 The Sum–Product Algorithm 282
8.5 Sum–Product Algorithm for LDPC Codes: An Example 284
8.6 Simplifications of the Sum–Product Algorithm 297
8.7 A Logarithmic LDPC Decoder 302
8.7.1 Initialization 302
8.7.2 Horizontal Step 302
8.7.3 Vertical Step 304
8.7.4 Summary of the Logarithmic Decoding Algorithm 305
8.7.5 Construction of the Look-up Tables 306
8.8 Extrinsic Information Transfer Charts for LDPC Codes 306
8.8.1 Introduction 306
8.8.2 Iterative Decoding of Block Codes 310
8.8.3 EXIT Chart Construction for LDPC Codes 312
8.8.4 Mutual Information Function 312
8.8.5 EXIT Chart for the SND 314
8.8.6 EXIT Chart for the PCND 315
8.9 Fountain and LT Codes 317
8.9.1 Introduction 317
8.9.2 Fountain Codes 318
8.9.3 Linear Random Codes 318
8.9.4 Luby Transform Codes 320
8.10 LDPC and Turbo Codes 322
Bibliography and References 323
Problems 324

Appendix A: Error Probability in the Transmission of Digital Signals 327

Appendix B: Galois Fields GF(q) 339

Answers to Problems 351

Index 357
Preface
The subject of this book is the detection and correction of errors in digital information. Such
errors almost inevitably occur after the transmission, storage or processing of information in
digital (mainly binary) form, because of noise and interference in communication channels,
or imperfections in storage media, for example. Protecting digital information with a suitable
error-control code enables the efficient detection and correction of any errors that may have
occurred.
Error-control codes are now used in almost the entire range of information communication,
storage and processing systems. Rapid advances in electronic and optical devices and systems
have enabled the implementation of very powerful codes with close to optimum error-control
performance. In addition, new types of code, and new decoding methods, have recently been
developed and are starting to be applied. However, error-control coding is complex, novel and
unfamiliar, not yet widely understood and appreciated. This book sets out to provide a clear
description of the essentials of the topic, with comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of the
most useful codes and their decoding algorithms. The book has a practical engineering and
information technology emphasis, but includes relevant background material and fundamental
theoretical aspects. Several system applications of error-control codes are described, and there
are many worked examples and problems for the reader to solve.
The book is an advanced text aimed at postgraduate and third/final year undergraduate
students of courses on telecommunications engineering, communication networks, electronic
engineering, computer science, information systems and technology, digital signal processing,
and applied mathematics, and for engineers and researchers working in any of these areas. The
book is designed to be virtually self-contained for a reader with any of these backgrounds.
Enough information and signal theory, and coding mathematics, is included to enable a full
understanding of any of the error-control topics described in the book.
Chapter 1 provides an introduction to information theory and how it relates to error-control
coding. The theory defines what we mean by information, determines limits on the capacity of
an information channel and tells us how efficient a code is at detecting and correcting errors.
Chapter 2 describes the basic concepts of error detection and correction, in the context of the
parameters, encoding and decoding of some simple binary block error-control codes. Block
codes were the first type of error-control code to be discovered, in the decade from about 1940
to 1950. The two basic ways in which error coding is applied to an information system are
also described: forward error correction and retransmission error control. A particularly useful
kind of block code, the cyclic code, is introduced in Chapter 3, together with an example of
a practical application, the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) code for the Ethernet standard. In
Chapters 4 and 5 two very effective and widely used classes of cyclic codes are described,
xiv Preface

the Bose–Chaudhuri–Hocquenghem (BCH) and Reed–Solomon (RS) codes, named after their
inventors. BCH codes can be binary or non-binary, but the RS codes are non-binary and are
particularly effective in a large number of error-control scenarios. One of the best known of
these, also described in Chapter 5, is the application of RS codes to error correction in the
compact disk (CD).
Not long after the discovery of block codes, a second type of error-control codes emerged,
initially called recurrent and later convolutional codes. Encoding and decoding even a quite
powerful convolutional code involves rather simple, repetitive, quasi-continuous processes,
applied on a very convenient trellis representation of the code, instead of the more complex
block processing that seems to be required in the case of a powerful block code. This makes it
relatively easy to use maximum likelihood (soft-decision) decoding with convolutional codes,
in the form of the optimum Viterbi algorithm (VA). Convolutional codes, their trellis and state
diagrams, soft-decision detection, the Viterbi decoding algorithm, and practical punctured
and rate-compatible coding schemes are all presented in Chapter 6. Disappointingly, however,
even very powerful convolutional codes were found to be incapable of achieving performances
close to the limits first published by Shannon, the father of information theory, in 1948. This
was still true even when very powerful combinations of block and convolutional codes, called
concatenated codes, were devised. The breakthrough, by Berrou, Glavieux and Thitimajshima
in 1993, was to use a special kind of interleaved concatenation, in conjunction with iterative
soft-decision decoding. All aspects of these very effective coding schemes, called turbo codes
because of the supercharging effect of the iterative decoding algorithm, are fully described in
Chapter 7.
The final chapter returns to the topic of block codes, in the form of low-density parity check
(LDPC) codes. Block codes had been found to have trellis representations, so that they could
be soft-decision decoded with performances almost as good as those of convolutional codes.
Also, they could be used in effective turbo coding schemes. Complexity remained a problem,
however, until it was quite recently realized that a particularly simple class of codes, the LDPC
codes discovered by Gallager in 1962, was capable of delivering performances as good or better
than those of turbo codes when decoded by an appropriate iterative algorithm. All aspects of
the construction, encoding, decoding and performance of LDPC codes are fully described in
Chapter 8, together with various forms of LDPC codes which are particularly effective for use
in communication networks.
Appendix A shows how to calculate the error probability of digital signals transmitted over
additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels, and Appendix B introduces various topics
in discrete mathematics. These are followed by a list of the answers to the problems located
at the end of each chapter. Detailed solutions are available on the website associated with this
book, which can be found at the following address:
http://elaf1.fi.mdp.edu.ar/Error Control
The website also contains additional material, which will be regularly updated in response
to comments and questions from readers.
Acknowledgements
We are very grateful for all the help, support and encouragement we have had during the writing
of this book, from our colleagues past and present, from many generations of research assistants
and students, from the reviewers and from our families and friends. We particularly thank
Damian Levin and Leonardo Arnone for their contributions to Chapters 7 and 8, respectively;
Mario Blaum, Rolando Carrasco, Evan Ciner, Bahram Honary, Garik Markarian and Robert
McEliece for stimulating discussions and very welcome support; and Sarah Hinton at John
Wiley & Sons, Ltd who patiently waited for her initial suggestion to bear fruit.
List of Symbols

Chapter 1
α probability of occurrence of a source symbol (Chapter 1)
δ, ε arbitrary small numbers
σ standard deviation
(α) entropy of the binary source evaluated using logs to base 2
B bandwidth of a channel
C capacity of a channel, bits per second
c code vector, codeword
Cs capacity of a channel, bits per symbol
d, i, j, k, l, m, n integer numbers
Eb average bit energy
E b /N0 average bit energy-to-noise power spectral density ratio
H (X ) entropy in bits per second
H (X n ) entropy of an extended source
H (X/y j ) a posteriori entropy
H (X/Y ) equivocation
H (Y/ X ) noise entropy
Hb (X ) entropy of a discrete source calculated in logs to base b
I (xi , y j ) mutual information of xi , y j
I (X, Y ) average mutual information
Ii information of the symbol xi
M number of symbols of a discrete source
n length of a block of information, block code length
N0 /2 noise power spectral density
nf large number of emitted symbols
p error probability of the BSC or BEC
P power of a signal
P(xi ) = Pi probability of occurrence of the symbol xi
P(xi /y j ) backward transition probability
P(xi , y j ) joint probability of xi , y j
P(X/Y) conditional probability of vector X given vector Y
Pij = P(y j /xi ) conditional probability of symbol y j given xi , also transition probability
of a channel; forward transition probability
Pke error probability, in general k identifies a particular index
xviii List of Symbols

PN noise power
Pch transition probability matrix
Qi a probability
R information rate
rb bit rate
s, r symbol rate
S/N signal-to-noise ratio
T signal time duration
Ts sampling period
W bandwidth of a signal
x variable in general, also a particular value of random variable X
X random variable (Chapters 1, 7 and 8), and variable of a polynomial
expression (Chapters 3, 4 and 5)
x(t), s(t) signals in the time domain
xi value of a source symbol, also a symbol input to a channel
xk = x(kTs ) sample of signal x(t)
||X|| norm of vector X
yj value of a symbol, generally a channel output

Chapter 2
A amplitude of a signal or symbol
Ai number of codewords of weight i
D stopping time (Chapter 2); D-transform domain variable
d(ci , c j ) Hamming distance between two code vectors
Di set of codewords
dmin minimum distance of a code
e error pattern vector
F a field
f (m) redundancy obtained, code C0 , hybrid ARQ
G generator matrix
gi row vector of generator matrix G
gij element of generator matrix
GF(q) Galois or finite field
H parity check matrix
hj row vector of parity check matrix H
k, n message and code lengths in a block code
l number of detectable errors in a codeword
m random number of transmissions (Chapter 2)
m message vector
N integer number
P(i, n) probability of i erroneous symbols in a block of n symbols
P parity check submatrix
pij element of the parity check submatrix
pprime prime number
List of Symbols xix

Pbe bit error rate (BER)

Pret probability of a retransmission in ARQ schemes
PU (E) probability of undetected errors
Pwe word or code vector error probability
q power of a prime number pprime
q(m) redundancy obtained, code C1 , hybrid ARQ
r received vector
Rc code rate
S subspace of a vector space V (Chapter 2)
S syndrome vector (Chapters 2–5, 8)
si component of a syndrome vector (Chapters 2–5, 8)
Sd dual subspace of the subspace S
t number of correctable errors in a codeword
td transmission delay
Tw duration of a word
u = (u 1 , u 2 , . . . u n−1 ) vector of n components
V a vector space
Vn vector space of dimension n
w(c) Hamming weight of code vector c

Chapter 3
αi primitive element of Galois field GF(q) (Chapters 4 and 5,
Appendix B)
βi root of minimal polynomial (Chapters 4 and 5, Appendix B)
c(X ) code polynomial
c(i) (X ) i-position right-shift rotated version of the polynomial c(X )
e(X ) error polynomial
g(X ) generator polynomial
m(X ) message polynomial
p(X ) remainder polynomial (redundancy polynomial in systematic form)
(Chapter 3),
pi (X ) primitive polynomial
r level of redundancy and degree of the generator polynomial
(Chapters 3 and 4 only)
r (X ) received polynomial
S(X ) syndrome polynomial

Chapter 4
βl , α jl error-location numbers
i (X ) minimal polynomial
μ(X ) auxiliary polynomial in the key equation
σ (X ) error-location polynomial (Euclidean algorithm)
τ number of errors in a received vector
xx List of Symbols

e jh value of an error
jl position of an error in a received vector
qi , ri , si , ti auxiliary numbers in the Euclidean algorithm (Chapters 4
and 5)
ri (X ), si (X ), ti (X ) auxiliary polynomials in the Euclidean algorithm (Chapters 4
and 5)
W (X ) error-evaluation polynomial

Chapter 5
ρ a previous step with respect to μ in the Berlekamp–Massey
(B–M) algorithm
(μ)
σBM (X ) error-location polynomial, B–M algorithm, μth iteration
dμ μth discrepancy, B–M algorithm
(μ)
lμ degree of the polynomial σBM (X ), B–M algorithm
m̂ estimate of a message vector
sRS number of shortened symbols in a shortened RS code
Z (X ) polynomial for determining error values in the B–M algorithm

Chapter 6
Ai number of sequences of weight i (Chapter 6)
Ai, j,l number of paths of weight i, of length j, which result from
an input of weight l
bi (T ) sampled value of bi (t), the noise-free signal, at time instant T
C(D) code polynomial expressions in the D domain
ci ith branch of code sequence c
ci n-tuple of coded elements
C m (D) multiplexed output of a convolutional encoder in the D domain
c ji jth code symbol of ci
C ( j) (D) output sequence of the jth branch of a convolutional encoder,
in the D domain
( j) ( j) ( j) ( j)
ci = (c0 , c1 , c2 , . . .) output sequence of the jth branch of a convolutional encoder
df minimum free distance of a convolutional code
dH Hamming distance
G(D) rational transfer function of polynomial expressions in the D
domain
G(D) rational transfer function matrix in the D domain
( j)
G i (D) impulse response of the jth branch of a convolutional
encoder, in the D domain
( j) ( j) ( j) ( j)
gi = (gi0 , gi1 , gi2 , . . .) impulse response of the jth branch of a convolutional encoder
[GF(q)]n extended vector space
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"I am disobeying orders by telling you, and you must keep my
secret."
After the boys had all promised to be careful, Guy Preston came out
and turned toward the Colonel's quarters. He heard the invitation in
the commandant's voice, "Tell him to come in," and Guy entered and
found the officer pacing up and down his narrow room as he had
seen him twice before. Indeed he did not appear to have anything
else to do. He wanted to find some way of getting out of the
predicament he was in, and he hoped by walking the floor that
something would occur to him.
"Sit down, Mr. Preston," said he.
"Thank you, sir, but I don't want to stop long," was the reply. "I gave
you a letter which Winged Arrow gave to me, and you have not
returned it. The young savage wanted me to keep that letter in my
uniform wherever I went, thinking it might be of service to me if I
were captured."
"Why, you don't expect to fall into the power of the Sioux, do you?"
said the Colonel with a smile.
"No, sir, I don't expect to, but there is no telling what may happen."
"I thought I would send that in making out my report," said the
officer. "If you don't mind, that is what I will do with it."
Guy was astonished and greatly alarmed when he heard this. Aside
from the protection which the letter might afford him, there was
Cyrus who was particularly anxious to have it, in view of the perilous
undertaking which the passing of the hours was rapidly bringing
toward him. Cyrus was a favorite with all the officers and men, and
he must have the letter if there were any way to bring it about. He
did not believe in such things, but Cyrus did, and he thought that
the mention of his name would help matters a little.
"I have been talking to Cyrus about it, and he wants to see it," said
he, at a venture.
"Oh, Cyrus," exclaimed the Colonel, rising to his feet and going to
his desk, "That puts a different look on the affair. I suppose that
when he is done with the letter that you will bring it back."
"Yes, sir; when he IS DONE with it," replied Guy, extending his hand
for the document.
The Colonel evidently did not notice the emphasis he placed upon
the verb, for if he had he would have asked him to explain. He
handed out the letter, and, after thanking him for it, Guy put on his
cap and left the room.
"I said when he was DONE with it I would return it," said he to
himself, as he ran across the parade ground, "that will be after the
letter has served his purpose. I hope it will assist him in getting out
of the hands of those rascally Sioux, if he is unfortunate enough to
fall into them; but I don't know. I would rather see our regiment
drawn up with sabers in their hands than to believe in this thing."
Cyrus was in the quarters alone. The young officers having thought
of various duties they had yet to perform, had gone away to attend
to them. He received the letter with a smile and gave it a good
looking-over. "It WAS drawn by an Indian," he remarked, as he folded
up the letter and placed it in his pocket.
"Now when you are all through with that, you must give it back to
the Colonel," said Guy, "I have promised him that. But it seems to
me that you are relying on a poor prop."
"You probably get your notions of Indians from some books that you
have read," replied Cyrus. "I never have heard of a war yet in which
some prisoner, either white man or savage, did not owe his life to
some such thing as this. You never see anything about it in print,
because the majority of people they capture are not high enough up
to believe in such foolish ideas. They don't believe that because a
thing is senseless and can't speak, that it will be of any benefit to
them; but you ask some men, who have been out here on the
prairie all their lives and have associated with Indians more than
they have with the whites, what they think of these things. They will
tell you that there is more faith to be put in them than in a regiment
of soldiers."
Guy was amazed to hear Cyrus talk in this way. He grew animated
and talked like some one who had been through all the books at
school, and, furthermore, his words carried weight with them. Guy
was encouraged. He hoped that Cyrus would get through in safety
with his dispatches, or, failing that, the letter would take him through
the hostile ranks of the Sioux and bring him unharmed back to them.
"You talk as though you were not going through," said he, not
knowing what else to say.
"Well, those two men who tried it the other night were well up in all
that relates to the Indians and the prairie on which they live, and if
they did not get through there is a small chance for me. Now I want
to lie down and take a little sleep, and when the Orderly comes he
will know where to find me."
"I may not see you again and so I will bid you good-by," said Guy,
who felt that he was parting from an older brother. He thrust out his
hand, and Cyrus took it and clasped it warmly. Not another word
was said. The officer put on his hat and left the quarters.
"Don't I wish that I had half the pluck that that man has?" said he to
himself. "If that were all, he would hoodwink the savages in some
way; but they are too many for him. Good-by Cyrus. I will never see
you again."
It was a long night to Guy Preston and his two companions who
were with him—two of them were on duty and they did not see
much of them—and when the next day came it was harder than
ever, for they were obliged to pretend ignorance of Cyrus's
whereabouts. When he got up Guy passed the time until breakfast in
attending to such duties as were before him, and then he drew a
bee line for the guide's headquarters. He wanted to see if anybody
there knew anything of Cyrus.
"You tell where Cyrus is," said Tony, who was taking his after-
breakfast smoke. "When I went to bed he lay right there; but when I
got up this morning his bunk was empty."
"It is my opinion that he has gone off with the dispatches that we
failed to get through with the night we tried it," said Mike, who was
Tony's partner on that unsuccessful expedition.
"Good land! He can't get through," exclaimed Tony. "I tell you,
Lieutenant, the Sioux are thicker than blackberries in a New England
pasture out there. Whichever way we turned we saw something to
drive us back. The Kurn knows mighty well that we would have gone
on if we had seen the ghost of a chance to get through, because all
the men here are in the same fix that we are; but what are you
going to do when every tuft of grass you look at turns out to be an
enemy?"
"Could you see the Sioux?" asked Guy.
"No; but our horses smelled them, and that was enough for us.
Whenever they stopped and looked before them with cocked ears
and snorted, we went back and tried some other way; but it was the
same all around the camp. But I am mighty sorry to lose Cyrus. He
was the best fellow in camp."
"Certain. If he isn't captured, the Sioux will drive him back. There's
one thing that I have got against him," said the other scout. "He has
left his horse behind him. If I had had anything to do with his going
away, I should have told him to be sure and take that pony."
Until very recently Guy did not believe that a white man's horse
could scent an Indian further than he could see him, but he did
believe it now. His experience with his excited horse the morning
before had confirmed the story.
"A white man's horse won't go up to an Indian that is lying in the
grass," continued the scout. "He will turn out and go some other
way; and an Indian's pony acts just the same way with a white man.
The horses enter into the spirit of the matter and hate a foe as
heartily as their riders do."
Guy had heard all he wanted to hear about Cyrus's disappearance,
and returned to his room to get ready for guard mount, for he was
to go on duty then. Not one of his roommates could tell him a single
thing he had not learned already. No one knew when Cyrus went
away, and the only thing for them to do was to wait patiently for two
or three days, or until they could hear from Cyrus direct. Guy was
glad to have some duties to perform, because they kept him on the
move and he did not have as much time to think as he did when left
to himself.
At twelve o'clock his relief came on and, after eating his dinner, Guy
went into his room and laid down to get a wink of sleep to prepare
him for the mid-watch which came on at six o'clock; but it seemed
to him that he had scarcely closed his eyes when he was aroused by
the long roll and the hurrying of feet outside his quarters. To get up,
pull on his boots, seize his coat with one hand and his sword with
the other was done in less time than we take to write it, and Guy
rushed out to find his company rapidly falling in on the parade
ground. Perkins came up at the same instant, and met Guy with
some encouraging words.
"The massacre has come and in much less time than Winged Arrow
thought it would," said he. "Now where is your letter?"
Guy did not have time to answer, for the sharp voice of the Colonel
was heard ordering them to their stations. When Guy got up on the
palisade and took his position in readiness to defend the gun which
was pointed toward a distant swell, he had opportunity to look about
him.
"All ready with that gun?" asked the officer in command.
"All ready, sir," replied the Captain of the piece, squinting along the
gun to make sure that it covered the hill. "I can knock the last one
of that group if I can get orders to fire now, sir."
Guy looked toward the swell and saw a party of half a dozen
warriors there, all of whom were mounted save one. He had just
time to note this fact when he saw the dismounted man start down
the swell toward the Fort, while the others of the group disappeared
behind the hill. The man was plainly a prisoner and had been
liberated. Guy's heart seemed to beat loudly as he drew nearer to
the officer who commanded the gun and said, in a scarcely audible
whisper:—
"Is that Cyrus, sir?"
The man who had a glass removed it from his eyes long enough to
stare blankly at Guy, and then, as if getting something through his
head, he leveled the glass once more and said, while he caught a
momentary glimpse of the figure:—
"By George! I believe you are right."
 CHAPTER VIII.
In the Hands of the Sioux

The excuse that Cyrus made, that he wanted to lie down and get a
wink of sleep before the Colonel's Orderly came to find him, was
merely a pretense to get rid of the officer, and nothing else. When
Guy went out he lay down on his bunk, but he did not stay there
more than five minutes. No one came in to bother him, and Cyrus,
thinking that as good a time to reach the Colonel's quarters without
attracting the attention of anybody, got up and, by keeping close to
the palisades and behind the out-buildings, drew up at last before
one of the windows of the commanding officer's room. It really was
not a window at all, but an opening left in the logs and covered with
a piece of muslin so as to admit the light. He listened, but could hear
nothing but the steady tramp of the Colonel as he paced back and
forth in his room. Then he raised his hand and with his knuckles
gave a peculiar rap on the casement. A moment afterward the
corner of the piece of muslin was drawn aside and the Colonel's face
appeared.
"I am here," said Cyrus. "I want those dispatches that you have
ready for me."
"Come in," said the commanding officer, and with a few moves he
drew the tacks which confined the window and made a hole large
enough for Cyrus to squeeze his broad shoulders through.
"Have you a needle and thread?" asked Cyrus.
"Yes, everything is all handy. You sit down here in my bedroom, and
if any of the officers come in to see me they will be none the wiser
for it."
Cyrus seated himself in one of the spots which the Colonel pointed
out to him—it was not a chair, however, but an empty box which had
once contained canned beef—and pulled off his buckskin jacket,
while the Colonel went into the next room and presently returned
with the dispatches for which the boy was about to run so much
risk. It was a very small package, but there was a great deal written
on it. It conveyed to the Commanding General the information that
the Colonel had succeeded in building Fort Phil Kearney, but instead
of using it as a basis for movements against the hostile Indians, the
Sioux had shut him up in it, hoping that when their ammunition and
provisions gave out, they could make a raid and destroy every man
there was in the Fort. His condition was perilous in the extreme.
Every wagon train that he sent out for fuel was protected by a large
force, and if the Sioux were smart enough to cut off one of those
forces, or get between them and the Fort, thus dividing his men, the
annihilation of all of them would be a matter of hours and not of
days. He begged earnestly for re-enforcements of five hundred men,
and he could do nothing until such force arrived.
"I wish the General could be here for about five minutes and see just
how we are situated," said the Colonel, as he placed the dispatch on
the table by the side of Cyrus. "He would learn better than to send
out such a small body of troops as mine to confront the whole tribe
of Sioux Indians. Cyrus, I hope you will get through with that
dispatch."
"Kurn, if any living man can accomplish it, I can," said the scout.
"Now, have you got the other dispatch ready?"
"Yes, but I don't place any faith in that. If you are caught the
savages will strip you—"
"And this dispatch will be the only one they will find. Our fellows
fooled the rebels more than once by carrying concealed papers—"
"But rebels and Indians are two different things. To be honest, I do
not think that you will be able to get through; but if you do, talk to
that General as you would to a father. You can tell him more in
regard to our situation here than I could write in a week."
"I will do my best, Kurn, but you must not place any dependence on
me. Tony and his partner have tried it and failed, and that leaves but
a small chance for me."
Cyrus, having pulled a knife from his pocket, was busy with his
buckskin shirt which he had drawn off, cutting away the inside lining
to make a receptacle for the dispatches about which the Colonel was
so anxious. It was close up under his arm, so that when the shirt
was on and Cyrus stood at his ease, no one would have supposed
that there was anything hidden away there. The opening for them
being made, Cyrus folded the dispatches into a smaller compass
than they were before, and having placed them therein proceeded
with his needle and thread to sew up the opening again, just as it
was before.
This being done, he was ready for the second dispatch, which was
really a "bogus dispatch" and was intended solely for the Indians to
read. The Colonel knew that there were some savages in that party
who could read English, and he knew, too, that this bogus dispatch,
if the other could be concealed, would have an alarming effect upon
them. It was the idea of Cyrus, and the Colonel had reluctantly
agreed to it. It was very different from the dispatch that had been
concealed in the scout's hunting shirt, and said that the General's
letter had been received, that the re-enforcement of one thousand
men would be amply sufficient to break up the Sioux camp, and that
when they arrived he would be ready to assume the offensive.
"I don't suppose Red Cloud will believe that, even if it is read to
him," said the Colonel. "The General's letter has been received.
Pshaw! There is not a man living who can get through those lines
and reach me with a dispatch from him."
"So long as they don't know that, we don't care what they believe,"
said Cyrus, pulling off his moccasin and stowing the dispatch away
inside of it. "If it will only throw his camp into confusion that is all
we ask for. Well, Kurn, good-by. Remember, I will do my best."
"Good-by, Cyrus," replied the Colonel, extending his hand. "You have
been faithful and just to me while you were here, and I shall depend
upon you."
"Don't do that, Kurn; don't do that," said Cyrus, earnestly. "I will do
my best, and that is all anybody can do."
Cyrus pressed the Colonel's hand for a moment, then turned toward
the window and in another instant was gone. He made his way to
his quarters without seeing anybody, threw himself upon his bunk,
and in a little while was fast asleep. His comrades came in and
aroused him when it was time to go to supper, but Cyrus did not
want any. He kept his bunk until his roommates were all in bed and
fast asleep, and the sentries on duty had proclaimed "Twelve o'clock
and all's well!" when he began to bestir himself. His first duty was to
satisfy himself that all the scouts were in dreamland, and when this
had been done he took his rifle, put on his hat, and noiselessly left
his quarters. The next thing was to pass the sentries; but a man
who could pass within five feet of a slumbering Sioux was not to be
deterred by passing a white sentry on his post. To climb the logs and
drop down on the other side was an event that was easy enough for
Cyrus to accomplish, and in a few minutes the tramp of the sentries
was left out of hearing.
Why was it that the Colonel was so anxious to have him leave the
Fort without being seen by anybody? To tell the truth, everybody in
the Fort was becoming discouraged. Three weeks had now elapsed
since the erection of the palisades, and during that time the Sioux
had completely surrounded them and shut them in as tight as
though they had "been bottled up." A person was at liberty to go
anywhere within a mile of the Fort, because certain guns which had
been accurately trained covered every foot of the space; but over
the hills it was as much as a man's life was worth to venture. Guy
Preston was the only one, when searching for his birds, who had
disobeyed that order; but it was a miracle that he had been allowed
to come back. The signal tower, which stood at the distance of half a
mile from the Fort, was manned every morning by four men who
went out there to keep watch of the Indians; but every time that
group was ready to go out, it took a Company of men to protect
them. That was before Red Cloud had made his new order, that the
only way to get rid of the whites was to kill all the men and burn the
palisades, and this order was in force at the time Cyrus left the post.
By drawing his warriors off in the daytime, Red Cloud was tempting
the Colonel to send out a train for fuel, and when that was done the
massacre was to begin. The Colonel was determined to get
dispatches through by some means, but he did not want to let the
men know that another person had tried it and failed. It would not
be long, he thought, before the men would think that it was utterly
impossible to get through the Sioux lines, and so would give it up,
stay there, and be massacred. He knew better than any other man
did the danger that they were in, and it was no wonder that he felt
downhearted.
The Fort being left out of sight and hearing, Cyrus threw himself on
all fours and made his way toward Piney Creek, a little stream on the
banks of which the post was located. He intended to get as far as
possible below the encircling bands of Sioux before daylight, then
arise to his feet and go toward his destination as fast as he could.
This was a new way of leaving the lines behind him, the other scouts
preferring to strike out over the prairie and try their chances in that
way; but it seems that the Sioux were alive to this movement also.
The stream was not large or deep enough for him to descend its
current, otherwise he would have sought a log somewhere and
attempted to swim by them; but as it was he was compelled to wade
sometimes in the water and at other times to flounder through
bushes so thick that the darkness could almost be felt, and he did
not cover more than a mile an hour. Every few feet he would stop
and listen until his acute senses told him that the way was clear, and
then he would struggle on again.
But Red Cloud, the head chief of the Ogallala Sioux who were
making war because they were determined that the road should not
pass through their country, was an old campaigner and not to be
beaten by any such trick as this. He withdrew his warriors in the
daytime so as to tempt the Colonel to send out a train to get fuel,
but knowing that the train could not come out at night, he sent his
men in closer, being equally determined that no scout should get out
to carry the news of their condition to other quarters. Consequently
Cyrus had not progressed more than a mile or two when he heard a
smothered exclamation in front of him, and before he could sink
down where he was and get his weapon into a condition for use, he
found himself in the clutches of a Sioux warrior, upon whom he had
almost stepped. Of course Cyrus resisted, but it was all in vain.
Another Sioux joined in the fracas, another and another came up to
assist, and in less time than it takes to tell it, the scout was thrown
prostrate on the ground, his weapon twisted out of his grasp, and
his hands bound behind his back. It was all done quietly, and one
standing at a distance of twenty feet away would not have known
that there was anything going on. Why did Cyrus not take out his
letter when the Sioux caught him? Because his hands were bound,
and he knew that those who had him prisoner were not the ones
who had any authority in the band.
In spite of what he had said to the contrary, Cyrus was not a little
alarmed when he found himself powerless in the hands of the Sioux;
but it was useless to resist the savages, lest he should feel the prod
of a knife in his flesh, and when they put a rope around his neck and
started off with him, Cyrus went along with them as quietly as if he
had formed one of the party.
It was four miles to Red Cloud's village, and Cyrus could not see
anything on the way to remind him where he was. The Indians knew
the course, and when they brought him into their town he was
surprised at what he saw there. He had never seen so large a
multitude of savages as was gathered there under Red Cloud. There
were several camp fires scattered about among the lodges, none of
which were wholly extinguished, and, aided by the light that they
threw out, Cyrus could see nothing but tepees on all sides of him.
He was conducted at once to a lodge a little apart from the others;
one brave threw up a flap of it which served as a door and Cyrus
was thrust in. It was all dark in there, and Cyrus hesitated about
stepping around for fear that he should tread upon some of the
inmates, when one of his captors came in and seized him by the
shoulder.
"Sit down," said he fiercely.
Here was one Indian who could talk English, and the hope arose in
the captive's breast that perhaps he could learn something from him.
"Where shall I sit down?" said he. "Are there any persons here
asleep?"
The answer was not given in words, although Cyrus wished it had
been. The Indian seized him by the neck and in a moment more he
was laid out prostrate on the ground.
"Sit down where you are," said the savage, more fiercely than
before.
Cyrus did not say anything more just then, but straightened up as
soon as he could and looked around to see what the Indian was
going to do. By the aid of a camp fire whose light streamed in
through the flap of the door that was now open, he could observe
the movements of his enemy quite distinctly. He saw him pull his
blankets about his shoulders and take a seat beside the door with
his rifle across his knees. Cyrus drew a short breath of relief for he
had nothing more to fear from him until daylight. That tepee was to
be his prison, and the savage was to be his watcher as long as the
darkness continued.
 CHAPTER IX.
The Medicine Works Wonders

Cyrus was a captive now. There was no mistake about that. The only
thing he could do was to lie down and wait as patiently as he could
until daylight came. The rope with which he was bound was very
painful to him, but Cyrus knew it would be worse than useless to ask
his sentry to loosen it. The savages knew too much for that. They
had had some bitter experience with the trappers of the mountains
in granting them the free use of their hands, and they did not mean
to be caught that way any more.
It must have been about two o'clock when Cyrus was captured, and
he thought he had never known the time to pass so slowly as did
the hours that intervened before the first gray streaks of dawn were
seen in the east; for they told him that something was to be done
with him very speedily. During those hours he was often compelled
to change his position on account of his bonds, but the savage never
once changed his. If he had been a marble man he could not have
sat more motionless; but all the time his eyes were fastened upon
his captive as if he meant that not a sign from him should escape his
notice. Finally the flap of the door was drawn further aside, and an
Indian's face appeared. He wanted to see whom they had captured,
but he said not a word to Cyrus or his watcher. Presently other faces
appeared, until Cyrus thought that the whole camp of the Sioux was
astir.
Daylight came on apace, and then Cyrus began to take some note of
the things in the lodge in which he was confined, and found to his
surprise that he was in no danger of stepping on slumbering
inmates. With the exception of himself and the sentinel who was
keeping watch over him, the tepee was as empty as it was when it
was put up. It was probably intended as a sort of prison for anybody
who might be captured by the Sioux, but up to this time Cyrus had
the satisfaction of knowing that he was the only one who had seen
the inside of it.
"And if I could have my way I am the last one who will see how it
looks," said Cyrus to himself. "No doubt they expected to capture a
good many more. Somehow I don't feel as safe by having Guy
Preston's letter about me as I did by having that scrap of sage brush
that the Indian gave me. Well, if it doesn't effect my release it surely
would not effect Guy's, if he were here in my place."
It must have been nine o'clock before anyone came near him again,
and all the while he was in agony through his bonds which seemed
to hurt him more the longer he was tied up with them. But they
could not make him forget his stomach, which was clamoring loudly
for something nourishing. He had not eaten anything since dinner
the day before, and even a hard-tack he thought would prove very
acceptable. While he was thinking about it, two Indians came to the
door of the tepee, and they came in a hurry as though they were
after something. They exchanged a few words with his sentry—they
were spoken so low that Cyrus did not fully comprehend them—and
then one of them seized Cyrus by the collar and dragged him to his
feet. The first thing he did was to untie the prisoner's bonds; and
when Cyrus felt his arms at liberty he stretched them out with an
exclamation which testified to the delight he felt.
"If I just had you two here alone, how quick I would end you up,"
said he, to himself. "I will bet you could not catch me in a fair race.
They are going to take my clothes also," he added, when one of the
Indians proceeded to take off his hunting shirt. "Does that mean
that I am to get ready for the stake?"
It certainly looked that way, but Cyrus never uttered a word out
loud. He submitted to the disrobing as quietly as he could, and even
assisted them when something about his clothes bothered them;
and in two minutes more he was stripped clean. But he noticed two
things, filled as he was with other matters, and standing in fear of
the torture which seemed to be not far distant: the savages, when
they came into possession of his various articles of wardrobe, were
careful to look into all the pockets. Not one escaped their vigilance.
His pipe, his knife, and tobacco, and various other trinkets, which
men have about them, were quickly taken by his captors, until finally
a grunt from one of them announced the finding of Winged Arrow's
letter,—the one he had received from his father. The grunt speedily
brought his sentry to his feet, and he leaned over the shoulders of
the others and stared hard at the drawings. Not a word was said to
Cyrus as to how he came by the papers, but they exchanged several
incoherent expressions, which no doubt were perfectly understood
among themselves, but which were Greek to the captive. At last they
seemed to have come to an agreement regarding something, for one
of them started off at a keen run, while the other went on examining
his clothes. When he pulled off one of the moccasins the bogus
dispatch dropped out.
"Now you have something that will do your heart good," muttered
Cyrus. "Why don't you run off with that? They have left my clothes
here on the ground—"
But Cyrus was a little too hasty in coming to this conclusion. The
finding of the bogus dispatch, of course, created another series of
grunts, which ended a good deal as the first one did. The other
captor seized the paper and disappeared with it, but before he went
he gathered up the clothes and carried them away also. That was
too much for Cyrus, and he sat down on the ground and thought
about it, while the sentry returned to his seat by the door.
Half an hour passed, during which Cyrus's mind was in a state of
confusion. This treatment was very different from any he had
received while a prisoner in the hands of the Indians, and he had
been one four times when nothing but the stake seemed to be
waiting for him. Twice was he rescued by soldiers; a third time he
was saved by an old squaw who somehow got it into her head that
Cyrus resembled her son who had been killed by the whites; and the
fourth time that bunch of sage brush brought about his release. Now
it was that letter of Winged Arrow; and he confessed that his
chances were slim indeed. It is true that he was very young in years
to be the hero of all these adventures, but those among the
mountain men with whom he was best acquainted declared that he
had been in skirmishes enough to fill out three or four books. Like
the Medicine Man among the different tribes, who runs all sorts of
risks to make his followers believe that he has found the proper
"thing" at last which will turn all the white man's bullets away from
him, Cyrus took every risk in time of war that anybody could take
and live. He was foremost in all the Indian fights and was one of
Colonel Carrington's favorite scouts. When everyone else failed he
called upon Cyrus, and Cyrus had never been found wanting. All
men who live among the Indians soon fall into their ways, and every
one of them believed that Cyrus had discovered some "medicine"
that brought him safely out of any danger he might get into.
At the end of half an hour, another faint step was heard outside the
tepee, the flap was thrown further open and this time Winged Arrow
appeared. Cyrus recognized him on the instant from the description
that Guy Preston had given him, and the first thought that passed
through his mind was that he had never seen a finer-looking Indian.
His face wore a scowl which did not in any way add to his
appearance, and he did not pay any attention to his keeper at all. In
his hands he carried all of Cyrus's clothing which he threw toward
the prisoner with the muttered exclamation:—
"I suppose these things belong to you. Put them on."
Cyrus was fully as surprised as Guy Preston to hear himself
addressed in perfect English by an Indian in his war clothing, but he
lost no time in obeying instructions. When he came to his hunting
shirt he carelessly grasped it under the right arm, and a thrill shot
through him when he felt the dispatch there as he had left it. The
bogus dispatch, the one that was intended for the Indians to read,
was gone.
"Now you look more like yourself," said Winged Arrow, as he turned
about and beckoned to some one behind him, "I guess something to
eat would not do you any harm, would it?"
An Indian girl came into the tepee and laid Cyrus's breakfast before
him on the ground, and quickly went out again. Winged Arrow
calmly seated himself on the ground. Cyrus did the same, and while
he was busy with the viands which Winged Arrow had provided for
him, he kept one eye fixed upon the young Indian as if he hoped to
see something in his face which would give him a faint glimpse of
what the future had in store for him; but Winged Arrow's features
were as unmoved as if he had no secret to communicate. The
provisions did not trouble him much, for it was not as hearty a
breakfast as some he had eaten at the Fort, although the grub there
was getting scarce since the Sioux had shut them in from all the
world—a joint of beef which had once been warmed, but was now
cold, a chunk of Indian bread which had doubtless been cut out of
some "parfleche" repository and a cup of cold water formed the
substance of his breakfast. But it was better than nothing, and finally
it had all disappeared except the bones.
"Now I am ready for anything you have to propose," said Cyrus.
"What do you fellows intend to do with me?"
"You belong to me and so I am going to set you free," said Winged
Arrow, as if he were talking of something that did not interest Cyrus
in the least. "It was the worst thing I ever heard of, getting you free,
for our people have all something against you."
"I don't see how they make that out," replied Cyrus, feeling in his
pockets for his pipe. "You can't point to a single thing that ever I did
that injured you in the least. I have let more than one chance go by
that I have had of sending your people to the Happy Hunting
Grounds, and have let them get off scot-free when I might have had
a scalp to take with me as well as not."
"But something is always happening to take you away from us," said
Winged Arrow, "and what do you suppose it was that saved your life
this time?"
"Was it that letter that you gave to Guy Preston?"
The young savage took the letter out of his bosom and gave it to
Cyrus, who took it and stowed it away in one of his pockets.
"Now that letter can answer one more purpose," said Winged Arrow.
"Any man who is captured after that will lose his life."
"How do you make that out?"
"I promised my father," began Winged Arrow.
"By the way, who is your father?" said Cyrus. "He must be a man of
considerable standing in the tribe or else you would not be permitted
to meet a man between the lines, or to hold a chat with me now."
"He is a Medicine Man," replied the young Indian. "If there is a fight
here you will see him in the foremost ranks. He has a medicine
which he believes will render him impervious to the white man's
bullets. You do not believe in such things, do you?"
"Yes, I do," said Cyrus, earnestly. "One of your people gave me such
medicine, which afterward saved my life."
"What was it?" asked Winged Arrow, becoming interested.
"A handful of sage brush wrapped up in a piece of buckskin. I don't
see why you fellows can't have some medicine of that kind as well
as some others. What did you promise your father?"
"That I would join him and help fight for the lands which the whites
are trying to cheat us out of, provided he would give me the choice
of saving two white men who might chance to fall into our hands. I
had an eye on that black horse which that Lieutenant rides—What
did you say his name was?"
"Guy Preston; and he is just the best white fellow that ever lived."
"I am not saying anything about that. I had an eye on him ever
since you left Fort Robinson, and yesterday I chanced to meet him
outside the lines. I told him that the letter would save his life, but
now he has gone and given it up to you. I kept my promise,
although I had a hard time of it. If that letter comes into our camp
on another man, it will save his life too; but that is all."
"Don't you think you are in big business to help the Indians to clean
out the whites?" said Cyrus, who did not know what else to say.
"You must have seen Guy Preston down there at the Fort, and he
told you all I had to say on that point," replied Winged Arrow with a
scowl. "Of course I shall help the Indians clean out the whites. This
is our country; no one else has any claim upon it, and we are bound
to wipe them out or die with weapons in our hands. Say," said the
Indian, almost in a whisper, "I read your bogus dispatch, but the
other is safe where it belongs."
"What other?" asked Cyrus, startled in spite of himself.
"The one you have got in your hunting shirt. I put my hand on it,
but did not dare take it out. If I had, and had read it to Red Cloud,
that letter would not have saved you."
"What did that bogus dispatch do?" inquired Cyrus, drawing a long
breath of relief. The savages had had the genuine dispatch in their
hands and it had been saved to him through Winged Arrow, who
had so much at stake. He had never heard anything like it before,
and his admiration for the young Indian was almost unbounded. He
believed now more firmly than he had before that there were some
traits in the savage character with which the white men were
entirely unacquainted.
"It did not do much," replied Winged Arrow. "Red Cloud sent off a
band of scouts to see if the dispatch told the truth, but he did not
believe that any living man could have gotten through our cloud of
warriors with news to the Fort. I repeat that I did not dare take out
that other dispatch, for that told the truth; and you would have been
tied out to the stake now."
"Well, I am glad it is no worse," said Cyrus. "You may fall into the
hands of some of our people some day——"
"Well, when I do it will be when I am dead," returned Winged Arrow
emphatically. "You can't help me then. But here come the braves to
take you back to the Fort. Give Guy my kindest regards and tell him
to keep that letter about his own person. It will save one more and
that is all."
A party of warriors rode up at this moment, one of them carrying
Cyrus's Winchester which he gave into his hands. He stopped for a
moment to shake hands with Winged Arrow, but the latter stood
with his hands behind him, which Cyrus took as a sign that no hand
shaking was to be allowed; so he touched his hat to the young
savage, and, following the motions of one of the Indians, started off
toward the Fort. Not a thing was said to him during their long walk
until they arrived at the top of the swell, from which they could see
the palisades. One glance was enough to show him that the vigilant
soldiers were on the watch. He saw a commotion in the Fort,
occasioned by the men hurrying to their quarters, which was a
gentle hint to the savages that they had come close enough.
"There are your friends," said one who had evidently talked English
to him the night before, "Go home."
Cyrus renewed his efforts at hand shaking, but the Indians turned
their horses and retreated behind the hill.
 CHAPTER X.
Guy Is Astonished

"Yes, sir," said the officer who had the glass, taking one look at the
Sioux who speedily retreated out of sight behind the swell, and a
longer look at the liberated captive who came toward the Fort at
rapid strides, swinging his cap around his head as he came; "that is
Cyrus, if I ever saw him. He fell into the hands of the savages, and
for some reason best known to themselves they have turned him
loose."
If it were certain that it is possible for a boy to become amazed and
delighted at the same instant, Guy Preston experienced both those
emotions. While Guy was wondering how this state of affairs could
be brought about, the officer of the guard suddenly appeared upon
the platform and was saluted by the officer in command of the gun.
"The Colonel says you have a better view of that man, whoever he
is, than he has, and he begs to know what you make of him," said
Captain Kendall. "Is it Cyrus?"
"Yes, sir, it is Cyrus," replied the Second Lieutenant. "Take the glass
and look for yourself."
Captain Kendall's observation was not a long one. He leveled the
glass for a minute, and then handed it back.
"Guy," said he, forgetting that he was an officer and speaking to his
subordinate, "your letter has worked wonders."
"Do you really think my letter had anything to do with that?"
inquired Guy, so excited that he could hardly stand still.
"Know it? Of course it did. It was the only thing he had in his
possession that kept him clear of being staked out."
The officer of the guard went back to the Colonel who had sent him
to make inquiries, and Guy leaned upon the palisades and watched
Cyrus as he came toward the Fort. As soon as he found out that he
had attracted the attention of the soldiers, Cyrus put on his cap,
took one look behind him to see what had become of the Sioux, and
broke into a run. He had strange things to communicate and he was
in haste to unbosom himself. The officer of the day admitted him at
the gate, shook hands with him, and then, in obedience to some
request that Cyrus made of him, conducted him to the Colonel. A
few moments afterward the order came for the soldiers to march
down to the parade ground and break ranks, and this left Guy at
liberty to finish his nap from which he had been so violently aroused;
but Guy had no intention of doing anything of the kind. When he
broke ranks he hurried away to hunt his roommates, and found that
they were on the same mission as he was.
"I say," whispered Perkins, "I believe your letter had something to do
with Cyrus being among us safe and sound."
"So do I," said Guy. "Now how was it brought about? Has anybody
seen Cyrus to speak to him since he came back?"
Nobody had, and we will take the liberty of going with him when he
was led to where the Colonel stood. To say that Colonel Carrington
was delighted to see him once more would be putting it very mildly.
The commanding officer had almost as much affection for him as he
would have had if Cyrus had been a younger brother, and it showed
itself in the heartiness with which he grasped the scout's hand.
"Well, Cyrus, you ran plump into their hands, did you not?" said he.
"Just as fair as a man could," returned Cyrus. "If they had been
waiting for me down by the creek in the bushes, they could not have
bounced me quicker. It is impossible for a man to get through those
lines without being caught." Then in a lower tone he added: "I have
got your dispatch all right."
"Did they read the bogus one?" asked the Colonel.
"They did, but it did not disturb Red Cloud any. You said in that
dispatch, 'Your letter of a certain date has been received.' That gave
you away, for the savages knew that no man could go through their
lines with news for you from the other side of the world. They simply
sent out scouts to see if your expedition was coming, and that was
all they did do."
"Do you think they are going to attack us to-day?"
"No, sir. They are going to wait for that train that is to bring you fuel,
and then you are going to catch it."
"And that will come to-morrow," said the Colonel, walking up and
down. "Our wood is nearly out and we must have some. Captain
Brown, break ranks and let the men go to their quarters. Cyrus,
come with me."
The Colonel went off toward his room followed by his scout, and
when they were once inside of it, the commanding officer threw off
his hat and paced back and forth as if he did not know what to do
with himself, while Cyrus took a seat on the nearest cracker box
pulled out his knife, and proceeded to bring the real dispatch to
light,—for be it known that the frontiersmen who were employed by
the government as scouts did not hold themselves subject to military
law the same as soldiers did. A captain or even the Major would
have thought twice before taking off his coat in the Colonel's
quarters without being asked, but Cyrus did not wait for any
invitation.
"There is your dispatch, Kurn," said Cyrus, as he brought out the
document. "And I will tell you what is a fact: The time for you to
send it will be after the massacre occurs."
"But my goodness! I cannot think of that thing without shuddering,"
exclaimed the Colonel. "Must I send men, who have been with me
so long through thick and thin, out to be massacred by those
thievish Sioux? I won't do it, and that's all there is about it."
"Then we will starve and freeze to death for the want of a little pluck
on your part," said Cyrus. "We've got to have wood."
"How did that Winged Arrow manage to get you off on this letter?"
said the Colonel, who wanted time to think the matter over.
"I don't know. He was probably around when my clothes were
examined, and Red Cloud told him that he could do as he pleased.
That letter will save just one more person; and after that it is of no
account."
After a little time the Colonel cooled down so that Cyrus could begin
and tell him his story from beginning to end. He never once
interrupted him until he got through, and then he dismissed Cyrus
with the remark that he would send for him after a while. There
were a good many points to think over and he wanted a little time to
himself. But there was one thing about it, he said: If anybody was
going out there to fall a victim to those Sioux, he would be one of
the party.
"Of course we shall all be sorry for that," said Cyrus. "The massacre
has not taken place yet. They may make the attack in such a way
that they will be nicely whipped."
When Cyrus went out on the parade ground, he was besieged by
officers who had been awaiting his appearance and who wanted to
know all about the matter. Of course Guy Preston and his chums
were there, but they were obliged to keep in the background until
their superior officers had heard all there was to tell. When Cyrus
had finished with them he started toward his quarters and the boys
followed him; but all they learned in addition to what he had already
told was in regard to what he thought of Winged Arrow.
"It is just as Guy said yesterday," said he, kicking off his moccasins
and throwing himself down upon his bunk, "Winged Arrow has no
business to be a Sioux. He knows too much to be associated with
that race of people; but the more he learns about the way those
folks of his are being swindled by the government, the more he
determines to stick to them."
"Did you see Red Cloud while you were a prisoner among them?"
asked Perkins.
"I did not see anybody," replied Cyrus. "They kept themselves to
themselves, and all they had to do was to bring me out and release
me. I tell you, boys, we are going to see some fun right here, and
the Colonel says it will begin to-morrow."
"The massacre?" asked all the boys at once.
"Yes, sir. We must have some wood, and about the time that the
train and its escort get ready to march out, you will hear the war
whoop."
"Well, let it come," said Perkins. "They will find that American
soldiers are not the men to run just because they hear a whoop. We
enlisted to fight, and now we are going to see what sort of a
beginning we can make at it."
The other boys did not say anything, but the expression on their
faces said that they were ready for anything the Sioux had to spring
upon them. Cyrus's move toward his bunk was a hint that he had
not got all the sleep he should have had, and after asking a few
more unimportant questions, they left the quarters, Guy going
toward his room to finish his nap and the others to attend to various
duties about the Fort. But slumber was a thing that Guy could not
court just then. He was too busily thinking. He heard everything that
passed outside his room, and when the Orderly softly entered and
told him that "supper was on," he got up without having closed his
eyes.
The watch from six o'clock until midnight was a long and tedious one
to Guy, though he, of course, had the officer of the day to talk to.
Guy was thinking of what Winged Arrow told him—that if he ever
saw one Indian battlefield he never would want to see another—and
every chance he got he asked Mr. Kendall about it.
"You could not have been in the war of the Rebellion, for that
happened when you were a child," said Mr. Kendall; "but I saw
seven of them, and I tell you they were all I wanted to see. The men
were not mutilated, of course, but there was no need of that. I don't
want to talk about it."
"But did they never make an attack on our folks on a dark night like
this, sir?" asked Guy.
"Oh, yes; the darker the better. But you need not fear an Indian's
coming near us on a night like this. It is so dark that I can not even
see a star; and if you were in their camp now you would find them
all in their tepees fast asleep. When the moon rises or the day is just
breaking, you will want to keep a bright lookout for them. That is the
time they make the assault."
"Why is that, sir? When it is dark you can't see how many of them
there are."
"I know that; but every one you kill will go to the Happy Hunting
Grounds in a way that he won't like. He goes there in just the
condition that he leaves this life. If it is dark, he will have to grope
around through all Eternity in darkness, no hunting for him and no
scalping forays to show how much of a man he was in the days gone
by. But if he is killed in broad daylight in the full possession of all his
faculties, he will be just that way in the Happy Hunting Grounds. He
will be full of strength and vigor, and that is the kind of life he can
live forever. He never grows old. Go out that way and see what is
the matter with those horses. They act as though they were alarmed
about something."
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