They saw us and gave battle.

A running fight lasted for several minutes, during which we drove them back a fairly safe distance and killed three of their number.
The main body of the Cheyennes had now come into plain sight, and the men who escaped from us rode back toward it.

The main force halted when its leaders beheld the skirmish, and seemed for a time at a loss as to what was best to do.
We turned toward General Merritt, and when we had made about half the distance the Indians we had been chasing suddenly turned toward us and another lively skirmish took place.
One of the Indians, who was elaborately decorated with all the ornaments usually worn by a great chief when he engaged in a fight, saw me and sang out: "I know you, Pa-ho-has-ka! Come and fight with me!" The name he used was one by which I had long been known by the Indians.
It meant Long-Yellow-Hair.
The chief was riding his horse to and fro in front of his men, in order to banter me.

I concluded to accept his challenge.

I turned and galloped toward him for fifty yards, and he rode toward me about the same distance.