Scarcely one hundred and fifty white troopers waited to stem as best they might that fierce onrush of twelve hundred battle-crazed braves.
For an almost breathless space those mingled hordes of Sioux and Cheyennes hesitated to drive straight home their death-blow.

They knew those silent men in the blue shirts, knew they died hard.

Upon that slight pause pivoted the fate of the day; upon it hung the lives of those other men riding boldly and trustfully across the sunlit ridges above.

"Audacity, always audacity," that is the accepted motto for a cavalryman.

And be the cause what it may, it was here that Major Reno failed.