I
JULY 18, 1868 AT THE GROVE
N THE PRE-DAWN quiet, three slim Shoshone boys, their braids tightly fixed, hunting knives at their sides, slid from their dappled ponies to the dusty ground by the trees. They stood together, facing east, a row of cottonwood trees behind them. The cottonwood grove was a propitious place to begin their day of hunting. Water, always scarce, especially in a time of drought, flowed freely from the spring near the place where these cottonwood trees chose to grow. This little clump marked the nearest water source to the path the buffalo took between their spring and summer grazing places. As the sun glided upward in a clear blue sky noting the start of day, each boy offered a clump of sweetgrass to the cardinal directions to bless the new day and their hunt. Their untethered ponies pawed the ground, waiting impatiently to run the buffalo. Still a year away from initiation as warriors, the boys had slipped out of camp with their knives and bows and arrows, in secret, to prove their value
to the tribe. As they prayed, a sudden gust of wind whipped through the cottonwood trees. Their ponies whinnied. The boys sensed danger but before they could react, bullets flew at them from the rocky mound just above the cottonwood stand. Bullets pinged stones, thudded into trees, splayed the ground, and tore apart the dreams and hopes of the three Shoshone boys. The noise of the attack sent the ponies skittering backwards, but the sturdy mounts did not run until the strange men approached, smoking rifles in hand. Only then did the ponies wheel around and pound away. The loyal little ponies ran so quickly that the tall blue-jacketed white men knew it was futile to give chase. One of them, in a half-hearted attempt to catch them, ran the few steps to the trees from the rocks to try to circle around the little dappled ponies, but they were mere specks on the far horizon before he finished making the circle. “Damn!” swore the man who had given chase. A sergeant, he was the leader of the blue-coated marksmen. “They’re too fast for us to catch on Army nags. But, catchin’ them sure woulda made this day worthwhile.”
