A few crouched along the edge of higher eminences,
their shots crashing in among the unprotected troops.
As the men lay exposed to this continuous sniping fire, above the
surrounding din were borne to their ears the reports of distant guns.
It came distinctly from the northward, growing heavier and more
continuous. None among them doubted its ominous meaning. Custer was
already engaged in hot action at the right of the Indian village. Why
were they kept lying there in idleness? Why were they not pushed
forward to do their part? They looked into each other's faces. God!
They were three hundred now; they could sweep aside like chaff that
fringe of red skirmishers if only they got the word! With hearts
throbbing, every nerve tense, they waited, each trooper crouched for
the spring. Officer after officer, unable to restrain his impatience,
strode back across the bluff summit, amid whistling bullets, and
personally begged the Major to speak the one word which should hurl
them to the rescue. They cried like women, they swore through clinched
teeth, they openly exhibited their contempt for such a commander, yet
the discipline of army service made active disobedience impossible.
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