A body of cavalry, including Captain Edwards' troop, was accordingly marched thither, and found the Crow warriors, mounted on their war ponies and dressed in their striking battle-garb, waiting on a hill.
The position of troops at the beginning of such an affair is always peculiarly difficult.

The settlers round-about are sure to clamor bitterly against them, no matter what they do, on the ground that they are not thorough enough and are showing favor to the savages, while on the other hand, even if they fight purely in self-defence, a large number of worthy but weak-minded sentimentalists in the East are sure to shriek about their having brutally attacked the Indians.

The war authorities always insist that they must not fire the first shot under any circumstances, and such were the orders at this time.

The Crows on the hill-top showed a sullen and threatening front, and the troops advanced slowly towards them and then halted for a parley.

Meanwhile a mass of black thunderclouds gathering on the horizon threatened one of those cloudbursts of extreme severity and suddenness so characteristic of the plains country.