The result is known, and Red Hatchet was rejoiced to see the first volley tell upon the soldiers. But then came the rebound, a boomerang that recoiled upon himself, for the gallant soldiers of the Seventh were not to be driven like frightened buffalo before the hunter, were not to be slaughtered like sheep in a fold, for they rallied at once, and far above the din came the ringing words from the lips of Kit Carey: "Men of the Seventh! remember the gallant Custer! Men of the Seventh, avenge Custer!" Ringing cheers answered this appeal to the memory of the battle of the Big Horn, and the soldiers of the Seventh swept down over the field, while, with a cry of fury and hatred, Red Hatchet sprang upon an officer's horse and fled from the fatal field. CHAPTER XIX. A WARNING LETTER. The trail of Red Hatchet was followed at a pace which Lieutenant Kit Carey hoped would bring him up with the Sioux chief, and then and there Captain Wallace and the other gallant soldiers of the Seventh would have been avenged, or another one would have fallen a victim to the cunning and desperate fugitive. But Red Hatchet had been bent upon escaping, for the blow he had struck must be followed up quickly and cruelly. So he rode at a pace that defied pursuit with the start he had of several miles. Finding as he came to a ridge that gave him a view a long distance ahead, that no dust was in sight to mark the presence of the Sioux chief, Kit Carey determined not to punish his own and his two red comrades' horses by pressing them so hard, so he drew rein. He had, in his short interview with Colonel Forsythe, been told to notify the other commanders of the fight at Wounded Knee, the treacherous act of the Indians. So he rode at once for the nearest of his red sentinels' camps, and, arriving by night, at once dispatched couriers with hastily penciled reports of the affair, dispatching them to the various commanders who were tightening the line around the retreat of the hostiles. There was another red courier sent also on a mission, but not to a military commander. His destination was the Bernard ranch, and he bore the following note, hastily written: "IN CAMP OF RED SKIN SCOUTS, "Near Bad Lands, Dec. 29, 1890. MY DEAR MR. BERNARD: "I write but a few lines to say that after the surrender of Big Foot's Band, on Wounded Knee Creek, yesterday, to Colonel Forsythe, the Indians broke faith, fired on the troops of the Seventh Cavalry, and a fierce fight followed, resulting in the killing and wounding of many soldiers and redskins. I regret to say, women and children being among the latter. "The instigator of the treacherous act was a Sioux chief, who professes friendship for you and your family, and he escaped to the Bad Lands, in spite of my hot pursuit of him. "That he will strike another blow quickly, I do not doubt, and I therefore beg of you, by the love you bear your family, to remove them without a moment's delay, to a place of safety.