buffalo bill had not seen the last of black panther.

two months after the encounter in running water’s village the commandant of fort mcpherson ordered him to go, with a small band of his scouts, to the village of the bear band of the sioux nation.

they were threatening to cause trouble, the officer said, and they must be looked after, warned, and over-awed by a show of force. the famous company b of the third cavalry, under command of captain meinhold, would go along with the scouts.

the village, when it was at last reached after a toilsome journey, was found to be deserted, except by a few women and children and old men, who, having had experience of the white soldiers before, knew that they had nothing to fear from them.

one of the old men, when closely questioned by buffalo bill, admitted that all the braves had gone away on the previous day on the war trail. they had had information from one of their hunters of the approach of the white force, and had concluded that it was too strong for them to meet.

the old man would not say in what direction they had gone, or what point they were aiming for; but it was easy enough for buffalo bill and wild bill, who was with him, to hit the trail of such a large party and follow it.

before he left the village the king of the scouts made inquiries as to whether black panther was with the war party.

he was told that his enemy was not only with it, but was its leader.

“but i thought that wolf claw was the chief of the bear clan,” said the border king to the squaw who told him this.

“he was,” the woman replied. “but wolf claw is dead. he was killed by a grizzly bear while out hunting two moons ago, and the braves chose black panther to succeed him. he is a great warrior.”

the squaw did not know what valuable information she had given to the enemy of her people.

buffalo bill rode on with the knowledge that the conflict with the sioux, when he came up with them, would be a more than ordinarily perilous one for him. either black panther or himself would have to “go under.”

he was under no illusions as to the inveterate character of the hatred which the sioux bore him. he knew that black panther would, if necessary, be ready to give his own life in order to take that of the man who had beaten him in wrestling and been the unwitting cause of his disgrace before running water’s band.

who should know better than william f. cody that an indian is not wont either to forget or forgive?

after the trail of the sioux had been followed for a few miles, buffalo bill found that the horses of the soldiers in captain meinhold’s troop could not keep up with those of the scouts under his own immediate command. the men were not such good riders and the animals were not so good.

he, therefore, suggested that he and his men should ride on ahead and the troopers should follow as quickly as they could.

meinhold saw the wisdom of this arrangement, for it was imperative that the indians should be caught up with as speedily as was possible. it was impossible to tell what scheme they had in mind. they might intend to raid one of the settlements within easy reach of such hard riders as they were.

all that day the trail was followed over the prairie, and the scouts kept on far into the night, for it was bright moonlight, and the broad track left by the horses of the sioux could be followed without difficulty by such experts in the business of indian fighting as they were.

a few hours’ rest—more for the sake of the horses than of the tough frontiersmen—was at last ordered by buffalo bill, and soon after dawn the chase was resumed.

the redskins outnumbered them by more than three to one, as the trail plainly showed; but neither buffalo bill nor any of his men cared anything for that. they were used to taking such odds—and far worse ones, too.

toward the close of the afternoon they sighted the sioux, who had offsaddled for a rest.

the vedettes of the indians saw them at the same moment, and hastened in to carry the news to black panther.

the chief had no thought of flight. he knew that his braves largely outnumbered the white men, and he was only too glad to accept the gage of battle.

he had heard, too, from his scouts who had reported to him the approach of the white force before he left the village, that the famous “long hair” was in command of the white scouts. that alone would have been sufficient inducement to him to fight if there had been no other.

the conflict opened at long range, and the two parties fired at one another for two or three hours, taking such cover as they could behind their horses in the long grass, or behind small hummocks in the otherwise flat expanse of the prairie.

but the indians found that this way of skirmishing did not pay them. the scouts were far better shots than they were, and possessed better rifles. so at last black panther gave the word to force the fighting to close quarters.

buffalo bill, like the good general that he was, tried to avoid this; but he could not do so. the horses of his men were jaded, while those of the indians were fresh from their long rest.

soon the two contending forces had closed, and the fighting was furious and animated beyond all description.

buffalo bill and black panther sought one another out in the middle of the scrimmage, and fought desperately hand to hand.

then buffalo bill found out what a terrible enemy the sioux chief was. the king of the scouts was wont to say in after years that he was the worst foe he had ever encountered.

black panther fired at him and missed. then, angrily flinging down his gun, he drew his tomahawk and struck at him.

the king of the scouts had fired the last shot in the magazine of his repeater. he raised the weapon, and the blade of black panther’s hatchet fell on the stock, shearing the tough wood clean through—so terrible was the force of the blow.

but that blow was broken by the guard, and the tomahawk fell almost harmlessly on buffalo bill’s shoulder, merely inflicting a slight flesh wound.

next moment the heavy breech of the border king’s rifle fell with fearful force on black panther’s head, dashing out his brains.

the fall of the chief marked the close of the fight.

the indians had lost heavily, and when they saw the death of black panther the heart was taken out of the remnant of them.

those who were not lying dead or wounded on the prairie turned to flee; and, as they did so, the sound of a bugle proclaimed the arrival on the scene of captain meinhold and his men—too late to take part in the fight, but just in time to assist in the pursuit, at the end of which few indeed of the sioux were left alive.

little more of the story remains to be told.

the defeat and almost total annihilation of the bear clan kept the rest of the sioux nation quiet for some time to come, and the peaceful and generous-minded chief running water assisted in that task, ruling over his tribe in prosperity and honor for many years, and maintaining a close friendship with buffalo bill, who visited his village on many occasions—but was careful never to take any more whisky there.

as for the brave and cheerful joe congo, he obtained employment as a cook in the officers’ mess at fort mcpherson, and he was never tired of telling of the stirring times he had in “cap’n runnin’ water’s” village.