Buffalo Bill Page #2

Savages loose in the East?

The idea is preposterous.

But what a headline:

"Redskin Powwow at the Hotel Astor. "

If they won't talk sense here,

in their own back yard...

...what can you expect

3000 miles away?

Yellow Hand, do you

want us to use force?

My people do not want war.

But we will fight if we must.

General, are you prepared to act?

- Yes, I have my orders.

- All right, Yellow Hand...

...you've had your last warning.

Move or be driven out.

Is the white man finished?

How.

How.

Well, as a newspaperman,

I have covered every kind of fight...

...riot and revolution,

but never an Indian war.

- Here's to something new.

- You wouldn't talk like that...

...if you ever saw

the Cheyenne on the warpath.

There's nothing to be alarmed at.

I'll clean them out in a week.

The Cheyenne had no choice.

The tribes gathered and rode to war,

a thousand strong.

They struck settlements and outposts

like a whirlwind of destruction...

...killing, burning, spreading terror

through the countryside.

General, there's a Cheyenne war party

about 500 braves heading this way.

- Where'd you make contact?

- About 20 miles from here.

- On the Smoky.

- Trumpeter, sound to arms!

Come inside.

Go to my brother Yellow Hand.

Tell him there is an old man

here at the agency...

...great in the council of the whites.

You understand?

Tell my brother that if this man

is taken hostage...

...it will make it easier for the Cheyenne

to make a good peace.

Three days' rations and forage.

120 rounds per man.

- The column moves in 30 minutes.

- Very good, sir.

- You're going to meet them in the open?

- Certainly I am.

Doesn't sound like a good idea.

The Cheyenne are a shifty lot.

I'll attend to the strategy, Cody.

And my strategy is the attack,

now and any other time.

It's ignominious.

A miserable mule casts his shoe...

...and I miss a chance to ride

in Blazier's column.

Maybe you're not missing anything

by being left behind.

I guess not. Don't you think

the Cheyenne will give Blazier a battle?

If they do, it won't be

where he's looking for it.

You know the Indian,

Cody, don't you?

Nobody knows the Indian.

I've had to fight him since I was 14.

Pony Express, stage driving, scouting.

Indians never do what you expect.

- What's that?

- The Indians.

Blazier's not between them and here.

- Where are you going?

- To the agency.

- Are you all right, ma'am?

- Those savages took my father.

They'll torture him to death.

Your noble friends!

- Why don't you go after them!

- Nothing we can do now, ma'am.

- How many were there?

- I don't know.

A war party swarmed all over us.

I can't track them in the dark.

- There are too many of them.

- We must do something!

All we can do is hope for the best.

They only wanted the senator

as a hostage.

By the Lord Harry, that's it!

To get better peace terms.

Savages! Brutes! Fiends!

Why did I ever come

to this nightmare of a country?

How.

Yellow Hand.

They've made you war chief

in a nation of women.

Your squaws can't make me run.

Get down from your horse

and see if you can.

Don't be afraid.

My hands are tied.

Let them alone. They've got

more grit than your braves.

I came in peace.

I thought the Cheyenne were men.

They're squaws.

Such words have no place between

warriors, Long Hair.

Thanks, Yellow Hand.

That's more comfortable.

It is the word of my father,

the Cheyenne will make peace...

...if the land between the rivers

is left to us.

If the white men

will hear the word of my father...

...let them come to powwow

at Council Grove.

If they will not hear his word,

let them come armed for war.

- My father has spoken.

- I will carry his word.

Then go, Pahaska.

I'm not going without

the white man from the agency.

The white man is a hostage.

My father says his price

will be told at the powwow.

Tell your father his price was paid

when I saved your life.

A debt is a debt, Yellow Hand.

A debt is a debt.

The white man will return with you.

Thanks, Yellow Hand.

You've acted like a friend.

Now there is no debt

and no friendship between us.

If we meet in battle, there is a brave

of the Cheyenne that will...

...take the scalp of Pahaska

and hang it to his lodge pole.

It may be easier to hang it

than to take it, Yellow Hand.

Mr. Carvell! Mr. Carvell.

Buffalo Bill is here.

Father!

Better get the senator

to bed. He's worn-out.

- We'll help him.

Take my arm, senator.

Thank you.

I wish there was some way

of saying what I feel...

...or some way of repaying you.

Maybe there is, Miss Louisa.

Me and Powder Face would like

to show you some of our country.

I would love you to.

We'd like you to know what there is

about it that gets under a man's skin.

I'd like to.

Representatives

of the United States here...

...and of the Cheyenne Nation...

...sign below as a solemn pledge

of faith and agreement.

Do you agree?

I sign.

I hate to see you go, Ned.

Now that the fighting's over,

what'll you be writing about next?

I was thinking of turning my pen

to the realm of romance.

A novel about the West,

founded on my own adventures.

I'd sure like to read that.

You know, I was even considering

including some of your exploits...

...but, no, you'd never do

for a hero of romantic fiction.

Guess you're right about that.

You look like a hero,

act like a hero...

...you even rescue the heroine,

but you don't marry her.

Well, I'm going to.

What?

- You mean Miss Louisa?

- I sure do.

- You've asked her?

- No, not yet.

Oh...

Come in.

Mr. Buntline. Are you ready, Bill?

Just about, I should say, ma'am.

You're fond of me, Powder Face,

aren't you?

Any horse would be, ma'am.

You're light to carry and you sit quiet.

That's what you said the first time

we met. You're repeating yourself, Bill.

Powder Face is a horse of

sound judgment, ma'am.

His sentiments are all right with me.

Anybody he's fond of, I'm fond of.

That's a lovely blanket, Bill.

- That's a Cheyenne courting blanket.

- A courting blanket?

A Cheyenne girl wears that,

it means she's out for some brave.

How does she wear it?

Like this.

Well...

- This way, Bill?

- No, the left side...

...over the heart first.

Like this?

Then what's the brave do?

Well, he doesn't even open his mouth.

He just hangs around all day,

and makes faces like this:

That sounds like a very dull courtship.

If he doesn't speak,

how does he propose?

Well, he plays his own call

on a courting flute.

Like this.

What does the girl do

if she wants to accept him?

She opens the left side of the blanket

and takes him into it.

Like this, Bill?

And so the lady from the East...

...became the bride

of the man from the West.

He built her a cabin in a valley,

not far from the fort.

And they settled down

to a frontier life.

- Hey, folks.

- Hey, Chips!

Whoa. Hey, whoa.

Look what I fetched you, Mrs. Cody.

- Father!

- Louisa!

- Why didn't you let us know?

- Didn't you get my letter?

- I have a letter for you, Mrs. Cody.

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