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Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads

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SIOUX INDIANS (p. 056) I'll sing you a song, though it may be a sad one, Of trials and troubles and where they first begun; I left my dear kindred, my friends, and my home, Across the wild deserts and mountains to roam. I crossed the Missouri and joined a large train Which bore us over mountain and valley and plain; And often of evenings out hunting we'd go To shoot the fleet antelope and wild buffalo. We heard of Sioux Indians all out on the plains A-killing poor drivers and burning their trains,— A-killing poor drivers with arrows and bow, When captured by Indians no mercy they show. We traveled three weeks till we came to the Platte And pitched out our tents at the end of the flat, We spread down our blankets on the green grassy ground, While our horses and mules were grazing around. While taking refreshment we heard a low yell, The whoop of Sioux Indians coming up from the dell; We sprang to our rifles with a flash in each eye, "Boys," says our brave leader, "we'll fight till we die." They (p. 057) made a bold dash and came near to our train And the arrows fell around us like hail and like rain, But with our long rifles we fed them cold lead Till many a brave warrior around us lay dead. We shot their bold chief at the head of his band. He died like a warrior with a gun in his hand. When they saw their bold chief lying dead in his gore, They whooped and they yelled and we saw them no more. With our small band,—there were just twenty-four,— And the Sioux Indians there were five hundred or more,— We fought them with courage; we spoke not a word, Till the end of the battle was all that was heard. We hitched up our horses and we started our train; Three more bloody battles this trip on the plain; And in our last battle three of our brave boys fell, And we left them to rest in a green, shady dell. <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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