Chapter 9

Custer's men follow the fleeing Cheyenne, but lose their trail. Reaching the Smoky Hill River, they find the crew of the Lookout stage station murdered. Custer concludes the Indians he has been tracking had committed the killings. Later he realizes timing made that impossible, but by then General Hancock, on the initial word from Custer, has burned the Cheyenne village on Pawnee Fork. Out of food, Custer's column has to give up the chase and turn in to Fort Hays for supplies. They don't find the expected food and fodder at the fort, and desertions begin. Hancock appears at Fort Hays and castigates Custer for sitting there. Custer's depressed thoughts turn to Libbie and sex. When a sympathetic Colonel Smith agrees to bring Libbie to Fort Hays, Custer imposes strict punishment on the troops for minor infractions, intending to get them (and himself) in shape before Libbie appears. When Libbie appears, she and Custer "go among the willows" until Colonel Smith insists Custer resume the sear