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By three o’clock on the morning of the Twenty-sixth, they had covered
more than seventy miles.

They halted for coffee.

The night, waiting for the dawn, was doubly dark.

Fast-riding scouts had gone on ahead, and now reported the Indians
camped just over the ridge, four miles away.

Custer divided his force into two parts. The Indians were camped along
the river for three miles. There were about two thousand of them, and
the women and children were with them.

Reno with two hundred fifty men was ordered to swing around and attack
the village from the South. Custer with one hundred ninety-three men
would watch the charge, and when the valiant Reno had started the
panic and the Indians were in confusion, his force would then sweep
around and charge them from the other end of the village.

This was Terry’s plan of battle, only Custer was going to make the
capture without Terry’s help.

When Terry came up the following day, he would find the work all done
and neatly, too. Results are the only things that count, and victory
justifies itself.