Carl was very much depressed when he went into the teamsters’ quarters to get his supper. The men wanted to talk about the battle, but Carl wanted some information about his cattle. How long had they been there? Did anybody come with them? And did they run as though they were very much frightened about something? The teamsters answered these questions as well as they could, but they were certain about two things: nobody had been seen with the cattle when they came up, and they were running as though they had made up their minds not to stop until they reached the Mississippi River. But they were easily controlled, and the men who had been sent after them had no trouble at all in driving them back to the fort.

“Now, Carl, tell us something more about Page 382 the fight,” said one of the teamsters. “How did Lieutenant Parker behave, any way?”

“He acted as though there was not an Indian within a hundred miles of him,” answered Carl with animation. “He let his horse take his own way, and never stopped until we were a mile away from the camp.”

“Did he kill any Indians?”

“Every time I saw him pull on an Indian, he dropped. But he saved one Sioux from being killed, and that’s one thing I didn’t like about him.”

While Carl was engaged in telling this story about the Indian who was shot through both legs and had a knife left with which to defend himself, the bugle sounded, and that was something that Carl delighted to hear. He hurried out to get his horse, and when he came back the men were all drawn up in line and the captain was listening to some parting instructions from the colonel.

“If you see any signs of the Sioux out there, you will follow them up until you are certain that they go on their reservation,” said he. “Carl, I hope it is not as bad as you think,” Page 383 he added, turning to the young scout, who came up at that moment. “A boy who behaved as you did in the fight don’t deserve to have his ranch raided. Good luck to you.”

In a few minutes more the column, headed by Carl and the captain, were out of the gate, and the darkness shut them out from view. For miles they travelled at a fast walk, and not a word was said by anybody in the ranks. Finally Carl, who had been watching his horse for some time, stopped his own nag and reached out and touched the captain on the shoulder. There was somebody coming, and he was coming fast, too. In a few seconds more he caught sight of two or three hats which were bobbing back and forth in front of the horizon, and in response to the captain’s challenge they hauled up very suddenly.

“Halt! Who comes there?” asked the captain.

“Halt yourself,” answered a voice; and Carl was almost ready to yell when he recognized that Thompson was speaking to them. “You are soldiers, ain’t you? Have you seen any cattle down this way?”

Page 384

“Thompson!” cried Carl.

“Well, I declare; if there ain’t Carl,” said Thompson, so delighted that he could scarcely speak. “Where have you been?”

“I have been in a fight, but I am all here yet,” said Carl, riding forward to shake his men by the hand. “How did those cattle manage to get away from you?”

“You have been in a fight, have you?” said Thompson, so overjoyed to see Carl again that he could hardly let him go. “Well, you haven’t been in any worse one than we have. We’ve killed nine Indians, and have a prisoner up there to show you.”

“A prisoner? Who is it?”

“It is Harding—that is who it is. He came out to the ranch with twenty-five Indians to gather up some stock, and we were too many for him. He stampeded some of the cattle, but we whipped the Indians and drove them away.”

“That is the same thing he proposed to me while I was a prisoner,” said Carl, turning to the captain. “I knew that if I gave him an order on Thompson for the stock he would be Page 385 killed when he presented it. Well, he helped me to escape once, and you can help him this time.”

“Not by a long shot!” exclaimed the captain. “General Miles has ordered every soldier in his department to arrest that fellow, and he will have to go to the fort with me.”

“That is what I say, captain,” said Thompson. “He tried to rob our safe, too.”

“We will go back to the fort now and report to the colonel,” added the captain. “If he chooses to send us up there to-morrow, why we will get him. What are you going to do with your men, Carl?”

“They will go to the fort with us and be ready to come back with the cattle to-morrow. The soldiers and teamsters rounded them up for you, and I guess they are all there,” he continued, addressing himself to Thompson. “I am surprised at you,” he continued, when the captain had brought the men around and headed them toward the fort. “I am sorry I told you so much.”

“Now, Carl, see here,” said Thompson, lowering his voice almost to a whisper. “You Page 386 need not have him captured unless you want to.”

“How shall we prevent it? The colonel will send some men to the ranch to-morrow, and when they get their hands on him he is booked for the military prison at Leavenworth.”

“Look here,” said Thompson, lowering his voice so that no one but Carl could hear it. “I have six men with me, and how does this captain know but I have a hundred? Send Bert back and tell him to escape. I’ll bet you that they won’t see him after that.”

It would seem from this that Carl kept the ranchmen posted on everything that happened to him at the fort. When he came home after his captivity among the Sioux, he told them all that occurred to him—how Harding had threatened to shoot him because of the death of Sitting Bull, but had suddenly grown merciful to him when he saw that the Indians were determined to have revenge on him, and how he had assisted him to keep out of their way. Thompson felt kinder toward Harding after that, and so did all the herdsmen; Page 387 and when they found that Carl was anxious to have him escape, there was not one man who had a word to say against it.

“Well, go and tell Bert to come here,” said Carl, after thinking a moment. “You know what sort of a guard he is under, don’t you? Now you tell him how you will arrange it.”

Thompson reined in his horse, and was gone but a few moments when he rode up again with Bert at his side. In a few whispered words he told Bert just what he had to do, and he understood it. He was pulling up his horse to let the column get a little in advance of him, when Carl said earnestly:

“Tell him that this is the last time I shall befriend him. He helped me to escape once when I stood a chance of being staked out, and now I have paid him back. If he ever gets into trouble with the soldiers again, he will have to stand the result of his misdeeds.”

The captain did not know how many men were with Thompson, and consequently he did not miss one of their number, who was going at his best pace toward the ranch to warn the squawman that the soldiers were Page 388 coming to-morrow to arrest him. As Thompson had said, “You would not see him very much after that.” If he once got out of that ranch and felt a good horse under him, he would kill him before he would ever be found in that department again.

The c............