“Not now,” he said. “Your friends”—he glanced at the watching Indians—“are too numerous. They are too cowardly to follow Tecumseh northward to fight for their homes and liberty, but they are not too cowardly to join you against a single man. Besides, I have no time to waste on boys. Later—we will see. Remember, my warning stands.”
Jack shrugged his shoulders. The honors, for the moment at least, were his. “I accept your statement that you are here only on personal business,” he said, slowly. “Therefore I let you go. But I shall send word of your presence to Colonel Johnson and I doubt whether he will accept such an explanation. I advise you to be gone.”
Brito laughed. He had regained much of his coolness. “Egad!” he said. “That’s good advice! Au revoir, cousin, au revoir—till we meet again.” With a wave of his hand he turned and strode away.
As he disappeared among the huts a voice struck on Jack’s ear. “Talk! Talk! Talk!” it said. “Much palaver! And it never does no good. I been a-listening and a-listening and you never got nowhere till he grabbed you and you flung him off. That brought the cuss to terms mighty quick. There ain’t nothing like a little muscle to clear up trouble. I thought for a minute he was a-going to fight. Lord! I’d ’a liked to seen a fight between you two. It would be——”
“Rogers!” Jack broke in on the old man’s monologue; a solution of the problem that was troubling him had suddenly dawned. “I’m glad to see you. Can you do something for me?”
“I reckon so. I told you I could guide you——”
“All right. I’ll engage you.” Jack drew out his purse. “Here’s two months’ pay in advance. Hunt up Colonel Johnson and tell him all you’ve heard—about my cousin, Miss Estelle Telfair, and about this British officer and all. Ask him to find her and care for her till I get back from Fort Wayne. Put yourself under his orders and do just as he says. I’ll be back in about a week.”
The old hunter nodded. “I’ll do it,” he declared. “Money talks in Ohio same as elsewhere. And it talks a heap eloquenter than tongues——”
From the seat of the wagon Williams leaned forward. “Say, old man,” he called. “I want to speak to you before you go. I can’t——”
“Ain’t got time now. See you later.” Deliberately Rogers turned his back and trotted away. Clearly he had not forgotten the slight that Williams had put upon him the day before.