Alagwa stared after him. “Will you not tie him?” she asked, incredulously.
Jack chuckled. “Not I,” he said. “If he wants to slip away in the night, let him. It would save me some trouble. Go to bed, Cato.”
Cato, however, demurred. “Ain’t you goin’ to let me help you watch, Mars’ Jack?” he questioned.
Jack looked at him and grinned. “Think you can keep awake, Cato?” he asked. “Sure you won’t get to thinking about Mandy or Sue and go to sleep?”
“Now, Mars’ Jack, you knows mighty well——”
“I know mighty well you’ll do your best, Cato. Go lie down, now. I’ll call you at midnight and let you keep the midwatch.”
When Cato had bedded himself down not far from Williams, Jack turned to Alagwa. “Are you ready for bed, youngster?” he asked. “If you’re not too sleepy, I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
Alagwa’s heart fluttered. What did he want, this wonderful white man, this stranger who was yet a kinsman, this enemy with the friendly blue eyes? “I am not sleepy,” she faltered.
“I won’t keep you up long. You know Tecumseh, of course?”
Somehow the girl felt disappointed. “Yes,” she said. “I know him.”