A flicker of scorn passed over Hooker's face as the leader came dashing up, but the Texan greeted him with a slow smile.
"Buenos dias, general!" he said. "You have many men."
"Enough!" observed the "general" hurriedly. "But some in the rear are on foot. As I suppose you are in sympathy with our great cause, I will ask you for that horse. Of course, I will give you a receipt."
He fetched out a blank-book as he spoke and motioned to a ragged beggar at his heels. Bud checked the man's rush with a look.
"One moment!" he said, and as the soldier turned back his general glanced up sharply.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Only this, Señor General," answered Bud. "You are welcome to anything I have—food, blankets, money—but I cannot give you that horse."
"But, señor," protested the general, regarding him with arrogant pig eyes that glinted wickedly, "this poor soldier's feet are sore. Surely you would not make him walk. Only name your price and I will give you a receipt for him, but my man must have the horse."
There was a pause and men began to dismount and move in closer. At a word from their commander any one of them would draw and kill him, as Hooker very well knew, but his love for Copper Bottom made him obdurate.
"If the man is lame," he said, "I will give him another horse—but he cannot have this sorrel."