"Very well," said Jack, compressing his lips, "you won't go back till you get the horse—if it takes five years."
"Did your father tell you to stay away till you recovered the animal?" asked Mrs. Carleton.
"Dot vos just vot he says."
"Then it is proper that you should obey him."
Otto nodded his head to signify that his sentiments were those of his friends. He glanced slyly around the room, but did not explain what he was looking for, and, unfortunately, neither mother nor son suspected the meaning of the look; but Otto's hard-hearted parents had actually driven him from their home without allowing him to eat a mouthful of dinner or supper. He was suffering with hunger, but was plucky enough to bear it without complaining, since his friends had partaken and cleared away the table long before.
"What do you intend to do?" asked Mrs. Carleton, who deeply sympathized with the poor lad.
"I goes home in de mornings and gets my gun and powder-horn before they can whips me, and then I goes off to hunt for Toby."
"And I'll go with you!" exclaimed the impulsive Jack, springing to his feet; "you'll let me, mother, won't you?" he asked, turning beseechingly toward her.
Recalling the perils through which her only child had passed so recently, the widow could not but contemplate with dismay the prospect of having him venture into the wilderness again; but she felt deeply for poor honest Otto, who was so willing and good-natured, and who had shown such a desire to help her while her own boy was in Kentucky.
Furthermore, she knew that Louisiana was a much less dangerous country than the Dark and Bloody Ground. Few of the Shawanoes, Hurons, and other actively hostile tribes ever crossed to the western side of the Mississippi, where the Osages gave little trouble to the settlers scattered through that immense territory.