“Glad! That ain’t no word fur it boy. I’ve come all those many miles to see ye, and I reckon I ort to be glad to find ye, at the eend of such a long trail.”
“What is the news in the mountains?”
“Wal, things go on purty much in the old way; but thar’s suthin’ turned up that I ’lowed ye’d want to know about.”
“What is it?”
“That Injun gal. Hev ye forgot her a’ready?”
“Dove-eye? No indeed! You may laugh if you please, gentlemen; but this is a matter in which I am deeply interested.”
“An affair of the heart,” remarked one of the party. “I was spoony about a red-skin girl myself, when I was younger than I am now. We will leave you with Old Blaze, Fred. As he has come so far to see you, he must have something of importance to communicate.”
The traders left the saloon, and Fred Wilder, leading the hunter to a seat, asked him concerning the news that he had brought.
“It’s all about that Injun gal, I tell ye,” replied Old Blaze. “It was White Shield who sent me—that Blackfoot friend of yours.”
“Where is White Shield, and how is he? I would be right glad to see him.”