“Poor little Sun Maid. You were made to be happy, and do nothing but what you like all day long. Well, I’ll be a man some day, and build a cabin of my own for you and Wahneenah.”
“That will be nice. Though I’ll be of some use some way, even if I don’t like sewing. Where shall we go when we get rested, boy?”
“To the Fort.”
“The—Fort! I thought it was all burned up.”
“There is a new one on the same old ground. It is our real home, you know. We will be refugees. When we meet Wahneenah, we’ll go and claim protection.”
“Oh! Gaspar, where is she? I want her terribly. I am afraid something will happen to her.”
In his heart the lad was, also, greatly alarmed; but he felt it unwise to show this. So he answered, airily:
“Oh! she’s on, a piece. I pointed her the road, and told her where to meet us. At the top of the sandhills, this side the Fort.”
“The sandhills! That dreadful place. You must be getting a real ‘brave,’ Gaspar boy, if you don’t mind going there again. I’ve heard you talk—”
“I don’t want to talk even now, Kit. But I had to have some spot we both knew, where we could meet, and we chose that. I expect she’ll be there waiting, and as soon as the horses get cooled a little, and we do, we’ll go on.”