“What!” exclaimed Reuben, as he spoke gazing in amazement at his companion.
“That’s just what I’m going to do,” said Kit Carson, smiling slightly at the astonishment of his friend.
“But I don’t see——” began Reuben.
“No, you don’t see, but I do, and that’s enough.”
“Well, you’re the one to be pleased,” said Reuben. “I wish you much joy.”
“Thank you,” replied the scout, laughing quietly. “I reckon some of my friends back at Pain Court would think I was out of my head to marry an Indian squaw. From the expression on your face, Reuben, I can see that you, too, have something of the same idea in your mind.”
Reuben did not respond, and for a time the two men continued in silence.
“I have known that little Indian girl,” explained Kit Carson, after a long silence, “more than a year. She is as pretty as a picture and as good as she is pretty. It was a long time before the old chief would give her to me, but to-night he told me that he had decided that if I wanted her for my wife and would promise that she might stay in the village while I was trapping he would not oppose me any longer. And he doesn’t like the white men, either,” he added with a laugh.
“How is it that he is willing for you to have her, then, if he doesn’t like the whites?”
“Oh, he has a notion,” replied Kit Carson simply, “that he can trust me. He says if I say I will do a thing I don’t try to lie out of it.”