“What do you mean?” demanded Jack.
“Why, I mean that if every man got what he deserved perhaps he would be worse off than he is now.”
“I never got all that I deserved,” said Jack sharply. “I’ve seen a good many men who passed for more than they were worth and then again I’ve seen others who didn’t pass for what they were worth.”
“Which is your class?” said Reuben, laughing. Throughout the conversation he had not turned away his gaze from the exciting events which were occurring before him.
“It doesn’t make any difference which is my class,” retorted Jack. “All I say is that Indians are all in one class——”
Jack stopped abruptly, for at that moment it was seen that the young squaw who had come from the village had now turned quickly toward the young Indian who had approached on horseback. Suddenly the mounted Indian darted ahead, his horse apparently breaking into its swiftest paces at its first leap forward.
The action of the Indian girl, however, was most startling of all. As the young brave fled from the spot she grasped the tail of the horse he was riding, and, clinging tenaciously to it, she was partly dragged and partly helped forward as both fled from the spot.
At the first sight of the unexpected happening the men with Carson laughed loudly. To them it was apparently a joke of some kind that was being enacted before them. In a moment, however, Kit Carson turned to Reuben and Jack and said: “Take your horses and follow that redskin. He’s trying to get away and he’s using the squaw as a shield. If he thinks that she is going to protect him, just show him how mistaken he is. Take after them and don’t come back until you get them both.”
Instantly Reuben and Jack obeyed the command which had been given them, and putting their horses into their best paces started in pursuit of the fleeing pair.
It was not long, however, before they discovered that the Indian pony, in spite of the load he was carrying and the weight that was attached to his tail—for the Indian girl still was clinging tenaciously to her hold—was much swifter than those of his pursuers.