"I wonder two things," thought the lad aloud. "I wonder what he brought me here for and I wonder when I am going to get something to eat? Captured by the Indians, eh? That's more than the rest of the Pony Riders can say."
Yet there was a more serious side to it all. They had taken him prisoner for some purpose, but what that purpose was he could not imagine.
His thoughts were interrupted by some one silently entering the tent. Glancing up, Tad saw a slender, rather pretty Indian girl standing there looking down at him.
The boy scrambled to his feet and took off his sombrero.
"How," he said.
The girl answered in kind. Then she placed on the ground before him a bowl of soup and a plate of steaming stew. Tad sniffed the odor of mutton, which now was so familiar to him, wondering at the same time, if it had come from Mr. Simms's flock.
"Thank you," he said. "If you will excuse me I will eat. I'm awfully hungry."
She nodded and Tad went at the meal almost ravenously. The Indian girl squatted down on the ground and watched him.
"What's your name?" he asked between mouthfuls.
"Jinny."