"Oh! ha! ha ha!" And Harding produced a cigar-case.
"A woman? I suppose there hasn't been any to shoot until this boat came. Do you intend to try your hand on one? Will you have a cigar?"
"No, sir; I only meant to say I had shot things. I suppose you mean have I hunted."
"Yes, yes—exactly; hunted is what I mean."
"Well then, Mr. Sterling Harding, I have never done anything else."
"Mr. Harding, I will leave you with Ermine; I have some details to look after. You will come to our mess for luncheon at noon?" interjected Captain Lewis.
"Yes, with pleasure, Captain." Whereat the chief of scouts took himself off.
"I suppose, Mr. Ermine, that the war is quite over, and that one may feel free to go about here without being potted by the aborigines," said Harding.
"The what? Never heard of them. I can go where I like without being killed, but I have to keep my eyes skinned."