Ermine replied, "They do—hum!" and forthwith refused to consider men who did it.
"I think, Mr. Ermine, if I were an Indian, I should very much like to scalp you. I cannot cease to admire your hair."
"Oh, you don't have to be an Indian, to do that. Here is my knife; you can go ahead any time you wish," came the cheerful response.
"Mr. Butler, our friend succumbs easily to any fate at my hands, it seems. I wonder if he would let me eat him," said the girl.
"I will build the fire and put the kettle on for you." And Ermine was not joking in the least, though no one knew this.
They were getting into the dangerous open fields, and Miss Searles urged the scout in a different direction.
"Have you ever been East?"
"Yes," he replied, "I have been to Fort Buford."
The parasol came between them, and presently, "Would you like to go east of Buford—I mean away east of Buford," she explained.
"No; I don't want to go east or west, north or south of here," came the astonishing answer all in good faith, and Miss Searles mentally took to her heels. She feared seriousness.