“To send on a couple of hundred of his cut-throats to help to defend the fort against the enemy.”
“He proposed that?” cried Roberts.
“To be sure he did.”
“But Colonel Wrayford,” said Bracy, “he declined, of course—at once?”
“No, he didn’t. He hesitated, and told your old man that an ally would be so valuable, and that it would not do, hemmed in as we are, to offend a powerful chief who desired to be friendly.”
“But that’s absurd,” cried Roberts.
“Of course it is,” replied Drummond. “The only way to deal with these fellows is to make ’em afraid of you, for they’re as treacherous as they are proud. But there, it’s all right.”
“All right, when the senior Colonel here temporises with the enemy!”
“It was only one of his weak moments. He won’t do anything of that kind. He’ll talk it over with your old man and think better of it. Besides, we shouldn’t let him.”
“Oh, come, that’s a comfort,” said Roberts, glancing at Bracy, with a twinkle in his eye.