“The seed you told me to forage for, sir.”
“Absurd! There: throw it away.”
“Throw it away, sir?”
“Of course. It is not what I told you. There, take and throw it away, where the Indians see you do it, and they will pay less attention next time they see you collecting.”
John Manning said nothing then, but went out of the slight hut frowning, came back, and the colonel turned to the boys.
“Well,” he said, “what have you got?”
They both eagerly showed a little of the seed, and the colonel uttered an ejaculation full of impatience.
“No, no,” he said; “pray be careful. That is not the same as you got for me the day before yesterday.”
“Not mine?” cried Perry.