"No pay. Can you go now?"
"Yes, go now."
"Very well, take the best pony in the corral. You better keep the trail and avoid the ranches. Good-night."
The young fellow put the letters away in the inside pocket of his blue coat, buttoned it tightly, and slipped out into the night, and was swallowed up by the moonless darkness.
"Aren't you afraid they will do Tony harm if they meet him?"
"Not in his uniform."
"I wouldn't want that ride. Well, so long, old man. Call me if I can be of any use."
After Lawson went out Curtis sank back into his big chair and closed his eyes in deep thought. As he forecast the enormous and tragic results of the return of that armed throng of reckless cattlemen he shuddered. A war would almost destroy the Tetongs. It would nullify all he had been trying to do for them, and would array the whole State, the whole Indian-hating population of the nation, against them. Jennie re-entered softly and stood by his side. "It's worrisome business being Indian agent, after all, isn't it, George?" she said, with her hand in his hair.
He forced himself to a cheerful tone of voice. "Oh, I don't know; this is our first worry, and it will soon be over. It looks bad just now, but it will be—"
A knock at the outer door startled them both. "That is a white man—probably Barker," he said, and called, "Come in."