“He stopped back there in the Sioux camp,” said Parker. “I tell you I am tired,” he added, seeing that the corporal opened his eyes and was about to speak. “I want to get to bed as soon as possible.”
The colonel got up from a sound sleep to read the dispatches, and the young officer stood by, whirling his hat in his hand and waiting impatiently until he got through; and when the colonel looked up and was about to tell him to go to his quarters, for he had done with him for the night, he noticed that Parker looked very solemn.
“What is the matter with you?” he asked pleasantly.
“Matter enough, sir,” replied the lieutenant. “I have lost my guide and you have lost a scout.”
Without waiting for an invitation, Parker went on and told his companion what had happened at the Grand River school. The colonel looked grave, and settled back in his chair as though he did not know what to make of it.
“And you came on alone?” he said, when Parker finished his story.
“Yes, sir; but my horse picked out the way. When it grew dark I could not see my hand before me.”
“Well, go to your quarters now, and get all the sleep you want. We will talk the matter over again in the morning.”
“That is a pretty way to treat a man who is in danger of his life,” said Parker to himself as he went out to put up his horse. “If I had been dead it would have been the same thing.”
Of course there was great excitement among the officers and men of the garrison when it became known that Carl, the Trailer, had been captured by the Sioux in broad daylight and Lieutenant Parker left to find his way to the fort alone. They did not know which to wonder at the most—Parker’s knowledge of “plainscraft,” or the audacity of the Indians in making a capture almost within reach of the fort, and when they were not on the warpath. And then there was the squawman. It was a great marvel to the officers how Carl became acquainted with a person so low down in the world, but the colonel thought he knew. He sent for the lieutenant immediately after breakfast and asked him to go over his story again. This time all the ranking officers of the garrison were present in his room.