“I know it isn’t! You tried to burn my home over my head; but I don’t bear you any ill-will for that, either; and I’ll prove it to you by putting you on your horse and giving you a chance to save yourself!”
“But that aint all!” said Springer. “How do you reckon we knowed whar to look for you?”
“I’m sure I can’t tell! I never knew raiders to venture so far from the river before!”
“An’ they never did, nuther! Whar was you when we was in your camp?”
“I was lying in a buffalo wallow about a hundred yards away!”
“Did you see the fellars while they was a pokin’ around in the willows with their fire-brands? What do you reckon they was a lookin’ for?”
“I supposed they were looking for Zeke!”
“Wal, they wasn’t lookin’ for Zeke, nuther! They didn’t care nothing about Zeke! You was the fellow they wanted to find!”
“I was!” exclaimed George. “What did they want of me?”
“They wanted you ‘kase there’s a thousand head of fat steers wrapped up in you, ‘sides them three hundred we stole from you the other night!”