“Will one horse be enough?” asked Guy.
“No; we must have a hoss apiece, an’ I’ve got ’em—that one that I ’arned from Wilson, an’ I’ve bought another from a feller livin’ up the valley.”
It occurred to Guy right here to ask how Zeke could have bought another horse, seeing that he had no money and had been working for Mr. Wilson ever since he had been in that part of the country, but before he could speak the hunter went on;
“Now you go back to-morrow mornin’, like I was tellin’ you, an’ take the rifle an’ all the other things that b’longs to Wilson, an’ give ’em to him an’ tell him thar’s his things—I don’t want ’em—an’ he must send a man down here to onct to take care of these yere cattle, ’cause I hain’t goin’ to stay no longer. You needn’t say nothin’ else to him, howsomever. Don’t tell him of the bargain me an’ you has made, but when it comes dark you slip away from the house an’ meet me at the water-tank. You know whar that spoutin’ well is, don’t you?”
“Yes,” said Guy, “I saw it last night.”
“Wal, you come thar as soon as it comes dark, an’ I’ll be on hand with two hosses—this one an’ another, an’ all we’ll have to do will be to put off. Understand?”
“Yes,” replied Guy, “I understand it all.”
“Arter you leave here in the mornin’ I’ll go an’ get my other hoss that I was a tellin’ you of,” continued Zeke. “You see the reason why I am leavin’ Wilson in this way, an’ without sayin’ nuthin’ to him, is ’cause I agreed to give him notice when I wanted to quit, but I can’t afford to waste a month’s time layin’ around here doin’ nothin’, when the buffaler is comin’ in by thousands an’ waitin’ to be shot. Understand, don’t you?”
Yes, Guy was sure he understood the hunter’s plans and intentions perfectly, and Zeke was equally certain he did not, and so he repeated them again and again, until the boy knew them by heart. After that he launched off into glowing descriptions of buffalo hunts and told of fights with Indians and bears, and adventures with wild horses, until Guy was almost beside himself with excitement and impatience. Then Zeke said he was tired, and crawled back to his blankets, but Guy tended the fire and sat by it for two hours longer, thinking of the future; and when he went to sleep it was to dream over the thrilling scenes the hunter had just described to him.