"Me? Oh, yes; I've been there! You will find that there is no discount on me."
"I am delighted to hear it. The next time we see Zurnst I shall be able to say that I have been there, too."
This answer always made McCann uneasy. He was not half the hunter he pretended to be, as we shall presently see, and he did not think that Oscar was much of a hunter, either.
If the latter had had a few more years on his shoulders McCann never would have agreed to accompany him into the wilderness.
He was afraid to go there; but when he found that his employer was nothing but a boy he thought he could work upon his fears and make him afraid to go there.
But they had not made more than two weeks' journey beyond Zurnst before McCann began to see that he had been badly mistaken in the boy.
Oscar did not scare worth a cent. He held straight ahead, keeping his course without once consulting his companion, finding every fountain on the way with as much ease as though he had been acquainted with the country all his life, and finally arrived at the camping-ground toward which he had been directing his course ever since leaving Zurnst.
He and McCann, who always led the way on horseback, reached it about half an hour ahead of the wagon.
After watering their horses they rode up out of the dry water-course in which the fountain was located and looked about them.