If Oscar’s courage had not been equal to his skill as a taxidermist the scout never would have seen Julesburg again.
“I reckon ye wouldn’t mind if I should do a little huntin’ an’ trappin’ on my own hook, would ye?” said Big Thompson after a moment’s pause.
“Certainly not. All I ask is that you will let me go with you and see how it is done. It is possible that I may make my living for years to come in that way, and I want to know how to go to work. Now let’s come to business. What wages do you expect, and do you want to be paid every month, or shall I settle with you when we return to the fort in the spring?”
“Wa-al, pilgrim, we’ll settle up when we come back, an’ it’ll be afore spring too,” replied the scout, with a grin. “A kid like yourself, who has lived in the States his hull life, aint a-goin’ to stay all winter in the hills—leastwise not if he can get outen ’em. Ye hear me speakin’ to ye?”
Without stopping to argue this point Oscar again broached the subject of wages, and at the end of a quarter of an hour the matter had been satisfactorily settled and all arrangements completed.
Thompson was to be allowed three days in which to make ready for the journey. He was a married man, and his cabin was located twenty miles from the fort.
He wanted to move his family nearer to the post, so that during his absence his wife could easily procure the supplies she needed from the sutler.
It would not be long, he said, before travelling on the Laramie plains would be next to impossible, and while he was gone he wanted to know that his family was well provided for, and in no danger of being snowed up and starved to death.
He would be at the post bright and early on the following Monday, and would expect to find Oscar all ready for the start.
This much having been arranged, and the rate of the pay agreed upon, the scout put on his coat and hat and walked out, accompanied by the colonel and Oscar.