"Well, Cyrus, you ran plump into their hands, did you not?" said he.
"Just as fair as a man could," returned Cyrus. "If they had been waiting for me down by the creek in the bushes, they could not have bounced me quicker. It is impossible for a man to get through those lines without being caught." Then in a lower tone he added: "I have got your dispatch all right."
"Did they read the bogus one?" asked the Colonel.
"They did, but it did not disturb Red Cloud any. You said in that dispatch, 'Your letter of a certain date has been received.' That gave you away, for the savages knew that no man could go through their lines with news for you from the other side of the world. They simply sent out scouts to see if your expedition was coming, and that was all they did do."
"Do you think they are going to attack us to-day?"
"No, sir. They are going to wait for that train that is to bring you fuel, and then you are going to catch it."
"And that will come to-morrow," said the Colonel, walking up and down. "Our wood is nearly out and we must have some. Captain Brown, break ranks and let the men go to their quarters. Cyrus, come with me."
The Colonel went off toward his room followed by his scout, and when they were once inside of it, the commanding officer threw off his hat and paced back and forth as if he did not know what to do with himself, while Cyrus took a seat on the nearest cracker box pulled out his knife, and proceeded to bring the real dispatch to light,—for be it known that the frontiersmen who were employed by the government as scouts did not hold themselves subject to military law the same as soldiers did. A captain or even the Major would have thought twice before taking off his coat in the Colonel's quarters without being asked, but Cyrus did not wait for any invitation.
"There is your dispatch, Kurn," said Cyrus, as he brought out the document. "And I will tell you what is a fact: The time for you to send it will be after the massacre occurs."