"I don't suppose that a bullet or an arrow could stretch your Tom out dead while you were running away from them?" said the Colonel.
"Yes, sir, I suppose they can do that, but they would not take me alive, all the same."
Guy finished the sentence by putting his hand into his hip pocket and drawing forth a Derringer which he showed to the Colonel.
"Humph!" said the officer. "You would shoot yourself before you would be taken prisoner? Well, I don't know but that is the right thing to do."
At this moment the First Lieutenant who acted as Adjutant came into the room. He listened with surprise when his officer made him acquainted with the request that Guy Preston had brought in to him, adding:—
"You have your report for this quarter all made out?"
The Adjutant replied that he had.
"Well, I shall want you to make out an entry in your 'Remarks' in regard to Lieutenant Preston," said the Colonel. "You will simply say: 'Requested permission to go out in the face of the Sioux for the purpose of shooting some sage hens. Granted. He was shot down and killed by the Sioux in plain view of the Fort.' You may go," he continued, walking up and taking Preston by the hand. "I never expect to see you again."
"Th—thank you, sir," replied the Lieutenant, who was confounded by the way his request was granted. "I will surely be back in the course of an hour or two."