"Mebbe."
"How old?"
"Oh, so-so."
"You remember a long time ago—how long?"
He drew a square in his cleared patch of earth, subdivided it into little squares, and dotted each of these in the centre before he spoke.
"When Modocs have big soldier fight."
"You a Modoc?"
"B'lieve me!"
"When Captain Jack fought the soldiers over in the Lava Beds?"
"Some fight—b'lieve me!" said Pete, erasing his square and starting a circle.