“You’re considerate of my feelings.”
“Believe me, it’s better so,” Bradford went on earnestly.
“It takes a large quantity of food to appease the hunger of fifteen hundred human beings. The supply is meager. Scarcity is already here; absolute want will soon arrive.”
“A flattering prospect you hold out to your guest,” Ross remarked dryly.
“I’m telling you the truth, at any rate. By the way, how much better off would you be with Governor Harrison? I know that the supplies of the army were almost exhausted two days ago. By this time, the soldiers are feasting on horse-flesh.”
“I should be a free man, at least,” Douglas interrupted in a tone of deep dejection.
Bradford sighed as he resumed:
“At this season of the year, game is scarce in this locality. If the worst comes, the savages will kill and eat all the horses and dogs in camp—your own surly brute included.”
“Not until they have disposed of me,” Ross answered, his eyes flashing, his nostrils dilated.