"That's what I'll do if it costs as much."
"S'posen it don't? Allow that you've got five dollars left, what then?"
"I'll buy flour, an' bacon, an' somethin' for mother an' Margie with the balance."
"Do you mean to tell me your father was sich a tenderfoot as to come down through this way without any outfit?" Robinson asked sternly.
"He had plenty at the time we started; but you see we struck bad luck all the way along, and when we pulled into Buffalo Meadows we had cooked the last pound of flour. There wasn't even a bit of meat in the camp when he got shot. I knocked over a deer last night, an' that will keep 'em goin' till I get back."
"An' a kid like you is supportin' a family, eh?" Parsons asked in a kindly tone.
"I don't know what kind of a fist I'm goin' to make of it; but that's what I'll try to do till daddy gets on his feet again. Say, how long do you s'pose it'll take a man to get well when one leg is knocked endways with a bullet plum through the bone of it?"
"It'll be quite a bit, I'm thinkin'—too long for you to stay in Buffalo Meadows at this time of the year. Two months ought to do it, eh, Parsons?"
"Well, yes; he won't get 'round any quicker than that."
"I don't know as it makes much difference if he can't walk a great deal, 'cause after the horses have had plenty of grass for a couple of weeks we'll pull across this place; an' once on the other side I sha'n't worry but what I can take 'em through all right."