“Well,” said he, “what is there to report?”
“We’ve been scouting in the neighborhood of Tohopeka for the last week,” said Jack. “And things have reached such a state we thought it best to come in at once.”
“Hah!” The deep-set eyes of the general began to glow. “So the Indians are still gathering?”
“They are,” replied Frank. “All the villages for a hundred miles around the fortifications are pouring braves into it. There is something of great moment about to be attempted.”
“They are better armed than I ever saw Indians before,” put in Jack. “And they are drilling and practicing the maneuvers of the white man’s sort of warfare.”
General Jackson, with a quietness of demeanor which was ominous, asked a number of pertinent questions; and when he had learned all they had to tell, he said:
“That will do. And as you go out, give my compliments to Colonel Coffee and beg him to step into my room.”
When they were outside, Frank said in a low, exultant tone:
“That means a move of some sort, as sure as you live.”
Colonel Coffee was closeted with the commander for perhaps an hour; then other officers of rank were summoned. The result was that on the following day Jackson led a force of nine hundred mounted riflemen, some two hundred Cherokees and a cannon for use against the Creek fortifications.