"I see. And would I be considered the son of a gentleman?"
Young Cawthorne looked up at the tanned and powerful face bent over him. He had already noted Henry's good English, and, feeling the compelling gaze of one who was born to be a master, he replied, sincerely and cheerfully:
"Yes, the son of a gentleman, and a gentleman yourself."
"An' I'm a gentleman too," said Shif'less Sol. "My good rifle says so every time."
"It was the power of earlier weapons that started the line of gentlemen," said Cawthorne. "Now what do you two gentlemen propose to do with me?"
"Do you know what would be done with us if things were changed about?" asked Henry, "and we were the prisoners of you and the colonel and the red men with whom you travel?"
"No. What would it be?"
"You'd have the pleasure of standing by and seeing the two of us burned alive at the stake. We wouldn't be burned quickly. It can be protracted for hours, and it's often done to our people by your allies."
The young Englishman paled.
"Surely it can't be so!" he said.