“Yes, seriously so.”
“Think it would do much harm if I were to give him another wallop over the head—just for luck, you know?”
“Stacy!” Tom Gray’s voice was stern. “Get away from that man and let him alone!”
“Oh, all right, but I would like to give him just one clout. It’s coming to him.”
Captain Gray took firm hold of the fat boy’s collar and projected him to some distance from the wounded man.
“Cat-foot, have you word for me?” demanded Tom.
The Indian grunted and handed Tom a message. It was from Hamilton White, and the smile that lighted up the captain’s face as he read it, told the Overland Riders that it contained good news.
“We are to move as soon as we can pack up,” announced Tom. “Cat-foot will accompany us.” That was all Captain Gray would say.
Emma, whose curiosity was proverbial, pouted and complained that every one of the party seemed to think it smart to make a mystery of everything.
After offering the Indian food, which he refused and sat down by himself, the Overlanders quizzed Stacy about what had happened to him. Stacy told what he knew of his capture, and of the incidents that followed. In the course of the conversation it developed that Cat-foot Charlie had been sent to pick up the fat boy’s trail and follow it until he found him. Hamilton White had brought that about.