“Well, they’ll get him yet, for sure.”
“Not if he keeps a sharp look-out.”
“He keep a sharp lookout! He never does; he despises them, and all their kind. His life is always being threatened, and so it has come to be monotonous.”
“Does he know they are here?”
“Oh yes, he knows it. He is always the earliest to know who comes and who goes. But he cares nothing for them and their threats; he only laughs when people warn him. They’ll shoot him from behind a tree the first he knows. Did Mongrel tell you their plans?”
“Yes. They have found out that he starts for Fort Clayton day after to-morrow, with one of his scouts; so they will leave to-morrow, letting on to go south, but they will fetch around north all in good time.”
“Shekels, I don’t like the look of it.”
VIII
THE SCOUT-START. BB AND LIEUTENANT-GENERAL ALISON
BB (saluting). “Good! handsomely done! The Seventh couldn’t beat it! You do certainly handle your Rangers like an expert, General. And where are you bound?”
“Four miles on the trail to Fort Clayton.”