“Who is that?”
“Deerfoot.”
“By the way, where is he?” exclaimed Joseph suddenly. “I haven’t seen him in a long time.”
“Perhaps he has already joined Black Hawk,” said Walt, and he laughed in an insinuating manner as he spoke.
“Don’t you say that!” cried Joseph hotly. “Deerfoot is the best friend that Bob and I have left on earth and I don’t want him slandered.”
“No, sir!” chimed in Robert. “If ever there was a man more faithful than Deerfoot, I’ve never seen him or heard of him. You may take our word for it that he can always be counted on.”
“He certainly has two loyal supporters all right,” laughed Walt. “If you boys are so sure he’s all right, I guess I’ll have to believe you.”
“You’d better,” exclaimed Joseph. “Now let’s go look for him,” he added.
Their soldier friend had disappeared. His horse needed care and he had gone to report at headquarters and receive his orders. General Whiteside’s division had but a scanty store of supplies and were forced to depend upon those which had been collected at Dixon’s Ferry. Fortunately they were believed to be fully adequate.
“There is a lot of feeling among our men about joining General Whiteside, you know,” said Walt as the three volunteers walked along.