“Thank God for that good news! I trust you were not hurt on your way, Jack, though you did raise a merry rumpus in the Indian camps.”
“Well, now! Didn’t they turn loose for a few minutes, sir? But I got only a shake-up, for I got too proud to walk, and the pony I cabbaged took a header with an Injun bullet in him. Somebody got worse hurt than I did, though, and I’m not kicking a little bit, as luck came my way.”
“And it came our way, too, Jack! We’re mighty glad to have you back.”
“Oh, that was my luck, too!” said Jack, laughing. “Buffalo was bound to come and send me on to Resistence with the news, but I wouldn’t hear to it, and finally we drew lots and I won.”
“Next to Cody himself you’re the man I want,” declared Major Baldwin; “for, although all my officers and men are true as steel—and able, too—your experience is worth much, not to speak of the value of your rifle. Your coming and the knowledge that Cody has got through all right gives us a new lease of life.”
The major’s praise tinged the bronzed cheek of the scout with blushes, and he hurried away to remove his war-paint and to change into more civilized garments.
CHAPTER X.
THE RIDE TO THE RESCUE.
The Border King, after leaving Texas Jack in the cañon, did not spare the white horse he rode, for he was riding to save many human lives.
He had known this horse when he was the favorite steed of Colonel Nelson A. Miles, and the scout well knew the endurance of which the horse was capable.