In the morning a bright, manly lad and his two handsome but shy little sisters came forth from the dugout.
“Too bad to bring up such children here!” exclaimed Hickok to the scout, but the boy overheard.
“It was dad’s cough,” said he apologetically. “Uncle John gave us the ranch, an’ dad an’ mom thought we could live here a few years till he gets stronger, an’ then go East, where the girls an’ me c’n go to school.
“But I guess dad an’ mom’ll be ’bout discouraged now, with no house to live in an’ some of our cows an’ sheep killed,” he went on chokingly.
The great-hearted Buffalo Bill cleared his throat before he spoke, and then he said:
“Well, my boy, you must cheer up your dad and mom. They have what is worth far more than home and live stock—three noble children. If your father is ill you must come to the front. You have shown that it is in you—I mean pluck and resourcefulness. Don’t ever forget to be honest and always guard your father and mother and sisters—not only their lives, but their happiness. Sometimes kind words are life savers. Don’t forget to always have words and looks of cheer for your father and mother, and to jealously watch over the purity of the names of your sisters.”
The lad’s eyes shone with the light of a new determination.
“Say, mister,” he began, “I was such a sissy last night that I cried when the girls did, because we thought how bad dad an’ mom’d feel ’thout any home, but I ain’t goin’ to cry no more as long’s we’re all alive—an’ if dad c’n get better we’ll be all right.”
The scout did not wish to dampen the lad’s courage, but he determined to tell the father to take his family to some of the larger settlements until the Sioux had been quieted.
“Were your father and mother to return this morning?” he asked.