Just then Tootsie’s bugle sounded from the top of the rock, and was followed by the merry laugh of the girl. The pards heard her exclaim:
“You beat me up the rocks, Tootsie, but you couldn’t do it after breakfast.”
“I could if Mrs. Sherley didn’t make the grub so good,” retorted the boy.
Buffalo Bill stepped out in view and whistled, and was at once greeted with merry shouts of welcome as the pair hurried away to the underground passage.
After Little Moonbeam had been told of the safe arrival at the fort of Lieutenant and Mrs. Avery, the scout went inside with the girl and Tootsie. There Little Moonbeam at once launched upon the subject nearest her heart.
She told the scout of a strange discovery she had made while at work in one corner of the newly cultivated garden. She had unearthed a quantity of what she believed to be pure gold, from its color and weight. She wished the scout to examine it and pass judgment.
Then the scout remembered the story told him by the general. He resolved, however, to make no mention of previous knowledge of the treasure.
It was gold, without doubt, and he told the happy girl so.
“Now I can go to school,” she cried, “and Mrs. Sherley and little Laughing Water with me, and Tootsie and his sisters and Buffalo Bill and his pards must come and visit us, and——”
She paused for breath and the scout laughed: