“Ugh!” grunted Cayuse dejectedly. “Me run from ’Paches. What Pa-e-has-ka say, huh?”
He cast an appealing look at Dell.
“Buffalo Bill,” returned the girl warmly, “will say that you did exactly right.”
“Mebbyso,” said Cayuse, only half-convinced.
“Where is Bascomb?” asked the sergeant.
“Me tell um Pa-e-has-ka at Bonita.”
“Did you see anything of Geronimo?”
“Me see um: him with Bascomb.”
“Better and better!” Patterson turned to Dell. “That means,” he finished, “that we’ve lost all the time we can at this water-hole. The quicker Little Cayuse gets to Bonita and delivers his news, the quicker this raid of Geronimo’s can be nipped in the bud, and Bascomb recaptured. We’ve got to ride.”
The sergeant lifted himself to a sitting posture, but almost immediately fell back with a groan of pain.