“I ask for an investigation. Can any one find Barlow in the fort, or find the young lady? Let a search be made; and, meanwhile, some of you come with me and see my prisoner.”
They found the rascal, Smallpox Dave, trying to crawl away. He had made good progress, too, in spite of his being bound; but he dropped back sullenly when the scout and the troopers rode up to him.
“Tell these men what you told me,” the scout commanded; “I mean the name of the man who came over the wall with the young woman in his arms and has now ridden away.”
Smallpox Dave’s wrath blazed out now like the flash of a gunpowder explosion. A great oath ripped from his lips.
“Yes, and cuss him for the coward he is; he’s cut out, takin’ my hoss, as well as his!” he declared. “I’ll settle with him fer that!”
“His name?” said the scout.
“His name? Why, it’s that lieutenant, Barlow! And we was to work together, and I was to have half of it, and——”
“The name of the girl?”
“Ther one he was sweet on—ther Arlington girl, livin’ over yender on the prairies.”
“But there may be—must be—a mistake,” urged Corporal Clendenning. “Lieutenant Barlow wouldn’t do a thing of this kind. Besides, we can’t accept the word of such a man as this scoundrel. Cody, I’m afraid you’re making a mistake, and——”