“Corporal Clendenning, you’re the man in command here now. Give me some men to make a pursuit with.”
“Cody, I shall——”
“Furnish me a horse, then. My own horse is lame at present.”
“But Cody——” objected Clendenning again.
“Can I have a horse? Every moment makes pursuit more difficult.”
“In my opinion, Lieutenant Barlow is within the fort now, and this man is lying,” said Clendenning. “What his object is I don’t know.”
As Corporal Clendenning was unwilling to believe the statement of Smallpox Dave, and so was reluctant to furnish the scout with a horse before making an investigation, Buffalo Bill returned into the grounds of the fort with the troopers, taking his prisoner with him.
They were no more than inside when Mrs. McGee appeared, raging and almost hysterical.
“Oh, the thafe!” she cried. “That I should live to see it, and that he should strike me in that way! Och, whin I get me two hands on him I’ll choke him black in the face! Who was it? ’Twas Lieutenant Barlow! I’ve knowed he was that crooked he c’u’dn’t walk straight! And it’s the gyurl he has taken wid him, bad cess to his picture! I don’t understand it at all, but——”
“There, Clendenning, is part of the proof you want!” said the scout. “Look for Lieutenant Barlow here, and you’ll find him gone. Look for the girl here, and you’ll find, likewise, that she is gone. Give me a horse, so that I may go in pursuit, if you don’t dare to take the responsibility of conducting such a pursuit yourself.”