“You must not go, Charlie, whoever goes. You are the only link in this mighty wilderness, that connects Ralph and me with home—and hope. Weak and helpless as we are, we cannot afford to let you out of our sight.”
“Well, but if I don’t go I can’t see my way to asking the scout to go, for he alone thoroughly understands the ways of the country and of the Indians—if any should chance to come this way. Besides, considering the pledge he is under to be accountable for Buck Tom, I doubt if he would consent to go.”
“The question is answered, then,” said Shank, “for the only other man is Dick Darvall.”
“True; and it strikes me that Dick will be very glad to go,” returned Charlie with a smile of peculiar meaning.
“D’ye think he’s getting tired of us, Charlie?”
“By no means. But you know he has a roving disposition, and I think he has a sort of fondness for Jackson—the boss of the ranch.”
It was found when the question was put to him, that Dick was quite ready to set out on the mission required of him. He also admitted his fondness for Roaring Bull!
“But what if you should lose your way?” asked the scout.
“Find it again,” was Dick’s prompt reply.
“And what if you should be attacked by Indians?”