"Made up your mind against it?"
"Yes. I'd made up my mind before Short Nose began to speak. I'd guessed what was coming."
"Um!" murmured Rube. "Dunno whether t' be glad or sorry. Why didn't you tell 'em, Kiddie?"
"Because they wouldn't have liked it if I'd said No right at once. Much better to let them suppose that I'm hesitatin', wonderin' over it, weighin' the proposition in a balance. Why, Rube, you didn't think for a moment that I would take it on, did you?"
Rube shrugged his shoulders.
"You might have done what Broken Feather's tryin' to do," said Rube. "You might have made yourself as great a chief as Red Cloud or Sitting Bull. Besides, it's a biggish thing ter be a Injun chief. Next door t' bein' a king."
Kiddie smiled.
"I might have been an Injun chief years an' years ago," he remarked. "But my ambitions don't lie in that direction. See?"
"Of course," Rube nodded. "I was forgettin' that you're a English nobleman, with a seat in the House of Lords. I'm allus forgettin' that. But what d'you mean t' do, Kiddie—now, I mean? Ain't you goin' ter stop here just for a week or two, an' see what it feels like t' be a Injun chief?"
"No." Kiddie turned to his blankets. He was very tired. "No," he repeated. "I'm goin' to stay until you're well enough to be moved. Then we shall find the canoe and our outfit, and go right back home to Sweetwater Bridge."