"Not by a durned sight, Jack; I can do a heap better than that," replied the scout, too familiar with the rough hospitality of the frontier to wait for a more formal invitation; "but if you've got time to watch me eat I'll show you how to do it."
He dismounted, tied his horse to the wagon, turned up a water bucket for a seat, and sat down to dinner with us. "The smell of that bean soup catches me."
As a surprise, when we had nearly finished Tom went to the oven and brought out a couple of nice hot pies.
"What a blessin' it is, sure," said Jack, "to have somethin' to cook an' somebody that knows how to cook it!"
"Well," replied Tom, "it's better than having a surplus of cooks an' no rations—a state of affairs we all know something about."
"I was just a-goin' to remark," added Bill, "that I see you've got a good cook in the outfit, an' that's no small help. I always knew Tom was a first-class soldier, an' now I've found out another of his accomplishments. Boys, I expect to be out to Fort Larned before long, an' if I ever strike your trail out in that neighborhood I'll sure foller it up an' invite myself to take a square meal with you once in a while."
"Well, I'll tell ye right now, Bill, you'll always be welcome," said Jack, while Tom and I added: "Second the motion."
"My special errand out here," said Bill as he unhitched his horse and prepared to mount, "was to tell you that when you get ready to lay in your supplies for the trip I think you can do better to buy 'em of Tom Carney[C] than anywhere else in town. There's where I bought the truck for our trip, an' I found his prices reasonable, an' everything was satisfactory an' packed in good shape. Tom's accommodatin', an' reliable, and an all-round good fellow to trade with."
While standing by his horse Bill's dog had taken post in front of him and by wagging his tail and looking up at his master was trying to attract his notice, seeing which the scout stooped down and began talking to his canine friend and patting him affectionately, which seemed to put the dog in an ecstasy of delight.
"Bill," said Tom, "I've been wondering ef we couldn't manage some way to beat you out of that dog. Don't you want to git rid of him?"