We soon had our team strung out and were again rolling along the old Santa Fé road, Jack and I on the wagon seat, with Tom riding the black horse alongside and giving us the particulars of his visit to the store.
"When I got to the store," he said, "early as it was, I found a farmer there who lives down near where the jayhawkers have been camped an' who had come up to report that some time before midnight he had heard considerable commotion in their camp, an' shortly afterward heard a wagon an' some mounted men pass not far from his house, goin' southward across the prairie. He supposed that the gang was breaking camp an' moving away, but couldn't understand why they should light out so sudden an' at such an hour. When daylight come he visited the abandoned camp an' there saw plenty of signs that they'd gone in a hurry. They left clothin', lariats, an' other camp equipage scattered about that they had failed to gather up in the dark.
"Well, when I got to the store the farmer an' the storekeeper was all worked up an' tickled at the going of their unwelcome neighbors; an' their astonishment was greater still to see me ridin' Tucker's fine black horse an' saddle, which they all seemed to recognize at first sight.
"To explain the situation to 'em, an' how I come to be ridin' Tucker's horse, I had to tell 'em all about the jayhawkers comin' to our camp to try to bluff us out of our mules, an' how we stood 'em off; an' about Jack capturin' the big duffer; an' how we made a 'spread eagle' of him an' give him a good scaring up with that yarn of the company of cavalry coming; an' how we give him a chance to get away; an' how he got.
"I told the storekeeper what Jack's plan was, in case an owner for the black horse should turn up; but he don't think the horse b'longs to any one in this part of the country; an' ef anybody comes 'round inquiring for such a horse he's to write to me at Fort Larned.
"The ol' feller was dreadful uneasy for fear the jayhawkers would find out that we'd gone on out to the plains an' that there was really no company of cavalry behind us and then would come back. But I tol' him not to worry about that, for I believed there would be a company of cavalry here from Fort Leavenworth before long in answer to that letter he had written to General Hunter.
"I put another idea into his head, tellin' him that he could help the soldiers to capture or break up the gang by havin' a man foller their trail an' find out just where they locate. He took up with the idea right away, an' the farmer said he'd foller the trail. When he gets 'em located he's to come back an' guide the soldiers to the jayhawkers' camp."
As we passed through the strip of timber at the crossing of the little creek where the jayhawkers had planned to get the drop on us we noticed that it would have been an admirable place for such a manœuvre, and Jack and I commented on the possibilities of an encounter with the enemy here.
"You're wastin' your wind," interrupted Tom impatiently. "I had it all planned out to take a by-road that leads off from the house where we camped, which crosses the creek—so the storekeeper had told me—about a quarter of a mile below this crossin', comin' into the main road again in the prairie beyond. In that way we'd have left the jayhawkers 'holdin' the sack,' like the feller that went a-snipe huntin'."