“And save Lina?”
“Yes.”
“And Mabel?”
“Yes!”
The boys grasped the trapper’s hands.
“Boys, look hyar,” said Frontier Shack, solemnly, “you’ve got fathers and mothers; I haven’t. I had parents once, but they’re up yonder. I kin do what I’m going to do alone. I might get along better without you; I really think I could. Now suppose I guide you to Fort Kearney, and that you wait till I bring the girls back. I’ll do it, so help me Heaven! I want yer parents to see ye once more, and I tell ye truly that yonder, across that river, lies the valley of death, and yonder,” pointing toward the land of the Sioux, “the highlands of destruction.”
“Sir, dangers can not frighten us,” said Charley Shafer, breaking the profound silence that followed the trapper’s last words. “We are going with you, for we have determined to rescue our friends from the red-skins or die in the attempt. You can not guide us to Fort Kearney; there!”
The old trapper slowly shook his head, and muttered in a low tone:
“If white bufflers hed a-kept out o’ yer heads! Si Gregg hed no business to write sech a lie!”
He loved the boys.