“You stick to that story? Have you been to Windsor?”

“Wal, I calculate I have.”

“What is Holmes doing?”

“That’s rather a hard question. The last time I saw him, he was eatin’. He has got a mouth to put away the provisions in, now I tell you.”

“Pish, man; you know what I want to know. Tell me what they are doing at Windsor.”

“They are building a mighty big stock-house there, I reckon—nigh as big as Good Hope. But law, what can they do? You could eat them up!”

“Are they preparing to attack me?”

“No, I calculate not. They have all they kin do to keep the Indians friendly.”

“Do they talk much about us?”