government, and your government has condemned the Indian to a
worse Siberia than that to which Nihilist was ever transported. Look;
there is a specimen of what a civilized government does to a native-born
American," pointing to a "half-breed" trying to plow with one steer
harnessed up like a horse.

"Hello!" Jack sang out to the man thus referred to.

As the buckboard stopped a few rods from the shack, called a "hoos," the
individual addressed pulled at his galluses and hat, then walked over to
the fence, which enclosed fifty acres of newly plowed ground, said,
"How?" and stood gaping at the travelers.

"Good morning," cheerily said Jack. "We are on our way to Pryor Creek
and then want to go into the Kiowa Reservation. Can you tell us anything
about the road?"

"Waal, I reckon yes. It's good goin' 'til yer git to the Verdigris. Thet
nigh ho'se (meaning horse, pronounced with long o and aspirate s) uster
belong to the 'Lazy L' outfit."

The answer was given in a drawling, sing-song tone, with full rests
between every third word, when the speaker stopped to pick up a stick to
whittle, to halloo at his steer or to show how straight he could
expectorate a small freshet of tobacco juice between his teeth at some
real or imaginary mark. His skin was a dirty soot color, and his raven
black eyes and straight hair emphasized his ghastly pallor. He was tall
and thin--built on the Arkansas plan of constructing ladders. His hips
and shoulder blades seemed to meet, giving his long, lank legs the
appearance of a man's head on jointed stilts. Jack made no reply to the
remark about the horse with the "Lazy L" brand, but inquired the
distance to the Verdigris.

"It's quite a patch. I reckon yer mought hev some 'navy' about yer
close; jess the same if yer moughten--thanks."

Jack had learned that a plug of tobacco had "open sesame" qualities
among certain species of human beings, and in his war bag were several
pounds cut into goodly sized pocket pieces. One of them he handed to the
"half-breed," who tore off a corner with his teeth, absentmindedly
putting the rest in his pocket. The "tip" had the desired effect, for
"Ladder Legs" recounted in the drawl of the Cherokee half-breeds, with
its characteristic aspirating, all the crooks, turns, fords and
distances to the Kiowa Reservation. In response to Jack's inquiry
regarding the limited cultivation of the land so near the Kansas border,
"Ladder Legs" vouchsafed this information: