on my
shoulders."

"O' course, Jim. Ain't that what you're made fur? You're a hind--ain't
that the beast, Paul, that carries burdens?--an' I'm the knight with the
shinin' lance that goes forth to slay dragons, an' I go ridin', too."

"You go ridin', too! I don't see no hoss! An' you ain't been astride no
hoss in years, Sol Hyde!"

"You deserve to be what you are, a hind, a toter o' burdens, Jim Hart,
'cause your mind is so slow an' dull. You ain't got no light, no
imagination, no bloom, a-tall, a-tall! Did I say I wuz ridin' a real
hoss? No, sir, not fur a second! But in the fancy, in the sperrit, so to
speak, I'm ridin' the finest hoss that ever pranced, an' I'm settin' in
a silver saddle, holdin' reins o' blue silk, an' that proud hoss o' mine
champs an' champs his jaws on a bit made o' solid gold. Come on, Tom, I
ain't 'preciated here. We'll kill that buffler, ef you don't talk me to
death on the way. Remember now to hold your volyble tongue. The last
time you spoke, ez I told you, you used two words when one would hev
done jest ez well. Don't let your gabblin' skeer the buffler plum' to
the other side o' the Ohio."

He stalked haughtily away, his rifle in the hollow of his arm, and
Silent Tom followed meekly. The admiring gaze of Jim Hart followed the
shiftless one as long as he was in sight.

"Ain't he the most beautiful talker you ever heard?" he asked. "Me an'
him hev our little spats, but it's a re'l pleasure to hear him fetch out
reasons an' prove that the thing that ain't is, an' the thing that is
ain't. That's what I call a mighty smart man. Ef the Injuns ever git him
he'll talk to 'em so hard that they'll either make him thar head chief,
or turn him loose to keep from bein' talked to death."

They heard the sound of a shot, and then a faint halloo from the
shiftless one, and when Henry went to the spot he found that he had
slain a young cow buffalo, just as he had predicted. Long Jim Hart
cooked the tender steaks in his finest style and they spent the rest of
the day preparing for the journey, which they believed would take them
across the Ohio, and which they knew would be full of dangers.

They put out their fire and rested until dusk came. Then they took up
again the trail of Wyatt's band and traveled until midnight, when they
slept until morning, all save the watch. Henry reckoned that they would
reach the river by the next night, and there was a chance that the
warriors might recover sufficientl