uarrels on board under even the best of conditions, and he determined
to overlook a great deal before starting one on his own account. It was
his wish that nothing should mar the pleasure of the trip up the river
for Patience Cooper.

He and his companion stopped in the bow and looked at the merry camp on
shore, both sensing an undertone of trouble. Give the vile, frontier
liquor time to work in such men and anything might be the outcome.

He put his lips close to his companion's ear: "Mr. Cooper, did you
notice anyone hurry into the cabin just before I came in? Anyone who
seemed excited and in a hurry?"

Cooper considered a moment: "No," he replied. "I would have seen any
such person. Something wrong?"

"Schoolcraft, now; and that Mexican friend of his," prompted Tom. "Did
they leave the cabin before you saw me come in?"

"No; they both were where you saw them for an hour or two before you
showed up. I'm dead certain of that because of the interest Schoolcraft
seemed to be taking in me. I don't know why he should single me out for
his attentions, for he don't look like a gambler. I never saw him before
that little fracas you had with him on the levee. Something up?"

"No," slowly answered Tom. "I was just wondering about something."

"Nope; he was there all the time," the merchant assured him. "Seems to
me I heard about some trouble you had in Santa Fe last year. Anything
serious?"

"Nothing more than a personal quarrel. I happened to get there after
they had started McLeod's Texans on the way to Mexico City, and learned
that they had been captured." He clenched his fists and scowled into the
night. "One of the pleasant things I learned from a man who saw it, was
the execution of Baker and Howland. Both shot in the back. Baker was not
killed, so a Mexican stepped up and shot him through the heart as he lay
writhing on the ground. The dogs tore their bodies to pieces that
night." He gripped the railing until the blood threatened to burst from
his finger tips. "I learned the rest of it, and the worst, a long time
later."

Cooper turned and stared at him. "Why, man, that was in October! Late in
October! How could you have been there at that time, and here, in this
part of the country, now? You couldn't cross the prairies that late in
the year!"

"No; I wintered at Bent's Fort," replied Tom. "I hadn't been in
Independence a week before I took the boat down to St Louis, where you
first saw me. There were four of