s a yellin' babby not knee-high to a duck;
I put him on the fust hoss he ever rid; I slept under the same blanket
an' herded cattle with him when he got bigger; I larnt him how to throw
the lasso an' shoot the rifle; an' now he's went off an' left me alone!
Dog-gone them pizen Greasers!" roared Zeke, flourishing both his fists
in the air.

He lingered a moment, looking rather sharply at Mr. Gilbert, as if he
had half a mind to take him to task for giving his consent to George's
"fool notion," and then, thinking better of it, he lumbered down the
steps, mounted his horse and galloped off toward the place where he had
left his herd in charge of an assistant.

George camped two nights on the prairie, and on the third afternoon, an
hour or two before sunset, he arrived within sight of one of the
stage-company's deserted stables. Or, rather, it _was_ deserted the
last time he saw it, but now there was an armed soldier in front of the
door, and he was presently joined by others, one of whom, by signs,
invited him to approach. George complied, and presently found himself
surrounded by a squad of troopers under the command of Corporal Bob
Owens, who greeted him as we have described.

CHAPTER VII.

HOW BRYANT WAS CAPTURED.

Reveille was sounded the next morning by Corporal Owens, who, having no
drum or bugle at his command, sprang up at daylight and aroused his
slumbering companions by shouting out the order, "Catch up!" More from
the force of habit than anything else, he called the roll while he was
bundling up the blankets on which he and George had slept, and, making
the sergeant's salute to an imaginary officer, he announced: "All
present or accounted for." Then Carey was ordered to boil the coffee,
and Bob and the three troopers who were off duty went out to groom the
horses. Having brought no brushes or currycombs with them, they were
obliged to content themselves with rubbing the animals down with
handfuls of grass; but they "went through the motions," as Bob expressed
it, and that was all the most exacting officer could have expected of
them under the circumstances.

As soon as breakfast had been eaten the troopers and their prisoners set
out on the return march, Bob and the new scout leading the way. Behind
them came the deserters, guarded on each flank and in the rear by two
cavalrymen. Their advance was necessarily slow, for the captives had
travelled rapidly the day before in order to put a safe distan