hy, for Slavin was dead. I was n't exactly sure he
was the owner of that scar, but I had my suspicions and wanted to
verify them. Having struck his trail, I reached Cheyenne just about
four hours after he left there with these despatches for the Big Horn.
I caught up with the fellow on the south bank of the Belle Fourche, and
being well aware that no threats or gun play would ever force him to
confess the truth, I undertook to frighten him by trickery. I brought
along some drawing-paper and drew your father's picture in phosphorus,
and gave him the benefit in the dark. That caught Murphy all right,
and everything was coming my way. He threw up his hands, and even
agreed to come in here with me, and tell the whole story, but the poor
fellow's brain could n't stand the strain of the scare I had given him.
He went raving mad on the Powder; he jumped on me while I was asleep,
and since then every mile has been a little hell. That's the whole of
it to date."

They were up with the pack-train by now, and the cavalrymen gazed with
interest at the new arrivals. Several among them seemed to recognize
Murphy, and crowded about his horse with rough expressions of sympathy.
Brant scarcely glanced at them, his grave eyes on Hampton's stern face.

"And what is it you wish me to do?"

"Take care of Murphy. Don't let him remain alone for a minute. If he
has any return of reason, compel him to talk. He knows you, and will
be as greatly frightened at your presence and knowledge as at mine.
Besides, you have fully as much at stake as any one, for in no other
way can the existing barrier between Naida and yourself be broken down."

Insisting that now he felt perfectly fit for any service, the impatient
Hampton was quickly supplied with the necessary food and clothing,
while Murphy, grown violently abusive, was strapped on a litter between
two mules, a guard on either side. Brant rode with the civilian on a
sharp trot as far as the head of the pack-train, endeavoring to the
very last to persuade the wearied man to relinquish this work to
another.

"Foster," he said to the sergeant in command of the advance, "did you
chance to notice just what _coulee_ Custer turned into when his column
swung to the right?"

"I think it must have been the second yonder, sir; where you see that
bunch of trees. We was a long ways back, but I could see the boys
plain enough as they come out on the bluff up there. Some of 'em waved
their hats