e asked.

"I met him, back on the trail, with two new kids."

"Which one was he? What did he look like?"

"A young lad, dressed like you. Carried a bow and arrow."

"Brown eyes and big ears?"

"Brown eyes, I reckon. Didn't notice his ears."

That must have been Jim Bridger.

"Who were the two fellows?"

"More of you Scouts, I reckon. Carried packs on their backs. Dressed in
khaki and leggins, like soldiers."

They weren't any of us Elks, then. But we were tremendously excited.

"When?"

"This noon."

That sure was news. Hurrah for Jim Bridger!

"Did you see a one-armed boy?"

"Saw him in that camp, where the three of 'em were corralled."

"What kind of a crowd had they? Was one wearing a big revolver?"

"Yes. 'Bout as big as he was. They looked like some tough town bunch."

"How many?"

"Eight or ten."

Oho!

"Did you hear anybody called Bill?"

"Yes; also Bat and Mike and Walt and et cetery."

We'd fired these questions at him as fast as we could get them in
edgewise, and now we knew a heap. The signs had told us true. Those two
recruits had joined with the town gang, and our Scouts had been
captured; but escape had been attempted and Jim Bridger had got away.

"How did you get that packet?" asked Kit.

"Found it."

He spoke short as if he was done talking. It seemed that he had told us
the truth, so far; but if we kept questioning him much more he might get
tired or cross, and lie. We might ask foolish questions, too; and
foolish questions are worse than no questions.

We had done a good job on this man, as appeared to us. We had bathed his
face, and had exposed the worst burns on his body and arms and legs and
had covered them with carbolized vaseline and gauze held on with
adhesive plaster, and had cleaned the wound in his leg. It was a
regular hole, but we didn't ask him how he got it. 'Twas in mighty bad
shape, for it hadn't been attended to right and was dirty and swollen.
Cold clear water dripped into it to flush it and clean it and reduce the
inflammation would have been fine, but we didn't have that kind of water
handy; so we sifted some boric powder into it and over it and bound on
it a pad of dry sterilized gauze, but not too tight. I asked him if
there was a bullet or anything else in it, and he said no. He had run
against a stick. This was about all that we could do to it, and play
safe by not poking into it too much. (Note 54.)

He seemed to feel pretty good, now, and s