final darkness fell, I hastily crowded my pockets with food, and looked
eagerly around for some congenial companion. Captain Wells, whom I
should have preferred to be with me, was deep in conference with one of
the Miami chiefs, and not to be disturbed; Jordan had seemingly been
detailed to the command of the night-guard; so, as a last resort, I
turned aside and sought De Croix. I found him seated cross-legged on a
blanket beneath one of the cottonwoods, a silver-backed mirror propped
against a tree-butt in his front, while the obsequious darkey was
deliberately combing out his long hair and fashioning it anew. The
Frenchman glanced up at me with a welcoming smile of rare good-humor.

"Ah, sober-face! and have you at last mustered courage to break away
from the commander of this most notable company?" he cried mockingly.
"'T is passing strange he does not chain you to his saddle! By Saint
Guise! 'twould indeed be the only way in which so dull a cavalier would
ever hold me loyal to his whims. Friend Wayland, I scarce thought you
would ever thus honor me again; and yet, 't is true, I have had an
ambition within my heart ever since we first met. 'T is to cause you
to fling aside those rough habiliments of the wilderness, and attire
yourself in garments more becoming civilized man. Would that I might
induce you, even now, to permit Sam to rearrange those heavy blond
locks _à la Pompadour_. Bless me! but it would make a new man of you."

"Such is not at all my desire, Monsieur," I answered, civilly. "I came
now merely to learn if you would walk with me through these dunes of
sand before the daylight fades."

He looked out, idly enough, across that dreary expanse of desolation,
and shrugged his shoulders.