man alive who could take you to your uncle."

"Do you think he would?" Tom asked eagerly.

"Ah, that is another matter; I don't know what his plans are. If he is
engaged to go with another party he will go, for he would not fail
anyone to whom he had made a promise. If he isn't engaged he might
perhaps do it. Not for pay, for he has little use for money. His hunting
supplies him with all he wants. It gives him food, and occasionally he
will go with a bundle of pelts to the nearest town, and the money he
gets for them will supply him with tea and tobacco and ammunition, and
such clothes as he requires, which is little enough. Buckskin is
everlasting wear, and he gets his worked up for him by the women of any
Indian tribe among whom he may be hunting. If he were one of these fort
Indians it would be only a question of money; but it would never do to
offer it to him. He does not forget that he is a chief, though he has
been away so many years from what there is left of his old tribe. If he
did it at all it would be for the sake of your uncle. I know they have
hunted together, and fought the Apaches together. I won't say but that
if we get at him the right way, and he don't happen to have no other
plans in his mind, that he might not be willing to start with you."

"I should be glad if he would, Jerry. I have been quite dreading to get
to Fort Bridger. I have had such a splendid time of it with you that I
should feel awfully lonely after you had gone on."

"Yes, I dare say you would feel lonesome. I should have felt lonesome
myself if I did not light upon some mate going the same way. We got on
very well together, Tom. When Pete Hoskings first put it to me whether I
would be willing to take you with me as far as this, I thought that