He answered with well-simulated carelessness. "No; but it is most
likely they are well into the game by this time. It's bound to prove a
hard campaign, to judge from all visible indications, and the trouble
has been hatching long enough to get all the hostiles into a bunch. I
know most of them, and they are a bad lot of savages. Crook's column,
I have just heard, was overwhelmingly attacked on the Rosebud, and
forced to fall back. That leaves the Seventh to take the brunt of it,
and there is going to be hell up north presently, or I 've forgotten
all I ever knew about Indians. Sitting Bull is the arch-devil for a
plot, and he has found able assistants to lead the fighting. I only
wish it were my luck to be in it. But come, little girl, as I said, I
'm quite likely to be off before night, provided I am fortunate enough
to strike a fresh trail. Under such conditions you won't mind my
kissing you out here, will you?"
She held up her lips and he touched them softly with his own. Her eyes
were tear-dimmed. "Oh, Bob, I hate so to let you go," she sobbed,
clinging to him. "No one could have been more to me than you have
been, and you are all I have left in the world. Everything I care for
goes away from me. Life is so hard, so hard!"
"Yes, little girl, I know," and the man stroked her hair tenderly, his
own voice faltering. "It's all hard; I learned that sad lesson long
ago, but I 've tried to make it a little bit easier for you since we
first came together. Still, I don't see how I can possibly help this.
I 've been hunting after that fellow a long while now, a matter of
fifteen years over a mighty dim trail, and it would be a mortal sin to
permit him to get away scot-free. Besides, if this affair only manages
to turn out right, I can promise to make you the happiest girl in
America. But, Naida, dear, don't cling to me so; it is not at all like
you to break down in this fashion," and he gently unclasped her hands,
holding her away from him, while he continued to gaze hungrily into her
troubled face. "It only weakens me at a time when I require all my
strength of will."
"Sometimes I feel just like a coward, Bob. It's the woman of it; yet
truly I wish to do whatever you believe to be best. But, Bob, I need
you so much, and you will come back, won't you? I shall be so lonely
here, for--for you are truly all I have in the world."