A moment later, Falcon pulled another one out, and soon, Dorman had both fish speared on a couple of sticks and stuck down into the ground, close enough to a fire to roast.
They had just finished their meal when they saw two soldiers on horseback.
“Hold on there!” Falcon shouted to them.
The two soldiers were startled and they swung toward Falcon and Dorman with their pistols in their hands.
“Ease up there,” Falcon said. “We’re scouting for the Seventh, and we’ve lost our horses.”
“How do we know who you are?” one of the soldiers asked.
“I think they’re tellin’ the truth, Russell, I’ve seen the colored man before,” the other soldier said. “I know he’s with the Seventh.”
“All right,” Russell said. “What are you two doing out here?”
“We’re trying to get back to the regiment,” Falcon said. “We ran into some Indians and lost our horses. And we’d appreciate it if you would ride back, then return with a couple of mounts for us.”
“We’re bivouacked only about five miles back,” Russell said. “You could walk it in under an hour.”
“Sonny, we’ve walked and clumb, and clumb and walked, for nigh on to fifty miles now,” Dorman said. “And we ain’t in the mood to walk another fifty yards. Just go back there an get us them horses like the man said.”
“All right. You two wait right here.”
“How long will it take you?”
“I figure we’ll be back in about an hour,” Russell said. “Maybe a little less.”
As the two young troopers rode off, Falcon and Dorman found a place under a tree where they could sit and wait.
“You know what I’m goin’ to do when this here scout is over?” Dorman asked.
“What’s that?”
“I’m goin’ to go back to Louisiana and look up my mammy. That is, if she’s still alive. I reckon the fact that I run away as a slave won’t be held ag’in me now.”
“No, I don’t think it will,” Falcon said.
“I’ve got me some money, too,” Dorman said. “Don’t hardly nobody know this, ’cause I ain’t never told no one about it before. But the truth is, I got me near ’bout five thousand dollars of money I’ve saved up over the years. I figure, if I can go back to Louisiana and find my mammy, I can more’n likely get me and her a place to live and just spend the rest of my days down there.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Falcon said.
“I tell you what, Falcon. When I get me a place down there, you’ll have to come to Louisiana and pay me a visit some time.”
“I may just do that,” Falcon said.
“One thing about Louisiana. There ain’t no Injuns down there wantin’ to lift my scalp. And another thing good is, it don’t never snow. And if I don’t never see me no snow no more, why, I wouldn’t miss it none at all.”
“If you do find your mother, I’m sure she will be very proud of you,” Falcon said. “To start out as you did, you have made a good life for yourself.”
“I have at that, haven’t I?” Dorman agreed. He sat up and stretched. “I wonder how much longer before them soldier boys get back.”
“He said they’d be back inside an hour,” Falcon said. “It hasn’t been an hour yet.”
About five minutes later, they heard a whistle.
“There they are!” Dorman said. “Never thought I’d feel this good about seein’ a bunch of soldier boys, but I’m right proud to see these troopers.”
True to his word, Russell had returned in less than an hour. Lieutenant Weir was with him, along with ten other troopers. There were also two extra horses, as well as some roasted elk and biscuits.
“The gen’rul’s girl, Mary, made these biscuits this mornin’, and she said she thought you might like them,” Lieutenant Weir said. He smiled at Dorman. “I think she’s got her cap set for you, Dorman. When she heard you were out here, she made certain I brought some of her biscuits.”
Dorman ate one of the biscuits ravenously. “Lieutenant, you tell Mary if we can find us a preacher, I’ll marry her before we even get back to the fort.”
Weir laughed. “I wouldn’t make any promises to her of that nature, Dorman. I think she would take you up on it. Then you would have the general upset with you for taking his cook away from him.”
Chapter Sixteen
It snowed on June 2, and because the snow made trailing harder, General Terry halted the expedition, permitting them to camp the entire day on Beaver Creek. It was a good place to camp because there was water and wood in abundance here. That allowed the troopers to fill their canteens and gather wood, not only for the current fires, but to take with them for future encampments when wood would be scarcer.
