"When did you come?"
"Arrived at sundown."
"Where from?"
"Salt Lake."
"Are you in the service?"
"No.Trade."
"Pirate trade,I reckon."
"What do you know about it?"
"I saw you when you came.I recognized your master.He is a bad sort.Trap-robber,horse-thief,squaw-man,renegado -Hank Butters -I know him very well.Stole you,didn't he?""Well,it amounted to that."
"I thought so.Where is his pard?"
"He stopped at White Cloud's camp."
"He is another of the same stripe,is Blake Haskins."(ASIDE.)They are laying for Buffalo Bill again,I guess.(ALOUD.)"What is your name?""Which one?"
"Have you got more than one?"
"I get a new one every time I'm stolen.I used to have an honest name,but that was early;I've forgotten it.Since then I've had thirteen ALIASES.""Aliases?What is alias?"
"A false name."
"Alias.It's a fine large word,and is in my line;it has quite a learned and cerebrospinal incandescent sound.Are you educated?""Well,no,I can't claim it.I can take down bars,I can distinguish oats from shoe-pegs,I can blaspheme a saddle-boil with the college-bred,and I know a few other things -not many;I have had no chance,I have always had to work;besides,I am of low birth and no family.You speak my dialect like a native,but you are not a Mexican Plug,you are a gentleman,I can see that;and educated,of course.""Yes,I am of old family,and not illiterate.I am a fossil.""A which?"
"Fossil.The first horses were fossils.They date back two million years.""Gr-eat sand and sage-brush!do you mean it?""Yes,it is true.The bones of my ancestors are held in reverence and worship,even by men.They do not leave them exposed to the weather when they find them,but carry them three thousand miles and enshrine them in their temples of learning,and worship them.""It is wonderful!I knew you must be a person of distinction,by your fine presence and courtly address,and by the fact that you are not subjected to the indignity of hobbles,like myself and the rest.Would you tell me your name?""You have probably heard of it -Soldier Boy.""What!-the renowned,the illustrious?"
"Even so."
"It takes my breath!Little did I dream that ever I should stand face to face with the possessor of that great name.Buffalo Bill's horse!Known from the Canadian border to the deserts of Arizona,and from the eastern marches of the Great Plains to the foot-hills of the Sierra!Truly this is a memorable day.You still serve the celebrated Chief of Scouts?""I am still his property,but he has lent me,for a time,to the most noble,the most gracious,the most excellent,her Excellency Catherine,Corporal-General Seventh Cavalry and Flag-Lieutenant Ninth Dragoons,U.S.A.,-on whom be peace!""Amen.Did you say HER Excellency?"
"The same.A Spanish lady,sweet blossom of a ducal house.And truly a wonder;knowing everything,capable of everything;speaking all the languages,master of all sciences,a mind without horizons,a heart of gold,the glory of her race!On whom be peace!""Amen.It is marvellous!"
"Verily.I knew many things,she has taught me others.I am educated.I will tell you about her.""I listen -I am enchanted."
"I will tell a plain tale,calmly,without excitement,without eloquence.When she had been here four or five weeks she was already erudite in military things,and they made her an officer -a double officer.She rode the drill every day,like any soldier;and she could take the bugle and direct the evolutions herself.
Then,on a day,there was a grand race,for prizes -none to enter but the children.Seventeen children entered,and she was the youngest.Three girls,fourteen boys -good riders all.It was a steeplechase,with four hurdles,all pretty high.The first prize was a most cunning half-grown silver bugle,and mighty pretty,with red silk cord and tassels.Buffalo Bill was very anxious;for he had taught her to ride,and he did most dearly want her to win that race,for the glory of it.So he wanted her to ride me,but she wouldn't;and she reproached him,and said it was unfair and unright,and taking advantage;for what horse in this post or any other could stand a chance against me?and she was very severe with him,and said,'You ought to be ashamed -you are proposing to me conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.'So he just tossed her up in the air about thirty feet and caught her as she came down,and said he was ashamed;and put up his handkerchief and pretended to cry,which nearly broke her heart,and she petted him,and begged him to forgive her,and said she would do anything in the world he could ask but that;but he said he ought to go hang himself,and he MUST,if he could get a rope;it was nothing but right he should,for he never,never could forgive himself;and then SHE began to cry,and they both sobbed,the way you could hear him a mile,and she clinging around his neck and pleading,till at last he was comforted a little,and gave his solemn promise he wouldn't hang himself till after the race;and wouldn't do it at all if she won it,which made her happy,and she said she would win it or die in the saddle;so then everything was pleasant again and both of them content.He can't help playing jokes on her,he is so fond of her and she is so innocent and unsuspecting;and when she finds it out she cuffs him and is in a fury,but presently forgives him because it's him;and maybe the very next day she's caught with another joke;you see she can't learn any better,because she hasn't any deceit in her,and that kind aren't ever expecting it in another person.
"It was a grand race.The whole post was there,and there was such another whooping and shouting when the seventeen kids came flying down the turf and sailing over the hurdles -oh,beautiful to see!
