“Oh, if I was permitted a vice it would be the gourmandise!”

Could I resist that?  No.  I gave her a gooseberry.

You ask about her languages.  They take care of themselves; they will not get rusty here; our regiments are not made up of natives alone—­far from it.  And she is picking up Indian tongues diligently.

CHAPTER VI—­SOLDIER BOY AND THE MEXICAN PLUG

“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?”