"And she gave him her glove and she never gave me any glove--and she never gave Butler her glove that I know of; and he gave her a wolf and he was with her when this thing happened. Say, Shockley, me boy, you are too slow, you are rusty; if you saw an ancient widow woman chopping wood, you would think she was in love with the wood-pile." And thus did that worthy arrive at wrong conclusions. He would not give himself the credit of being only a man, whom God in the wisdom of His creation did not intend to understand women and thus deaden a world. The camp was in ignorance of the points of contact between Katherine Searles and the scout; it felt none of the concern which distressed Shockley. Miss Searles had known Butler back in the States; they were much together here on the Yellowstone, and it was pretty generally admitted that in so far as she was concerned Lieutenant Butler had the biggest pair of antlers in the garrison. That young officer was a fine soldier--one of the best products of West Point, and was well connected back East, which was no small thing in an affair of this nature. Also his fellows easily calculated that he must have more than his pay. Shockley, however, continued to study the strategy of the scout Ermine, and he saw much to fear. CHAPTER XVII A PROPOSAL [Illustration] "Oh! I say, Captain Lewis, I am all ready to start. I have Ramon, a cook, and Wolf-Voice, together with pack-animals, but I can't get your man Ermine to say when he will go." "That's odd, Harding; I don't know of anything to detain him. But go slow; he's like all these wild men up here; when they will they will, and when they won't, they'll lay down on you. I'll go round and scout him up. What is the matter so far as you can determine?" "I can't determine. He says he will go, but will not name any exact time; tells me to push on and that he will catch up. That is a curious proposition. He is willing to take my money--" "Oh! whoa up, Mr. Harding! That fellow doesn't care anything about your money--make no mistake about that. Money means no more to him than to a blue jay. He wanted to go back to his own country and was willing, incidentally, to take you. I'll see; you wait here awhile;" saying which, Captain Lewis went in search of his man, whom he found whittling a stick pensively. "Hello, my boy, you don't seem to be very busy. Suppose your heart is out in the hills chasing the elk and bear." "No, Captain; I don't care much about the hills." "Or the Crow squaws?" "D---- the Crow squaws!" And Ermine emphasized this by cutting his stick through the middle. "Want to stay here?" "Yes, I am getting so I like this camp; like the soldiers--like the wagons--kind of like the whole outfit." "Like to chase wolves?" interrupted the officer. Ermine slowly turned up his head and settled his fathomless blue eyes on Lewis, but he said nothing. "Well, Mr. Harding is all set. You said you would go with him; a soldier must keep his word."