Misery loves company, you know, and Tom found great satisfaction in the thought that Oscar, whom everybody in Eaton believed to be strictly honest and truthful, had at last yielded to temptation and sunk to a level as low as that which he himself occupied. But, when the real facts of the case were revealed—when Tom learned that his brother had left home in broad daylight, and with his mother’s full and free consent; that he was backed up by a committee worth a hundred thousand dollars, and provided with letters that would place him on terms of intimacy with the highest officers on the plains, both civil and military; that those officers would give him a good “send-off,” and stand ready at all times to assist him by every means in their power—when Tom thought of all these things, his rage got the better of him, and he jumped to his feet with the wildest kind of a warwhoop. “Have you got the impudence to come here and tell me that you are growing rich every day, while I am freezing and starving?” he demanded, in a voice which was rendered almost indistinct by intense passion. “I tell you that I have a steady income, and it is the truth,” replied Oscar. “And you never stole any of old Smith’s money?” “Of course not. I never handled a dishonest penny in my life.” “And do you know that while you were comfortably housed at the fort last night, and having a good time with those officers, who wouldn’t look at me any sooner than they would look at a yellow dog—do you know that while you were enjoying yourself in that way, I was sitting shivering over this camp fire, with nothing but hardtack to eat, and nobody but an ignorant, ragged backwoodsman for company? Do you know it?” yelled Tom, who hardly realized what he said in the excess of his fury. “What do you mean by it? and what amends are you going to make for treating me so?” “I don’t know that I can make you any amends,” said Oscar, who was greatly astonished. “You surely can’t expect me to come out here and shiver over a miserable camp fire, and take a ragged backwoodsman for a companion, just because you choose to do so!” “You know well enough that I didn’t mean that!” Tom almost shrieked. “Why didn’t you do something for me?” “I didn’t know you were here.” “And it would have made no difference if you had known it. But that’s always the way. Those who are lucky don’t care a straw for those that are unlucky. The harder a fellow tries to better his condition in life the worse he is off. There is no one who has planned and schemed more than I have to make money, and now look at me! You, on the contrary, took matters easily, and Fortune has showered favors on you by the bucketful. You will go off to the hills with a guide, provisions, and clothing in abundance, and everything else that will enable you to live in camp as comfortably as you would at home, while I——”