The rain kept falling, and the men straggled. Yesterday afternoon the warrior Sparks had dropped behind. He had pains in his joints, which the medicine-man had not been able to cure: "rheumatism." He could not ride a horse and he could scarcely walk, using his gun as a crutch. Last night he had not come into camp. The Spanish trail was lost, again; and Sparks was lost, too.
Scar Head was glad to go back and look for him. He liked Sparks. He liked all the men and was getting to know them by their names: queer names. Each man had two—one for each other and one for the chiefs. There was "Jake" and "Carter"; the same man. And "Jerry" and "Jackson"; and "Tom" and "Dougherty"; and "John" and "Brown"; and "Hugh" and "Menaugh"; and "Bill" and " Meek"; and "Joe" and "Ballenger"; and the others. The last two were head warriors, called "sergeant." The medicine-man's names were "John" and "Doctor Robinson." The second chief's names were "the left'nant" and "Lieutenant Wilkinson." Chief Pike was "the cap'n" and "Lieutenant Pike."
The warriors spoke only American, but they knew Indian ways. The most of them, Baroney said, had been on a long journey before with Lieutenant
