- able horses and the main baggage. There was great
rejoicing, again, in Santa Fe.
Sergeant Meek was taken at once to Governor Alencaster, but 'twas safe to say that the governor would find out little from him. Stub sought the other men out, at the barracks. John Sparks and Tom were unable to walk; they had lost their feet, and the most of their fingers; Baroney and Pat, and, they said, the sergeant, too, were in bad shape, from the march through the snows, to the stockade; but they all welcomed Stub.
"Where's the cap'n?"
"He's gone to Chihuahua."
"And what are ye doin' here, then? Did you run off from him? Say!"
"No. He told me to stay. I found my father. We're living here—till we can get away."
"You did? Found your father! Want to know! Hooray! And the cap'n and the rest to Chihuahua. So it's to Chihuahua the same for us, no doubt."
"Faith, that's proper," declared Tom Dougherty. "We'll not desert him. If it be prison for wan of us let it be prison for all of us. What's left o' me'll stick to the cap'n. Sure, John an' me are only poor cripples—whether we'll be paid I don't know; but all we want is to be with him, doin' as
