I asked her when she would see the girl again, and she made me
understand that if it would please me, or be of any benefit to the
girl, she could see her most any day, saying that she went near
the village to gather huckleberries, this being the time of year
the red huckleberries are ripe in this country.
I told them that I would come back in four days, and then I would
go with them to that place to gather huckleberries.
I wanted to look over the ground before laying my plans for taking
the girl, provided she wished to leave the Indians.
This ended the conversation, so we went back to camp, where I
found Jim Beckwith and a crowd of Indians joking, smoking and
having a good time generally, for, as I have said before, this was
the most sociable tribe of Indians that I ever saw.
On our arrival at camp, Jim asked me in Spanish where I had been,
and when he saw the Indian girl, said: "Oh, I see; you have been
off courting;" and then he and the Indians had a laugh at my
expense.
I did not say anything to Jim about what I had heard until the
next day.
We started early in order to make the trip in one day. I told him
the story just as I had it from the two Indians, and told him that
I was going to try to get the girl away from the Apaches if she
wanted to leave them.
I rode along some distance, apparently in a deep study, and he
finally turned to me and said:
"I think you had better let that gal alone, for then.
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