By this time Lieut. Jackson and all the officers of the Fort were
there, and it seemed to me that the Lieutenant would never quit
shaking my hand, and when he went to introduce me to the other
officers who were present, laughingly said.
"What shall I call you? I have known you as the 'Boy Scout,' also
as the 'Chief of Scouts.' I have known you when you were giving
lessons in hunting, and now you have come in from a hostile Indian
country with a white girl riding behind you. What shall I call
you?"
I said: "Lieutenant, call me Will Drannan, the trapper, for I am
now engaged in that business."
"Yes, I see you are," responded the Lieutenant with a hearty
laugh, "and I see you have had splendid success in your new
enterprise." He then asked me if I had trapped the girl.
I told him that I did not trap her, but that I got her away just
the same.
The Lieutenant then introduced me to the officers, and had the
orderly take charge of my horses. I was never kept more busy in my
life answering questions than I was for the next two hours,
relative to the girl and my plan of rescuing her.
Among the officers was a captain by the name of Asa Moore, who had
heard all about this massacre only a short time after it occurred,
and he said he thought there were some of the relatives living
somewhere in California, but he did not know just what part of the
state.
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