Possibly Colonel Meriwether might be back at Leavenworth within the week, possibly not for a month or more! This was desperate news for me, for I knew that I ought to be starting home at that very time.

Still, since I had come hither as a last resort, it would do no good for me to go back unsuccessful.

Should I wait here, or at Leavenworth; or should I go on still farther west?
Auberry decided that for me.
"I tell you what we can do," he said.

"We can outfit here, and take the Cut-off trail to the Platte, across the Kaw and the Big and Little Blue--that'll bring us in far enough east to catch the Colonel if he's comin' down the valley.

You'd just as well be travelin' as loafin', and that's like enough the quickest way to find him." The counsel seemed good.