“We’ve got a little coffee cut with parched grain. Best we can do. Mix it with whiskey and it ain’t too awful. Got some beans and buffalo hump, too. You look kind of slab-sided.”

“Much obliged. We’re as hollow as a gourd.”

Andy had not spoken. He dug into his supper like a starved wolf.

The hunter watched him with interest. “The boy’s got the manners of a wild Indian, all right.” The comment was matter-of-fact, not judgmental. “You’ve got a lot to unlearn him before you can make him white again. He some kin to you?”

“No, the only kin we’ve found is an uncle. He looked Andy over and turned his back on him.”

“Probably figured he was too far gone to civilize. You figurin’ to finish raisin’ him?”

“Somebody’s got to.”

“I wouldn’t want the responsibility. How did he fall into your lap?”

“He came down into the settlements on a horse-stealin’ raid.”

“That young’un ain’t old enough.”

“He sneaked off and followed the raidin’ party. Didn’t let them see him ‘til it was too late to send him back. Horse fell on him and broke his leg. That’s the way I found him.”

“He looks all healed up now.”

“We kept him ‘til he was, me and some friends of mine. But he was homesick for the Comanches. If I didn’t take him back he was fixin’ to slip off and go anyway. So, bad as I hated to, I took him.”

“What’s he doin’ here now?”

“A few of the tribe weren’t happy to see him back. He had to kill one so we could get away.”

The hunter frowned darkly. “Awful young to have blood on his hands. It’s hard to wash off.”

“Wasn’t none of his choosin’.”

“If I was you, I’d turn him over to the Yankee army. I’ve heard they’ve got schools for Indian boys back East someplace.”

“But he’s white. Reckon I’ll keep him and do the best I can.”

“I’m glad it’s you and not me.”

Rusty explained, “When I look at him I see what I could’ve been. The Comanches stole me once, just like him. If the Lord hadn’t been lookin’ my way, I’d be Comanche now myself. Or dead.”

Rusty sipped with pleasure the mixture of bad coffee and bad whiskey. “Andy’s got a long, twisty road ahead of him. But I want to give him the same chance I had.”

The hunter said, “I ain’t heard him speak. Has he forgot how to talk English?”

“It’s comin’ back to him. He just needs time.”