The man seemed short of patience. “That’s one big trouble with you people in Texas. You never could tell one Indian from another. It’s caused you no end of grief, and them, too. The Comanches are as wild as deer.”

“These looked pretty wild too, comin’ at me like they did.”

“If they was the killin’ kind of Indian, you’d already be halfway to hell and smellin’ the smoke. The Tonkawas don’t mean harm to anybody, except Comanches. They used to give you Texans a lot of help against the wild Indians. The reward you gave them was to kick them across the river.”

Rusty remembered the sad exodus, but under present circumstances he had no intention of letting them know he had been there.

The Indians had turned back the leaders of the stolen horse herd and were pushing the bunch in Rusty’s direction. The two army men rode ahead, reining up as they reached Rusty and the interpreter. One of the pair bore himself with exaggerated dignity, which led Rusty to assume he was an officer of some kind. Probably a lieutenant, he thought. Daddy Mike had always said lieutenants tended to have an inflated view of their importance. By the time they made captain, most had had their egos punctured often enough to let the excess air out of them.

The officer gave Rusty a study of the most negative sort. “I see you captured one of them, Harrison.”

The interpreter had not introduced himself. Now, at least, Rusty knew his name.

Harrison replied, “We’re inclined to believe he’s not one of them. He says he was on his way north and just happened to run into the thieves. None of the Tonks claim his horse or mule.”

The officer continued his hard scrutiny. “Perhaps. Not all have seen them yet.” To Rusty he said, “If you are what you claim to be, I must say that I find fault with your choice of company.”

“They weren’t any company of mine. It looked for a minute like they were fixin’ to shoot me.” He considered showing the note Tom Blessing had written for the captain of rangers but decided it might be well to wait until they reached Belknap. He did not know the army’s opinion of the rangers. If it was like the rangers’ opinion of the army, he had better keep his mouth shut.

The officer said, “What matters most is that the Indians recovered their horses. To be on the safe side, we’ll turn you over to the authorities as we pass Belknap. If they find no fault with you, they’ll free you quickly enough.” He scowled. “They do not seem to find much fault with people who steal from the Indians.”

Rusty decided against continuing to proclaim his innocence. He had already said more than usual, and the lieutenant would keep doubting him anyway.