Page:The Boy Land Boomer.djvu/55

Rh once out of sight, Tucker raised his fist and shook it savagely.

"I'll get square with you some day, Pawnee Brown, mark my words!" he muttered between his set teeth.

"We'll all get square," said Ross. "I hate the sight of that man."

"I understand the boomers have made him their leader," broke in Skimmy. "If they have, he'll try to break through to Oklahoma as sure as guns are guns."

"And he'll get shot, too," answered Tucker dryly. "The lieutenant is having all of the boomers movements watched."

"Pawnee Brown will do his level best to give us the slip, see if he don't," remarked Skimmy. "Four thousand boomers wouldn't make him their leader for nothing."

Thus, talking among themselves, the three cavalry men mounted their horses and rode back to their various picket stations along the boundary line of the Indian Territory.

They were a detachment of the Seventh United States Cavalry, and the lieutenant referred to by Tucker was in command.

For over a month they had been watching the boomers assembling in Kansas. Other portions of the