`` You know nothing short of arrest would stop me , '' said Kate , nodding at him with laughing eyes , `` and you really wo n't go to such an extreme , I know . So please be nice , even if it comes hard , and lend us some things . I 've come a-borrying . '' `` I wo n't lend you a thing , '' declared the sergeant . `` I wo n't aid and abet you in any such freak as this . Go home now , like a good girl . '' `` I 'm not going home , '' said Kate . `` I 'm not a ` good girl ' -- I 'm a wicked old maid , and I 'm going to Bothwell . If you wo n't lend us a tent we 'll go without -- and sleep in the open -- and our deaths will lie forever at your door . I 'll come back and haunt you , if you do n't lend me a tent . I 'll camp on your very threshold and you wo n't be able to go out of your door without falling over my spook . '' `` I 've more fear of being accountable for your death if I do let you go , '' said Sergeant Baker dubiously . `` However , I see that nothing but physical force will prevent you . What do you want ? '' `` I want , '' said Kate , `` a cavalry tent , a sheet-iron camp stove , and a good Indian guide -- old Peter Crow for choice . He 's such a respectable-looking old fellow , and his wife often works for us . '' The sergeant gave us the tent and stove , and sent a man down to the Reserve for Peter Crow . Moreover , he vindicated his title of friend by making us take a dozen prairie chickens and a large ham -- besides any quantity of advice . We did n't want the advice but we hugely welcomed the ham . Presently our guide appeared -- quite a spruce old Indian , as Indians go .
I had never been able to shake off my childhood conviction XXXXX an Indian was a fearsome creature , hopelessly addicted to scalping knives and tomahawks , and I secretly felt quite horrified at the idea of two defenceless females starting out on a lonely prairie trail with an Indian for guide .
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