THE WOLF HUNTERS 



"Well, I don't know of any surer winnin' game 

 than a post sutler's job. It'll beat four aces an' 

 a six-shooter." 



" Right you are, my lad," chipped in Tom. " It's 

 a sure shot — dead open an' shut. Better'n a gold- 

 mine, for there's little risk an' small loss compared 

 with the profits; for the post sutler on the frontier 

 just rakes in the money of officers, soldiers, citi- 

 zens, Injuns, an' everybody. Besides havin' a 

 monopoly of all trade on the post reservation, he 

 generally has the inside track on forage contracts 

 an' the like." 



"Do you mind old Rich, the sutler at Fort 

 Leavenworth?" asked Jack, "an' the dead oodles 

 of money he rakes in all the time? An' he's been 

 sutler there so long, too, he must be as rich as the 

 Rothschilds. A queer duck is old Rich," he con- 

 tinued reflectively, "or * Kernel' Rich, I should 

 have said, for when you call him 'Kernel,' 'spe- 

 cially if you salute him along with it, it pleases 

 him all over an' raises his opinion of himself about 

 five hundred per cent." 



"Yes," replied Tom, "I remember one time 

 when several of us soldiers were a-standing around 

 old Rich's store door, an' among the lot was Bob 

 Chambers, of F Company. You know Bob al- 

 ways had his cheek with him. Well, while we 

 were a-talking. Bill Shutts come out of the store 

 a-grumbling an' a-cussing. 'What's the matter, 

 Shutts?' asked Bob. *Why, I'm expectin' a let- 



ii8 



