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diff --git a/42307-0.txt b/42307-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a7fcd97 --- /dev/null +++ b/42307-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5199 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42307 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 42307-h.htm or 42307-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42307/42307-h/42307-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42307/42307-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://archive.org/details/frankinwoods00cast + + + + + +[Illustration: + +The GUNBOAT SERIES. + +BOOKS for BOYS, by a GUNBOAT BOY. + +FRANK IN THE WOODS. + +PORTER & COATES, +PHILADELPHIA, PA.] + + +Frank and Archie Series. + +FRANK IN THE WOODS. + +by + +HARRY CASTLEMON, + +Author of "The Rocky Mountain Series," "The Go-Ahead +Series," etc. + + + + + + + +Philadelphia: +Porter & Coates. +Cincinnati, O.: +R. W. Carroll & Co. + + + + +Contents. + + CHAPTER I. THE ENCAMPMENT 7 + CHAPTER II. AN UNPLEASANT COMPANION 15 + CHAPTER III. AN INDIAN HUNT 27 + CHAPTER IV. THE "OLE SETTLER" 47 + CHAPTER V. THE FIGHT IN THE WOODS 52 + CHAPTER VI. THE WHITE BUCK 76 + CHAPTER VII. A MIDNIGHT ATTACK 90 + CHAPTER VIII. A COUPLE OF NEW PETS 101 + CHAPTER IX. CLOSE QUARTERS WITH A GRIZZLY 116 + CHAPTER X. A BEAVER HUNT 132 + CHAPTER XI. BREAKING UP A MOOSE-PEN 143 + CHAPTER XII. THE MOOSE SHOWS HIS QUALITIES 152 + CHAPTER XIII. THE BLACK MUSTANG 169 + CHAPTER XIV. A BRUSH WITH THE GREASERS 180 + CHAPTER XV. CAUGHT AT LAST 194 + CHAPTER XVI. THE LOST WAGON-TRAIN 204 + CHAPTER XVII. THE STRUGGLE IN THE CAVE 216 + CHAPTER XVIII. END OF THE TRAPPER AND BLACK MUSTANG 227 + CHAPTER XIX. THE INDIANS AGAIN 236 + CHAPTER XX. THE JOURNEY HOMEWARD 251 + + + + +FRANK IN THE WOODS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +The Encampment. + + +Our scene opens in the swamp that stretches away for miles north of +Lawrence. + +It was a cold, dreary night. The wind moaned and whistled through the +leafless branches of the trees, sending the snow in fitful gusts +through every nook and corner of the forest. On the banks of a small +lake, that lay hemmed in on all sides by tall trees, which bowed to +every gust of the winter's storm, was an encampment. A rude +hut--built, however, after the most approved hunter fashion, with its +back to the wind, and its front open to a cheerful fire--stood in a +little grove of evergreens, ready to receive beneath its friendly +shelter four boys, whom you could easily recognize as our old +friends of the sailing and fishing frolics described in "THE +YOUNG NATURALIST." We left them, after a hard day's work at +fox-hunting--Archie asleep on the bed, and Frank seated in his easy +chair, reading one of his favorite authors; while George and Harry, +who had a quarter of a mile to go before they reached home, were +walking slowly along the road, so weary that they could scarcely drag +one foot after the other. To enable the reader to understand how we +come to find them here in the woods, twenty miles from any human +habitation, we must conduct him back to Lawrence, and relate a few +incidents with which he is not acquainted. + +On the day following the one on which the foxhunt took place, the boys +were too lame to tramp about, and they passed most of their time in +the shop. Frank commenced to prepare the fox-skin for mounting in the +museum, and Archie busied himself in putting his traps in working +order. While thus engaged, Frank exclaimed: + +"Archie, let's go and make Uncle Joe a visit. What do you say?" + +"I should like to go very much," said Archie; "but you know it's a +mean journey to make in winter. I don't like the idea of carrying my +baggage on"---- + +"We need not carry any thing," interrupted Frank. "I have been +thinking it all over, and I don't see why we can't do as the Canadian +trappers do--drag our baggage after us on sleds." + +The village boys had always been in the habit of visiting Uncle Joe in +the summer; the journey could then be made with scarcely any +inconvenience, for Glen's Creek ran within a few feet of the old +hunter's cabin; but in winter the traveling was much more difficult, +for the boys were obliged to carry their provisions, blankets, and +other needful articles, on their backs. But Frank's plan obviated this +difficulty. The creek was frozen over, and using it as a highway, they +could accomplish the journey to Uncle Joe's almost as easily as with a +boat. + +"That's a first-rate idea," said Archie. "I wonder why we did not +think of it before! Let us go right to work and make the sled." + +"We had better wait until we find out whether mother will let us go or +not," said Frank; "besides, we want Harry and George to go with us." + +"I think Aunt Mary will give her consent," said Archie, laying aside +his traps. "Let's go in and ask her." + +The boys readily answered all Mrs. Nelson's objections--such as being +lost in the woods and eaten up by bears--by assuring her that they +were well acquainted with the road to Uncle Joe's, for they had +traveled it several times before; besides, they had a compass, and it +was impossible to get lost; and, as to the bears, there were very few +of them in the woods, and no bear that ever lived was a match for four +boys, all good marksmen, armed with double-barrel shot-guns, and +assisted by three good dogs. So Mrs. Nelson was obliged to consent, +and the boys started off to see George and Harry. The latter easily +obtained their parents' permission, and the boys adjourned to the +kitchen to talk over their plans. It was decided that two sleds would +carry all their baggage, and that every thing should be ready for the +start early on Monday morning; it was then Friday. After making all +their arrangements, Frank and his cousin returned home, and +immediately commenced working on their sled. A stout hickory sapling, +which they had used in stretching and curing the skin of the deer they +killed in the lake, was sawed in twain for the runners, and bent into +shape by steaming. The braces were then put in, and before dark the +body of the sled was completed. It was light and very strong, and +Archie dragged it about the shop in high glee. + +"It's all done but the box," said he. + +"We don't want any box," said his cousin. "It would only make the sled +heavy, without doing any good. We will get an old quilt or blanket +from mother, and that will do better than a box." + +This article was soon obtained, and fastened to the sled in such a +manner that it could be strapped around the baggage; and just as +Hannah called them to supper, the sled was pronounced ready for the +journey. + +The next day Hannah was kept busy baking biscuit and other provisions +sufficient to last until they reached Uncle Joe's; while the boys +busied themselves in cleaning their guns, sharpening their knives and +axes, and getting every thing ready for the start. + +Time seemed to move on laggard wings, so impatient were they to be +off; but Monday morning came at length, and the boys were stirring +long before daylight. As soon as they had eaten breakfast, the sled +was brought out of the shop, and their baggage--which consisted of a +change of clothes, blankets, ammunition, axes, and provisions--was +strapped on securely. Just as they completed their preparations, +George and Harry came along. Bidding Mrs. Nelson and Julia good-by, +they all started off; and, after a hard day's tramp, encamped at the +place where we now find them. + +After they had finished carrying their baggage into the hut, a lively +scene was presented. Harry sat before the fire, cutting a pair of +leggins out of a finely-dressed deer-skin, which he had spread on the +floor of the hut; George was engaged in arranging their beds; Archie +was in front of the hut, chopping the evening's supply of fire-wood; +and Frank was superintending the cooking of their supper. The dogs lay +stretched out on a blanket, enjoying a quiet nap. + +"There," said Archie, at length, leaning on his ax, and surveying the +pile of wood he had cut; "I guess that will last us through the +night." + +"Yes, that's a plenty," said Frank. "Come, boys, supper is ready!" + +Archie accordingly entered the hut, and, after depositing his ax in a +corner, picked out a warm place by the fire, and commenced helping +himself to the eatables. The meal consisted of squirrels, which had +been roasted on spits before the fire, coffee, and bread and butter. +Their long tramp--they had made about twenty miles since morning--had +sharpened their appetites, and the supper rapidly disappeared. But +there was enough left for the dogs, and after they had been +bountifully fed, and the supper dishes washed, the boys stretched +themselves out on their blankets before the fire. Each seemed to be +occupied with his own thoughts. The sifting of the snow over the roof +of the hut, the crackling of the fire, and an occasional howl of a +wolf, were the only sounds that broke the stillness. At length, Harry +said: + +"Now, boys, this is the kind of a life I enjoy. Doesn't it make a +fellow feel comfortable, to lie here and listen to the storm, and know +that he is securely sheltered? For my part, I don't see how a person +can live cooped up in a city all his life." + +"It is a difficult matter," answered Archie; "for I have tried it, and +profess to know something about it. How many times I have sat in +school, when I had a hard lesson to get, and looked out of the window, +and wished that I was off in the woods somewhere!" + +"Well, you're here at last," said George; "but the only way to pass a +long winter evening is in listening to a good story. Come, Frank, give +us one." + +"Yes," chimed in Harry, "give us something exciting." + +"A hunting adventure," said Archie, "or a fight with the Indians." + +"O, you will hear plenty of such stories when we get to Uncle Joe's," +said Frank. "But I will tell you of an adventure which happened to my +uncle, who was a young lawyer at the time, settled in St. Louis;" and +Frank, after rearranging his blanket commenced as follows: + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +An Unpleasant Companion. + + +"It was one bright evening, in the fall of 18--," said my uncle, "while +I was traveling on horseback through the northern part of Missouri, +that I reined up before a pleasant little tavern, where I purposed to +stop for the night. The landlord, a bustling little Englishman, soon +had supper ready for me, and as I had not eaten a mouthful since +morning, I sat down to it with a most ravenous appetite, and ate until +I began to feel ashamed of myself, and finally stopped, not because I +was satisfied, but because I had eaten every thing on the table, and +did not wish to call for more. As I was rising from the table, the +hostler entered the room, and said: + +"'What be the matter with your 'orse, sir? He be so lame he can 'ardly +walk?' + +"'The matter with my horse!' I repeated; 'there was nothing the matter +with him when I gave him into your charge;' and, in no amiable mood, I +started for the stable. + +"My horse, which was the gift of a deceased friend, was one of the +finest animals I ever saw. I had owned him for more than six years, +during which he had been my almost constant companion; and as I had +neither wife nor child to love, it is no wonder that my affections +clustered around him. I found that he was indeed lame; one of his legs +was swollen to twice its usual size, and it was with great difficulty +that he could move. I was for some time entirely at a loss how to +account for it, and felt very much like giving the hostler, who stood +at a little distance, eyeing me as though he expected a kicking, a +piece of my mind, when I happened to remember that, as I was that +afternoon descending a steep hill, my horse had stepped upon a rolling +stone, and almost thrown me from the saddle; and I noticed that he +limped a little afterward; but I thought it was nothing serious, and +had almost forgotten the circumstance. This I explained, in a few +words, to the hostler, who drew a long breath, as if a mighty load +had been removed from his breast. After rubbing the animal's leg with +some liniment, which I had brought with me, I saw him plentifully fed +and bedded down, and returned to the tavern. After spending an hour +listening to the 'yarns' of the occupants of the bar-room, I went up +to bed, and was soon fast asleep. Near the middle of the night, I was +aroused by loud voices under my window; and, as soon as I was fairly +awake, I found that something unusual was going on. The shrill, +frightened voices of the females mingled with the hoarse ejaculations +of the men, and every thing appeared to be in the greatest confusion. +I sprang out of bed, and after hastily drawing on my clothes, ran down +into the bar-room. + +"'What's the matter, landlord?' I inquired of my host, as he hurried +by me, pale and almost breathless with excitement. + +"'Matter!' he repeated. 'Come and see. Giles Barlow has been around +again, and there is one poor fellow less in the world, I'm afraid.' + +"He led the way to a small bed-room, which opened off the bar-room, +where I found several persons crowded around a bed, on which lay the +form of a man, and a surgeon was engaged in bandaging an ugly-looking +wound, which he had received in his breast. As soon as the operation +was completed, he informed us, in reply to an inquiry of one of the +bystanders, that the wound was dangerous, but that by careful nursing +the man might recover; and ended by requesting us to leave the room, +as much depended on his being kept quiet. We moved back into the +bar-room, and I inquired of one of the men who Giles Barlow was. + +"'Why, don't you know?' he asked, in surprise. 'I thought everybody +had heard of him! I guess you are a stranger in these parts, ain't +you?' + +"I replied in the affirmative. + +"'You must live a good piece from here,' said the man, 'or you would +certainly have heard of Giles Barlow. He is a highwayman, that has +been about here for almost ten years, murdering folks and stealing +their money. He goes on the principle that "dead men tell no tales."' + +"'Why haven't you arrested him before this time?' I inquired. + +"'O, yes,' answered the man, 'that's all easy enough to talk about. +Haven't we tried that game? We've hunted him with rifles, and tracked +him with blood-hounds, but you might as well try to catch a +will-o'-the-wisp.' + +"'What sort of a looking man is he?' I asked. + +"'He's a small man,' answered my informant, 'and looks like a dried-up +mullen-stalk. But, the Lord love you, he's quick as lightning, and +he's got an eye that can look right through a common man. And such +hair! It is long and curly, and looks like snakes stuck on his head. +I've seen him once, and I never want to meet him alone in the woods, +now, I tell you.' + +"I felt some curiosity to know something more of this noted robber, +but before I could ask another question the man had walked away, +shrugging his shoulders, and joined a group of his companions, who +stood in one corner of the room, talking over the matter. + +"After the exciting scenes through which I had just passed, sleep was +of course out of the question; and I stretched myself out on a bench +by the fireplace, and waited impatiently for the morning. It came at +length, and, as was my usual custom, I hurried out to the stable to +look after my horse. I found him much better, but his leg was still +swollen, and I knew that he would not be in good traveling condition +for at least a week. + +"'Landlord,' I exclaimed, as I entered the bar-room, 'where can I hire +a horse for two or three days? I must be in Bennington by day after +to-morrow, and my horse is too lame to travel.' + +"'Well,' said the landlord, 'you are in a nice fix. I don't believe +there is a horse about here you can get.' + +"'I must have one,' I answered, 'for I must be in Bennington as soon +as possible.' + +"'Well, I'll see what I can do for you,' said the landlord, and, going +to the door, he shouted to the hostler, who stood in the stable, +rubbing down my horse, 'Tom, go over to Bill Parker's and see if you +can get his mare. Tell him there's a gentleman here who wants to hire +her for two or three days.' + +"Tom started off immediately, but soon returned with the information +that Mr. Parker had gone off into the country to buy cattle, and would +not return in less than a week. + +"What should I do? I had an important case to attend to in Bennington, +and must be there in time. I was about making up my mind that I would +start off on foot, when the landlord suddenly exclaimed: + +"'I'll tell you what you can do. This creek' (pointing to a wide, deep +stream which flowed by a little distance from the tavern) 'runs within +half a mile of where you want to go; and I guess you might hire Jim +Hilton's boat.' + +"Mr. Hilton's dwelling was pointed out to me, and, in a few moments, I +found my man chopping wood in the yard. I made known my wants. After +rolling his quid about in his mouth, he concluded to let me have the +boat, or rather dugout, provided I would 'do the fair thing' by him. +To this I readily agreed. After giving emphatic directions as to the +treatment of my horse, I stepped into the canoe, and was soon out of +sight of the tavern. I used my paddle with a will, and made good +headway. When I became weary, I would cease paddling, and allow the +canoe to glide along with the current, giving only an occasional +stroke to direct its course. + +"About noon, I began to grow hungry, and turned the canoe's head +toward the shore, to eat my dinner and rest myself, for I had become +very tired from the cramped position in which I was obliged to sit. In +about an hour I made preparations to continue my journey, and was +about pushing the canoe from the shore, when a strong, cheery voice +called out: + +"'Hallo, friend! whither bound?' + +"I looked up, and saw a man, dressed in the garb of a hunter, standing +on the bank above me, leaning on his rifle. + +"'I am going to Bennington,' I replied. + +"'Are you? That's lucky. I am traveling in the same direction. Would +you have any objections to good company?' + +"'No sir,' I replied. 'Come on.' + +"The hunter came down the bank; depositing his rifle and knapsack +carefully in the bow of the canoe, he took up one of the paddles, and +we pulled from the shore. As soon as we got out into the current, I +turned, with some casual remark, to take a nearer look at my +passenger. Merciful Heaven! how I started! He was a small man, +considerably below the medium hight, very slim, but well formed, and +wiry as an eel, and the enormous muscles on his limbs showed plainly +with every motion he made. But his eye! How it flashed! and when he +turned it on me I felt as though he were reading my very thoughts. And +then there were the long 'snaky' ringlets, which the man at the tavern +had described to me. My companion was none other than Giles Barlow, +the highwayman and murderer. + +"You may be sure I was not very well pleased with this discovery, and +the cold sweat started out from every pore of my body; still I did not +feel afraid, for I was accustomed to scenes of danger, was well armed, +and had the reputation of being a tough customer to handle. But the +situation in which I was placed would have tried stronger nerves than +mine. I thrust my hand into my pocket, and felt that my revolvers were +safe. I concluded that, if the worst came to the worst, I could at +least have two pulls at him before he could reach me; and, as I was a +good shot, I had little fear of missing my mark. + +"My companion was a very jolly fellow, and joked and laughed as though +he felt extremely happy, and I, of course, joined with him, keeping a +close watch on all his movements. + +"The afternoon wore slowly away, and as it began to grow dark, I +became doubly watchful, for I knew that if he intended to make an +attempt upon my life, the time was approaching. About nine o'clock my +companion suddenly said, as he wound up one of his stories: + +"'There's no need of both of us sitting up. It's a good forty miles to +Bennington, and we shan't reach it before morning.' + +"'Very well,' said I, 'you may go to sleep first, and I will call you +at midnight.' + +"'O, no,' said he, 'I'm not in the least sleepy; I will steer the +canoe, and you can lie down here in the bow, and sleep as long as you +like.' + +"Of course it would not answer for me to raise any objections to this, +for I knew it would arouse his suspicions; so we changed places, and +the highwayman took his seat in the stern of the canoe. After wrapping +my cloak around me, and placing myself so that I could see every +motion he made, I drew one of my revolvers, and waited impatiently to +see what course things would take. + +"For almost an hour my companion steered the boat very well, and I +began to think that perhaps I had been mistaken in my man, when I saw +him carefully draw in his paddle, muttering, as he did so: + +"'Ah, my chicken, you little thought that you had Giles Barlow for a +passenger. I'll just quietly douse your glim, and take what money and +other little valuables you may have, to pay your traveling expenses to +the other world.' + +"As he spoke, he bent over and drew out of his knapsack a long, +shining bowie-knife, and, after trying its edge with his thumb, rose +slowly to his feet. In an instant, I threw aside my cloak, and, +supporting myself on my elbow, I raised my revolver, and took a quick, +steady aim at his breast. He uttered a cry of surprise, but without +hesitating a moment, threw himself forward. But the sharp report of +the revolver echoed through the woods, and the robber sank back into +the canoe, dead. + +"I arrived at Bennington the next morning about ten o'clock, and +delivered the body to the authorities. The news spread like wildfire, +for the name of Giles Barlow was as familiar as a household word. + +"I prosecuted my case with success, and, in a week, returned to the +place where I had left my horse. He had received excellent care, and +was entirely cured of his lameness; but the landlord stubbornly +refused any remuneration. He had heard of my exploit, and that was his +way of showing his gratitude." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +An Indian Hunt. + + +The next morning, a little after daylight, Frank awoke, and, raising +himself on his elbow, he gazed about him. The storm had ceased, and +the morning was clear and intensely cold. The fire, however, still +burned brightly, for the boys had replenished it several times during +the night. His companions, comfortably wrapped up in their thick +blankets, were sleeping soundly; but Frank thought it was high time +they were stirring, for they had a good twenty miles to travel that +day; so, reaching over, he seized Archie by the shoulder and shook +him. The long tramp of the previous day had wearied the boys +considerably; but with several hearty shakes, Frank succeeded in +getting them all on their feet; then, after washing his hands and +face in the snow, he commenced to prepare their breakfast. + +After a good deal of yawning and stretching, the others began to +bestir themselves; and while Archie cut a supply of wood, with which +to cook their breakfast, George and Harry busied themselves in packing +their baggage on the sleds. As soon as they had eaten breakfast, they +put out the fire, and renewed their journey. + +The traveling was much more difficult than it had been the day before, +for the snow was piled on the ice in deep drifts, and it was dark +before they reached Uncle Joe's cabin. + +As they approached, they were welcomed by the old trapper's dogs, and +Uncle Joe finally appeared at the door. + +"Get out, you whelps!" he exclaimed. "Who's that a comin' there?" he +continued, trying to peer through the darkness. + +"Friends," answered Frank. + +"Jeroomagoot!" ejaculated the old man, who recognized Frank's voice. +"What are you boys doin' out in these woods this time o' night? Come +in--glad to see you any how," and Uncle Joe seized their hands as +they came up, and shook them heartily. "What have you got on them +sleds--your plunder?" + +"Yes," answered Archie. "That's a new way we have got of carrying our +baggage." + +"Fetch it right into the house then, boys;" and, suiting the action to +the word, Uncle Joe seized the sleds and pulled them into the cabin. + +"Bars and buffalers!" exclaimed a voice, as the boys entered. "How de +do youngsters?" and a tall, powerfully built man arose from his chair, +and, striding across the floor, approached the boys. It was Dick +Lewis--Uncle Joe's brother. + +He was a fine specimen of a North American trapper; fully six feet in +hight, with a frame that seemed capable of enduring any amount of +fatigue. Thirty years among savage beasts, and still more savage men, +had brought him in contact with almost every variety of danger. He had +hunted and trapped on every little stream between the Rio Grande and +the Great Bear Lake; had taken more than one rough-and-tumble fight +with Rocky Mountain grizzlies; was very expert with the rifle; could +throw the tomahawk with all the skill of an Indian; and could lasso +and ride the wildest horse that ever roamed the prairie. + +He was a good-natured, jovial fellow, and when stretched out on his +blanket before the cheerful camp-fire, no one delighted more to tell +stories and crack jokes than he. He used to say that there was but one +thing in the world he hated, and that was an Indian. And good cause +had he for enmity; for, if the prairie and the deep, dark woods could +speak, they could tell of many a deed of cruelty which he had seen +practiced upon the unoffending trappers. + +Dick had three times been bound to the stake, once when a mere boy, +and had escaped by making use of his prodigious strength, and almost +incredible swiftness of foot, which had won for him, from the Indians, +the appellation of Big Thunder. + +Of all the trappers, none was more active in punishing the Indians, or +more hated and feared than he. One night, mounted on a powerful, +well-trained mustang, he would appear, in spite of their vigilance, in +their very midst, picking off their favorite chiefs, or "stampeding" +their swiftest horses; and the next morning a warrior, seated at his +solitary camp-fire, fifty miles away, would be startled by the crack +of the rifle that was to start his spirit on its way to the happy +hunting-grounds. He seemed to delight in danger, and being perfectly +acquainted with the Indian mode of warfare, he eluded all the plans to +capture him, with the same skill and cunning he would exhibit in +laying his own. But he did not always escape unhurt, for many an ugly +scar on his body bore evidence to the valor of his enemies, and the +severity of the struggles in which he had engaged. He did not call +Uncle Joe's his home. He had lived on the prairie, and among the +mountains, from boyhood, and despising the ordinary modes of +conveyance used by more enlightened men, he had traveled the entire +distance, from the head-waters of the Missouri to his brother's cabin, +on foot. + +"How are you, youngsters? I say," he exclaimed, continuing his +greeting, which we have so unceremoniously interrupted; and he seized +Frank's hand, and gave it a gripe and a shake, which he felt for a +quarter of an hour afterward. + +"Draw a cheer up to the fire, young'uns," said Uncle Joe, "an' set +down." + +The boys were well acquainted with the trappers, and always made +themselves quite at home with them; so, after brushing the snow from +their feet, they pulled off their overcoats and seated themselves +before the huge fireplace. The cabin--or, as Uncle Joe called it, +"shantee"--was built in the most primitive style, having but one room +and a "loft," to which access was obtained by a ladder. There were +four beds in the room--rude-looking, indeed, but very clean, and +abundantly supplied with quilts and blankets; while around on the +walls hung the trappers' rifles, hunting-knives, and powder-horns. +Three large dogs lay stretched out before the fireplace, and one of +them, a huge, powerful animal, was the only companion Dick had had for +three years. He was an ungainly looking animal, but his strength and +courage had been severely tested in many a desperate encounter, and +twice he had saved his master's life. No wonder, then, that he held a +prominent place in the trapper's affections. The only other inmates of +the cabin were the four hired men--tall, brawny fellows, who despised +the city, with its "eternal jostlings and monotonous noises," but +delighted in the freedom and solitude of the forest. + +"Had any supper, youngsters?" inquired Uncle Joe, as the boys drew +their chairs up to the fire. "No, I reckon not," he continued, without +giving them time to reply. "Bob, just fetch out some grub. I'll bet +the boys are as hungry as wolves, after their long tramp." + +The boys did not raise any objections, for they _were_ hungry, and +they knew that the supper they would get would be worth having. + +Bob, who was one of the hired men, began to bustle about, and, after +hanging the tea-kettle over the fire, he drew out a pine table, and +covered it with a snow-white cloth, and dishes which shone in the +fire-light in a manner that would have delighted a New England +housewife. Then came ham and eggs, which, with the coffee, were cooked +in the fireplace, wheat-bread, honey, and fresh butter and milk. +Although they were forty miles from any settlement or neighbor, in the +midst of an almost unbroken forest, there was no danger but what they +would fare well, for Uncle Joe was famous for good living. + +The boys ate very heartily, and Uncle Joe sat by, smoking his pipe, +and watching them with evident satisfaction. After supper, while they +were engaged in unpacking their sleds, Dick's dog, which answered to +the name of Useless, arose suddenly to his feet, looked toward the +door for a moment, and uttered a dismal howl. + +"Injuns ag'in, by all that's miserable," ejaculated Dick, removing his +pipe from his mouth, and instinctively reaching toward his rifle, +which hung on the wall above his head; but instantly recollecting +himself, he resumed his former position, while a dark scowl settled on +his face. In a few moments, light steps sounded in the snow outside +the cabin, and Useless bounded toward the door barking, and showing +his teeth, with every demonstration of rage. + +"Come back here, dog," said Dick; "I don't blame you, 'cause they are +a mean, thievin' race. The animal understands their natur' as well as +I do," he continued, as the dog reluctantly returned to his place. "Me +an' him war brought up to hate Injuns, an' we believe in makin' war on +'em wherever we find 'em. It's a mighty wonder that they don't steal +Joe out o' house an' home." + +The country around Moosehead Lake was inhabited by the remnant of a +once-powerful tribe, and the Indians, in going to and from the +settlements to dispose of their furs, frequently made Uncle Joe's +cabin a stopping-place. Dick was not at all pleased with this state of +affairs; but, as he often remarked, he was not "boss of the shantee, +and couldn't help himself." + +The footsteps drew nearer, and finally the door opened softly, and two +Indians entered. + +"How are you, Jim," exclaimed Uncle Joe, shaking the outstretched hand +of the foremost. + +"How de do, brother," replied the Indian, in imperfect English; and +this was all the greeting that passed between them. They deposited +their rifles and packs carefully in one corner of the cabin, and then +advanced to the fire, and seated themselves on the floor without +saying a word. They were dressed in the regular Indian costume, with +leggins, moccasins, and hunting-shirts of the finest deer-skin, +gaudily ornamented, and wore knives in their belts. Such sights were +not new to the boys, for Lawrence was a regular Indian trading-post. +Frank thought that he had never seen such fine specimens of savages +before. But different thoughts seemed to be passing through Dick's +mind, for he twisted uneasily in his chair, and smoked and scowled +more vigorously than ever. Useless seated himself by his master's +side, and watched them as closely as a cat ever watched a mouse, now +and then uttering a low, angry growl. Neither of the Indians took part +in the conversation that followed, but, after emptying their pipes, +they spread their blankets out on the floor, and were fast asleep in a +few moments. + +"I don't see what in tarnation you let them ar painted heathen camp in +your shantee in this way for," said Dick, at length, addressing +himself to his brother. "The woods are open, an' they won't ketch cold +by sleepin' out-doors." + +"O, I don't mind it," answered Uncle Joe. "Me an' the Injuns allers +have been on good terms together." + +"Wal, you'll wake up some mornin' an' find your shantee gone," said +Dick, "unless it is fastened down tarnation tight. I hate the rascals +wusser nor pisen, an' I allers ache to begin a knock-down-an'-drag-out +fight with 'em whenever I see 'em. Now, Useless," he continued, +turning to his dog, and speaking as though the animal could understand +every word he said, "I'm goin' to bed, an' I want you to keep an eye +on them fellers;" and Dick stretched his heavy frame out on one of +the beds, while Useless crawled under the blankets, and lay down +beside him. The others soon followed his example, and, in a few +moments, nothing was heard in the cabin but the regular breathing of +the sleepers. + +The next morning the boys slept later than usual. When they awoke, +they found Bob engaged in getting breakfast. The Indians had gone. +According to their usual custom, they had resumed their journey at the +first peep of day. Dick sat by the fire, engaged in looking over his +"plunder," as he called it, to see if any thing had been stolen. + +"Wal," said Uncle Joe, as they arose from the breakfast-table, "what +do you youngsters kalkerlate to do first?" + +"Let's go and set our traps for foxes," said Archie, who was +particularly fond of hunting that kind of game, and had become quite +proficient in the art. + +"Wal," said Dick, "I'll go with you. I have some traps that need +'tendin' to;" and the trapper took down his long rifle and thrust his +never-failing pipe into his pocket, and was ready for the start. + +Archie began to overhaul his traps, which had been piled in one corner +of the cabin. He looked them over and over several times, and finally +inquired: + +"Frank, do you know what has become of all my fox traps? Three of them +are missing." + +"They ought to be in that pile with the others," answered Frank. + +"There are only two of them here," said Archie. "My best ones are +gone; I'm afraid we have lost them. They must have got loose, and +tumbled off the sled." + +"No, I guess not," said his cousin; "they were all there last night, +for I counted them." + +"That ar is what comes of allowin' them Injuns to camp here," said +Dick. + +"Jeroomagoot!" ejaculated Uncle Joe. "You don't s'pose them Injuns +stole the traps, do you?" + +"Sartin, I do," answered Dick, dropping the butt of his rifle heavily +to the floor. "I don't s'pose nothin' else." + +"Wal, it's the first thing I ever had stole," said Uncle Joe. + +"Thar's whar the traps have gone to, any how," said Dick. "Useless," +he continued, turning to his dog, "you aint worth a pinch o' +gunpowder. I told you to watch them fellers. I don't see how the +rascals could do it, for if Useless had seed one of 'em prowlin' +around, he would have muzzled him quicker nor lightnin'. If you want +your traps, youngsters, you'll have to foller them Injuns. I'll go +with you." + +"Will you," exclaimed Archie. "Then, let's start right off." + +"Wal, then," said the trapper, "pull off them overcoats, 'cause it +'ill be the hardest job you ever done to ketch them Injuns." + +There was something novel and exciting in the idea of a chase after +Indians. The boys had often read of such things, and now there was an +opportunity for them to take part in one. They were soon ready for the +chase. Shouldering their guns, they followed Dick from the cabin, and +immediately set out on the trail of the Indians, which could be easily +followed by the prints of their moccasins in the snow. All the dogs +were left at home, except Useless; for he was the only one that +understood "Injun hunting," and the others would only be in the way. +The trail ran directly down to the creek, and as soon as they were +fairly on the ice, the trapper broke into a "dog trot," and the boys +followed close behind him, in Indian file. After going a little way, +Frank said: + +"Dick, I don't believe that both of those Indians went this way." + +"Why not?" inquired the trapper. + +"Because there is only a single track, such as one person would make." + +"I guess you haven't hunted Injuns much," said Dick, with a laugh. +"Don't you know that when they are travelin', the hindermost ones step +exactly in the leader's tracks? If fifty Injuns had been along here, +they would not have left a bigger trail nor those two have. But arter +you have hunted and fit 'em as much as I have, you could tell by +lookin' at a trail how many there was in the party. I hope you +youngsters are good at runnin'." + +"We should not care about running a race with you," answered George; +"but if you will hold this gait, we will agree to keep up with you." + +"O, you'll have to go faster nor this, if you want to ketch them +Injuns," said Dick. "See here--here's where the rascals began to run." + +"How can you tell?" inquired Archie. + +"Why, easy enough. You see the tracks are further apart nor they wur a +little piece back. Come, youngsters! let out a little." + +The boys thought that Dick "let out" a good deal, for he almost +redoubled his pace, and they concluded it was best to discontinue +their talking; for they soon found that they had no breath to waste. +After they had gone about two miles, the trail led them from the creek +off into the woods; and, in a few moments, the trapper came to a +stand-still on the bank of a small stream, where the trail abruptly +ended. + +"Where did they go to?" inquired Frank, after he had looked in vain +for the trail. "They couldn't have jumped across the creek." + +"No;" answered the trapper, "that would be a better jump nor I ever +saw made. We must go back." + +"What for?" asked George. + +"Why, the thieves knowed that we would foller 'em, an' they have +doubled on their trail, just like a fox." + +"The tracks all point the same way," said Frank, stooping down and +examining the trail. + +"In course they do," said Dick. "You don't s'pose you can tell by the +looks of a red-skin's track which way he is goin', do you? I have +knowed 'em to travel backward for more 'n a mile, to throw their +enemies off the scent. But we hain't got no time to waste. Come on." + +The boys followed the trapper back to the creek, and he immediately +started off again at a rapid pace. There was not the least sign of a +trail, and they were at a loss how to account for the trapper's +reasons for following the creek, when he knew that the trail ran back +into the woods. At length he said, by way of explanation: + +"This is takin' a short cut on the Injuns. You see, they went back +into the woods, an' doubled an' twisted about on their trail, an' when +they think they have fooled us nicely, they will come back to the +creek again." + +The next two miles were passed over in silence. The boys could not +have talked if they had wished to, for the rapid pace was telling on +them severely, and they began to think that they had never known what +running was. But the trapper did not seem to mind it in the least. His +motions were easy and graceful, and he appeared to move along without +making any exertion whatever. They ran until almost noon, without +seeing any signs of the Indians, and the boys began to think that the +trapper had been mistaken in his calculations. But their doubts were +soon removed by the finding of the trail. + +"Hurry on now, youngsters," exclaimed Dick; "but don't make too much +noise, for the redskins aint far off." + +And so it proved; for the next bend in the creek brought them in sight +of the Indians, who were walking leisurely along, with their packs on +their backs, thinking, no doubt, that they had effectually eluded +pursuit. But they soon became aware of the approach of the hunters, +and, without stopping to look back, they commenced running at the top +of their speed. + +"Bars an' buffalers!" exclaimed the trapper. "This is somethin' like +ole times. Now, youngsters, I'll show you some runnin' as is runnin'. +Come, Useless, show us what you're made of." + +The dog seemed to understand him perfectly, and was off on the +instant, and the trapper followed after him at a rate of speed which +the boys had never expected to see accomplished by a human being. The +creek, for almost a mile, was perfectly straight, and afforded them a +fine view of the race, which was worth going miles to see. The Indians +were no inferior runners; and, as they had nearly three hundred yards +the start of Dick, the boys were doubtful as to the manner in which +the chase would end. But the trapper had lost none of that lightness +of foot which had rendered him so famous, both among friends and foes, +and before they had gone half a mile, he was near enough to seize one +of the Indians, while Useless pulled down the other as though he had +been a deer. + +The boys had been doing their best; but, of course, were left far +behind; and when they came up they found the Indians standing as +motionless as statues, apparently perfectly unconcerned, and the +trapper and his dog were keeping guard over them. + +"Now, little 'un," said Dick, addressing himself to Archie, and +pointing to the packs which the Indians had thrown down, "look in +them ar bundles an' see if you can find your traps." + +Archie accordingly handed his gun to his cousin, and, kneeling down in +the snow, opened one of the packs, when the first thing he discovered +was his missing property. He arose slowly to his feet, and surveying +the Indian to whom the pack belonged, with a comical expression on his +face, said: + +"You're a grand rascal. I've a good notion to take the ramrod out of +my gun and give you a good trouncing." + +The Indian was a man fully as large as Dick, very powerfully built, +and muscular; while Archie was a little, "spindle-shanked" fellow, +very small for his age, and looked as though he were in danger of +being carried away by the first gust of wind that passed. The former, +after regarding the diminutive hunter for a moment, with an expression +of contempt, drew himself up to his full hight, and ejaculated: + +"Ugh! me big Injun." + +He, no doubt, considered it a gross insult that a person of Archie's +proportions should talk of "trouncing" him. + +"Wal," said the trapper, "we're done with you, you painted niggers; +travel on about your business; but I wouldn't advise you to cross my +trail, in these woods, this winter;" and Dick tapped his rifle in a +very significant manner. + +The savages raised their packs to their shoulders without making any +reply, and walked off as though nothing had happened. As soon as they +were out of sight, Archie packed up his traps, and the hunters turned +their faces homeward. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE "OLE SETTLER". + + +It was dark before they reached the cabin, but they found a good +supper waiting for them. After they had eaten heartily, they drew +their chairs up around the fireplace, and Uncle Joe inquired: + +"Wal, youngsters, how do you like Injun-huntin'?" + +"I don't believe we like it well enough to try it again," said Harry. +"I never was so completely tired out in my life." + +"O, that wasn't nothin' at all," said Dick. "Such Injun-huntin' as +that we had to-day is fun. What would you have thought if we had +follered them thieves for a week afore we found 'em? But, I must say, +that you youngsters done very well. I'll own up, that when we +started, I thought I would see what sort o' stuff you wur made of; an' +I thought I'd stretch your legs for you in a way that would make you +give in. But you fellers are purty good shakes at runnin', for boys of +your age. But this reminds me o' a scrape I onct had near the Colorado +River. Do yer see this? If you can ketch as many grizzly bars in your +lifetime as this trap has, you are smarter nor I think you are. This +is what I call the 'Ole Settler!'" + +And, as the trapper spoke, he raised from the floor the object of his +admiration, and held it up to the view of the boys. It was an ordinary +bear-trap, with double springs, and huge jaws, which were armed with +long, sharp teeth. It had received a thorough rubbing and greasing, +and shone in the fire-light like silver; but, after all, there was +nothing uncommon in its appearance. There were plenty of traps in the +cabin that were quite as well made, and could, probably, do quite as +much execution. In the trapper's mind, however, the "Ole Settler" was +evidently associated with some exciting event. + +"The reason why I call this trap the 'Ole Settler'" continued Dick, +"is, 'cause it has been in the service so long. My gran'father bought +it, when he war only a boy, of a Mexikin trader, an' he give two +ten-dollar bar-skins for it. When he got too ole to trap, he give it +to my father, an' he give it to me. It has been stole from me a good +many times; but I allers made out to get it back agin. Onct a +yaller-hided Mexikin Greaser bagged it, an' I didn't set eyes on it +for more 'n a year; but I knowed it in a minit when I did see it; an', +arter a little brush with the Greaser, I made him give it up. The last +time I lost it war while I war trappin' in Utah. It war stole from me +by a Blackfoot Injun; and the way it happened war this: + +"I allers had the name of bein' able to bring into market jest as +many an' jest as fine furs as any trapper in the mountains. But I +had a good many good trappers to go agin, and arter awhile my +huntin'-grounds begun to give out; so, one summer, I packed my +plunder, an' moved to the west side of the mountains. I war right in +the heart of the Pawnee region, the wust Injun country in the world; +but I kalkerlated to get all my trappin' done arly in the spring, an' +move out; 'cause as soon as the ice breaks up in the spring, the +red-skins allers come round on a grand hunt, an' I didn't care to have +the rascals near me. I never yet see the Injun that I war afeared of, +but it's mighty onpleasant to have them around; they go screechin' +through the woods, shootin' at a feller, when he can't see 'em, an' +steal his traps an' other plunder in a mighty onfriendly way. + +"Wal, in less than a week arter I got to my new quarters, I war +settled. I had all my traps sot in the best places, an' had mighty +good luck. The streams war full of beaver, otter, an' mink, an' I used +to have a fight with the grizzlies in the mountains every day. In this +way the winter passed; an' about the time that spring come, I had +well-nigh trapped every thing in the valley. It war gettin' about time +for the Injuns to come round on their reg'lar hunts; so one mornin,' +arter a good breakfast on buffaler hump, I started out an' begun to +gather up my traps. A'most every one had some kind o' game in it, an' +I soon got as big a load as I could wag under. So I started back for +camp. I war goin' along mighty keerless like, an' wasn't thinkin' o' +nothin', when all to onct I seed something that made me prick up my +ears, an' step a little lighter. I see that something had been +passin' through the bushes. You, in course, wouldn't have noticed it, +but I knowed in a minit that an Injun had been along; an', arter +lookin' around a little, I found his track. It wasn't a Pawnee; but, +arter examinin' the trail, I found that it war a Blackfoot. What one +of them should be doin' so far from home I didn't know, but most +likely he war layin' around for scalps. + +"'Wal,' thinks I, 'Dick Lewis, you had better be lookin' out for them +traps o' yourn;' so I hid my spelter in the bushes, an' started up +toward the mountains. I had sot the Ole Settler the day before, to +ketch a grizzly that had been botherin' me a good deal, an' I war +afeared the Injun would come acrost it an' bag it. I saw plenty of +Injun signs all the way, but the tracks had all been made by the same +feller. I could see, by the way the rascal had moved, that he knowed I +war in the valley; for he took mighty good care to cover up his trail +as much as possible. Arter a few minits' walk, I come to the place +where I had set the Ole Settler; but, just as I had expected, the trap +war gone. The Blackfoot had been there afore me, an' I knowed that if +I wanted my trap, I must look for it; an' I made up my mind that I +did want it, an' that I would have it, if I had to foller the Injun +clar to his home. So I started arter him, an', for a mile or so, the +trail was toler'ble plain, an' I got along first-rate. I made up my +mind that if the thief got away from me he would have to be smarter +nor I thought he war. But, at last, I come to where he had tuk to a +swamp, an' two or three times I come mighty nigh losin' the trail. The +swamp war full o' logs, an' the Injun had walked on them, an', in +course, he didn't leave no trail. I follered him more 'n a mile by the +marks on the bushes, an' finally I couldn't see a single sign. There +war the print of one of his moccasins in the mud as plain as daylight; +an' there the trail ended. I couldn't tell which way the rascal had +gone. I looked around, examinin' every bush an' twig, but it war no +use. Now, I s'pose you think I war beat at the Injun's own game, don't +you? Wal, I wasn't. In course, I couldn't find the trail in the swamp; +but I knowed which way the Blackfoot war goin', an' if I crossed the +swamp, I knowed that I would find it on the other side. So I started +out, an' as it war gettin' late, I wanted to find the trail agin +afore dark. I guess I made purty good time. I done my best, an' the +way I got through that swamp war a thing to look at. The runnin' you +see to-day wasn't a patchin' to the runnin' I done that night. But I +tuk mighty good care to keep my ears open, an' to make no more noise +than I could help; for, just as like as not, there war Injuns in the +swamp, an' one of 'em might take it into his head to send a chunk of +lead into me when I couldn't see him. + +"About an hour afore dark, I reached the other side of the swamp; an' +in less nor ten minits more I had found the trail, and wur follerin' +it up as fast as my legs could carry me. But afore I had gone a mile +it begun to grow dark. In course, I couldn't foller the trail no +further; an' the only thing I could do, war to camp down where I war, +an' wait for daylight. So, arter makin' my supper out o' parched corn, +I picked out a nice place by the side of a log, and settled myself +down to sleep. + +"The next mornin', bright and arly, I war up, an' on the trail agin. I +follered it all day, without onct stoppin' or losin' sight of it, an' +about night it begun to grow fresher; but it came on dark agin, and I +had to camp. Long about midnight I heerd a sort of rustlin' like in +the bushes. I war wide awake in a minit; for a feller that lives in +the woods larns to keep his ears about him. I lifted my head an' +listened. Yes, thar war no mistake--I could hear something steppin' +keerfully over the leaves, an' I thought it war comin' right toward +me. At first I thought it war some wild varmint; but, as it come +nigher, I found that it war a two-legged critter; so I cocked my rifle +an' waited for the Injun--for I knowed by the step that it war a +red-skin--to come in sight. The steps sounded nigher an' nigher, an' +all to onct the bushes parted without any noise, an' out come the +biggest Blackfoot that it ever war my luck to set eyes on. He didn't +seem to know that me an' my rifle war around; if he had, I reckon it +wouldn't have made him feel very pleasant; but he walked past, within +ten foot of me, an' disappeared in the darkness. + +"Now, perhaps you would like to know why I didn't up and shoot him. +Wal, I'll tell you. That would have jest knocked the hul thing in the +head, an' I should have had all my trouble for nothin'. I knowed that +the Injun that stole my trap wasn't a great way off, and I knowed, +too, that the feller that jest passed war a sort of friend of his'n, +an' that they war goin' to meet somewhere in the woods close by. So I +thought that perhaps, if I took matters easy, I could rub out both of +the rascals. + +"As soon as the Injun wur out o' hearin', I picked myself up, an' +started along arter him, purty certain that before long I would come +in sight of their camp-fire; an' I wasn't mistaken I hadn't gone half +a mile afore I see a light shinin' through the trees; an' droppin' on +all-fours, I begun to crawl along through the bushes, until I come to +a place where I had a full view of the fire. As I had expected, there +war two Injuns settin' by it. One of them--the one that had just +passed me--war eaten' his supper, an' the other lay stretched out on +his blanket, and war showin' his friend the trap he had stole from me; +an' they war both laughin' over it, as though they thought it war a +mighty good joke. This kinder riled me, an' I knowed that I could soon +put an end to their skylarkin'. I might have shot one of them where he +sot easy enough, but that wouldn't do, for the other would have +escaped, an' I wanted to make sure of both of 'em. I wasn't fool +enough to think of walkin' into their camp an' tacklin' both of 'em to +onct; they would have made an end of me in the shake of a buck's tail. +The only way I could work it war to get 'em apart, an' take 'em one at +a time. So I dropped my rifle an' drawed my knife, an' gave two loud +yells, which war a signal to let the Injuns know that one of 'em war +wanted. They both sprang to their feet an' listened for a moment, an' +one of 'em--the one that had stole my trap--picked up his rifle and +come toward me; an' the other went on eatin' his supper. + +"I waited until the Injun had come within ten foot of me, then all to +onct I stepped out from behind my tree an' stood before him. Bar an' +buffaler! how the rascal started! He looked at me for a minit, as if +to make sure that I war a human critter, an' then, givin' an unarthly +yell, he dropped his rifle, an' made at me with his tomahawk. But I +met him half way, an' ketchin' hold of the hand that held the +tomahawk, I give him a stab with my knife that settled his business +for him. He fell to the ground like a log, an' I had hardly time to +grab my rifle afore I seed the big Injun comin' toward me. But he +hadn't made more'n two steps, afore a chunk of lead brought him to the +ground. + +"I then walked up to the camp, and stretched myself out on one of the +Injuns' blankets; and arter makin' a good supper on a piece of venison +I found hung up on a tree close by, I covered myself up, an' in a few +minits war fast asleep. + +"The next mornin' I war up bright an' arly, an' pickin' up my trap, +an' all the Injuns' plunder I wanted, I drew a bee-line for camp. In +another day I had gathered up all the rest of my traps, without seein' +any more Injun signs; but I knowed they would soon be around. As I +didn't care about bein' in their company, an' as game war gettin' +scarce, I tumbled all my spelter into my canoe, an' started down the +river." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +The Fight in the Woods. + + +The next morning, after breakfast, the trapper took down his long +rifle, saying, as he did so: + +"Now, youngsters, I'm goin' off into the woods, about twenty mile or +so, to camp out for a week, an' see if I can't find some otter. If you +want good sport, you had better go, too. The game is gettin' too +scarce around here to suit me." + +The boys readily agreed to this proposal, and began to talk of packing +their sleds; but the trapper scouted the idea. + +"You'll never larn to be what I call woodsmen," said he, "until you +get rid of some of your city notions. You must larn to tote all your +plunder on your backs. Just fill your possible-sacks[1] with coffee +and bread; take plenty of powder an' shot, a change of clothes, an ax +or two, an' some blankets, and that's all you need." + +[Footnote 1: Haversack.] + +These simple preparations were soon completed, and, after bidding +Uncle Joe good-by, they set out, accompanied by their dogs. + +Dick carried the "Old Settler," and had his blanket strapped fast to +his belt. Frank and George each carried an ax. Archie had several of +his fox-traps, which he could not think of leaving behind; and Harry +brought up the rear, carrying a large bundle of blankets. Besides +these necessary articles, the boys carried their shot-guns, and the +trapper his long rifle. + +Dick led the way directly up the creek, following the same course they +had taken the day before in pursuit of the Indians, for about ten +miles, and then struck off into the woods. About noon they halted in a +little grove of evergreens, and the trapper said: + +"We'll camp here for awhile, youngsters, an' eat our dinner." + +The boys were very glad to hear this; for, strong and active as they +were, they found that they were no match for Dick in traveling. +Archie and George leaned their guns up against a tree, took the axes, +and commenced to clear away a place where they could build a fire. + +"Now," said the trapper, turning to the others, "we'll leave them here +to 'tend to the camp, an' make a good cup of coffee for us agin we +come back, an' the rest of us will take a tramp through the woods, an' +see what we can get for dinner. Take different directions now, so as +to scare up more game." + +The boys immediately set out as directed, each accompanied by his dog. +Brave ran on ahead of his master, beating about through the bushes, +but not a rabbit or squirrel showed himself. But Frank kept on, taking +good care to remember the points of the compass, determined that he +would not go back to the camp empty-handed. At length Brave's +well-known bark caused him to start forward at a more rapid pace, and +the next moment he heard some heavy animal crashing through the +underbrush, just in advance of him, at a tremendous rate. The woods +were so thick that Frank could not see the game, but the angry yelping +of the dog told him that it was being closely pursued. Guided by the +noise they made, he followed after them as fast as his legs could +carry him, keeping a sharp look-out on all sides, for he did not know +but that it might be a bear which the dog had started. He remembered +his meeting with the wild-cat, but felt no fear now, for he had his +trusty gun in his hand, heavily loaded with buck-shot, and knew, from +experience, that, at short range, it was a very efficient weapon. His +first care was to find the trail which the game had made, and, upon +examination, he found that Brave had started, not a bear, but several +moose. He knew their tracks in a moment, for he had often seen them in +the woods; but he could not tell how many of them there were, for +their trails crossed each other in every direction. He had never had +the fortune to meet one of these animals, and his feelings were worked +up to the highest pitch of excitement by the discovery. He started +forward again at the top of his speed. The rapid pace of the game soon +carried all sounds of the chase out of hearing; but Frank had no +difficulty in following the trail. He had run nearly a mile, when the +angry yelps of the dog sounded through the woods in fiercer and more +abrupt echoes. Frank hurried forward, and soon came in sight of the +game. The moose--a huge bull, with wide-spreading antlers--was +standing at bay, and the dog was bounding around him, watching an +opportunity to seize him, but was met at every point. Now and then the +moose would lower his head, and rush upon his enemy, but the latter +nimbly kept out of his way. + +Frank did not pause long to witness the battle, but immediately ran +forward, holding his gun in readiness for a shot. The moose, upon +discovering him, suddenly wheeled, and started off at a rapid trot. +The snow in that part of the woods was nearly three feet deep, and was +covered with a crust strong enough to sustain the hunter and his dog, +but the moose sank into it at every step, and his trail could be +easily traced by the blood which was running from numerous wounds on +his legs, made by the sharp crust. He ran heavily, and Frank, who was +exerting himself to his utmost, had the satisfaction of finding that +he was gaining on him. Brave easily kept pace with him and finally +succeeded in bringing the moose at bay again. This was what Frank +wanted. Just as the deer was about to make a charge upon the dog, he +fired, and the huge animal tumbled to the ground. The young hunter ran +forward, intending to give him the contents of the other barrel, but, +before he could fire, the moose staggered to his feet, and +disregarding the attacks of the dog, which were renewed with redoubled +fierceness and vigor, rushed straight upon the hunter, and bore him to +the ground. + +In falling, Frank lost his gun. The enraged animal pressed upon the +young hunter, burying his antlers in the snow on each side of him, +holding him fast to the ground. Frank gave himself up for lost; but he +determined that he would not yield his life without a struggle. He was +unarmed, and the contest must be one of strength and endurance. Before +the moose could draw back to make another charge upon him, Frank +seized him by the antlers, and clung to them with all his strength. +Brave seemed to understand the perilous situation in which his master +was placed, and fought more furiously than ever. But the moose, +although severely wounded by the teeth of the dog, did not appear to +notice him in the least, but struggled desperately to free himself +from the young hunter's grasp. Frank was dragged about through the +snow, and pressed down into it, until his clothing was almost reduced +to tatters; and he was severely wounded by the sharp crust and the +hoofs of the enraged deer, which cut through his garments like a +knife. It required all his strength to retain his hold. He did not +seem to be in the least frightened; but the manner in which he clung +to the moose, and cheered on the dog, showed that he well knew the +danger of his situation. But he was growing weaker every moment, while +the moose appeared to be growing proportionately stronger, and his +struggles became more furious and determined. Frank knew that the +animal would soon succeed in freeing himself, and then----. It was a +horrible thought! + +At this moment he heard the noise of approaching feet on the crust, +and a voice exclaimed, "Bars and buffaler! Hang on to the creetur jest +a minute longer, youngster! Take 'em, dog! take 'em!" And the next +instant a dark object bounded lightly over him, and commenced a +furious battle with the moose. Benumbed and exhausted, Frank could +hold out no longer. As the moose tore himself from his grasp, the +young hunter saw him pulled to the ground by the trapper's dog, and +then a mist gathered before his eyes, and he sank back on the snow +insensible. + +When his consciousness returned, he found himself in a +rudely-constructed hut, lying in front of a blazing fire, and so +tightly wrapped up in blankets that he could scarcely breathe. Dick +sat in one corner of the hut, smoking his pipe, and gazing vacantly +into the fire. Brave lay stretched out by his master's side, with his +head resting on his shoulder, gazing into his face with every +expression of concern. As soon as Frank opened his eyes, the faithful +animal announced the fact by a joyful bark, which brought all the boys +into the hut. + +"How do you feel, Frank?" inquired Archie, whose pale face showed that +he had more than a common interest in his cousin's well-being. + +"O! I'm all right," answered Frank, in a weak voice. "But you've got +me bundled up so tight I can hardly breathe. I wish you would take a +dozen or two of these blankets off." + +"No, you don't," said Dick, as the boys crowded up around Frank. "I +believe I've got the bossin' of this yere job. Here," he continued, as +he arose from his seat and approached his patient, "drink this;" and +he raised Frank from his blankets with one hand, and, with the other, +held to his lips a cup containing some of the most bitter stuff he had +ever drank. The young hunter made wry faces over it, but succeeded in +draining the cup. "Now," resumed Dick, "lay down agin an' go to sleep. +Shut up! No back talk!" he continued, as Frank essayed to speak. "You +musn't talk till I say you may;" and the rough but kind-hearted +trapper laid him back on his bed, and, drawing the blankets more +closely about him, left him to his meditations. + +He soon fell off into a refreshing slumber; and when he awoke it was +dark, and his companions were seated around the fire, eating their +supper. + +"Wal, youngster," said Dick, "how do you feel now?" + +"O! I'm much better," answered Frank; "and hungry as blazes. Won't you +give a fellow some thing to eat?" + +"In course," said Dick; and he brought Frank some pieces of toast and +a cup of coffee. + +"I don't like your style of doctoring a bit," said Frank, as the +trapper carefully removed the blankets with which his patient was +enveloped. "The remedies you use are worse than the disease. You've +kept me wrapped up so tight that I am sore all over." + +"I shouldn't wonder," said the trapper, laughing heartily; "but that +doesn't come of bein' wrapped up in the blankets. You war purty well +chawed up when me an' Useless diskivered you." + +Dick raised Frank to a sitting posture, and, in spite of his +objections, once more drew the blankets about him, allowing him, +however, the free use of his arms; and the young hunter soon +discovered that he was not quite so well as he had imagined, for sharp +pains shot through his body, and he was so weak he could scarcely sit +up. + +"I believe I had something of a fight with that moose, didn't I?" he +inquired, as he broke off a piece of the toast. + +"I believe you did, judging from the looks of your clothes," answered +Harry, as he laid down his plate, and took from a peg in one corner of +the hut all that remained of Frank's garments. + +The coat and pants were torn almost into shreds, and covered with +blood, and the sole of one of his boots had been pulled off by the +sharp hoofs of the deer. Brave had also suffered severely, judging +from the bloody bandages that he wore. + +"It was a narrow escape, wasn't it?" said Frank, as he gazed in +astonishment at his tattered garments. + +"Yes, indeed," said Archie; "I shouldn't have cared about being in +your boots just then. How you ever made out to get out of those +clothes alive, is more than I can tell." + +"It war a careless trick," said Dick, "tacklin' that animal in that ar +way. You ought to knowed better." + +"Well, we got the moose, didn't we?" inquired Frank. + +"Yes," answered George, chewing away at a large piece of meat; "and we +are eating him up as fast as we can." + +As soon as Frank had finished his toast and coffee, he was glad to lie +down again, for he was still very weak from the loss of blood. The +others, after putting away the supper-dishes, replenished the fire, +and stretched themselves out on their blankets. + +"How do you feel now, youngster?" asked the trapper, as he drew a +brand from the fire and lit his pipe. + +"O! I guess I shall get along." + +"It's a'most time for you to take some more of your medicine." + +"I don't care about taking any more of it," answered Frank. "It's the +meanest stuff I ever tasted." + +"It's Injun medicine," answered the trapper, as he sank back on his +blanket, and puffed away vigorously at his pipe. "I remember," he +continued, after a few moments' pause, "of doctorin' up my chum, Bill +Lawson, an' that war the way me an' him come to get acquainted. But he +war used to Injun doctorin', and didn't growl as much as you do. I've +heered him tell of that scrape a hundred times; an' he used to tell it +in this way: + +"'The way me an' Dick Lewis come to get together,' he used to say, +'war this. I war onct trappin' among the mountains on a little stream +called Muddy Creek. It war about the wust bit of Injun country in the +world; but they didn't bother me, an' I tuk mighty good care not to +meddle with their corn an' beans, an' for a long time I had jest the +best kind of luck in trappin'. Beaver were plenty as black flies in +summer, an' the woods war chuck full o' otter, an' the mountains of +grizzly bars an' black-tails, so I had plenty to do. + +"'I had made my camp in the woods, about a mile back from the creek +where I war trappin', so as not to skeer away the game. Beaver is +mighty skeery animals, an' don't like to have a feller trampin' around +them all the while; and when a man sets a trap, he musn't go to it +agin afore arly the next mornin', for if he does, the game soon gets +mighty shy, an' the first thing the trapper knows, he'll have to hunt +somewhere else for beaver. You see I knowed all this, an' so kept out +of their way. I got along first-rate, until arly in the spring, jest +as the ice begun to break up, an' hadn't seed nothin' of the Injuns. +But one mornin', while I war on my way to 'tend to my traps, I seed +the prints of some moccasins, where three or four fellers had crossed +the creek. I knowed in a minit, from the looks of them, that they +wasn't white fellers' tracks; so I begun to prick up my ears an' look +around me a little. I examined the trail agin, an' I knowed there +could be no mistake. The Comanches had been along there, sure. I begun +beatin' keerfully around through the bushes, for I didn't know but +that the tarnal red-skins war watchin' me all the time; when all to +onct I come acrost another trail, which war as different from the +first as a muskrat is different from a grizzly. It war a white +feller's track. The tracks looked as though he had been crawlin' along +on his hands an' knees, an' onct in awhile I could see the place where +the butt of his rifle had trailed on the ground. I knowed in a minit +that the white hunter, whoever he war, had been follerin' up the +Injuns. + +"'"Wal," thinks I, "Bill Lawson, you had better keep an eye out for +them traps o' yourn." So I begun to draw a bee-line through the woods +toward the place where I had sot one o' my traps, keepin' my gun ready +to put a chunk of lead into the first thing in the shape of an Injun +that I should see. But instead o' goin' up to my trap in the way I +generally did, I went round so as to come up on the other side. Purty +soon I begun to come near the place where the trap was sot; so I +dropped down on all-fours, an' commenced to crawl through the thick +brush. I knowed I should have to be mighty keerful, for an Injun has +got ears like a painter, an' he allers keeps 'em open, too. Wal, purty +soon I poked my head over a log, an' peeked through the bushes; an' +what do you think I seed? There war my trap, with a big beaver in it, +ketched fast by the hind leg; an' right behind some big trees that +stood near the trap war three Injuns, listenin', an' watchin', an' +waitin' for me to come an' get my game. + +"'"That's the way you painted heathen watch for a white gentleman, is +it," thinks I; "I'll fix some o' you." So I drawed my knife an' +tomahawk, an' laid them on the ground beside me, an' then, arter +examinin' my rifle to see that it war all right, I drawed a bead on +the biggest Injun, an' fired. He rolled over, dead as a door nail, an' +the others jumped up an' yelled like two screech owls. I didn't stop +to ax no questions; but, throwin' away my rifle, I grabbed up my knife +an' tomahawk, an' walked into 'em. + +"'They both fired as I came up--one missed, an' the other tuk me in +the leg, an' kerflumux I come to the ground. The Injuns thought they +had me now, sure, an' they came toward me, drawin' their knives an' +yellin' like mad. But I war on my pins agin in less than no time; an', +standin' as well as I could on my broken leg, I swung my tomahawk +around my head, an' let fly at the nighest Injun. It tuk him plumb +atween the eyes, an' I knowed that the work war done for him. But the +next minit the other heathen clinched me, an', liftin' me off my legs, +throwed me to the ground like a log. He had two legs to use, an' I had +only one; there war where he had the advantage of me. But I had the +use of my hands; an' I jest made up my mind that if he wanted my scalp +he would have to work for it; so, quick as lightnin', I grabbed the +hand that held the knife, an' give it a squeeze that actooally made +the bones crack, an' the rascal give one yell, an' let go the weapon. +Then, with the other hand, I ketched him by the scalp-lock, an' done +my best to turn him, knowin' that if I could onct get on top of him, I +would be all right; but I couldn't use my leg; so, thinks I, I'll hold +him here awhile, an' I pulled his head down close to me. But I had +bled so much that I begun to give out; an' the Injun, who hadn't made +a move arter I got hold of his har, knowed that I war growin' weak, +an' the first thing I knowed, he broke away from me, an' sprung to his +feet. I tried to get up too, but the Injun grabbed up his knife, an' +pinned me agin. I fit as well as I could, but the rascal knowed I +couldn't do nothin'; and, placing one knee on my breast to hold me +down, he put one hand to his mouth, an' give a loud yell. + +"'It war answered close by, an' somebody come out o' the bushes. At +first I thought it war another Injun comin' up to help rub me out; but +another look showed me that it war a white feller. He didn't stop to +ax no questions, but made a dash at the Comanche, who got off me in a +tarnal hurry, an' callin' out some name that showed that he knowed who +the white feller war, he begun to make tracks; but he hadn't gone ten +foot afore the trapper had him by the neck. The fight war mighty +short, for the Comanche wasn't nowhere--the trapper handled him as +though he had been a baby, an' in less than two minits he war a dead +Injun.' + +"That's the way ole Bill used to tell his story," continued Dick; "an' +he allers used to pint me out as the man that saved him. The white +feller's trail that he seed by the creek war my own, an' I war +follerin' up the Comanches. Wal, I tuk the old man back to his camp, +an', arter two months' doctorin', I got him all right agin. When he +got well, he wouldn't let me leave him, nor I didn't want to, for he +war jest the kind of a man I wanted for a chum. He hated an Injun as +bad as I did, an' I used to like to listen to the stories he told of +his fights with them. How do you come on now, youngster?" + +"O! I feel pretty well," answered Frank, "only I'm a little weak." + +"You can thank your lucky stars that you wasn't rubbed out +altogether," said the trapper, as he approached the young hunter. "Me +an' Useless got there jest in time. But you won't allers be so lucky." + +After wrapping Frank up carefully in the blankets again, he knocked +the ashes from his pipe, and sought his own couch. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +The White Buck. + + +It was a week before Frank was able to travel, during which time +George and Archie had been sent back to Uncle Joe's after supplies of +bread, coffee, and salt. Early one morning they again set out, the +trapper leading the way more slowly than at the former part of the +journey, so as not to weary his young companion. They halted at noon +for dinner, and about four o'clock in the afternoon they reached a +dilapidated cabin. + +"This yere is to be our camp for awhile," said Dick, throwing his +rifle into the hollow of his arm. "I camped here last winter; but I +see the shantee is well-nigh broke down. But we can soon set it to +rights agin." + +They leaned their guns against the logs of the cabin, and Archie and +George cut down some saplings with which to repair the roof; while the +others cleared out the old pine boughs that covered the floor, and +erected a new crane over the fireplace, which was a hole about four +feet in diameter and a foot and a half deep, that had been dug in the +middle of the floor. An opening in the roof directly over this did +duty both as chimney and window. Before dark the cabin was put in +order again, and the hunters began to prepare their supper. + +The next morning the trapper, after giving Frank emphatic directions +to remain quiet during the day, set out, with Useless at his heels, to +look for "otter signs." George and Archie followed him with their +fox-traps; and Frank and Harry, being left to themselves, shouldered +their guns, and strolled slowly through the woods, and amused +themselves in shooting rabbits, which were very abundant. In a short +time they had secured game enough for dinner, and were about to +retrace their steps toward the cabin, when the dog, which was some +distance in advance of them, suddenly stopped, and, after listening a +moment, uttered a low whine, ran back to his master, and took refuge +behind him. + +"What's the matter with the dog, I wonder?" said Frank, patting the +animal's head, and endeavoring to encourage him. + +"I don't know," answered Harry, clutching his gun more firmly; "he +must have seen or scented some wild animal. Perhaps it would be safer +to go back a little way. I shouldn't like the idea of meeting a bear +or panther;" and Harry began to retreat. + +"Hold on," said Frank; "don't be in a hurry. If it is a panther, we +are certainly a match for him. Our guns are loaded with buck-shot." + +"I know it; but if I should see one of the 'varmints,' as Dick calls +them, I should be so excited that I couldn't shoot at all. I think we +had better"-- + +"Hush!" interrupted Frank. "Don't you hear something?" + +The boys listened, and a faint cry, like the yelping of a pack of +hounds, was borne to their ears. + +"It can't be dogs," said Frank, "for if it was, Brave would not have +been so frightened; besides, it does not sound exactly like them, and +I know of no hunter in this part of the country that keeps hounds." + +"I wonder if that is what Brave heard?" said Harry. + +"It must be," replied Frank, watching the motions of his dog, which +appeared to grow more excited as the sound came nearer. "I would like +to know what it is." + +"We shall soon find out, for it seems to be coming this way. Let's +hide behind some of these trees." + +The boys, accordingly, concealed themselves, and waited impatiently, +with a great deal of anxiety, for the animals to come in sight. Louder +and louder grew the noise, and Harry, turning to his companion, with +blanched cheeks, exclaimed: + +"It's the cry of a pack of wolves. Let's get away from here." + +"O, no," said Frank. "They must be in pursuit of something. Let us +wait and see what it is." + +There was something appalling in the sound, which now began to echo +loudly through the woods, and it was no wonder that Harry wished to +retreat. Even Brave, although he was a very courageous dog, seemed +struck with terror, and crept up behind his master, as if endeavoring +to get out of sight. But Frank, with his usual recklessness, +determined to stand his ground as long as possible. + +The wolves seemed to be running directly toward them, and the boys +held their guns to their shoulders, ready to shoot the first one that +appeared. In a few moments there was a crashing in the bushes, and a +white object was seen gliding among the trees, while behind him +followed a pack of a dozen wolves. They ran with their ears laid close +back to their heads, and their mouths open, displaying frightful rows +of teeth. Frank gazed at them a moment, and then turned his attention +to the game. Could he believe his eyes! It was a _white buck_. He was +running at the top of his speed; but his tongue was hanging out of his +mouth, and his legs were horribly lacerated by the sharp crust, into +which he sank at every step. He was evidently almost tired out, and +the wolves were gaining on him rapidly. Frank had often heard of white +deer, but had never seen one before, and he determined to take a hand +in the affair, and, if possible, rescue the buck from his pursuers. + +"Shoot the wolves, Harry," he exclaimed, "and save the deer. We want +him ourselves." + +"Don't shoot--don't," urged Harry. "The wolves will turn on us." + +But it was too late. Frank's gun was at his shoulder in an instant, +and the foremost of the pack leaped high in the air, and fell to the +ground, dead. The others stopped and ravenously attacked their fallen +comrade, and in a moment every vestige of him had disappeared. The +white buck kept on his way, and soon disappeared from their sight. + +"Shoot 'em, Harry," exclaimed Frank, excitedly, turning to his +companion, who stood holding his gun in his hand, and gazing at the +wolves as though he had suddenly been deprived of all action; "shoot +'em, and don't be standing there like a bump on a log. They'll pitch +into us, sure, and the more we kill now, the less we shall have to +deal with by-and-by." + +This seemed to bring Harry back to his senses, and he hurriedly raised +his gun to his shoulder and endeavored to cover one of the wolves with +the sight. But he was trembling violently, and his gun swayed about +like a leaf in a storm. + +"Why don't you shoot?" exclaimed Frank. + +Harry pressed the trigger, and the loud yell that followed showed that +the shot had not been thrown away. One of the wolves was severely +wounded. Maddened by the pain, he dashed toward the place where the +boys were standing, followed by the whole pack. + +"Take to a tree, quick!" exclaimed Frank, who began to be surprised at +his own coolness; "it's our only chance. Be sure and keep a good hold +of your gun." Suiting the action to the word, he swung himself into +the lowest branches of a small pine that stood near, and, reaching +down, seized Brave by his long hair and pulled him up after him. It +was slow climbing among the thick branches, with a gun in one hand and +a dog nearly as heavy as himself in the other; and he had scarcely +ascended out of reach before the wolves were around the tree. Several +of the pack leaped among the branches, and made desperate efforts to +reach him, while their dismal howls made his blood run cold. + +"Hold on, down there," muttered Frank. "Wait until I get Brave fixed, +and then I'll soon be even with you." + +After feeling in all his pockets, he found a stout strap, with which +he tied his dog fast to the branches, so that he would not fall down +among the wolves. + +"I say, Frank, where are you?" shouted Harry, from his tree. + +"Here I am," answered Frank. "Are you all right?" + +"Yes; but I had a narrow escape, I tell you. The wolves pulled off one +of my boots as I was climbing up this tree. You're always getting a +fellow into some scrape or other, ain't you?" + +"I don't call this much of a scrape," answered Frank. "We're safe, at +any rate." + +"I know it," replied Harry, who seemed to be regaining his courage. +"But we may have to stay up here a week." + +"No we won't--not if our ammunition holds out," answered Frank, +pushing his gun through the branches of the tree. "I'm going to +commence shooting them." + +"That's a good plan; I did not think of that." + +The report of Harry's gun followed his words, and feeling safe in his +tree, he made a good shot, the largest of the wolves receiving the +entire charge in his head. The boys continued to load and fire until +the last wolf was killed, when they dropped down from the trees, and +took a survey of their work. Nine wolves were lying dead on the snow, +which was saturated with blood, and a tenth was endeavoring to crawl +away on two legs. Brave immediately commenced a battle with him, but +the wolf had plenty of fight left in him, and was killed only after a +hard struggle. + +"Now," said Frank, "let's follow up that white buck. I would give +almost any thing to catch him alive. He is pretty well tired out, and +can't run far." + +"Lead on, then," said Harry; "but, if Dick was here, he would say it +was no use. You know hunters are inclined to be superstitious about +such things." + +The boys had often heard extravagant stories told about the incredible +speed and tenacity of life possessed by white deer, and had heard old +hunters say that it was impossible to kill or capture them. But Frank +was not superstitious. He could not see why a white deer should be so +widely different from one of the ordinary color. At all events, he +determined to make an attempt to capture the white buck--which would +make a valuable addition to his museum. So, leaving the wolves where +they had fallen, he led the way along the trail, which could be easily +followed by the blood on the snow. They had run nearly a mile, when +they discovered the white buck a short distance ahead of them, making +his way slowly through the snow, and staggering as though he were +scarcely able to keep his feet. + +"There he is," exclaimed Frank, joyfully. "Catch him, Brave." + +The dog was off in an instant, and although the buck made an effort to +run, he was speedily overtaken, and pulled down without a show of +resistance. The boys hurried forward to secure their captive, which +struggled desperately as they approached. But at length Frank +succeeded in fastening his belt around his neck. The buck staggered to +his feet, and, after a few ineffectual attempts to escape, seemed to +submit to his fate, and suffered himself to be led toward the cabin. +He was one of the most noble specimens of the common deer that the +boys had ever seen. He stood nearly five feet high at the shoulders, +and his head was crowned with antlers, which Frank had learned, from +experience, would prove no mean weapons in a fight. He was evidently +an "old settler," and had seen some stirring times during his life, +for his body was almost covered with scars. They reached the camp +without any mishap, and Harry brought from the cabin a long rope with +which the captive was fastened to a tree. After a short struggle, +during which the boys received some pretty severe scratches from the +buck's sharp hoofs, his legs were rudely bandaged, and he was left to +himself. + +After a hastily-eaten dinner, the boys returned to the scene of their +late fight with the wolves, to procure some of the skins, which Frank +wished to mount in his museum. They got back to the cabin just before +dark, and found Dick leaning on his long rifle, and closely examining +the buck. Useless was seated at his side, and near him lay three +otter-skins, which they had captured during the day. + +"See here, youngsters," exclaimed the trapper, as the boys came up, +"what's all this yere?" + +"O, that's our day's work," replied Frank. + +"Give us your hands, youngsters," continued Dick. "Shoot me if you +hain't done somethin' that I tried all last winter to do an' +couldn't. If I shot at that buck onct, I shot at him twenty times. Do +you see that scar on his flank? I made that. An' there's another on +his neck. When I hit him there I thought I had him sure; for he war +throwed in his tracks, an' when Useless come up to grab him, he war up +an' off like a shot. If you war with some trappers I know, they would +tell you to cut that rope an' let him get away from here as fast as he +could travel. Some fellers think these yere white deer have got the +Evil One in 'em." + +"O, that's all nonsense," said Frank; "a white deer isn't a bit +different from any other, only in the color." + +"That's what I used to tell 'em," said Dick. "But this yere is my +day's work," he added, lifting the otter-skins from the ground; "and a +good one it is, too. But five mile back the woods are full of otter, +an' a little further on is a beaver-dam--eight houses in it--forty +beaver at the least kalkerlation." + +As the trapper finished speaking, he shouldered his rifle and led the +way into the cabin, where a fire was soon started, and some choice +pieces of venison, which had been brought in by him were laid on the +coals to broil. In a few moments, George and Archie entered, and the +latter inquired: + +"Who caught that white buck?" + +Frank gave him the desired information, and also related their +adventure with the wolves; when Archie continued: + +"I'm glad you caught him, for you always wanted one for your museum. +We came near catching a black fox for you." + +"A black fox!" repeated the trapper. + +"Yes; the largest one I ever saw," said George. "He's black as a +coal--hasn't got a white hair on him, except the very tip of his +tail." + +"I know him," answered the trapper. "Him an' Useless had more'n one +race last winter. You found his trail down by that little creek that +runs through that deep hollow." + +"Yes," answered Archie. + +"An' lost it up here in the woods but two mile back." + +"Yes," said Archie again. + +"An' that's the way you'll keep doin' as often as you chase him. You +can't ketch him. He's an ole one in these parts, an' I guess he'll +stay here till he dies a nat'ral death." + +"No, I'll be shot if he does," said Archie, decidedly, as he deposited +his gun on a couple of pegs in one corner of the cabin, and began to +divest himself of his overcoat. "I've got a dog that was never fooled +yet. There was a fox that used to live on Reynard's Island, a short +distance from Lawrence, and he had been chased by all the best dogs in +the country; but the first time he got Sport on his trail, he was a +gone sucker. I'm going to start out early to-morrow and try that black +fox again, and if I don't catch him the first day, I'll try him the +next, and keep it up till I do succeed. I don't mean to leave these +woods without him." + +"Then you'd better send home for plenty of grub," said the trapper, +"for you'll have to stay here all winter." + +"Supper's ready," said Frank; and this announcement cut short the +conversation. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A Midnight Attack. + + +After supper, the hunters stretched themselves out on their blankets +around the fire; but the usual evening conversation was omitted. Their +day's work had fatigued them all, and soon their regular breathing +told that sleep had overpowered them. + +About midnight Frank, who slept away from the fire, and almost against +the door, was aroused by a slight noise outside the cabin, like the +stealthy tread of some animal in the snow. He had begun to acquire +something of a hunter's habits, and the noise, slight as it was, +aroused him in an instant. The dogs had also heard it, for they stood +looking at the door, with every hair sticking toward their heads, but +without uttering a sound. Frank reached for his gun, which hung on +some pegs just above his head, and at that moment he heard a sound +resembling the "wheeze" of a glandered horse. + +"Bars and buffaler!" exclaimed Dick, suddenly arousing from a sound +sleep, and drawing his long hunting-knife, which he always carried in +his belt; "there's a painter around here somewhere--I'm sartin I +heered the sniff of one." + +"I heard something," replied Frank, "but I didn't know what it was." + +By this time all the inmates of the cabin were aroused, and there was +a hurried reaching for guns, and a putting on of fresh caps. + +"Lend me your rifle, Dick," said Frank, "and I'll shoot him. I have +never killed a panther." + +"Wal, don't be keerless, like you generally are," said the trapper, +handing him the weapon. "Be keerful to shoot right between his eyes. +Hist--I'll be shot if the varmint ain't a pitchin' into the white +buck--he are, that's sartin!" + +As Dick spoke there was a violent rustling in the bushes, and a sound +as of a heavy body falling on the snow. Then there was a slight +struggle, and all was still again. Frank quickly threw open the door, +and hunters and dogs all rushed out together. It was very dark; but +Frank, who was in advance of his companions, could just distinguish a +black object crouching in the snow near the tree where the white buck +had been fastened. In an instant his rifle was at his shoulder, and as +the whip-like report resounded through the woods, the panther uttered +a howl that sounded very much like the voice of a human being in +distress, and, with one bound, disappeared in the bushes. + +The quick-scented dogs found his trail in a twinkling. Guided by their +barking, the hunters followed after them as rapidly as possible, in +hopes that the dogs would soon overtake the panther and compel him to +take to a tree. Running through a thick woods in a dark night is not a +pleasant task; and the hunters made headway very slowly. But at length +they came up with three of the dogs, which were standing at the foot +of a large tree, barking furiously. Brave was nowhere to be seen. + +"I shouldn't wonder if the varmint war up here," said the trapper, +walking around the tree and peering upward into the darkness. "No he +ain't, neither," he continued. "Useless, ye're fooled for onct in your +life. You see, youngsters, where that big limb stretches out? Wal, +the painter ran out on that, an' has got out of our way." + +"I wonder where Brave is?" said Frank, anxiously. + +"That ar is a hard thing to tell," answered the trapper. "The varmint +may have chawed him up too, as well as the white buck." + +"If he has," said Frank, bitterly, "I won't do any thing all the rest +of my life but shoot panthers. Hold on! what's that?" he added, +pointing through the trees. + +"It looks mighty like somethin' comin' this way," said Dick. "Turn me +into a mullen-stalk if I don't believe it's the painter! He's creepin' +along a'most on his belly." + +In an instant four guns were leveled at the approaching object, and +the boys were about to fire, when the trapper, who had thrown himself +almost flat on the snow, to obtain a better view of the animal, heard +a suppressed whine. Springing to his feet, he knocked up the weapons, +and quietly said, + +"I guess I wouldn't shoot, boys. That's the dog comin back. I +shouldn't wonder if he had been follerin' the painter all alone by +himself." + +The boys lowered their guns, and, in a few moments, to the infinite +joy of Frank, Brave came up. He crawled slowly and with difficulty +toward his master, and the hunters could see that he had been severely +handled. He had several long, ugly wounds on his body, which were +bleeding profusely. + +"Wal, I'll be shot!" exclaimed the trapper, "if that ar fool of a dog +didn't tackle the painter! He ought to knowed better. The varmint +could chaw him up in two minits. Useless here wouldn't have thought o' +doin' sich a thing. But it'll do no good for us to stay here, so we +might as well travel back to the shantee. Ye're minus a white buck, +Frank," he continued, as he led the way through the woods. + +The young naturalist made no reply, for it was a severe blow to him. +He had anticipated a great deal of pleasure in taming the white buck, +and in showing him to his friends, and relating the circumstances of +his capture. But the panther had put an end to these anticipations; +and Frank determined, as long as he remained in the woods, to wage a +merciless war against all his tribe. + +A few moments' walk brought the hunters to the cabin, and they went at +once to the place where they had left the white buck. The panther had +torn an ugly-looking hole in his throat, and he was stone dead. It was +evident, from the position in which he lay, that the panther had +endeavored to drag him away, but was prevented by the rope and the +timely interference of the hunters. As regrets were useless, Frank and +his cousin carried the remains of the buck into the cabin. After +fastening the door and replenishing the fire, the hunters again sought +their blankets. + +The next morning they were stirring long before daybreak, and Archie +busied himself in removing the skin of the white buck, while his +cousin, who was impatient to commence his war upon the panthers, was +employed in cleaning his gun and sharpening his hunting-knife. Brave +seemed to understand that something unusual was on hand. In spite of +the rough treatment he had received the night before, he appeared to +have plenty of spirit left in him still, and acted as though he were +impatient to be off. + +"Dick, will you lend me your trap?" inquired Frank, after he had +finished his breakfast, and was preparing to set out. + +"The 'Ole Settler' do you mean?" asked the trapper. "Sartin I will. +Goin' to ketch the painter, ain't you?" + +"Yes; I'm going to try. I must have at least three panther-skins to +make up for the killing of the white buck. He was worth more to me +than my entire museum." + +"Wal," said Dick, as he handed Frank the trap, "if you can get him to +stick his foot in the 'Ole Settler,' he's yourn, an' no mistake. That +ar trap sticks tighter nor a brother when it gets a hold o' any thing. +Now, be mighty keerful o' yourself." + +"All right," answered Frank. "I'll have something to show you when I +come back." + +He set out, with Brave as his only companion. The trapper did not +accompany him, for the reason that he had work of his own to attend +to; and besides, although he was constantly scolding and finding fault +with Frank for his "carelessness," he was proud of his courage, and +admired the spirit that prompted this somewhat hazardous undertaking, +and wished to allow him to reap all the honors himself. Archie and +George did not go, for they were very anxious to visit their traps, +and see whether there were any foxes in them. They did not like the +idea of panther-hunting, and had tried every means in their power to +induce Frank to abandon his project. Harry thought at first that he +would be delighted to go, but, on reflection, he remembered his +adventure with the wolves, and was fearful of another similar +"scrape." So, as we have said, Frank started out alone, with nothing +on which to depend except the faithful Brave, and his own courage and +skill as a marksman. He was well enough acquainted with the woods, and +the animals that inhabited them, to know that there was danger in the +undertaking; but he thought only of the disappointment he had suffered +in the death of the white buck, and the pleasure there would be in +seeing the panther that had killed him stuffed and mounted in his +museum. + +He followed the same course the panther had taken the night before, +until he reached the place where the animal had taken to the tree and +escaped, Here the trail, of course, ended; but Brave had no +difficulty in finding it again, and from this Frank concluded that he +must have seen the panther jumping from tree to tree, and had followed +him, until the latter, seeing that he was pursued by only one of his +enemies, had descended to the ground and given battle, which had, of +course, ended in Brave's defeat. + +After a careful examination, Frank could discover but three +foot-prints in the trail, which looked as though some one had +endeavored to obliterate it, by drawing a heavy stick over it. He +could not account for this, but he knew, by the blood on the snow, +that the panther had been severely wounded by the shot he had fired at +him; so, without stopping to make any more observations, he ordered +Brave to "Hunt 'em up." + +The dog immediately set off on the trail, and Frank kept as close to +him as possible. The panther had made good use of his time, for they +followed the trail until almost four o'clock in the afternoon, without +coming up with him. In the excitement of the chase, Frank had not +thought of stopping to eat his dinner, and he was both tired and +hungry. A few moments' rest, and a piece of the cold venison and +bread, with which his haversack was well stored, he thought would +enable him to follow the trail until dark. He began to look around to +find a good place to build a fire, when a loud bark from Brave drove +all such thoughts out of his mind, and he ran forward to the place +where the dog was standing, and suddenly came in sight of the panther, +which had killed a wild turkey, and was crouching at the foot of a +tree, just ready to begin his meal. + +One of his hind-legs was entirely useless, having been broken by the +shot from the rifle; and that it was which had given that peculiar +look to his trail. How he had managed to climb so many trees, and +travel such a distance, with his leg in that condition, Frank could +not imagine. But he was not allowed much time to make observations, +for the panther crouched lower over his prey, and lashed his sides +with his tail, as if about to spring toward him. He was within easy +range, and Frank cocked both barrels of his gun, and slowly raised the +weapon to his shoulder. His hand could not have been more steady if he +had been aiming at a squirrel. He glanced along the clean, brown tubes +for a moment, and fired both barrels in quick succession. The gun had +been heavily loaded, in order to "make sure work" of the panther, and +the immense recoil threw Frank flat on his back. When he recovered his +feet, he saw the panther stretched out motionless on the ground. The +buck-shot had done its work. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A Couple of New Pets. + + +Frank was a big-feeling boy just then. He knew that he had done +something that many an older person than himself would hesitate to +undertake. He was fast becoming accustomed to scenes of excitement and +danger, and he thought only of the feat he had accomplished, and not +of the perilous position in which he had placed himself but a few +moments before. What if his gun had missed fire, or he had only +wounded the panther? How long could he and Brave have withstood his +attacks? The panther would certainly have conquered them. And what +could he have done if he had been disabled in the depths of those +woods, so far from any human being? Such questions as these passed +through the reckless young hunter's mind, but he dismissed them with +the thought that the panther was dead, and that he had nothing to +fear. + +The animal was one of the largest of his kind, measuring, as near as +Frank could judge, fully seven feet in length, including the tail. The +rifleshot which had broken his leg had made an ugly-looking wound, and +he had received both charges of buck-shot in his head; but the skin +was not spoiled, and Frank's first thought was to take it off and cure +it for stuffing. + +Around the tree was a little space, which was clear of bushes, and was +probably as good a camping-ground as he could find. So he placed his +gun where he could put his hand upon it at a moment's warning, and +removed his haversack, hanging it up on a small tree that stood near. +He then unfastened his belt, and took from it his blanket and a small +tin pail, which was to do duty as a coffee-pot. With the aid of his +heavy hunting-knife, he soon erected a hut--rude-looking, indeed, but +sufficiently strong and tight to protect him from the wind. Over the +floor he spread hemlock branches to the depth of four or five inches, +and the camp was finished. He then kindled a fire in front of the hut, +and filled his pail with snow, and hung it on a crane to boil. In a +little while the turkey, which the panther had killed, was dressed, +and cooking as fast as a hot fire could make it. Before his supper was +cooked, the panther was hauled into the cabin, and his skin taken off, +and hung upon a frame to dry. + +The turkey was equally divided between master and dog; and as neither +had eaten any dinner, not a vestige of the fowl was left. While Frank +was building his camp, he had heard a faint ripple, like the noise of +a small water-fall; and he was somewhat surprised thereat, for the +intensely cold weather had formed ice, even in the swiftest water, +almost two feet in thickness. As soon as he had finished his supper, +he started out to see what had occasioned the noise, taking the trap +with him, intending to find a good place to set it. When he arrived at +the stream, he found it had its source in a salt spring, or, as the +hunters would call it, a "deer-lick." The snow on the banks was +trodden as hard as a floor, and the paths that the animals had made, +in going to and from the stream, ran up into the woods in all +directions. These springs are favorite resorts of deer and other wild +animals, which delight to taste their brackish waters; and it is a +common way of killing deer, in places where they are scarce, to watch +one of these "licks" during the night, and shoot the animals as they +approach. + +Frank walked up one of the paths that led to the spring, and began to +make preparations to set his trap. It was just the place for it, as he +would be certain to catch something before morning. He first dug a +hole with his hunting-knife, directly in the middle of the path, and +the next job was to set the trap. He knew how it ought to be done. But +the powerful jaws of the "Ole Settler" had often resisted the efforts +of a stronger person than himself. After half an hour's work, during +which time the skirts of his coat had been cut almost entirely off by +the long, sharp teeth, he succeeded in getting it set, and placed +safely in the hole which he had dug for its reception. Then, with his +hunting-knife, he cut down a good-sized sapling that stood near, and +to this he fastened one end of a short, heavy chain; the other end of +the chain he fastened to the trap. After he had placed every thing to +his satisfaction, he carefully covered the trap and chain with snow, +removed all the twigs and leaves he had scattered about, and returned +to his camp. He employed himself until dark in gathering his evening's +supply of fire-wood, and then lay down on his bed of boughs, well +satisfied with his day's work. + +As it grew dark, it seemed to him that his camp became the center of +attraction to every wild animal in the woods for a circle of ten miles +around. The owl flew down around his fire, uttering his dismal scream; +the barking of foxes was heard in all directions; and, now and then, a +dark object would come out of the bushes, and gaze at him a moment +with eyes that shone through the darkness like coals of fire, and then +beat a hasty retreat. Once or twice he heard a sound that made him +reach, rather hurriedly, for his gun--the same sound that the trapper, +the night before, had pronounced the "sniff of a painter." + +Frank did not feel exactly safe in going to sleep, and sat for a long +time with his gun in his hand. Several times he was half inclined to +shoot at some of the animals that came around the camp; but he finally +concluded to keep the peace as long as they would. In a few moments +after he had made this resolution, he sank back on his blanket, and +was soon fast asleep. + +Near midnight he was awakened by a chorus of loud yells. Starting up, +he found his camp surrounded by wolves. The fire had almost gone out, +and the wolves appeared to be growing bolder by degrees, having +already approached quite close to the cabin. Frank started to his feet +and threw a firebrand among them, when they scattered in every +direction, and were out of sight in a moment. He was not disturbed +again, and when he awoke it was daylight. After putting a good supply +of wood on the fire, and hanging his coffee-pot on the crane, he +shouldered his gun, and started toward the place where the trap had +been set, hoping to find something in it that would make a breakfast +for him. + +There _was_ something in it, beyond a doubt, for both trap and clog +were gone; and the way Brave growled and showed his teeth led him to +believe that he had caught something besides a deer. The hole in which +he had placed the trap was trodden down as though a flock of sheep had +passed over it. It was a matter of some difficulty to follow the +trail of the animal that had been caught in the trap, for he had moved +directly up the path, and the only "sign" that Frank had to guide him +was, now and then, a slight scraping in the snow, which he knew had +been made by the clog, as the animal dragged it after him. He followed +the trail in this manner for nearly half a mile, when it suddenly +turned off into the woods, where he could follow it up considerably +faster. Here he discovered that there was a bear in the trap, for the +prints of his great feet were in the snow. His progress had evidently +been retarded a good deal, for, at intervals along the trail, the +broken bushes and trodden snow showed where the clog had caught and +held him fast. + +Brave led the way, but they had not gone far before he began to show +signs of uneasiness. A little further on, he suddenly came to a halt, +and stood gazing steadily before him, toward a thicket of bushes, that +looked as though it would afford a splendid hiding-place for a wild +animal. + +Frank began to be excited now, and his hand was none of the steadiest +as he cocked his gun and stooped down to caress his dog. He had faced +the wounded panther without flinching, but he did not like the idea +of attacking that bear in his den, for such it undoubtedly was, as +under an immense pile of limbs and bushes Frank could see something +dark, that looked like a cave. + +Brave ran around the bushes, with every hair on his body sticking +toward his head, and now and then making a dash at the den, as though +challenging the bear to come out. But the cave was as silent as death. +Frank could not see how he could attack the bear in there, and the +question was, how to get him out into open ground, so that he could +have a fair shot at him, and a good opportunity to retreat, if that +shot should not prove fatal. After waiting nearly half an hour for the +bear to come out and give them battle, Frank grew impatient, and +determined to commence fight himself. Grasping his gun firmly in one +hand, he set to work with his hunting-knife to cut a passage through +the bushes, so that he could get a fair view of the mouth of the cave. + +While thus employed, he heard a slight rustling of leaves in the den, +accompanied by a low, wailing cry, and followed by a hoarse growl. He +bravely stood his ground, holding his gun in readiness; but, as the +bear did not come out, Frank went on with his work, more determined +than ever to effect the destruction of the animal, for that wailing +noise was the cry of a cub, which he was determined to have. He knew +that this would be no boy's play, for, of course, the old bear must be +killed before he could venture down into the cave. He was also well +aware that she would fight for her young with a ferocity and +stubbornness, against which only the most determined courage and a +steady hand and quick eye could avail. He had heard Uncle Joe relate a +story of a man, and one not wanting in courage either, who, upon +discovering a couple of young bears playing together in the woods, had +shouldered his rifle and made for home at the top of his speed. The +least cry from one of those clumsy little fellows would have brought +upon him an enemy that the bravest hunter would not care to encounter. + +But Frank had great confidence in himself, and worked away +industriously, now and then pausing to look down into the cave and +listen. He had cut away most of the bushes before the opening, and as +soon as he could get a good view of the interior, threw himself flat +upon the snow and looked in. It was dark as midnight inside the cave, +but he could see two fiery eyeballs glaring upon him through the +darkness, which appeared to be approaching the opening. This afforded +a fine mark, and one that he thought he could not possibly miss; so, +throwing forward his gun, he took a steady aim, and fired. + +The report was followed by a howl that made the cold sweat start from +every pore of his body; but, without hesitating a moment, he +discharged the other barrel, and then, springing to his feet, rapidly +retreated, just as the enormous head and shoulders of the bear rose +out of the opening. After running a little distance, and finding that +he was not pursued, he turned and looked behind him, and saw the bear, +in front of the cave, rolling over and over in the snow. The "Ole +Settler" was fast to one of her hind-legs, and the clog had caught and +was holding her fast. + +Frank immediately commenced to reload his gun, keeping his eye on the +bear, ready to retreat again if she should succeed in freeing herself. +He hastily rammed down the charges, and poured a handful of buck-shot +into each barrel, and then crawled toward the bear, which, almost +beside herself with rage and pain, was tearing at her wounds, and +pulling up all the bushes within her reach. + +Frank felt comparatively safe now, knowing that the bear could not +escape; and besides, if she should succeed in getting the clog loose, +she could not overtake him, incumbered as she was with the heavy trap. +He waited until a fair mark was presented, and then fired again. The +wound was mortal. After a few struggles, the bear lay motionless on +the snow. + +The next work was to draw her away from the mouth of the cave and take +off the trap. This was no easy task, for the animal was very heavy, +and, as Dick had predicted, the "Ole Settler" "stuck tighter nor a +brother." After much exertion, this was accomplished, and Frank was +about to commence skinning the bear, when, all at once, the thought +struck him, Where was the father of the family? This thought made him +spring to his feet rather hurriedly, and cast anxious glances at the +cave. + +"The old fellow can't be in there," he soliloquized, "or he would +certainly have come out before this time; but I'll just keep an eye +open for him, and if he shows himself, and undertakes to interfere in +this business, he'll get the worst of the bargain." + +He was not disturbed, however. The old bear, if he was about, probably +thought that his family was capable of taking care of itself and +fighting its own battles. + +As soon as he had taken off the bear's skin, he began to make +preparations to enter the cave and bring out the cubs, which, all the +while, had kept up an impatient cry. He first cut down a stout +sapling, and, after he had lopped off all its branches, fastened his +hunting-knife firmly to it. This he intended to use as a spear, in +case he should be attacked while in the den. Grasping it in one hand, +and his gun in the other, he crawled down into the cave. It was so +dark that he could scarcely see his hand before him; but, after a few +moments' search, he discovered the cubs, nicely covered up in a bed of +leaves. There were two of them, and they were about the size of a cat. +They fought and screamed furiously as Frank took them up, but he +unceremoniously thrust them into the capacious pockets of his +hunting-shirt, and crawled out of the cave. + +When he reached his camp he found that the fire had gone out. It was +soon rekindled, when, after wrapping the cubs up in his overcoat, and +putting them carefully away in one corner of the tent, he sat down on +his bed of boughs, and made a hearty breakfast on cold venison and +bread. While he was eating, he began to think seriously of setting out +for "home," as he called the encampment where he had left his +companions. He had accomplished much more than he had expected he +could during the two days that he had been in the woods, and now had +about as much on hand as he could conveniently attend to. The skins of +the panther and bear must be prepared for stuffing, which would +require his close attention; the cubs, also, must be taken care of and +watched, for they would escape, if left to themselves. If he was at +home, they could be shut up in the cabin while he was off hunting, and +he could have his cousin's assistance in curing the skins. So, after +resting an hour, he pulled on his overcoat again, stowing the cubs +away in his pockets, folded up his blanket, strapped it fast to his +belt, shouldered his gun, and set out. + +It was dark before he reached the cabin. His companions had just +finished eating their supper, and had not expected his return that +night. + +"Why, Frank, how are you?" exclaimed Archie, springing to his feet and +seizing his cousin's hand. "I'm glad to see you back safe. What kind +of a time did you have?--rather lonesome, I guess. What have you got?" +he continued, as one of the cubs, thinking that something unusual was +going on, again set up a furious yelping. + +"I've the skin of the panther that killed the white buck," answered +Frank, "and also a bearskin, and two young cubs." As he spoke, he drew +the cubs from his pocket. + +"You keerless feller!" exclaimed Dick, who had not yet spoken; "I +know'd you'd be in some scrape or other." + +"So did I," chimed in Harry, "and that's the reason why I wouldn't go +with him. It's a wonder you ain't all clawed to pieces." + +"Hain't had any supper yet I reckon?" said the trapper. "Come an' set +down here, an' tell us all about it." + +Frank was quickly relieved of his gun and overcoat, while a plateful +of venison, some bread and butter, and a cup of hot coffee were +passed over to him. Stretching his feet out toward the fire, he +related the details of his adventures, while the trapper sat by, +smoking his pipe, apparently deeply interested in his story. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Close Quarters with a Grizzly. + + +"Wal," said Dick, as soon as Frank had finished his story, "that war +about the keerlessest trick I ever hearn tell on. Here, in the woods, +it's jest the same as it is in a city; let a boy have his own way, an' +he'll make an eend of himself in a tarnal hurry. Don't you know that +that bar could have chawed you up in a minit?" + +"Yes," answered Frank, "I suppose she could; but I had to run the risk +of that in order to get the cubs." + +"Yes, that's another of your boy tricks," continued Dick, knocking the +ashes from his pipe, "an' it 'minds me of some scrapes I had when I +war a youngster. It war while my ole man war livin'. Him an' me were +onct huntin' somewhar nigh the head-waters o' the Colorado River. I +war about seventeen year ole, an' a purty good boy I war for my age, +too. It tuk a smart, lively young Injun to take my measure on the +ground, an' I used to think that what I didn't know about trappin', +shootin', and fightin' grizzly bars, warn't wuth knowin'. I was allers +gettin' into some scrape or another, an' sometimes I used to get pawed +up purty badly, too; but as long as I could crawl round I war all +right. + +"I 'member onct that I had been over to a little creek about two mile +from the camp, to 'tend to some traps I had sot for muskrats, an' as I +war comin' home through the woods, I seed a young bar, jest about the +size of them you brought home. He come out of the bushes, an' looked +at me a minit, an' then jumped back agin. I thought he war a purty +little feller, an' made up my mind that I would ketch him an' take him +to camp with me. I had a kinder hankerin' arter pets, jest like you, +Frank, an' I wanted to tame this young bar, an' I thought me an' him +would have some tall fights when he growed up; so I put arter him, an' +finally ketched the little feller, an' tuk him in my arms, an' started +for camp. He hollered an' fit like the mischief; but I hung on to +him, an' arter half an hour's walk reached home. My ole man warn't +there; he had gone off to 'tend to his traps; but I didn't keer, for I +war used to bein' alone in the woods. Arter feelin' in all my pockets, +I found a long strip o' buckskin, an' I thought I would tie the little +feller to a saplin' that stood close by the cabin; so I sot down on +the ground an' war tyin' the string fast to his neck--he hollerin' an' +fightin' all the while--when, all to onct, I heerd a loud growlin' and +crashin' in the bushes behind me. I looked up, an' seed the ole bar a +comin'. She had heered her baby squallin', an' was comin' arter him. I +jumped up an' let the young bar fall, as though he had been a live +coal. My gun war standin' agin a tree, close by, but I knowed I +wouldn't have time to reach it, so I turned an' begun to go up the +saplin'. You better believe I climbed _some_, an' I thought I war +gettin' along mighty fast; but I warn't a minit too quick. I hadn't +hardly got out of reach afore the bar made a grab at me, an' pulled +off one of my moccasins. I war fairly treed; an' there I had to stay, +too, 'cause the ole bar kept a close watch on me; but the tree war +too small for her to climb, so I knowed I war safe. 'Bout an hour +afore dark I heered the ole man a comin', an' the bar left off +watchin' me, an' begun to get ready for him. So, I hollered to the ole +man, an' he put a chunk o' lead into her. As soon as I see that she +war done for, I slid down the saplin' as fast as I could to ketch the +young bar; but the ole man, who knowed in a minit what I had been +doin', give him a clip side the head with the butt of his rifle, that +knocked the daylights out of him; an' then, bars an' buffaler, didn't +he scold me for bein' so keerless; but, law sakes, it didn't do a bit +o' good, for, in about three days arterward, I war in a wusser scrape +nor that. + +"Arter 'tendin' to my traps, as usual, I started out through the +mountains, on a hunt. 'Bout noon I killed a big-horn, an' while I war +cookin' my dinner, I happened to see, in a rocky place up the side o' +the mountain, a small openin' 'bout large enough for a man to crawl +into, an' I knowed it war a sort of cave. I didn't stop to think any +more 'bout dinner jest then, but picked up my rifle an' started up the +mountain. I wanted to see what kind of a place the cave war. When I +got purty nigh to the openin' I seed a kind o' path runnin' up to it, +an' I knowed the cave must be the home of some wild animal. This made +me prick up my ears, an' be a little more keerful. I didn't like the +idee of havin' a varmint jump down on me afore I knowed it. But I +reached the mouth o' the cave without seein' any thing, and poked my +head in, keepin' my gun ready to crack away at the first live thing I +should set eyes on; but the cave war so dark that I couldn't see into +it two foot; but I _heered_ something, an' I scrambled up into +the openin' an' listened. It war a faint moanin' kind of a +noise--somethin' like the squall of a young kitten, an' I knowed in a +minit what it war that made it; it war a young painter. Now, if I had +knowed any thing, I would have climbed down out o' that place as fast +as my legs would let me. But, no; I tuk it into my head all to onct +that I must have them young painters. I wanted one of 'em to play +with; an' without stoppin' to think, I begun to crawl down into the +cave, an' along a narrer, crooked passage that must a been twenty +yards long. One little feller kept up his cryin', an' it kept growin' +louder an' louder, an' I knowed that he warn't a great way off. At +last I come to a place where the cave seemed to widen into quite a +large room, an' after a few minits' lookin'--or, I should say, +feelin'--for the cave war as dark as a nigger's pocket--I found the +young painters--three of 'em--in a nice bed of leaves made up in one +corner. I didn't mind the hollerin' they made when I tuk hold of 'em, +but chucked 'em all into my cap, an' started back. I had tuk good keer +to 'member my bearin's, an' I knowed I should have no trouble in +findin' my way out; so I crawled along keerless like, as usual, +chucklin' over my good luck, an' thinkin' what nice pets I would make +of the young painters, when all to onct I come within sight of the +mouth o' the cave. Bars and buffaler! I would have give all the +beaver-skins I ever expected to be wuth, if I had been safe out o' +that cave. The ole painter was comin' in. She had smelt my tracks, an' +I could see by the light that come in, in little streaks on each side +of her, that every hair on her body war stickin' toward her head. She +meant mischief. Any greenhorn could a told that I war in somethin' of +a fix. I dropped the cubs, an' as I did so, they all set up a yell. +The ole lady couldn't stand that, an' givin' a growl that made my +blood run cold, she begun to get ready to spring at me. I used to +think I war tall timber at rifle shootin', but, although the painter +war not thirty feet from me, I war 'most afraid to risk the shot. But +I knowed I didn't have much time to waste in sich thoughts, an' +drawin' up my shootin' iron, I blazed away, expectin' to have the +painter grab me the next minit. But when the smoke cleared away, I see +the old lady stretched out, stone dead. I have been in tight places +since then, in fights with varmints an' wild Injuns, an' many a time a +single chunk o' lead has saved my scalp; but that war the best shot I +ever made. It war a thing that many a Rocky Mountain trapper wouldn't +keer to undertake. I like to hunt now as well as I ever did, an' +expect to be in a good many rough-an'-tumble fights with Injuns an' +grizzly bars, but I'd rather be excused from crawlin' down into a dark +hole like that agin. But arter I had got out o' the cave, I didn't +stop to think o' the danger I had been in; the cubs war mine, an' +that's all I keered for." + +Here the trapper paused, and thrusting his hand into the pocket of his +hunting-shirt, he drew forth a clasp-knife and a plug of tobacco, and +after cutting off a generous "chaw," as he called it, and stowing it +away in his cheek, he continued: + +"But 'bout the nighest I ever come to bein' rubbed out, war while I +war trappin' on the Missouri River, with my chum, Bill Lawson--the +poor fellow is gone now"--and here the trapper lowered his voice +almost to a whisper, in reverence to the memory of his departed +companion, and hastily drew his hand across his eyes--"an' I am left +alone. It'll be lonesome on the prairy when I get back there, an' when +I visit the places where me an' him used to camp an' trap together, I +shall miss the ole man. He war one of the best trappers I ever come +acrost. He war generally very good natered an' jolly; but he had +strange ways with him sometimes, an' when he got one of his gloomy +fits on him, there would be days when--although we ate at the same +fire, an' p'rhaps slept under the same blanket--he wouldn't speak to +me. I knowed something war troublin' him, an' it war a sorry sight for +me to see that strong man weepin' like a child; but I trapped with him +for better nor five years afore he told me his story. There would be +weeks at a time when he would seem to forget his troubles, an' then +it done me good to lay beside our camp-fire an' listen to his stories. +He war a'most as big agin as I am, an' strong as a hoss. He could pull +up a saplin' that two common men couldn't budge; and he war as brave +as he war strong--as brave as a man could be; he didn't seem to keer +for any thing, for I never see him frightened in my life, an' I war +with him for better nor twenty years. An' he war a great Injun +fighter, too. It tuk a mighty lively red-skin, an' one that could pick +up his feet in a tarnal hurry, to get away when ole Bill onct set eyes +on his trail; for the way he could run war a caution to owls, an' if +there war one of them varmints in the country for fifty miles round, +ole Bill allers knowed it. He used to tell me that he could smell an +Injun further than he could see him; an' I believe he could. + +"But what I started to tell you 'bout war a little scrape we onct had +with a grizzly. As I said, we war trappin' on the Missouri River, +right among the mountains. One mornin', arter a good breakfast on +buffaler hump, I war gettin' ready to start out to 'tend to my traps, +when ole Bill said: + +"'Dick, I see some grizzly bar tracks down in the gully last night. +Let's go an' hunt up the varmint. I would have follered him up last +night, only it war too dark.' + +"In course I agreed, an' we ketched our hosses, which we had picketed +close by the cabin, an' started out--ole Bill leadin' the way. + +"Huntin' a grizzly is fine sport sometimes; but if a feller is any way +skeery, he had better not take a hand in it. Even the Injuns don't +keer to meddle with the varmint, unless a dozen or two of 'em, well +mounted an' armed, can ketch him out in clar open ground; an' even +then they have to handle themselves round purty lively, for if the bar +onct gets his claws on a hoss he has to go under. You couldn't hire a +red-skin to go into the mountains alone an' hunt up a grizzly. The +varmint allers lives in the thickest part of the woods; an' if you +don't plug him through the brain at the first shot, or if your hoss +gets tangled in the bushes, you're in a mighty onpleasant fix the +first thing you know. But me an' Bill had hunted grizzlies plenty o' +times, an' allers come out o' the fight right side up, an' we war used +to the sport. + +"Wal, as I was sayin', we started out toward the place where Bill had +seed the trail o' the bar, an', arter four hours' hard ridin' over +rocks an' fallen logs an' thick bushes, we come to the gully. It war +'bout a hundred feet deep an' a quarter of a mile broad, an' the banks +on both sides war as steep as the roof o' this cabin, an' covered with +bushes so thick that a hoss couldn't hardly work a way through 'em. It +war a fine place for a bar, an' many a trapper wouldn't have liked the +idea o' goin' down in there to hunt one up, an' I couldn't help +sayin': + +"'Ugly place, ain't it?' + +"'Yes,' answered ole Bill. 'But look over there;' an' he pinted acrost +the gully to a sort o' clar spot, where there warn't no bushes, an' +the timber didn't grow very thick. 'If the bar gets arter us,' he went +on to say, 'we must run for that ar place; an' if we onct get him up +there, he's ourn, sure.' + +"Arter stoppin' a few minits to give our hosses a chance to rest, we +took a look at our rifles, to see that they war all right, an' then +begun to work our way down into the gully. It must have tuk us an hour +to reach the bottom, for the brake war higher than our hosses' heads, +an' it war hard work to get through it. We had sent out the dogs--we +had two of the best bar dogs I ever happened to see--when we first +started down, and jest as we reached the bottom of the gully, they +give notice, by their howlin', that they had found the grizzly's +trail. We rid up to the place as fast as we could, an' ole Bill jumped +off his hoss an' examined the tracks. They war fresh. The bar had jest +passed along, an' we knowed that he warn't far off. + +"'Hunt 'em up, dogs! hunt 'em up! Off with you!' shouted ole Bill; an' +he jumped on to his hoss agin, and the dogs, understandin' what he +meant, war out o' sight in no time. We follered them as fast as we +could, an', purty quick, we heered a great crashin' in the brake, an' +the dogs broke out into a reg'lar yelpin'. We knowed that they had +started the bar, an' war arter him. In a few minits we come up with +'em, and see the bar settin' on his haunches. The dogs war jumpin' +round him, now an' then takin' a grab at his hams, an' they kept the +varmint spinnin' round as though he war sot on a pivot. Ole Bill drew +his rifle up to his shoulder, an' sent an ounce-ball into the bar's +hide, which brought him to the ground; but he war on his pins agin in +less than no time, an', leaving the dogs, he took arter ole Bill, who +made straight acrost the gully toward the clar spot he had spoken of. +The dogs follered close at the bar's heels, onct in awhile makin' a +grab at his back settlements, which seemed to bother him a good deal; +but he didn't stop to fight 'em, cause he thought the ole trapper war +bigger game. The bushes an' trees war so thick that for some time I +couldn't get a chance to put in a shot. I didn't want to fire till I +war sartin of killin' the bar, 'cause it war only throwin' away powder +without doin' no good. So I cheered on the dogs, hopin' that they +would bring the bar to a stand-still; an' I warn't mistakened, for +they begun to pitch in so rough, that the varmint had to stop to keep +'em off. This war what I war waitin' for, an' I sent another chunk o' +cold lead atween his ribs. But he didn't seem to mind it at all; an', +arter beating off the dogs, he started agin for the trapper. + +"Ole Bill had made mighty good use of his time, an' the way he stuck +his heels into his hoss' sides war a thing to look at. He tried to +load up his rifle, but the bushes war so thick that he had to lay +close along his hoss, to keep from bein' swept off by them. + +"I drawed up long enough to ram home a ball, an' then started on agin, +an' when I come up with Bill, I found that he had got into a reg'lar +laurel brake. The bushes war thicker than ever, an' as tough as green +hickory, an' Bill's hoss couldn't hardly make no headway at all. But +they didn't seem to bother the varmint any, for he tumbled along as +though the bushes hadn't been more'n straws; an' he war gainin' on +Bill. + +"It war a fine sight to see the way the ole feller carried himself +then. He held his knife in one hand, an' his clubbed rifle in the +other, keepin' his eyes on the bar all the while, an' leavin' his hoss +to pick out his own way. He didn't look the least bit skeery, but I +knowed he war kalkerlatin' how many clips he could get at the bar +afore the varmint could grab him. The dogs war bitin' at the bar's +legs all the while, an' purty soon he had to stop agin to fight 'em +off. He raised on his haunches, an' struck at the hounds, which war as +spry as cats, an' had been in barfights often enough to know how to +keep out of his reach. + +"'Now's your time, Dick,' said ole Bill. 'Shoot close! My hoss ar +purty nigh tuckered.' + +"I war all ready, an' ridin' up purty close, so as to get in a good +shot, I drawed a bead on him, an' fired, expectin' to bring him, sure. +But a bush atween me an' him glanced the ball, so that I only made an +ugly wound in his shoulder. He give an angry growl, an', beatin' off +the dogs, he dropped on all-fours, an' made arter me. + +"'Now,' thinks I, 'Dick Lewis, you're in a blamed ugly scrape;' and so +I war. The bar warn't more'n twenty feet from me; and afore my hoss +had made three jumps, the bar made a claw at him, an' pulled out half +his tail. The animal was doin' his best, but I see that it warn't +healthy to stay on his back, an', as we passed under a tree, I grabbed +hold of a limb jest above my head, an' swung myself clar off the +saddle, jest in time to see the varmint put both paws on my hoss, an' +pull him to the ground. But that war his last move, for ole Bill sent +a bullet through his brain that throwed him dead in his tracks. + +"I come down out of my tree, feelin' about as mean as any feller you +ever see, for a man might as well be on the prairy without his head +as without his hoss, an' mine war one of the best that ever wore a +saddle. But the bar had done the work for him, an' no amount of +grievin' could fetch me another; so I choked down my feelin's, an' +begun to help ole Bill to take off the grizzly's hide. But there war +plenty of Injuns about, an' it warn't long afore I had another hoss; +an' 'bout a year arter that I ketched one for which many a trapper +would have give all the beaver-skins he ever had. But that's another +story." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +A Beaver Hunt. + + +The next morning, as soon as they had eaten their breakfast, the +trapper went to the door, and, after listening, and looking at the sky +a few moments, said: + +"Youngsters, if we intend to ketch any of them beaver, we had better +do it to-day. We are goin' to have a storm as is a storm, an' afore +two days the woods will be blocked up so that we can't do no huntin' +at all." + +Frank and George were eager to accompany the trapper, for +beaver-hunting was something entirely new to them; but Archie and +Harry concluded to make another attempt to capture the black fox; for +the trapper's description of his swiftness and cunning had rendered +him an object worthy of attention, and made the young hunters more +anxious than ever to catch him. + +Frank and George drew on their overcoats, strapped their blankets fast +to their belts, and filled their haversacks. When all was ready, each +shouldered his gun and an ax, and followed the trapper from the cabin. +About noon they came to a halt on the banks of a large pond that lay +hemmed in on all sides by the trees. Near the center of this pond were +several objects of a conical shape, looking like drifts of snow. These +were the beavers' houses. + +The boys were entirely at a loss to conceive how they were to go to +work to capture the beaver. If they began to cut through the houses, +the animals would take the alarm in a moment, and dive under the ice, +where they would be safe from all pursuit. + +"I'll show you how it is done," said the trapper, who perceived that +they did not understand it. "In the first place, take your axes and go +and pound on every house you can see." + +"Why, that will frighten out all the beaver," said Frank. + +"That's jest what I want to do," said Dick; "but you must know that a +beaver can't live under the ice any longer than me or you." + +He then went on to explain that the banks on each side of the pond +were supplied with "breathing-holes," which were dug into the bank, +and extended upward above the level of the water, and that the beaver, +when frightened out of their houses, would seek refuge in these holes, +where they could be easily captured. + +"But how do we know where these holes are?" asked George. + +"Easy enough," answered Dick. "All you have got to do is to go along +the bank an' strike the ice with an ax, an' you can tell by the sound +where they are. But I fixed all that when I first diskivered this +pond. I know jest where the holes are. Now, you go an' pound on them +houses, an' drive out the beaver." + +The boys accordingly laid down their guns, and commenced an attack on +the dwellings of the beaver, when the animals at once plunged into the +water under the ice. After every house had been visited, and the boys +were satisfied that they had made noise sufficient to drive out all +the beaver, they returned to the place where they had left the +trapper, and found him engaged in cutting a hole in the ice close to +the bank. As the boys came up, he directed one of them to fasten his +hunting-knife to a long sapling for a spear, and the other to chop a +hole in the bank directly opposite to the one he had cut in the ice. + +By the time the spear was finished, an opening had been cut down into +the "breathing-hole," and the hunters discovered three beaver +crouching in the furthest corner. Useless thrust his head into the +hole, and contented himself with barking at the game; but Brave +squeezed himself down into the opening among the beavers, and attacked +them furiously. The animals made a desperate resistance, and in a few +moments Brave backed out of the hole, with his ears and nose bleeding +from several wounds, which showed that the long teeth of the beaver +had been used to a good advantage. Frank gazed in surprise at the +dog's lacerated head, and exclaimed: + +"There's something besides a beaver in there." + +"No, I reckon not," replied the trapper. "Your dog is jest about as +keerless as you be, an' hasn't got no more sense than to pitch into +every wild varmint he comes acrost. You must understand that a beaver +can get up a tarnal good fight if he onct makes up his mind to it. An' +when you get one of 'em cornered up, it takes somethin' besides a +'coon dog to whip him." + +Frank made no reply, and the trapper reached down with his long spear, +when one after the other of the beavers were killed and pulled out on +the bank. The attack on the houses was then renewed, to drive out any +of the animals which might have returned. In the next breathing-hole +two beavers were found, but only one was secured, the other making his +escape by plunging back under the ice. While they were cutting into +the next hole, a large mink suddenly popped out from under the roots +of a tree into which the trapper was chopping; and although George +made a frantic blow at him with the handle of his ax, he succeeded in +getting past him, and started across the pond toward the opposite +shore. The boys immediately went in pursuit, George leading the way, +and Frank following close behind him, brandishing his spear, and +shouting to the dogs, which were close upon the mink's heels. The +little animal made headway through the snow with a rapidity that was +surprising; but the long bounds of the dogs were rapidly diminishing +the distance between them, and when about half way across the pond, +Useless overtook and seized him. The boys increased their speed, +fearful that the dog might spoil the skin, which was one of the finest +they had ever seen. + +"Useless!" shouted George, "get out! Drop that"---- + +He did not finish the sentence; for suddenly there was a loud crack, +and the ice opened beneath him, and he sank out of sight in the cold +water. Frank, as we have said, was following close behind him, and at +the rate of speed at which he was running, it was impossible to stop; +and the trapper, who had been watching the race, and had witnessed the +accident with an expression of great concern depicted on his +weather-beaten countenance, expected to see Frank disappear also. But +the young naturalist always had his wits about him, and summoning all +his strength, he sprang into the air, and cleared the hole into which +George had fallen, by an extraordinary leap, and landed on the firm +ice on the opposite side. George rose almost instantly, for he was an +expert swimmer; but his sudden immersion into the cold water seemed +to have paralyzed his limbs, and rendered him incapable of action. +Frank turned immediately and made a desperate clutch at George's long +hair; but he was too late, for the unfortunate young hunter again sank +slowly out of sight. Frank's mind was made up in an instant, and +hastily pulling off his fur cap and comforter, he unbuckled his belt +and began to divest himself of his overcoat. + +"Take care now, youngster," exclaimed the trapper, who at this moment +came up. "Don't let George get a hold of you, or you'll both go down +together;" and Dick threw himself on his knees, and stretched his long +arm out over the water ready to catch George if he should come up +within his reach, while Frank stood upon the edge of the ice, ready to +plunge into the water the moment his companion should rise again. + +But his intentions were anticipated; for at this moment Brave came +bounding to the spot, carrying the mink in his mouth. Understanding, +in an instant, that something was wrong, he dropped his game and +sprang into the water. At this moment George's head appeared at the +surface, and the dog seized him, when, to the horror of the hunters, +both disappeared together. But they arose a moment afterward, and +Brave, holding the rescued hunter by the collar of his coat, swam +toward his master, and George was drawn out on the ice, in a state of +insensibility. + +"Here! here!" exclaimed Dick, running around to the place where Frank +was kneeling, holding George in his arms; "give him to me, an' you run +back an' get the axes." + +The trapper raised his young companion in his arms as easily as though +he had been an infant, and started toward the bank at the top of his +speed; while Frank, after pulling Brave out of the water, ran back +after the axes, as Dick had directed. When he again found the trapper, +he was on the bank, kneeling beside George, and engaged in chafing his +hands and temples. + +"Now, youngster!" he exclaimed, hurriedly, "if you ever worked in your +life, work now. Build a fire and throw up a shantee. We must get his +wet clothes off him to onct." + +Frank, as may be supposed, worked with a will, knowing that the life +of his companion depended on his exertions. In a short time a roaring +fire was started, and a rude shelter erected, when George's wet and +frozen clothes were pulled off and hung up to dry, and he was warmly +wrapped up in blankets. The rubbing was continued a few moments +longer, when they had the satisfaction of seeing him open his eyes and +gaze about him. Dick now left the hut. In a short time he returned, +with a bunch of herbs in his hand, and soon afterward a cup of strong, +nauseating tea was pressed to George's lips, and he was compelled to +swallow the whole of it. He was then enveloped in more blankets, and +ordered to "go to sleep." + +While Frank and the trapper were seated beside the fire, talking over +the accident, they heard the noise of approaching footsteps on the +crust, and presently Archie and Harry hurried up to the hut. + +"What's the matter with George?" inquired the latter, hurriedly, for +he saw that Dick and Frank were the only ones at the fire. + +"O, he got a duckin' in the pond, that's all," replied the trapper. +"Don't be alarmed. He's sleepin' nicely now." + +"We thought somebody was drowned, sure," said Archie, "for we saw the +hole in the ice, and your guns and overcoats scattered about, as +though they had been thrown down in a great hurry." + +In about an hour George awoke, and, of course, was immediately +assailed with innumerable questions. Among others, his brother asked +him why he didn't swim when he fell into the water. + +"Why didn't I swim!" repeated George; "I couldn't move. It seemed as +though every drop of blood in my body was frozen solid as soon as I +touched the water. But where's the black fox you were going to bring +back with you? Did you catch him?" + +Archie replied in the negative; and then went on to tell how they had +found the trail in the gully, followed it for a mile, then suddenly +lost it again, all efforts to recover it proving unsuccessful. + +About the middle of the afternoon, George, declaring that he was able +to travel, was allowed to put on his clothes, and the hunters +shouldered their guns and started for home. + +The sight of their snug little cabin was a pleasant thing to the eyes +of the trappers that evening, for the day's hunt had been a hard as +well as a profitable one. A fire was quickly started, and, while +their supper was cooking, George changed his wet clothes; and a strong +cup of coffee, as the trapper remarked, "set _him_ all right again." +After supper, how soft and comfortable their blankets felt! They lay +for a long time in silence, watching the sparks as they arose slowly +toward the opening in the roof that served as a chimney, and listening +to the whistling of the wind and the sifting of the snow against the +walls of the cabin; for the storm that the trapper had predicted had +already set in. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Breaking up a Moose-Pen. + + +On awaking the next morning, they found that the cabin was almost +covered with snow, and the woods were filled with drifts, that +rendered it impossible for them to resume their hunting. The two days +that followed were passed in-doors, curing the skins of the animals +they had taken, and listening to the trapper's stories. + +On the third day, a heavy thaw set in, and at night the wind changed +around to the north, and covered the snow with a crust that would +easily bear a man. Early the next morning the hunters set out. George +and Frank accompanied the trapper, to assist in breaking up a +moose-pen, which the latter had discovered a few days previous to the +storm, and Archie and Harry determined to again attempt the capture +of the black fox. + +The trapper led his young companions through the woods, and across the +pond where George had met with his accident. About a mile further on, +he came to a halt, and said, almost in a whisper: + +"Now, youngsters, we are a'most to the moose-pen. You stay here, +George; an' remember, don't go to movin' up on the game till you hear +me shoot." + +"I don't see any moose," said George. + +"In course you don't," said the trapper. "But they are in the woods +here, an' me and Frank will go an' surround them. It'll take mighty +keerful steppin', though," he continued, turning to Frank, "for moose +have got an ear like an Injun's. Be keerful now how you walk." So +saying, the trapper shouldered his heavy rifle, and moved off through +the woods, accompanied by Frank. About half a mile further on, the +latter was stationed on the banks of a deep ravine; and Dick, after +repeating his instructions, continued on alone. + +The stalwart form of the trapper had scarcely disappeared, when Frank +heard a noise in the bushes, and presently a large moose appeared, +leisurely wading through the deep snow, and cropping the branches as +he approached. As if by instinct, Frank's gun was leveled; but +remembering the trapper's instructions, the weapon was lowered, and +the young hunter stepped back into the bushes, and watched the motions +of the animal. He was a noble fellow--very much like the one with +which Frank had engaged in that desperate struggle in the woods--with +antlers fully four feet in length. The animal appeared totally +unconscious of danger, and, after browsing about among the bushes for +a few moments, walked back into the woods again, but almost instantly +reappeared, and made for the ravine at the top of his speed. At this +moment, the well-known report of the trapper's rifle echoed through +the woods. It was followed by a crashing in the crust, and presently +another moose appeared, and, like the former, ran toward the ravine. A +short distance behind him came the trapper, holding his rifle in one +hand and his huge hunting-knife in the other, and rapidly gaining on +the deer, which sank through the crust into the deep snow at every +step. Frank and Brave immediately joined in the pursuit, and the +moose had not run far before he was overtaken and seized by the dog. +Frank, remembering his first experience in moose-hunting, halted at a +safe distance, and was about to "make sure work" of the game, when the +trapper darted past him, exclaiming: + +"Don't shoot, youngster. That's a young moose; an' if you can ketch +him, he'll be worth more nor all the stuffed critters you've got at +home." + +Here was an opportunity which, to Frank, was too good to be lost. +Hastily dropping his gun, and producing a piece of rope from the +pocket of his overcoat, he ran up to the game, and, after a brief +struggle, succeeded in fastening it around his neck. The dog was then +ordered to let go his hold, when the moose instantly sprang to his +feet and started to run. Frank was thrown flat in the snow, but he +clung to the rope with all his strength. After a short time the young +moose, wearied with his useless efforts to escape, ceased his +struggles, and his captors led, or rather pulled, him along through +the woods toward the place where the game had first been started. + +"Now," said the trapper, "you've got a pet that is worth something. +He's jest the thing you want. You won't have to drag your sleds home +now." + +"Why not?" inquired Frank. + +"Cause this yere moose can pull you four fellers further in one day +than you can travel in two. I knowed a trader at Fort Laramie that had +one o' them critters, and he used to hitch him up to a sled, an' think +nothin' o' travelin' sixty miles a day." + +While they were talking, George came up, and, after the hunters had +collected their game, Dick led the way toward home, while Frank +brought up the rear, leading the young moose. + +Meanwhile, Archie and Harry were in hot pursuit of the black fox. They +found the trail, as before, in the gully, and Sport started off on it, +and met with no difficulty until they arrived on the banks of a small +stream that ran a short distance from the cabin. Here the trail came +to an abrupt termination, and all efforts to recover it were +unavailing. This was the identical spot where they had lost it before. +For almost an hour they continued, but without any success; and Harry +exclaimed, as he dropped the butt of his gun to the ground, and leaned +upon the muzzle with rather a dejected air: + +"It's no use. We're fooled again. That fox has got his regular +run-ways, and we might as well call off the dogs, and go home." + +"Not yet," said Archie; "I can't give up in this way; neither do I +believe that any fox that ever lived can fool Sport. Hunt 'em up! hunt +'em up!" he continued, waving his hand to the dog, which was running +about, tearing the bushes with his teeth, and whining, as if he, too, +felt the disgrace of being so easily defeated. The obedient animal +sprang upon the trail and followed it to its termination, and then +commenced circling around through the bushes again; and Archie walked +across the stream and examined the banks for the twentieth time, but +no signs of a trail could be found. + +At length, Harry suddenly exclaimed: + +"Look here, Archie; here's where the rascal went to;" and he pointed +to a small tree that had been partially uprooted by the wind, and +leaned over until its top reached within ten feet of the ground. + +"You see," Harry went on to say, "that the tops of all the other trees +are almost loaded down with snow, but this one hasn't got a bit on it. +The fox must have shaken it off when he jumped up there." + +Archie, who was ready to catch at any thing that looked like +encouragement, hurriedly recrossed the stream, and, after examining +the top of the tree, climbed up on it, when he discovered the tracks +of the fox in the snow that had fallen on the trunk. He descended to +the ground, and the boys ran along up the stream, carefully examining +every log and stick that was large enough for a fox to walk upon, and +finally, to their joy, discovered the trail, which ran back toward the +gully from which it had started. + +The dogs immediately set off upon it, and the boys, who had learned +considerable of the "lay of the land," struck off through the woods, +in an almost contrary direction to the one the dogs were pursuing, +toward a ridge that lay about three miles distant. + +Archie led the way at a rapid pace, now and then looking over his +shoulder, and exclaiming, "Hurry up, Harry." Half an hour's run +brought them to the ridge, and their feelings were worked up to the +highest pitch of excitement, when they discovered that the fox had not +yet passed. + +"We're all right now," said Archie, joyfully; "that black fox is +ours." + +"Yes," said Harry, "provided this is his runway." + +"O, don't begin to throw cold water on our expectations," said Archie. +"It'll be too bad if----. There they come, now; get out of sight, +quick." + +As Archie spoke, a long, drawn-out bay came faintly to their ears, and +the dogs appeared to be coming up the ridge. The young hunters hastily +concealed themselves, and Archie had just cocked his gun, when the +black fox broke from the bushes, and, as if suspicious of danger +ahead, turned off down the ridge. It was a long shot, but Archie, +without a moment's hesitation, raised his gun to his shoulder and +fired. + +"I told you he was ours," he shouted, as the smoke cleared away, and +the black fox was seen struggling in the snow. A blow on the head with +a stick stilled him, and the boys, after examining their prize, which +was the finest of his species they had ever seen, started down the +ridge to meet the dogs, and soon arrived at the cabin with their +prize, and were delighted to find how successful their comrades had +been in capturing the moose. + +Frank and Archie immediately set to work to break the young moose to +harness. He proved very tractable, and soon learned to draw the boys +in a sled, over the ice, with all the regularity of a well-broken +horse, more than compensating them for all the care they had bestowed +upon him. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +The Moose Shows his Qualities + + +A severe storm having set in, rendering hunting or trapping +impossible, the hunters passed a few succeeding days in-doors, and +busied themselves in making a sled and harness for the moose, which, +since his capture, had received a large share of Frank's attention. He +had been hitched to a sled regularly every day, and had been trained +until he had learned to obey almost as well as a horse. He was very +much afraid of a whip, and his only fault was a desire to get over the +ground as fast as possible. Sometimes, when fairly started, it was a +difficult task to restrain him. But the boys, far from considering +this a failing, looked upon it as a quality worth cultivating; and +their horned horse was always allowed to show off his speed to the +very best advantage. + +One morning, after the weather became settled, Archie proposed taking +a ride up the creek, to which the others readily agreed. The moose was +brought from the barn, and after considerable trouble--for the new +harness had been made too small--he was finally hitched to the sled. +It was their intention to camp in the woods and eat their dinner. +After providing the necessary articles, an ax, plenty of ammunition, a +supply of coffee, salt, and pepper, a camp-kettle and frying-pan, they +sprang into the sled, and waving their hands to Uncle Joe and the +trapper, who stood in the door, watching their departure, they shouted +to their horned horse, which set off up the creek at a rapid pace. + +"Let him out now!" shouted Frank to his cousin, who was driving. "Let +him out. We've got all day before us, and let us see how fast he can +go." + +Archie pulled his cap down over his ears, and commenced shouting to +the moose, which almost redoubled his pace, and whirled them over the +snow at a rate the boys had never seen equaled by a living animal. +His gait was an awkward, shambling trot; and as the boys watched his +movements, they could not help laughing outright, whereupon the dogs +joined in the chorus, yelping and barking furiously. This frightened +the moose, which uttered a loud snort, and throwing back his head, ran +faster than ever; and Archie, who began to fear that he was running +away with them, pulled and jerked at the lines, but all to no purpose; +the moose ran faster and faster, and the boys, who did not pause to +consider the danger they might be in, laughed and shouted until they +were hoarse. At length Frank exclaimed: + +"You had better check him up a little. The first thing you know, the +concern will run away with us." + +"I believe that is what the rascal is trying to do now," answered +Archie, pulling with all his strength at the reins. "He has got a +mouth like iron." + +"Well, let him go then, until he gets tired," said George; "he can't +run this way all day, and besides, if we are obliged to spend a night +in the woods, it will be no new thing to us. Get up there! Hi! hi!" + +Archie, finding that it was impossible to stop the "concern," as Frank +had called it, turned his entire attention to keeping him in the +creek, in which he succeeded very well, until, as they came suddenly +around a bend, they discovered before them a huge log, lying across +the ice. To avoid it was impossible, for the log reached entirely +across the creek. + +"Stop him! stop him!" shouted Harry. "If he hits that log he'll break +the sled all to smash. Stop him, I tell you!" + +"I can't," replied Archie, pulling at the reins. + +"Let him go, then," said Frank. "Lay on the whip, and perhaps he will +carry us, sled and all, clean over the log." + +This was a desperate measure; but before Archie had time to act upon +the suggestion, or the others to oppose it, they reached the log. The +moose cleared it without the least exertion, but the next moment there +was a loud crash, and Frank, who had seated himself on the bottom of +the sled, and was holding on with both hands, suddenly arose in the +air like a rocket, and pitching clear over his cousin, turned a +complete somersault, and landed on the crust with such force, that it +broke beneath his weight, and he sank out of sight in the snow. The +next moment he felt a heavy weight upon him, and heard a smothered +laugh, which he knew was uttered by Archie. The latter regained his +feet in an instant, and making a blind clutch at his cousin--for his +face was so completely covered up with snow that he could not +see--inquired, as he helped him to his feet: + +"Who's this?" + +"It is I," answered Frank. "But where is the moose?" + +"Gone off to the woods, I suppose," answered Archie. "It's just our +luck. Eh! what? No, he hasn't--he's here, safe." + +He had succeeded in clearing his eyes of the snow, and saw the moose +struggling desperately to free himself from the sled, which had caught +against the log, and was holding him fast. Frank and his cousin at +once sprang to secure him, and, while the former lifted the sled over +the log, Archie seized the lines, and, in order to render escape +impossible, made them fast to a tree. By this time George and Harry +had come up, and at once commenced searching about in the snow for +their weapons, and the others busied themselves in repairing the +runners of the sled, both of which were broken. In a short time every +thing was ready for the start. George volunteered to act as driver, +provided the dogs could be kept quiet, and, after a few objections +from Harry, who "didn't like the idea of riding after that moose," +they again set out. Fortunately no one was injured in the least--not +even frightened--the only damage sustained by the establishment being +the breaking of the runners. Boy-like, they gave not one thought to +the danger they had been in, but amused themselves in laughing at the +comical figures they must have cut, as they all "pitched +head-over-heels out of the sled together." The dogs, however, did not +seem to regard it in the light of an amusing adventure, for they could +not be induced to enter the sled again. They ran along behind it, +keeping at a respectful distance, and the moment the sled stopped, and +their masters began trying to coax them in, they would retreat +precipitately. + +The moose now seemed to have become quieted. Whether it was for the +reason that the dogs were kept still, and there was less noise behind +him, or that he had been fatigued by his sharp run, the boys were +unable to decide. He trotted along at an easy gait, but still going as +fast as they wished to travel, until Harry announced "that it was half +past eleven o'clock, and high time that they were looking up a place +to eat their dinner." A suitable spot for an encampment was soon +selected, and, after the moose had been unharnessed and fastened to a +tree, Frank and Harry set out to procure something for dinner, leaving +the others to attend to the duties of the camp. + +The Newfoundlander, which accompanied the hunters, was sent on ahead +to start up any game that might be in his way. After he had led them +about a mile from the camp, his loud barking announced that he had +discovered something. The boys hurried forward, and found the dog +seated on his haunches at the foot of a tall hemlock, barking +furiously at something which had taken refuge among the branches. + +"It's a bear," exclaimed Harry, as soon as he could obtain a view of +the animal. + +"Yes, so I see," answered Frank, coolly pouring a handful of buck-shot +into each barrel of his gun. "We'll soon bring him down from there. +You be ready to finish him, in case I should miss." + +"Shoot close, then," answered Harry; "for if you only wound him, he +will prove a very unpleasant fellow to have about." + +Frank, in reply, raised his gun to his shoulder, and a loud report +echoed through the woods, followed by a savage growl. The shot was not +fatal, for, when the smoke cleared away, they discovered the bear +clinging to the tree, apparently none the worse for an ugly-looking +wound in his shoulder. + +"Shoot me if the rascal isn't coming down!" exclaimed Harry. "Try the +other barrel, Frank, quickly." + +It was as Harry had said. The bear was beginning to descend the tree, +and his whole appearance indicated that he meant fight. Frank was a +good deal surprised at this, for he had great confidence in his +double-barrel, and in his skill as a marksman, and had been sanguine +of either killing or disabling him at the first shot; but the celerity +of the animal's movements proved that his wound did not trouble him in +the least. It was evident that their situation would soon be any +thing but a pleasant one, unless the other barrel should prove fatal. +Frank could not pause long to debate upon the question, for the bear +was every moment nearing the ground, now and then turning toward his +enemies, and displaying a frightful array of teeth, as if warning them +that it was his intention to take ample revenge on them. Again he +raised his gun to his shoulder, his nerves as steady as if he were +about to shoot at a squirrel, and carefully sighting the head of their +shaggy enemy, pulled the trigger. The bear uttered another of his +terrific growls, and after trying in vain to retain his hold upon the +tree, fell to the ground. Brave was upon him in an instant, but the +bear, easily eluding him, raised on his haunches, and seized the dog +in his paws. One smothered howl came from Brave's throat, and Frank, +clubbing his gun, was rushing forward to the rescue of the +Newfoundlander, whose death now seemed inevitable, when another charge +of buck-shot, from Harry's gun, rattled into the bear's head, and +again brought him to the ground. Brave was released from his dangerous +situation, and the moment he regained his feet he attacked the bear +with redoubled fury; but the animal easily beat him off, and rushed, +with open mouth, upon Frank. + +"Run! run!" shouted Harry; "the rascal isn't hurt a bit." + +But with Frank, retreat was impossible; the bear was close upon him, +and he would have been overtaken in an instant. Bravely standing his +ground, he struck the animal a powerful blow, which staggered him for +an instant; but, before he had time to repeat it, his gun went flying +out of his hands, and he was stretched, stunned and bleeding, on the +snow. The bear, no doubt, considered him disposed of, for he kept on +after Harry, who, being unable to fire for fear of wounding either +Frank or the dog, had been compelled to witness the struggle, without +having the power of lending any assistance. + +The bear had struck Frank a severe blow, which, for a few seconds, +rendered him incapable of action; but as soon as he had recovered, he +ran for his gun, and while he was ramming home the charge, he saw +Harry's coat-tails disappearing in a thicket of bushes, and the bear, +seated on his haunches, engaged in fighting the dog, which, having +experienced some pretty rough handling, had learned to keep out of +reach of the dangerous claws. + +As soon as Frank had loaded his gun, he hurried forward to put an end +to the fight, when a sheet of flame shot out from the bushes, and the +bear ceased his fighting, and lay motionless on the snow. A moment +afterward Harry appeared, and, upon seeing Frank, exclaimed: + +"I've finished the job for him! But he gave you fits, didn't he? Your +face is all bloody. I guess he made your head ache!" + +"I guess he did, too," replied Frank. "I tell you, he hit me an awful +crack. I had as soon be struck with a sledge-hammer." + +Fortunately, there were no bones broken. After Frank's wounded head +had been bandaged with his handkerchief, the boys proceeded to remove +the skin of the bear, which was the largest of his species they had +ever seen. Selecting some of the choice parts of the meat, they then +started toward the camp. + +Their appearance relieved the anxiety the others had begun to feel at +their prolonged absence. The story of their adventure afforded +abundant material for conversation while they were eating their +dinner, which Frank, who had experienced no serious inconvenience from +the blow he had received, speedily served up; and many were the +speculations in regard to the lecture they would be certain to receive +from the trapper, for their "keerlessness." + +It was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon before the boys started +for Uncle Joe's cabin. As it promised to be a fine, moonlight night, +they were in no hurry. Allowing the moose to trot along at an easy +gait, they sat in the bottom of the sled, enveloped in furs, amusing +themselves in shouting and singing, when Archie suddenly exclaimed: + +"Look there, boys! Now, see me make that varmint jump." + +The boys looked in the direction indicated, and saw a large, gaunt +wolf standing on the bank of the creek, regarding them attentively, +and seeming to be not the least concerned about their approach. As +Archie spoke, he raised his gun; but the wolf, as if guessing his +intention, suddenly turned, and disappeared in the bushes. + +"Boys," said Frank, "that little circumstance has set me to thinking. +Supposing that a pack of those fellows should get after us to-night, +wouldn't we be in a fix?" + +"That's so," answered the others, in a breath, their cheeks blanching +at the very thought. + +"I never thought of that," said Archie. "Hurry up, Harry. Lay on the +goad, and let's get home as soon as possible." + +The joking and laughing instantly ceased, and the boys bent suspicious +glances on the woods, on each bank of the creek, over which darkness +was fast settling, and their hands trembled as they reached for their +guns, and placed them where they could be found at a moment's warning. + +Harry urged on the moose, intent on reaching the tree where the +accident had happened in the morning, if possible, before dark. That +passed, they would feel comparatively safe; for if the wolves should +overtake them before they reached the tree, escape would be +impossible. The moose shuffled over the snow at a rapid rate, as if +he, too, knew that they were in danger; but Harry kept him completely +under his control, and in less than half an hour the tree was in +sight. After considerable exertion, the sled was lifted over the +obstruction, and as the boys resumed their seats, they felt relieved +to know that the worst part of the ride had been accomplished; but +they had not gone far when, faintly, to their ears came the sound for +which they had been waiting and listening--the mournful howl of a +wolf. The moose heard it too, for, with a bound like a rocket, he set +off on that break-neck pace that had so amused the boys in the +morning. But it was far from a laughing matter now. The moose was not +running from a harmless noise behind him, but from a danger that +threatened them as well. + +Presently the dreadful sound was repeated from another part of the +woods, still distant, but nearer than before. The boys had often heard +the same sound, when seated around their blazing camp-fire, and had +smiled to think what a momentary horror would seize upon them as the +sound first came pealing from the depths of the woods. But they had no +camp-fire to protect them now; nothing but the speed of their horned +horse and their own bravery could save them. + +In a few moments, another and another joined in the hideous chorus, +each nearer and more fearfully distinct than the others. The wolves +were closing in behind them from all sides; but with their usual +cowardice, were delaying the attack, until a sufficient force could be +collected to render an easy victory certain. Up to this time not a +wolf had been seen, save the one that Archie had first discovered; but +in a few moments they could be heard dashing through the bushes on +either side of the creek, and, soon after, the boldest began to show +themselves on the ice behind them. + +To describe the thoughts that ran with lightning speed through the +minds of the terrified boys were impossible. In spite of the piercing +cold, so intense were their feelings of horror, that they were covered +with perspiration, and every thing they had done in their +lives--minute incidents, long since forgotten--seemed spread out +before their eyes like a panorama. Rapidly ran the terrified moose; +but nearer and nearer came their dreadful pursuers, each moment +increasing in numbers, and growing more bold. The moment was fast +approaching when they would make the attack. + +"Let us commence the fight, boys," said Frank, in as firm a voice as +he could command. "We must kill as many of them as we can, before they +close on us. George, take Harry's gun. Archie, you and I will fire +first. Remember now, no putting two charges into one wolf. Harry, keep +on the ice. Ready--now!" + +The guns cracked in rapid succession, and the howls which followed +proved that the ammunition had not been thrown away. The wolves sprang +upon their wounded comrades and commenced to devour them, and George +seized the opportunity to put in two excellent shots. During the delay +thus occasioned, short as it was, the wolves were left far behind, and +the boys had ample opportunity to load their guns. Harry, although +generally very timid, when he found himself placed in danger, was the +most cool and collected one of the party; and it was well that it was +so, for it required all his presence of mind and power of muscle to +keep the moose on the ice. He was struggling desperately, first to +relieve himself of the weight of the sled, and, failing in this, he +would make frantic endeavors to turn into the woods. If any part of +the harness should break, they would be left at the mercy of their +pursuers. + +Again and again did the fierce animals overtake them, and as often +were some of their number stretched on the snow. At length, a loud +hurrah from Harry announced that they were nearing home; and a few +moments afterward, just as the wolves were closing around them again, +the sled entered Uncle Joe's "clearing." The noise of purling waters +to the desert-worn pilgrim never sounded sweeter than did the sharp +crack of rifles and the familiar voices of the trapper and his +brother, to the ears of the rescued boys. The inmates of the cabin had +heard the noise of the pursuit, and had rushed out to their +assistance. + +The moose was speedily unhitched from the sled, and after the boys had +closed and fastened the doors of the cabin, they began to breathe more +freely. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +The Black Mustang. + + +Supper over, the hunters drew their chairs around the fireplace, and +Dick, after filling his pipe, and drawing a few puffs by way of +inspiration, said: + +"I believe I onct told you 'bout havin' my hoss pulled out from under +me by a grizzly bar, didn't I? Wal, I told you, too, that I ketched +another, an' I had a job to do it, too--to ketch the one I wanted; an' +the time you've had tryin' to ketch that black fox reminds me of it. +You know, I s'pose, that large droves of wild hosses roam all over the +prairy, an' them droves ar allers led by some splendid animal--allers +a stallion--one that has got the legs to go like lightnin', an' the +wind to keep it up. An' he's allers the cock o' the walk, too--the +best fighter in the drove; an' when he moves round, it would make you +laugh to see the other hosses get out of his way. He holds his place +until he dies, unless some other hoss comes along an' wallops him. +Then he takes his place with the common fags o' the drove, an' the new +one is king till he gets licked, an' so on. It ar a mighty hard thing +to capture one o' them leaders. You can ketch one o' the others easy +enough, but when it comes to lassoin' the 'king,' it's a thing that +few trappers can do. Jest arter my scrape with the grizzly bar, Bill +Lawson an' me fell in with a lot o' fellers that war goin' to spend a +season on the Saskatchewan, an' they wanted me an' Bill to join 'em; +so I bought me a hoss of an ole Injun for a couple o' plugs o' +tobacker--reg'lar Jeems River it war, too--an' we started out. My new +hoss was 'bout as ugly a lookin' thing as I ever happened to set eyes +on. He war big as all out-doors, an' you could see every bone in his +body. An' he war ugly actin', too; an' if a feller come within reach +of his heels, the way he would kick war a caution to Injuns. But I +hadn't been on the road more'n a day afore I diskivered that he could +travel like a streak o' greased lightnin'. That war jest the kind of +a hoss I wanted, an' I didn't care 'bout his ugly looks arter that. + +"For more'n three year, me an' Bill had been keepin' an eye on a hoss +that we wanted to ketch. He war the leader of a large drove. He war a +sort o' iron-gray color, with a thick, archin' neck--a purty feller; +an' the way he could climb over the prairy was a caution to cats. We +warn't the only ones arter him, either, for a'most every trapper in +the country had seed him, an' had more'n one chase arter him. But, +bars and buffaler! It war no use 't all, for he could run away from +the fastest hosses, an' not half try; an' many a poor feller, who +straddled a hoss that every body thought couldn't be tuckered out, had +left his animal dead on the prairy, an' found his way back to his camp +on foot. We war in hopes that we should see him, for we war travelin' +right through his country; an' I knowed that if we did find him, I +would stand as good a chance o' ketchin' him as any one, for my +ugly-lookin' hoss was the best traveler in the crowd. + +"One night we camped on a little stream, called Bloody Creek. We +called it so from a fight that a party of us fellers had there with +the Injuns. About an hour arter supper, while we war all settin' +round the fire, smokin' an' telling stories, ole Bob Kelly--the oldest +an' best trapper in the country--started up off his blanket, an', +cockin' his ear for a moment, said, 'Somebody's comin', boys.' An', +sure 'nough, in a few minits up walked a stranger. + +"It ar a mighty uncommon thing to meet a teetotal stranger on the +prairy, an' a man don't know whether he is a friend or foe; but we war +mighty glad to see him, and crowded round him, askin' all sorts o' +questions; an' one took his rifle, an' another pulled off his +powder-horn an' bullet-pouch, an' a big feller dragged him to the +fire, where we could all get a good look at him, an' made him drink a +big cup o' coffee. + +"'Whar do you hail from, stranger?' inquired ole Bob Kelly, who allers +took them matters into his own hands, an' we little fellers had to set +round an' listen. + +"'I b'long anywhere night ketches me,' answered the stranger. 'I'm an +ole trapper in these yere parts.' + +"'Whar's your hoss?' asked ole Bob. + +"'I left him dead on the prairy--dead as a herrin'. I rid him a +leetle too hard, I reckon. I war chasin' up the black mustang.' + +"If I should live to be a hundred year older 'n I'm now, an' should +live among the Blackfoot Injuns the hull time, I shouldn't expect to +hear another sich a yell as 'em trappers give when the stranger +mentioned the black mustang. They crowded round him like a flock o' +sheep, all askin' him questions; an' he tried to answer 'em all to +onct; an' sich a row as there war round that camp-fire for a few +minits! It war wusser nor any Injun war-dance I ever seed. Now, me an' +Bill hadn't never seed the black mustang, nor heerd o' him afore, +'cause we hadn't trapped in that part o' the country for a'most three +year, but we knowed in a minit that it must be the leader o' some +drove. But Bill had lived among the Injuns so much that he had got +kinder used to their ways, an' he didn't like to see them trappers +carryin' on so, an' actin' like a parcel o' young'uns jest turned +loose from school; so, as soon as he could make himself heered, he +yelled: + +"'What in tarnation's the matter with you fellers? As soon as you git +through hollerin', me an' Dick would like to know what all this yere +fuss is about.' + +"'Why, the black mustang has been within ten mile of this yere camp +to-night,' said one of the trappers. + +"'Wal, an' what o' that?' said Bill. 'Ar the black mustang any better +hoss than the gray king?' + +"They all set up another yell at this, an' one of 'em said: + +"'Why, the gray ain't nothin' 'long side o' the black mustang. He +could run away from him in less'n two minits. I guess you hain't hearn +tell of him, have you?' + +"'In course I hain't,' said Bill. + +"'Then you ain't no great shakes of a trapper,' said another. + +"Now, the rascal knowed that war a lie, for there warn't no trapper in +the country that could lay over Bill, 'cept ole Bob Kelly, an' every +one said as how he war the best trapper agoin'; an' the way Bill eyed +the feller, made him kinder keerful of his we'pons for a day or two +arterward. + +"Arter talking a little while, we found out the black mustang war the +leader o' the largest drove on the prairy. He had been round for 'bout +a year, an' every trapper in that part of the country had had a chase +arter him; but it war like chasin' the wind; an' besides this, he +could run all day, an' be jest as fresh at night as when he started in +the mornin'. + +"'Wal,' thinks I, 'Dick, here's a good chance for you to try your +hoss's travelin' qualities;' an' I made up my mind that I would start +off an' foller the black mustang till I ketched him, if it tuk me my +lifetime. + +"The next mornin', arter breakfast, one o' the trappers proposed that +we should spend three or four days in huntin' up the mustang, an', in +course, we all agreed to it. The stranger wanted to go, too, but we +had no hoss to give him; so, arter biddin' us all good-by, he +shouldered his rifle an' started out alone acrost the prairy. Wal, we +spent a week tryin' to find that hoss, but didn't even get a sight at +him; so one mornin' old Bob Kelly concluded that we had better make +another strike for the Saskatchewan. We packed up an' got all ready to +start, when I tuk them a good deal by surprise by tellin' 'em that I +war goin' to stay an' hunt up the black mustang. How they all laughed +at me! + +"'Laugh away, boys,' says I, as I got on to my hoss. 'I'll see you on +the Saskatchewan in a month or so, an' I'll either bring the mustang +with me, or he'll be a dead hoss. If I can't ketch him, I can shoot +him, you know; an' I won't see you agin till I do one or the other. +Good-by, fellers.' An' I turned my hoss an' rode away from the camp. + +"Wal, I rode all over them prairies for a'most six weeks, without +seein' the sign of a hoss; an' one arternoon I stopped on the top of a +high swell to take my reckonin'. I found myself on the east side o' +the Black Hills, an' I knowed that my first job was to get on the +_other_ side; the mustang had prob'bly struck off toward the +mountains. So I began to look around for a good place to get over. The +hills rose from the prairy reg'lar bluff-like--sometimes a hundred +feet high, an' so steep that a sheep couldn't climb up 'em. Jest as it +begun to grow dark, I come to a deep ravine, that seemed to run up +into the hills a good way; an' the bottom of this yere ravine was as +hard an' smooth as a floor, an' looked as if it had been traveled +over a good deal. But I war kinder tired with my day's tramp, an' +didn't notice it much, for I thought it war nothin' more'n a buffaler +road; so I picked out a good place an' camped for the night. + +"'Arly the next mornin' I set out agin; but as soon as I got on the +road I knowed that no buffaler had made them tracks; they war +mustangs, an' there war the prints of their hoofs in the dust, plain +as a bar's ears. When I come to examine the signs, I found, as nigh as +I could kalkerlate, that there war about three hundred hosses in the +drove, an' I knowed, from the looks of the tracks, that they had been +along lately; so I pushed ahead as fast as my hoss could carry me, an' +that wasn't slow, I tell you. I rid him all day at a tearin' rate, an' +at dark he seemed as willin' to go as when I started out. This put me +in high spirits, an' I made up my mind that if me and my hoss ever got +arter that black mustang, he would have to pick up his feet mighty +lively to get away from us. The next day, about noon, I war riding +along at a thumpin' rate, when all to onct I come to a place where the +ravine opened into a small prairy, and scattered all over it war the +wild hosses, feedin' away as peaceably as if no one had ever thought +of disturbin' them there. I pulled up so quick that it a'most brought +my hoss on his haunches; but the mustangs had seed me, an' the way +they snorted an' galloped about war a purty thing to look at. I drawed +off into the bushes as quick as I could, an' gathered up my lasso, +which I allers carried at my saddle-bow, an' then looked toward the +drove agin. The first hoss I seed was the black mustang. He war +runnin' about, tossin' his head an' snortin' as though he didn't +hardly understand the matter. He war the purtiest hoss I ever sot eyes +on; but I couldn't stop to examine his pints then. Then I tuk a look +round the prairy, an' saw that the hills rose on all sides of it; +there was but one way the hosses could get out, an' that war through +the ravine. I war in luck for onct in my life. Now, you boys, if you +had been there, would, most like, run out into the prairy to onct, an' +tried to ketch him, but that would have been a reg'lar boy trick, and +would have spiled it all. I knowed that I had the black hoss +surrounded, but if I begun to race him round that prairy, he would +dodge me, an' be off down the ravine like a shot; so I kept still in +the bushes; an' my hoss knowed his own bisness, and stood as though he +war made of rock. + +"Purty soon the hosses begun to get over their skeer an' commenced +comin' toward me--the black hoss leadin' the way. He would come a few +steps, an' then stop an' paw the ground, an' then come a little +nearer, an' so on, till he come within 'bout half a lasso-throw, when, +all of a sudden, I give my hoss the word, an' he jumped out o' them +bushes like a streak o' lightnin'. It would have made you laugh to see +the way them hosses put off; the black hoss, seemed to me, war on +wings; but he hadn't made three jumps afore my lasso war around his +neck. _The black mustang war mine!_ + +"In about three weeks I reached the Saskatchewan, an' if you could +have heard the yell them trappers give when I rode up to the camp on +the mustang, it would have done your heart good. I had kept my +promise." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +A Brush with the Greasers. + + +Dick replenished his pipe and prepared to rest, after his tale was +completed, when Frank suddenly inquired: + +"Dick, how came that scar on your face?" + +The "scar" Frank had reference to, was an ugly-looking wen, extending +entirely across the trapper's face, and completely "spilin' his good +looks," as he sometimes used to remark. + +"That war done in a fight with some tarnal Greasers," answered Dick. +"I come mighty nigh havin' my neck stretched that night, an' the way +it happened war this:" + +After a few whiffs at his pipe, he continued: + +"When our government war settlin' our little dispute with the Mexikin +Greasers, I, like a good many other trappers, thought that I should +like to take a hand in the muss. I hate a Greaser wusser nor I do an +Injun. So, arter a little talk, me an' Bill jined a company o' Rangers +that war raised by an ole trapper we used to call Cap'n Steele. A'most +every man in the company war a trapper or hunter, for the cap'n +wouldn't take only them as could show the claws o' three or four +grizzlies they had rubbed out, an' as many Injun scalps. + +"Wal, when we got together, I reckon we war about the roughest lookin' +set o' men you ever see. Each one dressed as suited him best, an' all +armed with rifles, tomahawks, an' huntin'-knives. But our looks didn't +seem to set ole Gen'ral Taylor agin us, for when we rode up to his +camp, an' our cap'n had told him what we war, an' what we could do, he +seemed mighty glad to see us; and we war sent to onct to the +quarter-master, an' detailed to take care o' his cattle an' hosses, +fight guerrillas, an' carry letters from one place to another. We +knowed the country purty well, for there were few of us that hadn't +traveled over it more'n onct in our lives; but whenever we war sent +off anywhere we used to have a Mexikin guide, who showed us the short +cuts through the mountains. + +"Wal, just arter the battle o' Monterey, our company war cut up into +little squads, an' scattered all over the country; some went with the +gen'ral, an' some war put in Cap'n Morgan's company, an' sent scoutin' +around, an' four of us war left at Monterey with the quarter-master. + +"One day ole Bill come to me an' said: + +"'Dick, the kurnel wants to see you. I guess he's got some business +for you to 'tend to.' + +"I went up to the head-quarters, an' the kurnel told me that he had +some very important letters which he wanted to send to Major Davis, +who was then stationed at a little town called Alamo, an' as I had the +finest hoss in the town, he thought it best to send me. Alamo war on +the other side o' the mountains, an' about a hundred an' fifty miles +off. As the kurnel had said, I had the best hoss in the hull camp, +an', in course, it wouldn't have been no trouble to have gone there if +the country had been clear--the ride wasn't nothin'; but the Mexikins +war comin' down toward Monterey, an' the kurnel thought that they war +goin' to try to take the city from us agin. I knowed there war danger +in it, but I didn't mind that. I war used to it, an' if I got into a +scrape, it wouldn't be the first one I war in; so I started off arter +my hoss, an' in a few minits I war ready an' waitin' at the kurnel's +door for the letters. Purty soon he come out an' give 'em to me, +sayin': + +"'Now, Dick, be mighty keerful of 'em, 'cause there's some news in 'em +that I shouldn't like to have the Mexikins get hold of. This man,' +pintin' to a Greaser that stood a little behind me, holdin' his hoss, +'will be your guide. He knows all about the mountains.' Then, movin' +up a little closer to me, he whispered: 'He'll bear watchin', I think; +I don't know much about him, but he is the only man I have got to send +with you, an' them letters must be in Major Davis's hands by to-morrow +night.' + +"'All right, kurnel,' I answered; 'I'll look out for him. I never see +a Greaser yet that could pull the wool over my eyes. I'll give the +letters to Major Davis afore this time to-morrow. Good by.' An' me an' +the guide rid off. + +"As soon as I had got out of the city, I turned to have a look at my +guide, an' I thought, as the kurnel had said, that he would bear +watchin'. He war the most villainous lookin' Mexikin I ever sot eyes +on. He war a young feller, not more'n twenty-two or twenty-three year +old; but he had an eye that looked like an eagle's, an' it wasn't +still a minit. He war dressed in a reg'lar Greaser's rig, with a +slouch hat, short jacket, all covered with gold lace, an' pantaloons, +wide at the bottom, an' open on the side as far as his knees. He had a +splendid hoss, an' war armed with a carbine, short saber, an' a lasso; +an' I knowed that if me an' him got into a muss, that lasso would +bother me more'n his sword or shootin'-iron. The Greasers, as a +gen'ral thing, ain't no great shakes at shootin', an' in a +rough-an'-tumble fight they ain't nowhere; but them ar raw-hide +lassoes ar the meanest things in the world to fight; they'll have one +of 'em around your neck afore you know it. I had a little experience +in that line afore I got back. Arter we had got outside o' the pickets +a little way, he turned in his saddle, an' tried to commence a talk +with me in Spanish; but I made him believe that I couldn't understand +a word he said. I thought that if I should tell him that I couldn't +talk his lingo, it would make him a little keerless; an' so it did. + +"We rid all day as fast as our hosses could travel, an' afore dark we +got acrost the mountains, an' stopped afore a little house, where the +guide said would be a good place to pass the night. I didn't much like +the idee; had rather camp right down in the woods; but, in course, +that would only put him on the look-out, an' I knowed that the best +way to do war to act as though I thought every thing war all right. A +man come to the gate as we rid up, an', as soon as he see my guide, he +touched his hat to him in reg'lar soldier style. The guide answered +the salute, an' asked the man, in Spanish: + +"'Are you alone, José?' + +"'Yes, gen'ral,' answered the man. Then making a slight motion toward +me, which, I made believe I didn't notice, he asked: + +"'But the American?' + +"'O, he can't understand Spanish,' said my rascally guide. 'No fear of +him; he thinks it's all right. Did you receive my letter?' + +"'Yes, gen'ral,' answered the man, touching his hat agin. + +"'Don't make so many motions, you fool,' said my guide; 'the American +is not blind. You got my letter all right, you say? Then Bastian, with +five hundred men, will be here at midnight?' + +"'Yes, gen'ral.' + +"The guide seemed satisfied, for he got off his hoss, an' motioned me, +with a good many smiles an' grimaces, to do the same. I could see that +I war in a purty tight place, an' I had a good notion to draw one o' +my six-shooters an' kill both o' the rascals where they stood. But, +thinks I, there may be more of these yere yaller-bellies around here +somewhere, an' besides, if I wait, I may get a chance to capture the +gen'ral, for my guide war none other than Gen'ral Cortinas, an' one o' +the best officers the Mexikins had. He had bothered us more'n their +hull army, an' the kurnel had offered to give a thousand dollars for +him alive, or five hundred for his scalp. I didn't care a snap for the +money, 'cause it warn't no use to me on the prairy; all I wanted war a +good Kentucky rifle, plenty o' powder an' lead, an' a good hoss, an' I +war satisfied. But I wanted to capture that gen'ral, an' take him into +camp, for he war a nuisance. In battle he never showed no quarter, +an' if he tuk any prisoners, it war only that he might let his men try +their hands at shootin'. He seemed to understand fightin' better nor +the rest o' the Mexikins, an' it showed that he war a brave feller +when he would come right into camp, with sich a price sot on his head. + +"I warn't long in makin' up my mind what I ought to do, an' I got down +off my hoss, as though there warn't a Greaser within a hundred miles +o' me; but, instead o' givin the hoss into charge o' the man, I hit +him a cut with my whip that sent him flyin' up the road. I knowed that +he wouldn't be far off when I wanted him, an' I knowed, too, that my +saddle an' pistols war safe, 'cause nobody couldn't ketch him besides +me. Arter goin' a little way up the road, he turned an' looked back, +an' then jumped over a hedge into a field, an' begun to eat. I could +see that the Mexikins didn't like it a bit, for they looked at each +other an' scowled, an' José said: + +"'_Carrajo!_ do you s'pose the American suspects any thing, gen'ral?' + +"'It don't make no difference whether he does or not, said my guide, +turnin' on his heel, an' motionin' me to follow him to the house; +'he's in our power, an' don't leave this place alive.' + +"Now, you wouldn't have called that very pleasant news, I take it. +Wal, it did make me feel rather onpleasant; but I didn't exactly +believe what the ole rascal had said about my not goin' away alive. +Thinks I, shootin' is a game two can play at, an' as long as you don't +bring them tarnal lassoes round, I'm all right. I had never seed a +six-shooter afore I went into the army, but I had l'arnt to use 'em +a'most as well as I could my rifle. I found that they war mighty handy +things in a fight. I had four of 'em, two in my huntin'-shirt, and two +had gone off with my hoss; an' I knowed that when the time come I +could get up a nice little fight for the Greasers. + +"There war only two women in the house, an' they seemed mighty glad to +see him, an' sot out a cheer for him; but they scowled at me, an' left +me to stand up. But that didn't trouble me none, for I helped myself +to a seat, an' listened to what my guide war sayin' to 'em. He war +mighty perlite, an' talked an' laughed, an' told the women as how he +war goin' to rub me out as soon as his men come; an' then he war +goin' to pitch into Cap'n Morgan, who war out scoutin' with his +company, an' had camped a little piece back in the mountains. + +"It war the kurnel's order that I should see him as we passed through +the mountains, an' send him to Monterey to onct, afore the Mexikins +could ketch him. But my rascally guide had heered the order, an' had +led me out o' my way, so that I shouldn't see him. I listened with +both my ears, an' arter I had heered all the rascal's plans, which +were purty nicely laid out for a boy, I made up my mind that he would +be a leetle disappointed when he tried to ketch Cap'n Morgan. + +"In a little while the man that had tuk charge o' the gen'ral's hoss +come in, an' I soon found out that he war the man that war expected to +do the business of cuttin' my throat. But the gen'ral told him not to +try it till midnight, when he would have plenty of men to back him up. +This showed me that, brave as the young Greaser war when leadin' his +men, he didn't like the idee o' pitchin' into an American +single-handed. I guess he knowed by my looks that I could do some +purty good fightin'. + +"Arter eatin' a hearty supper, an' smokin' a cigar with the gen'ral, I +wrapped myself up in my blanket, which I had tuk from my saddle afore +lettin' my hoss go, an' laid myself away in one corner of the room. +The Mexikins didn't like this, an' one o' the women made me understand +by signs that there war a bed for me up stairs. But I thought that my +chances for escape would be much better where I war; so I motioned her +to go away, an' pretended to go to sleep. The gen'ral an' his man had +a long talk about it, an' I expected every minit to hear him tell the +feller to shoot me. If he had, it would have been the signal for his +own death, for I had both my revolvers under my blanket. But no sich +order war given, an' finally the gen'ral, arter tellin' the man to +keep a good watch on me, went into another room an' went to bed, an' +his man stretched himself out on his cloak, right afore the door. + +"Wal, I waited about two hours for him to go to sleep, an' then made +up my mind that I might as well be travelin'. So I throwed off my +blanket an' war risin' to my feet, when 'bang' went the feller's +pistol, an' the bullet whizzed by my head an' went into the wall. I +warn't more'n ten feet from him, an' I'll be blamed if he didn't miss +me. The next minit I had him by the throat, an' a blow from the butt +of one o' my six-shooters done the work for him. I dragged him away +from the door, jumped down the steps, an' made tracks through the +garden. + +"The night war purty dark, but I knowed which way to go to get out o' +the yard, which war surrounded by a palin' eight foot high. You'd +better believe I run _some_; but I hadn't gone twenty yards from the +house afore I run slap agin somebody. I thought at first that it war +the gen'ral, an' I muzzled him. '_Carrajo!_ what does this mean?' said +the Mexikin, in Spanish. As soon as I heered his voice, I knowed that +he warn't the feller I wanted; most likely he war one o' the men the +gen'ral had been expectin'; so I give him a settler with my knife, an' +tuk to my heels agin. + +"The pistol that the Mexikin had fired in the house had set the women +a goin'; an', when I reached the fence, I heered 'em yellin' an' +wailin' over the feller I had knocked down. I didn't stop to listen to +'em, but jumped over into the field where my hoss war, an' commenced +whistlin' for him. I thought he war a long while a coming an' I ran +along whistlin', an' wonderin' where he had gone to. Purty soon I +heered his whinny, an' see him comin' toward me like mad; an' right +behind him war three or four Mexikins, with their lassoes all ready to +ketch him. But my hoss war leavin' 'em behind fast; for the way he +could climb over the ground when he onct made up his mind to run, war +a caution to them Greasers. He come right up to me, an' in a minit I +war on his back. + +"I now felt safe. The first thing I did war to pull out my +huntin'-knife an' fasten it to my wrist with a piece o' buckskin; +then, drawin' one o' my revolvers, I turned in my saddle, an' thought +I would stir up the Greasers a little, when all to onct somethin' +struck me in the face like a club, an' I war lifted from my saddle +clean as a whistle, and the next minit I war bumpin' an' draggin' over +the ground in a mighty onpleasant kind of a way. One o' the Greasers +had slipped his lasso over me, an' war pullin' me along as fast as his +hoss could travel. I fell right flat on my face, an' every step the +Greaser's hoss tuk plowed my nose in the ground, an' my eyes war so +full o' dirt an' blood that I could scarcely see. + +"But I war not quite so fast as the Greaser had thought for. The lasso +hadn't gone down round my neck, but had ketched jest above my chin. I +hadn't never been in sich a mighty onpleasant fix afore, but I warn't +long in gettin' my wits about me. Reachin' up with my huntin'-knife, I +made a slash at the lasso, an' the next minit wor standin' on my feet +agin. I had hung onto my revolver, an', drawin' a bead on the Greaser +that had ketched me, I tumbled him from his saddle in a twinklin'. My +hoss hadn't run an inch arter I war pulled off his back, an' I war +soon in the saddle agin. + +"I knowed I war safe now, for, as I galloped over the field, I see the +Greasers travelin' down the road as though Gen'ral Taylor's army war +arter 'em. They war three to my one, but didn't think themselves a +match for a single American." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +Caught at Last. + + +"But that isn't all the story," said the trapper, again filling his +pipe. "As soon as the Greasers had got out o' sight, I galloped back +toward the road an' tuk the back track, intendin' to find Cap'n +Morgan, an' tell him that the Mexikins were kalkerlatin' on ketchin' +him, an' then go on with my dispatches. + +"I had paid purty good attention to what the gen'ral had told the +women, an' I knowed exactly what road to take to find the cap'n's +camp; an' you'd better believe I rid _some_. Purty soon some one +yelled out: + +"'Who goes there?' + +"'Friend!' I shouted, 'an' I want to see Cap'n Morgan to onct. I've +got some news for him.' + +"You'd better believe the ole cap'n opened his eyes when I told him +my story; an' arter furnishin' me with a fresh hoss--the best one in +the camp--he set to work gettin' ready for the Greasers. I didn't much +like the idee o' startin' out agin, for I didn't know the short cuts +through the country as well as I ought to, an' the cap'n had no guide +to send with me. But I knowed that them letters must be in Alamo by +night, an' I shouldn't ever be able to look ole Bill Lawson in the +face agin if I didn't obey my orders; so, arter biddin' the boys +good-by, an' wishin' 'em good luck in fightin' the Mexikins, I set +out. + +"I did plenty of doublin' an' twistin' to get clear o' the Greasers, +for I met 'em about half way atween the mountains an' the house where +we had stopped, goin' up to ketch the cap'n. They war in high spirits, +but when they come down agin, about two hours arterward, they were +runnin' like white-heads, an' the Texas boys were close at their +heels. + +"I war used to hard work, but when I got off my hoss that night in +Alamo, I war about as tired a man as you ever see. Two days arterward +I war back in Monterey agin. Ole Bill didn't know me, for my face war +purty well cut up. I told him the story of the Mexikin gen'ral, an' +arter talkin' the matter over, me an' him concluded we would capture +that Greaser, an' started up to head-quarters to have a talk with the +kurnel about it. + +"'You can't do it, boys,' says he. 'If Cortinas war an Injun, you +would be jist the fellers to do it; but you don't know enough about +soldierin'. Howsomever, you can try.' + +"The next mornin', when me an' Bill rid up to the kurnel's +head-quarters to bid him good-by, you wouldn't a knowed us. We had +pulled off our huntin'-shirts an' leggins, an' war dressed in reg'lar +Mexikin style. We left our rifles behind, an' tuk carbines in their +place. We didn't like to do this; but if we had carried our long +shootin'-irons into a Mexikin camp, any one would a knowed what we +war. We had our six-shooters and huntin'-knives stowed away in our +jackets. + +"'Good-by, kurnel,' said Bill, shakin' the ole soldier's hand. 'We'll +ketch that Greaser, or you'll never see us agin.' + +"'Do your best, boys,' said the kurnel. 'Bring back the Greaser, an' +the thousand dollars are yourn.' + +"We follered the same path that the gen'ral had led me--takin' keer +not to ride too fast, 'cause we didn't know what we might have for our +hosses to do--an' afore dark we come to the house where me an' my +guide had stopped, an' knocked at the gate. When it war opened we +could see that the place war full o' Greasers; but that didn't trouble +us any, for we knowed that we should have to go into their camp if we +wanted to ketch the gen'ral. We told the Greaser that come to the +gate, that we were Mexikin soldiers, an' wanted to stay there all +night, an' he war as perlite as we could wish--asked us to walk in, +an' sent a man to take keer of our hosses. + +"This war the first time we had met a soldier in our new rig, an' we +were a little afeered that he might diskiver who we were; but we could +both talk Spanish as well as he could, an' the rascal didn't suspect +us. + +"We asked to see the commandin' officer, an' when we found him we +reported to him as scouts belongin' to Gen'ral Santa Anna's +head-quarters, an' that we had come with very important news for +Gen'ral Cortinas. What that news was we didn't know ourselves; but we +knowed that we could get up a purty good story when the time come. + +"'All right,' said the Greaser cap'n. 'I'm goin' up to Gen'ral +Cortinas' camp to-morrow, an' you can ride right up with me.' + +"We touched our hats to him an' left the room. I hated mighty bad to +salute that dirty Greaser jest as I would my kurnel. I had rather put +a bullet in his yaller hide; but we war in for it, an' we knowed that +the hull thing depended on our behavin' ourselves properly. As we +passed out o' the house we met the women, an' I begun to shake in my +boots agin, 'cause I knowed them women had sharp eyes, an' I war +afeered it war all up with us. But they didn't suspect nothin', an' I +knowed that we war safe; 'cause if they couldn't see through the game +we war playin', nobody could. + +"Wal, we went out into the yard an' eat supper, an' lay down around +the fire with them ar dirty Mexikins, an' listened to their insultin' +talk agin the Americans, an', in course, jined in with 'em. They +thought me an' ole Bill war lucky dogs in bein' with a great gen'ral +like Santa Anna; but I couldn't see what there war great in a man who, +with an army o' fifty thousand men, would run from six thousand. But +we told 'em a good many things about the gen'ral that I guess they +never heered afore, an' we hadn't heered of 'em neither; but they +believed every thing we said war gospel truth, an' we made our +kalkerlations that in less nor a month the American army would all be +prisoners. + +"The next mornin' we made an 'arly start, an' that arternoon drew up +in the Mexikin camp. It war a purty sight, I tell you--nothin' to be +seen but white tents as far as our eyes could reach. There warn't less +nor a hundred thousand men in that ar camp, an' I begun to feel rather +shaky when I thought of our small army at Monterey. While me an' Bill +war lookin' about, a spruce little Greaser come up, an' said that +Gen'ral Cortinas war waitin' to see us. We found the rascal in a large +tent, with a sentry afore the door, an' when I sot eyes on him, my +fingers ached to ketch him by the throat. He looked jest as he did +when me an' him set out from Monterey together, only he had on a blue +uniform. + +"'Wal, boys,' said he, smilin' an' motionin' us to set down, 'I +understand that you're from Gen'ral Santa Anna, an' have news for me.' + +"'Yes, gen'ral,' said ole Bill, takin' off his slouch-hat, an' +scratchin' his head as if thinkin' what to say. 'We've got news for +you. If you want to ketch Cap'n Morgan an' his band o' cutthroats, +I'll tell you jest how you can do it.' + +"'How can it be done, my good feller,' said the gen'ral, rubbin' his +hands. 'I thought I should capture him the other night, but he had too +many men for me.' + +"'Wal,' said ole Bill, 'me an' this feller here'--pintin' to me--'war +in Monterey yesterday, an' heered an order read to Cap'n Morgan to +march out o' the city at midnight, an' jine Cap'n Davis at Alamo. Now, +if you want to ketch him, all you have got to do is to take fifty men, +an' wait for him in the mountains. He has got jest twenty-eight men in +his company.' + +"'I'll do it,' said the Greaser. 'But I'll take a hundred men, to make +sure of him. Which road is he going to take?' + +"'That's what we can't tell exactly,' said ole Bill. 'But me an' this +feller thought that we would come an' tell you, so that you could have +every thing ready, an' then go back and find out all their plans.' + +"'Very well,' said the Greaser; an', arter writin' somethin' on a +piece o' paper, he handed it to ole Bill, sayin': 'Here's a pass for +you an' your friend to go in an' out o' the lines whenever you please. +Now, you go back to Monterey, an' find out all Cap'n Morgan's plans, +an' I'll go out with a hundred men an' ketch him.' + +"This war exactly what me an' Bill wanted. We were afeered at first +that he would send some one else instead o' goin' himself; but now we +knowed that we war all right; the gen'ral war ourn, an' no mistake. + +"As soon as we got out o' sight o' the camp, we made good time, an' +afore midnight we war in the kurnel's head-quarters. As soon as he +heered our story, he sent for one o' his officers, an' told him to +march 'arly the next evenin' with eighty men, an' draw up an ambush, +in a deep gorge, through which ran the road that led to Alamo. An' he +ordered Cap'n Morgan, who had reached Monterey the day afore, to be +ready to march through that gorge at midnight. + +"Arter me an' Bill had rested a little while, we set out on fresh +hosses, an', in a few hours, were back in the Mexikin camp agin. That +arternoon we rid out, side by side, with Gen'ral Cortinas, an' about +ten o'clock in the evenin' we reached the gorge. Every thing war as +silent as death; but I knowed that eighty Western rifles war stowed +away among the trees, on each side o' the road, an' behind 'em war +sturdy hunters an' trappers, achin' to send a bullet in among us. + +"Arter the gen'ral had fixed his men to suit him, we drawed back into +the bushes, an' waited for Cap'n Morgan to come up. Jest a little +afore midnight we heered a faint tramp, an' in a few minits the +rangers swept down into the gorge. For a minit nothin' war heered but +the noise o' their hosses' hoofs on the road. It war a fine sight to +see them brave men ridin' right down into that ambush, knowin', as +they did, that death war on each side o' them. Nigher an' nigher they +come; an' the gen'ral war about to give the order to fire, when, all +to onct, a yell like an Injun's burst from among the trees, an' the +reports of eighty rifles echoed through the mountains. You never seed +a more astonished Greaser nor that Gen'ral Cortinas war about that +time. + +"'_Carrajo_,' he yelled, 'you have betrayed me.' + +"'Shouldn't wonder if we had, you tarnal yaller-hided scoundrel,' said +ole Bill; an' afore the Greaser could make a move, we had him by the +arms, an' two six-shooters were lookin' him in the face. His cowardly +men didn't fire a shot, but throwed down their guns, an' run in every +direction. But our boys closed up about 'em, an' out o' them ar +hundred men that come out to ketch Cap'n Morgan, not half a dozen +escaped. The only prisoner we tuk back to Monterey war the gen'ral." + +After Dick had got through his tale, the hunters held a consultation +over the state of their larder. As their coffee, bread, and other +supplies were exhausted, and they did not like the idea of living on +venison and water, they concluded to break up camp. The next morning +they packed their baggage into the sled, and, taking a last look at +the place where they had spent so many happy hours, set out for Uncle +Joe's cabin, which they reached a little before dark. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +The Lost Wagon-Train. + + +Uncle Joe met them at the door, and, while they were relieving +themselves of their overcoats and weapons, asked innumerable questions +about their sojourn in the woods. Dick took the part of spokesman, and +described, in his rude, trapper's style, the scenes through which they +had passed, dwelling with a good deal of emphasis on the +"keerlessness" displayed by the Young Naturalist in attacking the +moose, and in starting off alone to fight the panther. The trapper +tried hard to suppress the feelings of pride which he really felt, and +favored the young hunter with a look that was intended to be severe, +but which was, in fact, a mingling of joy and satisfaction. + +Frank bore the scolding which Uncle Joe administered with a very good +grace, for he knew that he deserved it. + +"I'd like to take the youngster out on the prairy," said Dick, seating +himself before the fire, and producing his never-failing pipe. "I'll +bet that, arter he had follered me and Useless a year or two, he +wouldn't be in no great hurry to pitch into every wild varmint he come +acrost." + +Frank made no reply, but taking the cubs from the pockets of his +overcoat, allowed them to run about the cabin--a proceeding which the +dogs, especially Brave, regarded with suspicion, and which they could +not be persuaded to permit, until they had received several hearty +kicks and cuffs from their masters. + +"You can't blame the critters," said the trapper, puffing away at his +pipe. "It's their natur', an' I sometimes think that them dogs have a +deal more sense than their human masters, an'"---- + +"Supper's ready," interrupted Bob, the cook and man-of-all-work, and +this announcement put an end to all further conversation on the +subject. + +The boys were highly delighted to find themselves seated at a +well-filled table once more, and Uncle Joe's good things rapidly +disappeared before their attacks. It made no difference to the +trapper, however. With him a few weeks "roughing it" in the woods was, +of course, no novelty. A log for a table, and a piece of clean bark +for a plate, answered his purpose as well as all the improvements of +civilization, which those who have been brought up in the settlements +regard as necessary to their very existence. + +After supper, they drew their chairs in front of the fire, and Uncle +Joe and his brother solaced themselves with their pipes, while Bob +busied himself in clearing away the table and washing the dishes. + +"This Bill Lawson," said the trapper, after taking a few puffs at his +pipe, to make sure that it was well lighted, "used to take it into his +head onct in awhile to act as guide for fellers as wanted to go to +Californy. He knowed every inch of the country from St. Joseph to the +mines, for he had been over the ground more'n you ever traveled +through these yere woods, an' he was called as good a guide as ever +tuk charge of a wagon-train. In course, I allers went with him on +these trips, as a sort o' pack-hoss an' hunter, cause ole Bill +couldn't think o' goin' anywhere without me; an' I have often thought +that the reason why he made them trips as guide, was jest to get a +good look at the folks; it reminded him o' the time when he had +parents, an' brothers an' sisters. He never laughed an' joked round +the camp-fires, as he used to do when me and him war off alone in the +mountains. He hardly ever said a word to any body besides me, an' +allers appeared to be sorrowful. This give him the name of 'Moody +Bill,' by which he was knowed all through the country. Every trader on +the prairy war acquainted with him, an' he allers tuk out a big train. +I never knowed him to lose but one, an' he lost himself with it. The +way it happened war this: + +"One night, arter we had got about a week's journey west of Fort +Laramie, we stopped in a little oak opening, where we made our camp. +It war right in the heart o' the wust Injun country I ever see, an' +near a place where me an' ole Bill had often _cached_ our furs an' +other fixins, an' which we used as a kind o' camp when we war in that +part o' the country trappin' beaver an' fightin' Injuns. It war a cave +in the side of a mountain, an' the way we had it fixed nobody besides +ourselves couldn't find it. We never went in or come out of it until +arter dark, 'cause the Comanches were a'most allers huntin' 'bout the +mountains, an' we didn't want em to break up our harborin' place. We +had made up our minds that, arter we had seed our train safe through, +we would come back to our 'bar's hole,' as we called it, an' spend a +month or so in fightin' the Comanches an' skrimmagin' with the +grizzlies in the mountains. + +"Wal, as I war sayin' we made our camp, an' while I war dressin' a +buck I had shot, ole Bill, as usual, leaned on his rifle, an' watched +the emigrants unpack their mules an' wagons, an' make their +preparations for the night. Arter supper he smoked a pipe, an' then +rolled himself up in his blanket an' said----'Dick, you know this +place, but you ain't no trapper;' an', without sayin' any more, he lay +down and went to sleep, leavin' me to station the guards, an' see that +every thing went on right durin' the night. + +"I knowed well enough what ole Bill meant when he said, 'Dick, you +ain't no trapper.' He had seed Injun sign durin' the day, an' war +pokin' fun at me, cause I hadn't seed it too. I don't know, to this +day, how it war that I had missed it, for I had kept a good look-out, +an' I had allers thought that I war 'bout as good an Injun hunter as +any feller in them diggins, (allers exceptin' ole Bill and Bob Kelly;) +but the way the ole man spoke tuk me down a peg or two, an' made me +feel wusser nor you youngsters do when you get trounced at school for +missin' your lessons. + +"Wal, as soon as it come dark, I put out the guards, an' then +shouldered my rifle, an' started out to see if I could find any sign +o' them Injuns that ole Bill had diskivered. It war as purty a night +as you ever see. The moon shone out bright an' clear, an', savin' the +cry of a whippoorwill, that come from a gully 'bout a quarter of a +mile from the camp, an' the barkin' o' the prairy wolves, every thing +war as still as death. You youngsters would have laughed at the idea +o' goin' out to hunt Injuns on such a night; but I knowed that there +must be somethin' in the wind, for ole Bill never got fooled about +sich things. Here in the settlements he wouldn't have knowed enough to +earn his salt; but out on the prairy he knowed all about things. + +"Wal, I walked all round the camp, an' back to the place where I had +started from, an' not a bit of Injun sign did I see. There war a high +hill jest on the other side of the gully, an' I knowed that if there +war any Injuns about, an' they should take it into their heads to +pounce down upon us, they would jest show themselves in that +direction; so I sot down on the prairy, outside o' the wagons, which +war drawn up as a sort o' breastwork round the camp, and begun to +listen. I didn't hear nothin', however, until a'most midnight, and +then, jest arter I had changed the guards, an' was goin' back to my +place, I heered somethin' that made me prick up my ears. It war the +hootin' of an owl, an' it seemed to come from the hill. + +"Now, you youngsters would'n't have seed any thing strange in that; +but a man who has spent his life among wild Injuns and varmints can +tell the difference atween a sound when it comes from an owl's throat, +and when it comes from a Comanche's; an' I to onct made up my mind +that it war a signal. Presently from the gully come the song of a +whippoorwill. It didn't sound exactly like the notes I had heered come +from that same gully but a few minits afore, an' I knowed that it war +another signal. When the whippoorwill had got through, I heered the +barkin' of a prairy wolf further up the gully to the right o' the +camp; an' all to onct the wolves, which had been barkin' an' +quarrelin' round the wagons, set up a howl, an' scampered away out o' +sight. This would have been as good a sign as I wanted that there war +Injuns about, even if I hadn't knowed it afore; so I sot still on the +ground to see what would be the next move. + +"In a few minits I heered a rustlin' like in the grass a little to one +side of me. I listened, an' could tell by the sound that there was +somebody in there, crawlin' along on his hands an' knees. Nearer an' +nearer it come, an' when it got purty clost to me it stopped, an' I +seed an' Injun's head come up over the top o' the grass, an' I could +see that the rascal war eyein' me purty sharp. I sot mighty still, +noddin' my head a leetle as if I war fallin' asleep, keepin' an' eye +on the ole feller all the time to see that he didn't come none of his +Injun tricks on me, and finally give a leetle snore, which seemed to +satisfy the painted heathen, for I heered his 'ugh!' as he crawled +along by me into camp. + +"What made you do that?" interrupted Archie, excitedly. "Why didn't +you muzzle him?" + +"That the way you youngsters, what don't know nothin' about fightin' +Injuns, would have done," answered the trapper, with a laugh, "an' you +would have had your har raised for your trouble. But, you see, I +knowed that he had friends not a great way off, an' that the fust +motion I made to grab the rascal, I would have an arrer slipped into +me as easy as fallin' off a log. But I didn't like to have the varlet +behind me; so, as soon as I knowed that he had had time to get into +the camp, I commenced noddin' agin, an' finally fell back on the +ground, ker-chunk. + +"I guess them Injuns that were layin' round in the grass laughed +_some_ when they see how quick I picked up my pins. I got up as though +I expected to see a hull tribe of Comanches clost on to me, looked all +round, an', arter stretchin' my arms as though I had enjoyed a good +sleep, I started along toward the place where one o' the guards war +standin'. I walked up clost to him, an' whispered: + +"'Don't act as though you thought that any thing was wrong, but keep +your eyes on the grass. There's Injuns about.' + +"The chap turned a leetle pale when he heered this; but although he +was as green as a punkin, as far as Injun fightin' war consarned, he +seemed to have the real grit in him, for he nodded in a way that +showed that he understood what I meant. I then dropped down on +all-fours, an' commenced crawlin' into the camp to find the Injun. The +fires had burned low, an' the moon had gone down, but still there war +light enough for me to see the rascal crawlin' along on the ground, +an' making toward one of the wagons. When he reached it, he raised to +his feet, an', arter casting his eyes about the camp, to make sure +that no one seed him, he lifted up the canvas an' looked in. Now war +my time. Droppin' my rifle, I sprung to my feet, an' started for the +varlet; but jest as I war goin' to grab him, one o' the women in the +wagon, who happened to be awake, set up a screechin'. The Injun +dropped like a flash o' lightnin', an', dodgin' the grab I made at +him, started for the other side o' the camp, jumpin' over the fellers +that were layin' round as easy as if he had wings. I war clost arter +him, but the cuss run like a streak; an finding that I war not likely +to ketch him afore he got out into the prairy, I jumped back for my +rifle an' tuk a flyin' shot at him, jest as he war divin' under a +wagon. I don't very often throw away a chunk o' lead, an', judgin' by +the way he yelled, I didn't waste one that time. He dropped like a +log, but war on his feet agin in a minit, an', without waitin' to ax +no questions, set up the war-whoop. I tell you, youngsters, the sound +o' that same war-whoop war no new thing to me. I've heered it +often--sometimes in the dead o' night, when I didn't know that there +war any danger about, an' it has rung in my ears when I've been +runnin' for my life, with a dozen o' the yellin' varlets clost to my +heels; but I never before, nor since, felt my courage give way as it +did on that night. Scarcely a man in the hull wagon-train, exceptin' +me an ole Bill, had ever drawed a bead on an Injun, an' I war a'most +sartin that I should have a runnin' fight with the rascals afore +mornin'. + +"The whoop war answered from all round the camp, an' the way the +bullets an' arrers come into them ar wagons warn't a funny thing to +look at. My shot had 'wakened a'most every one in the camp, but there +warn't much sleepin' done arter the Injuns give that yell. Men, women, +an' children poured out o' the wagons, an' run about, gettin' in +everybody's way; an' sich a muss as war kicked up in that ar camp I +never heered afore. There war about seventy men in the train, an' they +war all good marksmen, but there war scarcely a dozen that thought o' +their rifles. They kept callin' on me an' ole Bill to save 'em, an' +never onct thought o' pickin' up their we'pons an' fightin' to save +themselves; an', in spite of all we could do, them ar cowardly sneaks +would get behind the women an' children for protection. It war enough +to frighten any one; an' although that ar warn't the fust muss o' the +kind I had been in, I felt my ole 'coon-skin cap raise on my head when +I thought what a slaughter there would be when them Comanches onct got +inside o' the camp. There war only a few of us to fight 'em, an' we +did the best we could, sendin' back their yells, an' bringin' the +death-screech from some unlucky rascal at every shot. But the Injuns +warn't long in findin' out how the land lay, an', risin' round us like +a cloud, they come pourin' into camp." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +The Struggle in the Cave. + + +"Me an ole Bill warn't hired to run away, an' we wouldn't need to have +done it if them ar cowards had stood up to the mark like men; but when +I seed them Injuns comin', I knowed that the game war up--it warn't no +use to fight longer. I jest ketched a glimpse of ole Bill makin' for +his hoss, an' I did the same, 'cause I knowed that he would stay as +long as there war any chance o' beatin' back the Injuns. + +"To jump on my hoss, an' cut the lasso with which he war picketed, +warn't the work of a minit, an' then, clubbin' my rifle, I laid about +me right an' left, an' my hoss, knowin' as well as I did what war the +matter, carried me safely out o' the camp. + +"As I rode out on to the prairy, the Injuns started up on all sides o' +me, but my hoss soon carried me out o' their reach. As soon as I +thought I war safe, I hauled up to load my rifle, an' wait for ole +Bill. I felt a leetle oneasy about him, 'cause, if the Comanches +should onct get a good sight at him, they would be sartin to know who +he war, an' wouldn't spare no pains to ketch him; an' if they +succeeded, he couldn't expect nothin' but the stake. + +"Wal, arter I had loaded up my rifle, an' scraped some bullets, I +started back toward the camp, to see if I could find any thing o' +Bill; an' jest at that minit I heered a yell that made my blood run +cold. By the glare o' the camp-fires, which the Comanches had started +agin, I seed the cause of the yell, for there war ole Bill on foot, +an' makin' tracks for the gully, with a dozen yellin' varlets clost at +his heels. In course I couldn't help the old man any; an', besides, I +knowed that they would take him alive at any risk, an' that, if I kept +out o' the scrape, I might have a chance to save him. Wal, jest at the +edge o' the gully he war ketched, an' arter a hard tussle--for the ole +man warn't one of them kind that gives up without a fight--he war +bound hand an' foot, an' carried back to the camp. + +"In course the news spread among the Comanches like lightnin', an' it +had the effect o' stoppin' the slaughterin' that war goin' on, for the +Injuns all wanted to have a look at the man who had sent so many o' +their best warriors to the happy huntin'-grounds. + +"Finally, some o' the varlets yelled out my name--the rest took it up, +an' clouds of the warriors went scourin' through the camp an' over the +prairy to find me; 'cause they knowed that whenever the ole man war to +be found, I warn't a great way off. It begun to get mighty onhealthy +for me in them diggins, so I turned my hoss, an' made tracks acrost +the prairy. I rid _some_, now, I reckon, an', in a short time, war out +o' hearin' o' the yells o' the savages. + +"As soon as I thought I war safe, I camped down on the prairy, an', +with my hoss for a sentinel, slept soundly until mornin'. I then +started for the camp, or, rather, the place where the camp had been, +for when I got there, I found nothin' but its ruins. The Injuns had +burned every thing they did not want or could not carry away, an' +made off with their prisoners. Their trail war plain enough, an' I to +onct commenced follerin' it up, determined that I would either save +ole Bill or die with him; an', on the fourth day, durin' which time I +had lived on some parched corn I happened to have in the pockets o' my +huntin'-shirt, an' war in constant danger of being ketched by +stragglers, I seed the Injuns enter their camp. In course there war a +big rejoicin' over the prisoners an' plunder they had brought in, an' +it war kept up until long arter dark. + +"The camp, which numbered 'bout fifty lodges, war pitched in a small +prairy, surrounded on three sides by the woods. The nearest I could +get to it without bein' diskivered war half a mile; an' here I tied my +hoss in the edge o' the woods, an' lay down to sleep. + +"'Arly the next mornin' I war aroused by a yellin' and the noise o' +drums, an' found the hull camp in motion. Near the middle o' the +village war a small clear spot, where the prisoners war stationed. +They war not bound, but a single glance at a dozen armed warriors, who +stood at a little distance, showed that escape warn't a thing to be +thought of. All except two o' the prisoners sot on the ground, with +their heads on their hands, as if they wished to shut out all sights +an' sounds o' what war going on around 'em. The two who were standin' +seemed to take matters more easy. They stood leanin' against a post +with their arms folded, an' watched the motions o' the Injuns as +though they war used to sich sights. One o' these I picked out as ole +Bill, but, in course, I couldn't tell sartin which one war him, it war +so far off. + +"A little way from the prisoners were the principal chiefs o' the +tribe, holdin' a palaver regardin' what should be done, an' a little +further off stood the rest o' the tribe--men, women, an' +children--waitin' the word to begin their horrid work. + +"It war nigh noon afore the council broke up; then one o' the chiefs +commenced shoutin' some orders, an' one o' the prisoners was led out +o' the camp by two Injuns, while the rest o' the varlets set up a +yell, an' armin' themselves with whatever they could lay their hands +on, commenced formin' themselves in two lines; the prisoner, whoever +he was, must run the gauntlet. While the savages war fixin' +themselves, the white chap stood between the Injuns who had led him +out, watchin' what war goin' on, an' I could easy tell what he war +thinkin' of, 'cause I had been in sich scrapes myself. I knowed that, +as he looked through them long lines o' screechin' Injuns, an' seed +the tomahawks, clubs, knives, an' whips, all ready to give him a cut +as he passed, he thought of every thing he had done durin' his life. +But he warn't given much time for thinkin', for, purty quick, the +chief set up a yell to let the prisoner know that the time had come. +The chap didn't hesitate a minit, but jumped from the place where he +war standin', like a streak o' lightnin'. I see him disappear atween +the lines, and made up my mind that that chap war a goner, when, all +to onct, out he come, all right, and made toward the place where I war +standin'. I guess them Injuns never see any thing done quite so purty +afore, an' I knowed well enough now who the fellow war, 'cause there +warn't but one man livin' that could come through them lines in that +way, an' that war Bill Lawson. In course, the hull tribe, yellin' an' +screechin' like a pack o' wolves, war arter him in less nor the shake +of a buck's tail, and tomahawks, bullets, an' arrers whizzed by the +prisoner in a mighty onpleasant kind o' way; but Bill kept jumpin' +from one side to the other in a way that made him a mighty onhandy +mark to shoot at, an' the way he did climb over that prairy was +somethin' for owls to look at. But, fast as he run, I could see that +there war one Injun gainin' on him, an' I made up my mind that if the +ole man could hold out long enough to fetch him within pluggin' +distance o' my shootin'-iron, I would put an end to his jumpin' for +awhile. Nearer an' nearer they come, the Injun all the while gainin' +purty fast, an' when they got within 'bout forty rod o' me, I could +see that the varlet war gettin' ready to throw his tomahawk. I watched +him until he raised his arm, an' sent a bullet plumb atween his eyes. +The next minit the ole man jumped into the bushes. + +"There warn't no time for talkin' or sayin' how de do?' for the rest +o' the Injuns war comin' up, an' we must put a good stretch o' prairy +atween us an' them afore we war safe. + +"'Bill, says I, there's my hoss. I'm younger nor you be, so jump on +him, and be off in a hurry; I'll meet you at the ole bar's hole, +Good-by.' + +"I didn't wait to give the ole man a chance to say a word, 'cause I +knowed that he didn't like to take that hoss; but I made off through +the bushes. Ole Bill seed that I war gone, an' jumpin' on the hoss, he +rode out on the prairy in plain sight, to get the Comanches to foller +him, which some of 'em did; but the ole braves, who had heered my +shot, an', in course, knowed that there war more'n one feller 'bout, +couldn't be fooled easy, an' thinkin' they could ketch a man on foot +sooner nor a man on hossback, they kept on arter me. But I war fresh +for a long run--a week's travelin' acrost the prairy on foot warn't no +new thing for me--an' as I never see the Injun yet that could beat me +in a fair race, I felt safe, an' knowed that I should come out all +right. I didn't waste time in tryin' to throw 'em off my trail, but +kept straight ahead at a steady pace, an' whenever an Injun come in +sight, me an' my rifle settled things with him in a tarnal hurry. This +made 'em kind o' keerful, an' afore sundown I war out o' hearin o' +their yells, an' a greenhorn wouldn't have thought that there war an +Injun in them woods. But I war too ole a coon to believe that they had +give up the chase, an' it warn't until the next mornin' that I camped +to take a leetle sleep, an' eat a squirrel I had shot. + +"Wal, I traveled for 'bout ten days, durin' which time I didn't see a +bit o' Injun sign, an' finally found myself gettin' purty nigh the ole +bar's hole. As soon as I come to the woods that run down from the +mountain, I tuk to a creek that run clost by the cave, an' walked +along in the water, all the while keepin' a good look-out for Injun +sign an' for ole Bill. Arter I had gone 'bout a mile, I come to the +mouth o' the cave. It war a hole jest large enough for a man to +squeeze himself through, an' so covered up with bushes that a feller +might hunt a week without findin' it. The cave itself war 'bout as +large as this yere cabin; an' right acrost from the entrance war a +passage which led up to the top o' the hill. Me an' ole Bill had made +this ourselves, so that, in case our harborin' place should be +diskivered, we would have a chance for escape. + +"When I come to the cave it war purty dark; so, arter listenin' awhile +for signs of Injuns, if there war any around, I crawled along into the +hole, which war, in course, as dark as pitch, an' commenced fumblin' +around for a torch that I had left stuck into the wall o' the cave, +all ready to be lighted. Arter searchin' 'bout for a long time I found +it--not where I had left it, but lyin' on the ground in the middle o' +the cave. This seemed suspicious, an' I begun to be afraid that +something war wrong. I hadn't seed no Injun sign near the cave, +neither had I seed any thing of ole Bill, an' I knowed that that torch +couldn't get moved clear acrost that cave without somebody had been +foolin' with it. I reckon my hand war none o' the steadiest, as I +lifted the torch an' commenced feelin' in my possible-sack for my +flint an' steel, thinkin' that as soon as I could strike a light, I +would jest examine into things a leetle. + +"Wal, I hadn't made more 'n one blow at my flint, when the cave echoed +with the war-whoop, an' the next minit I found myself lyin' flat on my +back, with a big Comanche on top o' me. + +"When I first heered the yell, I thought the cave war full of Injuns, +an' I'll allow it made me feel a heap easier when I found that the +feller that clinched me war alone, for I knowed that if any one Injun +could master my scalp, he must be a tarnal sight smarter nor any +red-skin I had ever met; an', without waitin' to ask no questions, I +made a grab at the varmint, an', by good luck, ketched the hand that +held his knife; an' then commenced one o' the liveliest little fights +I war ever in. + +"The Injun war mighty strong, an' as wiry as an eel, an', although I +could keep him from usin' his knife, I could not get him off me, +neither could I get my left arm free, which, in fallin', he had pinned +to my side; but I kept thrashin' about in a way that made it mighty +onhandy for him to hold me. But findin' that I could do nothin' in +that way, I all to onct let go the hand that held the knife, an' give +him a clip 'side the head that would have knocked down a buck. It +kinder staggered his daylight some, I reckon', for I made out to get +my arm free, an', ketchin' the varlet by the scalp-lock, I had him on +his back in a minit. He yelled an' kicked wusser nor I I did when he +had me down, an' slashed right an' left with his scalpin'-knife; but +it didn't take long to settle matters, an' all fears that our +harborin' place had been broke up war put at rest by the death o' the +Comanche." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +End of the Trapper and Black Mustang. + + +"My first job, arter I war sartin that the Comanche war done for, war +to light the torch an' examine the cave. First makin' sure that thar +war no more Injuns about, I crawled along up the passage that led to +the top o' the hill, where I found that the log which covered the hole +had been moved, an' I knowed in a minit that that war the place where +the Comanche had come in. I didn't care 'bout showin' myself much, +'cause I didn't know how many more o' the savages there might be +about; so I pulled the log over the hole agin' an' crawled back into +the cave. I stuck my torch in the ground, an' arter movin' the +Comanche up in one corner out of the way, I pulled over a pile of +hemlock-boughs, that had many a time served me an' ole Bill for a +bed, an' found a kag o' spruce beer, an' enough jerked meat to last a +month. Me an' Bill allers took good keer to leave plenty o' provender +at the cave when we left, so that if we should get hard pressed by the +Injuns, or game should get scarce, we would know where to go to find +good livin'. As I hadn't had a good meal since we lost the train, I +eat a heap o' that jerked meat, an' then lay down to sleep, hopin' +that when I woke I should find ole Bill with me. I warn't much anxious +about him, 'cause I knowed he war on as good a hoss as ever tracked a +prairy, an' war too ole in Injun fightin' to be ketched easy; an' I +went to sleep, sartin that he would turn up all right afore daylight. + +"Wal, I slept like a top until 'arly the next mornin', but didn't see +nothin' of ole Bill. Arter a breakfast on jerked meat an' spruce beer, +I smoked a pipe, an' crawled up the passage to the top o' the hill, +pushed off the log, an' settled down to listen. For two days, I kept +watch at that hole, listenin' an' peepin', but there war no signs of +ole Bill. On the second arternoon, I heered the tramp of a hoss in the +creek, an' a'most at the same minit a big Comanche poked his head +over the bushes not ten foot from where I war, an' looked toward the +place where the sound come from. How the rascal got there without +seein' me, I didn't stop to think; but, risin' to my feet, I chucked +my tomahawk at him, an' there war one Injun less in them woods. Nigher +and nigher come the trampin' o' the hoss, an' I war sartin it war ole +Bill; so when he got within yellin' distance, I give the gobble of a +turkey, jest to let him know that there war danger ahead. The ole man +heered it, for the trampin' o' the hoss stopped, an', for a minit, the +woods war as still as death; but all to onct I heered the crack of a +rifle, follered by the death-screech of a Comanche, an' then the +clatter of hoofs an' a loud laugh told me that the ole man war +retreatin'. I knowed there warn't no use o' watchin' any more, so I +pulled the log over the hole agin, crawled back into the cave, an' +went to sleep. It war night when I woke, an' takin' my rifle, I +crawled out into the gully an' lay down in the shade o' the bushes. I +lay there till near midnight without hearin' any thing, an' had a'most +made up my mind that ole Bill warn't comin', when the low hootin' of +an owl come echoin' down the gully. I answered it, an', in a few +minits, up come Bill an' crawled into the cave. + +"'Here I am,' said he, 'an' I had mighty hard work to get here, +too--the timmer's chuck full o' the outlyin' varlets.' + +"'Where's my hoss?' I asked. + +"'He's down in the bushes, all right side up with keer, an' hid away +where the rascals will have to hunt a long time to find him. He's +worth his weight in beaver-skins, that hoss is. + +"Ole Bill eat his supper in silence; but, arter fillin' his pipe, +said: + +"'Dick, them 'ar Comanches have got my hoss, an' I'm goin' back arter +it.' + +"Now a feller would think that, arter what Bill had gone through, he +wouldn't be in no hurry about goin' back among the Injuns agin. But +sich scrapes warn't no new thing to him; an' when he said 'Go,' in +course I warn't goin' to stay behind. So, arter takin' another smoke, +the ole man tuk the knife and tomahawk o' the Injun I had killed in +the cave, an' led the way out into the gully. As he had said, the +timmer was full of Injuns, an', as we crawled along on our hands an' +knees, we could hear 'em talkin' to each other all around us. But we +got past 'em all right, an' as soon as we got out o' the gully, the +ole man rose to his feet and said: + +"'That hoss knows that there's somethin' wrong; he hasn't moved an +inch; he knows a'most as much as a human man, he does;' an' pullin' +aside the branches of a thicket of scrub pines, I see my hoss standin' +as quiet an' still as could be, jest as Bill had left him. He seemed +mighty glad to see me agin, an' rubbed his head agin my shoulder, as I +fastened on the saddle an' jumped on his back. + +"It war a good two weeks' work to get back to that camp, for the +prairy an' woods war full o' Comanches huntin' around for Bill, an' +sometimes we had to go miles round to get out o' their way. + +"When we reached the camp, we found it nearly deserted by the braves; +still, there war enough left to ketch me an' ole Bill, if we should be +diskivered. Wal, we lay round in the woods until dark, but not a glimp +could we get o' the ole man's mustang. The critter might be in the +camp, but more 'n likely as not he war carryin' a Comanche on his +back, an' scourin' the prairy in search o' Bill. + +"As soon as it war fairly dark, the ole man stuck out his hand, and +said: + +"'Dick, I'm goin' now. Good-by.' + +"I never before felt so bad at partin' from him. Somehow I knowed that +somethin' mighty onpleasant war goin' to happen; but it warn't no use +to try to keep him from goin'; so I bid him good-by, an' he commenced +crawlin' through the grass toward the camp. I watched him as long as +he war in sight, an' then settled back agin a tree, an' waited to see +what would turn up. For two hours I sot there listenin', an' thinkin' +of all the fights me an' ole Bill had been in, an' wonderin' when the +time would come when we must part--not as we had now, for a little +while, but forever--when all to onct I heered the barkin' of a dog in +the camp. In course the hull village war aroused to onct, an' a loud +yell told me that ole Bill had been diskivered. The yell was follered +by the crack of a rifle, an' the ole man come gallopin' out o' the +camp on his own hoss, shoutin': + +"'Come on now, Dick, I'm even with the rascals. There's one less +Comanche in the world.' + +"The Injuns were clost on to Bill's trail, an' come pourin' out o' the +camp on foot an' on hossback; an', seem' one big feller far ahead of +the others, I hauled up for a minit, sent him from his saddle, an' +then, jumpin' on my hoss, started arter the ole man. In course the +yellin' hounds war soon left behind, 'cause there warn't no hosses on +them prairies that could hold a candle to ourn; an' we war beginnin' +to grow jolly over our good luck, when, the fust thing we knowed, +crack went a couple o' rifles, an' Bill throwed his arms above his +head an' fell from his saddle. + +"We had run chuck into a party o' Comanches who had been out huntin' +the ole man, an' had give up the chase, an' were 'turnin' to camp. The +minit ole Bill fell I war by his side, an', while I war liftin' him +from the ground, the rascals charged toward us with loud yells, sartin +that they had now got both of us in their power. + +"'Dick,' said the ole man, a'most in a whisper, 'I've sent a good many +o' them screechin' imps out o' the world, an' it's my turn to go now. +They have finished me at last. You can't help me--so save yourself; +but remember that every Comanche that crosses your trail falls, to pay +for this. Leave me.' + +"'Bill, me an' you have been together too long for that. When I leave +you it'll be arter this, said I, an', liftin him in my arms, I got him +on my hoss, an' started off agin. The way that little mustang got over +the ground carried us ahead of all except two o' the Comanches, who +kept bangin' away at us as fast as they could load their rifles. If I +hadn't had ole Bill in my arms I would have put an eend to their +shootin' an' yellin' in a tarnal hurry. + +"It war no light load that hoss had to carry, an' I knowed that we +must come to closer quarters soon, 'cause he couldn't stand that gait +long. But he carried us five mile 'bout as quick as I ever traveled, +an' then, all to onct, commenced to run slow. He war givin' out fast. +The yellin' varlets kept comin' nearer an' nearer, an' I had only one +chance for life, an' a poor one at that. I would stick to the hoss as +long as he could step, an' then try it on foot. So I turned toward a +strip o' woods which lay 'bout a mile off, but he hadn't made a dozen +jumps when one o' the pursuin' Injuns sent a ball through his head, +an' we all come to the ground together. + +"The minit I touched the prairy I dropped ole Bill an', at the crack +o' my rifle, one o' the Injuns fell; the other then commenced +circlin' round me, 'fraid to come to clost quarters. But I kept my eye +on him, an' jest as he war goin' to fire, I dropped behind my hoss, +and kept dodgin' 'bout till I got my rifle loaded, and then I settled +matters to onct. I war safe--but ole Bill war dead. I tuk him up in my +arms agin, and carried him into the woods, where I rolled a log from +its place, an' arter scoopin' out some o' the ground, I put him in, +an' pulled the log back over him. It war the best I could do for him, +an' arter swearin' above his grave that a Comanche should fall for +every har on his head, I shouldered my rifle, an', jest as the sun war +risin', struck out acrost the prairy, which I knowed I must now tread +alone. + +"Is it a wonder, then, that I hate an Injun? The bones of many a brave +that lay scattered 'bout the prairy can tell how well I have kept my +oath. Of all the Injuns that have crossed my trail since ole Bill's +death, the three that camped in this shantee that night ar the only +ones that ever escaped. I am not done with 'em yet; an' when I go back +to the prairy, the Comanches will have further cause to remember the +night that see the eend of ole Bill Lawson an' the Black Mustang." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +The Indians Again. + + +The next morning the boys were up before the sun, and after a hearty +breakfast, set out to spend the day in the woods; Frank and Harry, +bending their steps toward the creek that ran through the woods, about +a mile from the cabin, to set their traps for minks, while Archie and +George started toward a ridge--the well-known "fox run-way" as it was +called--to engage in their favorite sport. The trapper and Uncle Joe +set off in an opposite direction, to cut down a bee-tree, which the +latter had discovered a few days before. + +When Frank and Harry arrived at the creek, the latter said: + +"Now I want to understand something about this business, before we +commence operations We're after minks, and nothing else; and I don't +want you to endanger a fellow's life by getting him into any more wolf +scrapes, or any thing of that kind." + +"All right," answered Frank, with a laugh. "I'll not get you into any +scrape to-day." + +This satisfied Harry, and he was ready to begin the hunt. They found +plenty of mink tracks on the bank of the creek. After eating their +dinner, they commenced following up some of them, and, before night, +succeeded, with Brave's assistance, in capturing two large minks, +after which they returned to the cabin, well satisfied with their +day's work. + +They found Uncle Joe and his brother seated at the supper-table, and a +large plate full of honey, which was rapidly disappearing before their +attacks, proved that they also had been successful. Archie and George +came in shortly after dark, tired and hungry. A fox-skin, which the +former threw down in the corner, bore testimony to the fact that Sport +was losing none of those hunting qualities of which his young master +so often boasted. The day's hunt had been successful on all hands; and +the boys being pretty well tired out, the trapper's stories were +omitted, and all the inmates of the cabin sought their couches at an +early hour. + +The next morning the boys were "fresh and fierce" for the woods again, +and once more started out in their respective directions, leaving +Uncle Joe and the trapper seated before the fire, solacing themselves +with their pipes. Frank and Harry, as usual, went together; the +latter, as on the previous morning, exacting a promise that Frank +would not get him into any "scrapes," to which the latter, as before, +readily agreed, little dreaming what was to happen before night. + +A few moments' walk brought them to the place at which they had set +their first trap, in a hollow stump, where they had noticed a +multitude of "mink signs," as the trapper would have called them, and +as Harry bent down and looked into the stump, Frank exclaimed: + +"Look at these tracks; somebody besides ourselves has been here." + +"Yes, some other hunters, I suppose," answered Harry, peering into the +stump. "I hope they were gentlemen enough not to interfere with our +arrangements here. But where's that trap gone to?" + +"These tracks were not made by white persons," said Frank, bending +over and examining them, "for the hunters in this part of the country +all wear boots. These fellows wore moccasins, and the tracks all toe +in." + +"Indians, as sure as I'm alive!" ejaculated Harry; "and, shoot me, if +our trap isn't gone." And thrusting his arm into the stump, he +commenced feeling around for the article in question, but it could not +be found. + +"Yes, sir," he continued, rising to his feet, "it is gone, and no +mistake. Feel in there." + +Frank accordingly got down on his knees and made an examination of the +stump; but the trap, beyond a doubt, had been carried off. + +"Now, that is provoking!" he exclaimed. + +"There was a mink in the trap, too," continued Harry, pointing to some +bits of fur that lay scattered about over the snow. "I wish the +rascals that took it had it crammed down their throats." + +"It does no good to scold, Harry," said Frank, "for that won't mend +the matter. But let us go around and visit the other traps; perhaps +they have carried off all of them." + +The boys accordingly went around to every place where they had left +their traps, but not one of them could be found. + +"Now, there's thirteen dollars gone to the dogs," said Harry, angrily; +"for every one of those traps was worth a dollar, at least. I wish +Dick was here. We would follow up the scoundrels and recover our +property. What shall we do?" + +"Let's follow them up, any how," replied Frank. "Perhaps we can catch +them--the trail seems plain enough. How many of them do you suppose +there were?" + +"There were two Indians and as many dogs," answered Harry. "Here's a +track made by a fellow that must have had a foot as big as all +out-doors; and here's another, of very respectable size." + +The boys commenced measuring the tracks, and found, as Harry had said, +that there were but two different sizes. As soon as this had been +determined, Frank exclaimed: + +"Well, we mustn't waste any more time. Let's start after the rascals; +and if we catch them, we'll make them give up those traps or fight." + +Harry shrugged his shoulders, and answered: + +"If you are going in for a fight, just count me out, will you? One of +those Indians must be a strapping big fellow, judging by the size of +his feet; and the other, although he may be a smaller man, would +probably prove a tough customer. If Dick was here, I wouldn't mind it. +Let us go after him." + +"O no," answered the reckless Frank. "I guess we and our double-barrel +shot-guns, with Brave's assistance, can recover those traps. If we +can't catch the thieves, we'll make the trail, at any rate." + +Harry made no reply, but ran along after Frank, who commenced +following up the trail of the Indians, which, as no care had been +taken to conceal it, was very plain. As on the former occasion, it +appeared as if the tracks had been made by one person; but, on closer +examination, Frank discovered that the larger savage had taken the +lead, and that his companion had stepped exactly in his tracks. The +trail ran directly away from Uncle Joe's cabin, and then turned +abruptly and ran parallel with a ridge for the same distance; and here +the boys came to a place where there was a confused mingling of +tracks, conspicuous among which were some made by boots. There were +also the tracks of two more dogs, and several drops of blood on the +snow. + +"The thieves have received reinforcements here," said Harry. "A couple +of white hunters, or else two more Indians, with boots on." + +"Yes, it looks like it," answered Frank. "And they must have killed +some game, for here's blood on the snow." + +"I guess we've gone about far enough," said Harry. "Four men and four +dogs are more than a match for us." + +"No matter; I'm going to see the end of it now. You won't leave me to +go on alone!" + +"O no. If you are bound to go on, I shall stick to you." + +Frank immediately set off on the trail, which turned suddenly to the +left, and led toward a ravine. After running a short distance, he +said: + +"These last fellows that joined them are not Indians, Harry, because +they didn't step in each other's tracks." + +The trail led directly through the gully, and up the other side; and +while the boys were climbing up the bank, they heard the angry barking +of dogs, followed by the report of a gun, and a yell that made their +blood run cold. Harry immediately drew back, but Frank kept on; and +when he reached the top of the bank, he saw a sight that filled him +with horror, and which disturbed his sleep for many a night afterward. + +But let us now return to Archie and George, whom we left starting out +with their hounds. + +When they reached the bottom, through which the creek ran, they found +Sport standing over a fox-trail; and, at his master's command, he at +once set off upon it, followed by Lightfoot, while the boys struck off +through the woods toward a ridge which they knew the fox would be +certain to follow. They reached it just as the hounds passed; and were +about to start off again, when they were startled by the crack of two +rifles in rapid succession, accompanied by a howl of anguish. The +baying of the hound ceased, and, the next moment, Lightfoot came +running back, and took refuge behind his master. + +"What's the matter, I wonder?" inquired Archie, in alarm. + +"Somebody has shot Sport," answered George, as the howls of pain +continued to come from the part of the woods where the shots had been +heard. + +"Sport shot!" repeated Archie, indignantly. "I won't stand that, you +know. Come on; let's see who it was." + +As the boys commenced running up the ridge, the howls ceased, and +Archie began to be afraid that his hound had been killed; but, in a +few moments, he saw Sport coming toward him. He bore an ugly-looking +wound on his back, which had been made by a bullet; and although it +had at first disabled him, he was fast recovering his strength and +ferocity, and answered his master's caresses by showing his teeth, and +giving vent to angry growls. + +"I'm going to find out who that was," said Archie. "Hunt 'em up, +Sport! hunt 'em up, sir!" + +The hound was off on the instant, and led the way to the place where +he had been shot, which was marked by a little pool of blood on the +snow, and here he turned off to the left of the ridge and ran down +into a gully. Instead of baying as when on the trail of a fox, he ran +in silence, and the boys soon lost sight of him; but just as they +reached the bottom of the gully, they heard his bark, followed by a +yell, and a crashing in the bushes, as if a severe struggle was going +on; and when they gained the top of the bank, they found Sport +resolutely defending himself against two Indians and their dogs. The +latter--large, shaggy animals, of the wolf species--had closed with +the hound, which would undoubtedly have proved more than a match for +both of them, had not the Indians (who could not use their rifles for +fear of wounding their own dogs) attacked him with clubs. But Sport +was valiantly holding his own against their combined assaults, now and +then seizing one of the dogs in his powerful jaws, and giving him a +tremendous shaking, and then turning fiercely upon one of the Indians, +who found it necessary to retreat, in order to save himself. + +The boys comprehended the state of affairs at a glance. Running +fearlessly up to the place where the fight was going on, Archie placed +the muzzle of his gun against the head of one of the dogs, and killed +him on the spot, exclaiming: + +"Turn about is fair play, you know. I'll teach you to shoot my hound +when he isn't bothering you." + +The large Indian immediately ceased his attacks upon Sport, and, +turning upon Archie with a yell, threw his brawny arms about him, and +hurled him to the ground. But Archie still retained his presence of +mind, and, while struggling with his assailant, shouted to his +companion: + +"Shoot the other dog! shoot the other dog!" + +George had just time to act upon this suggestion, when the smaller +savage closed with him. Of course the boys, although they fought +desperately, were speedily overpowered by the athletic Indians, who at +once commenced beating them most unmercifully with their clubs. +Archie, especially, was being punished most severely, when the hound, +finding himself at liberty, sprang upon the Indian, and pulled him to +the ground. Archie was on his feet in an instant; and, cheering on the +dog, was about to spring to George's assistance, when he noticed that +his late assailant was in a most dangerous situation, the long teeth +of the hound being fastened in his throat; and although he struggled +desperately, he could not release himself. Archie at once hurried to +his relief, and endeavored to choke off the hound, while the smaller +Indian continued to shower his blows upon George, who received them +without giving vent to a single cry of pain. + +Such was the scene presented to Frank's gaze as he came up out of the +gully. Of course he was entirely ignorant of the cause of the trouble, +but, seeing George's situation, he at once ran to his assistance. The +Indian, seeing him approach, uttered a yell, and, springing to his +feet, was about to "make himself scarce," when the sight of Frank's +double-barrel, which the latter aimed straight at his head, brought +him to a stand-still. By this time, Archie, with Harry's aid, had +succeeded in releasing the Indian, but it required their utmost +strength to prevent the hound from renewing his attacks. + +The savage, however, had not fared so badly as they had at first +supposed; for, although during the last few moments of the struggle he +had lain so still that Archie began to fear that he was dead, the +moment he was released he sprang to his feet, and, uttering the usual +"ugh," was about to retreat, when he also was brought to a halt by +Frank's double-barrel. + +The circumstances which had brought the boys together in so singular a +manner were speedily explained, after which Frank commenced an +examination of the "possible-sacks" that the Indians carried slung +over their shoulders, which resulted in the recovery of the missing +traps. + +"Now, what shall we do with these rascals?" he inquired. + +"They're the same ones that camped in the cabin that night," answered +Archie; "and this is the second time they have been guilty of stealing +traps, and I say let's take 'em prisoners, and let Dick pass judgment +upon them." + +This plan was hailed with delight by the others; and the savages, who, +during the conversation, had stood with their arms folded, as if they +were in no wise concerned in what was going on, were at once relieved +of their knives and hatchets, and, in obedience to Archie's order, +fell in behind Frank, who led the way toward the cabin. George and +Harry followed close after them, carrying the weapons that had been +taken from the prisoners, and ready to resist the first attempt that +should be made at escape, while Archie brought up the rear, struggling +hard to restrain the hound, which, every moment, renewed his +endeavors to reach the Indians. In this order they marched through the +woods, and, just before dark, reached the cabin. Frank entered first, +standing with his gun at a shoulder-arms until the prisoners had +passed him and the rest of the boys had entered and closed the door. + +"Eh! what?" ejaculated the trapper, who had watched these movements in +surprise. "What did you youngsters fetch them ar tarnal varlets back +here for?" + +The affair was soon explained, and Uncle Joe and the trapper rolled up +their eyes in astonishment. At length the latter said: + +"They stole your traps, did they, an' shot the hound, an' you follered +'em up an' ketched 'em, did you?" + +"Yes," answered Archie, "and they mauled George and me with clubs; and +we have brought them here to know what to do with them." + +"Wal, I never _did_ see sich keerless fellers as you youngsters be," +said Dick. "You get wusser every day. Why didn't you come arter me?" + +"We should have lost too much time. Besides, we wanted to catch them +ourselves." + +"Wal, 'cordin' to prairy law," continued the trapper, "there oughter +be short work made of 'em; but what's law on the prairy won't do in +the settlements. Pitch 'em out-doors, and don't never bring no more +Injuns here." + +"Shall we give them their guns?" asked Frank. + +"No; don't give 'em nothin'. Open that door." + +Frank did as the trapper ordered, and the latter walked up to the +large Indian, and, seizing him around the body, lifted him from his +feet, and threw him headlong into a deep snow-drift outside of the +cabin. A smothered "ugh" broke from his lips as he sank out of sight. +After considerable struggling, he reappeared, completely covered with +snow, looking very unlike the sedate Indian that had stood in the +cabin but a moment before, and started, at the top of his speed, for +the woods. As soon as he had disappeared in the darkness, the trapper +seized the smaller Indian, and served him in the same manner; then, +without waiting to see what became of him, closed the door, and +returned to his seat in front of the fire. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +The Journey Homeward. + + +Next morning, as soon as they had finished their breakfast, in +accordance with the promise they had made their parents before +starting, that they would be at home before the holidays, the boys +began to make preparations to leave the woods. The sled was brought +around to the door, and, while George and Harry were engaged in +loading it, Frank and his cousin went to the barn to harness the young +moose, which had become very tractable, and would trot off with a load +as well as a horse. Their traps and guns, together with the furs they +had taken, were stowed carefully away in the bottom of the sled; then +came the cubs, and the skins of the moose, bear, white buck, and +panther, and the whole was crowned by the huge antlers of the moose, +to give it, as Harry said, "an imposing appearance." + +After the moose had been hitched to the sled, and all was ready for +the start, the boys turned to shake hands with Uncle Joe and the +trapper. Dick seemed to regret their parting very much. After drawing +his coat-sleeve across his eyes, he seized Frank's hand, and said: + +"Good-by, youngster! We have had some good times in these yere woods +this winter. I'm sorry that the partin' time has come, for I hate to +have you leave us. You are a gritty feller--jest sich a one as I like +to see; an' I have tuk to you jest the same as poor ole Bill Lawson +onct tuk to me. As soon as spring opens I shall start agin for the +prairy. The woods here are too small for me. We prob'bly shall never +meet agin, but I hope you won't forget your ole friend, Dick Lewis. +Good-by! an' may your trail never be as rugged an' rough as mine has +been." + +"I shall never forget you, Dick," replied Frank, as he returned the +trapper's hearty grasp. "You saved my life." + +At length the farewells had all been said, and the boys got into the +sled. Frank took up the reins, and the moose broke into a rapid trot, +that soon carried them out of sight of the cabin. + +There was no danger that the boys would soon forget the wild scenes +through which they had passed during their short sojourn in the woods. +Each had something to remind him of some exciting hunt which he had +gone through. Frank thought of his desperate struggle with the buck, +during which he had received scars that would go with him through +life. Harry remembered his adventure with the wolves. George shivered +as he thought of his cold bath in the pond. And Archie, in +imagination, was again in pursuit of the black fox. + +"Well," said the latter, at length, "we've had some fine times since +we traveled over this road." + +"Yes," said George, "and I should like to go through them +again--ducking and all." + +"I had rather be excused," said Frank. + +"So had I," chimed in Harry. + +"I shouldn't like the idea of going through the fight with that moose +again," continued Frank. + +"Nor I shouldn't like to meet those wolves again, and have them pull +off my boots as I was climbing up a tree," said Harry. + +"I wonder what the folks will think, when they see us coming home in +this rig?" said Archie. + +That question was answered when, about an hour before dark, they +turned up off the creek into the road, in full view of the cottage. + +They were first discovered by Aunt Hannah, who, after shading her eyes +with her hand, and gazing at them a few moments, ran into the house. A +moment afterward the whole family appeared at the door. + +"There's my folks!" exclaimed Archie. "I thought they would be here to +spend the holidays. Show them what we can do, Frank." + +His cousin accordingly put the moose through his best paces, and in a +few moments they whirled through the gate, and drew up before the +door. + +"Well, boys, I'm glad to see you all back safe," said Mr. Winters, as +soon as the greeting was over. "It's a wonder that Archie didn't shoot +some of you--he's so careless with his gun." + +"O no, father," replied the boy, "I've got over that. I always hold my +gun muzzle down, as you told me." + +The boys began to unload the sled, and one after another of the +articles were taken out and laid on the portico. Finally, Harry drew +out the panther's skin. + +"A panther!" exclaimed Mr. Winters. "Where did you buy that skin?" + +"Buy it!" repeated Archie. "We didn't buy it. Frank killed the panther +that once wore this skin; with a shot-gun, too; and that isn't all he +killed, either. Look here!" and he threw out the bear and moose-skins, +and finally the cubs. "He had a nice time killing that moose," Archie +went on to say, "and he came near being"---- + +Here he was interrupted by a look from his cousin. He was about to +say, "and came near being killed himself;" but finished his sentence +by saying, "He came near killing the moose at the first shot, but +didn't quite." + +Mr. Winters had seen the glances that the boys exchanged, and knew +that it meant something more than they were willing to reveal; but he +made no remark. After the things had all been taken out, with the +exception of those that belonged to George and Harry, and the cubs had +been taken into the kitchen and delivered into Aunt Hannah's especial +charge, the boys got into the sled again and started for Mr. Butler's. + +Their appearance in the village created a great commotion. After +driving around to the post-office for the mail, as well as to show off +the qualities of their horned horse, they started home again. + +That evening was passed in a pleasant manner, in the recital of the +boys' adventures in the woods, which also formed the topic of +conversation for many days. In spite of the emphatic instructions +Frank had given his companions "not to say a word about his fight with +the moose," it gradually "leaked out somewhere," as Archie expressed +it, and Frank became a hero in his own family, and in the village. + + * * * * * + +Here we will leave them, only to introduce them again in other and +more stirring scenes on the Western Prairies. + + +THE END. + + +FAMOUS CASTLEMON BOOKS. + + + GUNBOAT SERIES. By HARRY CASTLEMON. Illustrated. 6 vols. 16mo. + Cloth, extra, black and gold. + FRANK THE YOUNG NATURALIST. + FRANK ON A GUNBOAT. + FRANK IN THE WOODS. + FRANK BEFORE VICKSBURG. + FRANK ON THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI. + FRANK ON THE PRAIRIE. + + ROCKY MOUNTAIN SERIES. By HARRY CASTLEMON. Illustrated. 3 vols. + 16mo. Cloth, extra, black and gold. + FRANK AMONG THE RANCHEROS. + FRANK AT DON CARLOS' RANCHO. + FRANK IN THE MOUNTAINS. + + SPORTSMAN'S CLUB SERIES. By HARRY CASTLEMON. Illustrated. 3 + vols. 16mo. Cloth, extra, black and gold. + THE SPORTSMAN'S CLUB IN THE SADDLE. + THE SPORTSMAN'S CLUB AFLOAT. + THE SPORTSMAN'S CLUB AMONG THE TRAPPERS. + + GO-AHEAD SERIES. By HARRY CASTLEMON. Illustrated. 3 vols. 16mo. + Cloth, extra, black and gold. + TOM NEWCOMBE. GO-AHEAD. NO MOSS. + + FRANK NELSON SERIES. By HARRY CASTLEMON. Illustrated. 3 vols. + 16mo. Cloth, extra, black and gold. + SNOWED UP. FRANK IN THE FORECASTLE. BOY TRADERS. + + BOY TRAPPER SERIES. By HARRY CASTLEMON. Illustrated. 3 vols. + 16mo. Cloth, extra, black and gold. + THE BURIED TREASURE; OR, OLD JORDAN'S HAUNT. + THE BOY TRAPPER; OR, HOW DAVE FILLED THE ORDER. + THE MAIL-CARRIER. + + ROUGHING IT SERIES. By HARRY CASTLEMON. Illustrated. 16mo. + Cloth, extra, black and gold. + GEORGE IN CAMP. + + +_Other Volumes in Preparation._ + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by + R. W. CARROLL & CO., + In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, + for the Southern District of Ohio. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42307 *** |