CHAPTER XVI
A HUNT
A troop of cavalry trotted along through the early morning dust, andLieutenant Butler drew out at the Searleses' quarters, tying his horsefor a moment in front, while he went inside. It was early for casualpeople. He did not stay long, but the sergeant in the rear thought hesaw a girl come to the door and kiss him good-by. As the officer dashedto the head of the troop, the old sergeant dipped a smiling countenancedeep into a plug of tobacco.
"Hello! there goes Butler with his troop," said Mr. Harding to CaptainLewis, as they basked in the morning sun before that officer's quarters.
"Yes, he goes to escort some wagons; but the fact is, internecine warhas broken out in the post, and he goes for the good of the service.It's all about a damn little yellow dog."
"A dog make a war! How, pray?"
"Oh gee! yes! Dogs and rum and women make all the trouble there is inthe army, and particularly dogs. That sounds odd, doesn't it?Nevertheless, it's a hard, dry fact. Soldiers take to dogs, and it'salways 'kick my dog kick me' with these bucks. That troop has amiserable runt of a _fice_, and he's smart the same as such pups oftenare. The cavalrymen have taught him to nip at infantrymen, which theythink is great fun. Some of the infantrymen got tired of sewing upthree-cornered tears in their galligaskins and allowed they wouldassassinate said _fice_. Here is where these baby cavalrymen lose theirtemper and threaten to fire on the company-quarters of any outfit whichbags Fido--and that's war. It has been fixed up. Some officer hasarranged an armistice, and meanwhile the troop gets a few miles in thesage-brush, which, it is hoped, will be credited to the pup, whereat hewon't be so popular."
"Ah, a very sad case for the doggie," added Harding; "he was taught totake wrong views of the service."
"Let us go down and take a look at Ermine's wolf," said Lewis, and thetwo proceeded to the quartermaster's corral, where they found a groupstanding about the wolf.
It was held by a stout chain and lay flat on the ground, displaying anentire apathy concerning the surroundings, except that it looked"Injuny," as a passing mule-skinner observed.
"When I see one of those boys, it makes my back come up like a cat's,"said Lewis. "A bunch of them nearly pulled me down two years ago on theCanadian. I fired all my ammunition at them and got into camp just aboutthe right time; a half a mile more and I would have got my 'finalstatement.'"
"Yes, I have hunted them in Poland, on moonlight nights. A wolf in thedeep forests on a moonlight night harmonizes better than one tied by achain, with twenty men staring at him in broad daylight."
An irrepressible private shoved his nose into the circle, looked at thecaptive, and departed saying:--
"He enlisted in the army, The bullets took their toll, The wolves got his body, And the divil got his soul. Om-a yah-ha-ha."
Poor wolf! He possessed too many attributes of man to ingratiatehimself. He did not admit their superiority, and lay stoically under theheel of the conqueror; all thumbs were down for him.
He was apostrophized by a soldier: "Ah, me innocent-lukin' child of thedivil--wait till ye git thim hoop-shnake dawgs afther yez."
Major Searles rode in through the gate and sang out: "The Colonel has afew papers to sign, after which he says we will chase the wolf; so youcan get ready, gentlemen, those who care to run." And then to Ermine,who stood near: "Miss Searles thinks that will be a proper dispositionof your valuable present. Can you manage to turn him loose?"
"Why, yes, I suppose we can. Putting the ropes on him is easier thantaking them off. I won't take him out until you are all ready; every dogin the camp will fly at him. Can I have four or five soldiers to drivethem off? Wolf-Voice and myself will be on horseback, and can't protecthim."
"Certainly, certainly!" And under the Major's directions varioussoldiers armed themselves with whips, and undertook to make a rear-guardfight with the garrison pups.
Horses were saddled, and went clattering to all points of the post. Thecertainty of a run drew every one out. Shockley aided Miss Searles tomount, saying, "I am on duty to-day; my thoughts will fly where my ponyshould. You cannot doubt where he would go."
"Poor man, do not look so woebegone; it does not become you. I like youbetter when you sing than when you cry."
"If you didn't make me cry, I should sing all the time."
"Oh, that would be bad for your voice, my dear Mr. Shockley, as we sayon a letter head." And she mocked him beyond her rapier point, as sherode along, followed by the rapidly receding words:--
"Don't forget me, Molly darling; Put your little hand in mine. Tell me truly that you love me, And--"
The rest died behind her.
"He is such a nice fellow," she mused, "but there's more music in hissoul than in his throat. I shall miss him to-day, but not so much as Ishall Mr. Butler; and there is my knight of the yellow hair. Oh! I mustbe careful of him. He is such a direct person, there is no parrying hisassault. His presence has a strange effect on me; I do not understandit; he is queer. What a pity he is not an officer, with short hair; butpshaw! I might not like him then; how absurd, I do not like him now."And thus the girlish emotions swayed her pretty head, not stopping toclarify, man fashion. They flitted about on every little wind, andalighted nowhere for more than a few seconds.
Other women joined her, and a few men, all making for thequartermaster's.
"Your mother finds herself past riding, Miss Katherine," spoke one merrymatron, to whom age had been generous, and who was past it herself, didshe but know it.
"Yes, mother takes that view. I am afraid I cannot sustain thereputation of the Searles outfit, as the phrase goes here. My horse is aDobbin--papa is so absurdly careful. There is no fun in being careful."
"Oh, the Major is right. He knows the value of that little nose ofyours, and doesn't want it ploughed in the dirt. Noses which pointupward, just ever so little, lack the severity of those that point down,in women; that is what the men tell me, Katherine."
The girl glanced at her companion, and doubted not that the men had saidthat to her.
"I don't care to go through life thinking of my nose," she added.
"No, indeed; never think of your nose; think of what men think of it."
"I can go home and do that, Mrs. Gooding; out here my horse seems moreto the point than my nose." At this juncture some men opened the corralgate, and the women passed in.
Seeing the wolf flattened out like an unoratorical man at a banquet, whoknows he is next on the toast-list, Miss Searles exclaimed, "Poorcreature! it seems such a shame."
And the others added, "Now that I see him I feel like a butcher."
"Let him go, Major; we will not have his murder on our conscience,"continued a third.
"I should as soon think of killing a canary in a cage." And thus did thegentler sex fail at this stage; but when the Colonel rode out of theenclosure, they all followed.
The wolf rose to its feet with a snap as the half-breed and Ermineapproached, curling their lariats. A few deft turns, and the ropes drewaround the captive's throat. A man undid the chain, the horse started,and the wild beast drew after, a whizzing blur of gray hair.
There was some difficulty in passing the gate, but that was managed. Theremembrance of yesterday's experience in the rawhide coils came back tothe wolf. It slunk along, tail down, and with head turning in scaredanxious glances. Behind followed the rear-guard, waving their whips atvarious feeble-minded ki-yis which were emboldened by their own yelling.
"Colonel, give me a good start; this is a female wolf. I will raise myhat and drop it on the ground when it is time to let the dogs go! We mayhave trouble clearing away these ropes," talked Ermine, loudly.
"Sacre--mi-ka-tic-eh muck-a-muck--dees dam wolf he have already bite dehole in my rope ver near," and Wolf-Voice gave a severe jerk. To besure, the animal was already playing havoc with his lariat by savageside-snaps which bade fair shortly to shred it.
"Watch my hat, Colonel; she may get away from us b
efore we are ready."
Well outside of the post the Colonel halted his field and waited; alleyes bent on the two wild men, with their dangerous bait, going up theroad. The nimble ponies darted about in response to the riders'swayings, while at intervals the wolf gave an imitation of a pin-wheel.
When well out, Wolf-Voice yelled, "Ah, dare go my rope!"
The wolf had cut it, and turning, fixed its eyes on Ermine, who stoppedand shook his lariat carefully, rolling it in friendly circles towardthe wolf. Wolf-Voice drew his gun, and for an appreciable time thesituation had limitless possibilities. By the exercise of anintelligence not at all rare in wild creatures, the wolf lay down andclawed at the rope. In an instant it was free and galloping off, turningits head to study the strategy of the field.
"Wait for the people; she's going for the timber, and will get away,"shouted Ermine, casting his big sombrero into the air.
The dogs held in leash never lost sight of the gray fellow, and when letgo were soon whippeting along. The horses sank on their quarters andheaved themselves forward until the dusty plain groaned under theirfeet.
"Ki-yi-yi-yi," called the soldiers, imitating the Indians who had sooften swept in front of their guns.
The wolf fled, a gray shadow borne on the wind, making for the timber inthe river-bottom. It had a long start and a fair hope. If it hadunderstood how vain the noses of greyhounds are, it might have cut itsangle to cover a little; for once out of sight it might soon take itselfsafely off; but no wild animal can afford to angle much before thespider dogs.
The field was bunched at the start and kicked up a vast choking dust,causing many slow riders to deploy out on the sides, where they could atleast see the chase and the going in front of them. Wolf-Voice andErmine had gone to opposite sides and were lost in the rush.
Ermine's interest in the wolf departed with it. He now swung his activepony through the dirt clouds, seeking the girl, and at last found her,well in the rear as usual, and unescorted, after the usual luck sheencountered when she played her charms against a wolf. She was trying toescape from the pall by edging off toward the river-bank. Well behindstrode the swift war-pony, and Ermine devoured her with his eyes. Theimpulse to seize and bear her away to the inaccessible fastnesses ofwhich he knew was overcome by a fear of her--a fear so great that hisblood turned to water when his passion was greatest.
Time did not improve Ermine's logistics concerning this girl; he wantedher, and he did not know in the least how to get her. The tigers of hisimagination bit and clawed each other in ferocious combat when he lookedat her back as she rode or at her pensive photograph in the quiet of histent. When, however, she turned the battery of her eyes on him, thefever left him in a dull, chilly lethargy--a realization of thehopelessness of his yearning; and plot and plan and assuage his fears ashe might, he was always left in a mustache-biting perplexity. He couldnot at will make the easy reconnaissance of her fortresses which theyoung officers did, and this thought maddened him. It poisoned his mindand left his soul like a dead fish cast up on a river-bank.
Ermine had known the easy familiarity of the Indian squaws, but none ofthem had ever stirred him. The vast silence of his mountain life hadrarely been broken by the presence of men, and never by women. Theprophet had utterly neglected the boy's emotions in the interest of hisintellect. The intense poverty of his experience left him without anyunderstanding of the most ordinary conventions or casual affairs ofwhite men's lives. All he knew was gathered from his observation of therude relations of frontier soldiers on campaign. The visions of angelsnever exalted a fasting mediaeval monk in his cell as did the advent ofthis white woman to Ermine, and they were quite as nebulous.
The powerful appeal which Katherine Searles made to his imagination wasbeyond the power of his analysis; the word Love was unknown to hisvocabulary. He wanted her body, he wanted her mind, and he wanted hersoul merged with his, but as he looked at her now, his mouth grew dry,like a man in mortal fear or mortal agony.
And thinking thus, he saw her horse stop dead--sink--and go heels up andover in a complete somersault. The girl fluttered through the air andstruck, raising a dust which almost concealed her. A savage slap of hisquirt made his pony tear the ground in his frantic rush to her aid. Noone noticed the accident, and the chase swept around the bluffs and lefthim kneeling beside her. She showed no sign of life; the peach-blow lefther cheeks an ivory white, set with pearls when the high lights showed,but there was no blood or wound which he could see.
Her mount struggled to extract his poor broken foreleg from agopher-hole, where it was sunk to the elbow. He raised his head, withits eyes rolling, and groaned in agony.
If this had been a man, or even any other woman, Ermine would have knownwhat to do. In his life a wounded or broken man had been a frequentexperience. As he took her wrist to feel her pulse, his own handstrembled so that he gave over; he could feel nothing but the mad torrentof his own blood.
Turning his face in the direction where the hunt had gone, he yelled,"Help! help!" but the sound never reached the thudding hunt. Putting hisarm under her shoulder, he raised her up, and supporting her, he lookedhopelessly around until his eye fell on the Yellowstone only a shortdistance away. Water had always been what the wounded wanted. He slowlygathered her in his arms, gained his feet, and made his way toward theriver. A gopher-hole had planned what Ermine never could; it had broughther body to him, but it might be a useless gift unless the water gavehim back her life.
He bore the limp form to the sands beside the flowing river and laid itdown while he ran to fill his hat with water. He made fast work of hisrestoration, rubbing her wrists and sprinkling her forehead with water;but it was long before a reward came in the way of a breath and asigh. Again he raised her in a sitting position against his knee.
"HE BORE THE LIMP FORM TO THE SANDS."]
"Breathe, Katherine--try again--now breathe." And he pressed her chestwith his hand, aiding nature as best he knew, until she sighed again andagain.
The girl was half damp in death, while like a burning mine the pent-upfire-damp exploded and reverberated through the veins of the young man.Oh, if he could but impart his vitality to her. Possibly he did, forpresently her weakness permitted her to note that the sky was blue, thatthe tree-tops waved in familiar forms, that the air flooded her lungs,and that a cooling rain was falling. Again she drifted somewhere awayfrom the earth in pleasant passage through kaleidoscopic dreams of all agirl's subconsciousness ever offers.
Her eyes spread, but soon closed in complete rest against the easycradle. She sensed kindly caresses and warm kisses which delighted her.The long yellow hair hung about her face and kept it shadowed from thehot sun.
"Oh my! Oh my! Where am I? Is that you--How do I--" but the effortexhausted her.
"God--God--Sak-a-war-te come quick! It will be too late." He put morewater on her face.
* * * * *
The hunt missed the wolf in the cover of the river-bottom. It doubled onthe dogs, and out of sight was out of mind with the fast-runninghounds.
"She gave us a run, anyhow," sang out Major Searles to Wolf-Voice.
"Yaes, d---- him; she give me a bite and two run. What good was come ofeet, hey--why ain't you keel him first plass, by Gar?"
"Oh! you are a poor sport, Wolf-Voice."
"Am poor sport, hey? All right; nex' wolf she not tink dat, mabeso."
Laughing and talking, they trotted home, picking up belated ones who hadstrung behind the fastest horses.
"Where is Miss Searles, Major?" spoke one.
"That's so! don't know; had a slow horse; by Gad, we must look this up."And the now anxious father galloped his mount. The others followedsympathetically. Rounding the bluffs, they saw Ermine's pony quietlyfeeding.
"Where is Ermine?" came a hail of questions, and presently they almostran over the girl's horse, now lying on its side, breathing heavily, andno longer trying to disengage his leg from the gopher-hole.
"The horse is in a gop
her-hole," said some one; "and see here--look atthe dirt; he has thrown Miss Searles; here is where she struck."
"Yes, but where is she? where is she?" ejaculated the Major, in anervous tremor of excitement. "Where is my girl?"
Wolf-Voice had dismounted and found Ermine's trail, which he followedtoward the river.
"Come!" he called. "Am show you dose girl!"
While an orderly stayed behind to shoot the horse and get the emptysaddle, the group followed hard on the half-breed.
"Done you ride on de trail, you was keep behine. Dey girl was broke hisneck, an' Ermine am pack him."
Stepping briskly forward, the plainsman made quick work of emptymoccasin tracks and burst through the brush. A pistol-shot rang in therear; an orderly had shot the horse. A cry of "Help, help!" respondedfrom the river beyond the cottonwoods, and the horses ploughed their wayto the sands. The people all dismounted around the limp figure andkneeling scout. Her pale face, the hat with the water in it, and thehorse in the gopher-hole made everything clear.
"Here, Swan, ride to the post for an ambulance," spoke the Major, as hetoo knelt and took his daughter in his arms. "Ride the horse to deathand tell the ambulance to come running." Some of the women brought theirministering hands to bear and with more effect.
"What happened, Katherine?" whispered her father amid the eager silenceof the gathered people.
"What did I do?" she pleaded weakly.
"How was it, Ermine?"
"Her horse put his foot in a hole; he is out there now. I saw her godown. Then I tried to save her. Will she live?"
Ermine's eager interest had not departed because of the advent of somany people. He still continued to kneel and to gaze in rapture at thecreature of his hopes and fears. No one saw anything in it but thenatural interest of one who had been left with so much responsibility.
"If you men will retire, we will endeavor to find her injuries," spokeone of the older ladies; so the men withdrew.
Every one asked eager questions of the scout, who walked hat in hand,and had never before shown perturbation under the trying situations inwhich he and the soldiers had been placed.
"I knew that wolf would get away in the timber, and I wasn't going toride my pony for the fun of seeing it, so I was behind. Miss Searles'shorse was slow, and I noticed she was being left; then she went down andI didn't know what to do,"--which latter statement was true.
He had done as well under the circumstances as any man could, they alladmitted. A magpie on an adjoining limb jeered at the soldiers, thoughhe made no mention of anything further than the scout had admitted.
In due course the ambulance came bounding behind the straining mules.Mrs. Searles was on the seat with the driver, hatless, and white withfear. The young woman was placed in and taken slowly to quarters. Beingthe only witness, Ermine repeated his story until he grew tired ofspeech and wanted only silence which would enable him to think. Thegreatest event of his life had happened to him that morning; it had comein a curious way; it had lasted but a few moments, but it had added newfuel to his burning mind, which bade fair to consume it altogether.
Miss Searles's injuries consisted of a few bruises and a general shockfrom which she would soon recover, said the doctor, and the cantonmentslowly regathered its composure, all except Shockley, who sat, headdown, in most disordered thought, slowly punctuating events as they cameto him, by beating on the floor with his scabbard.
"And she gave him her glove and she never gave me any glove--and shenever gave Butler her glove that I know of; and he gave her a wolf andhe was with her when this thing happened. Say, Shockley, me boy, you aretoo slow, you are rusty; if you saw an ancient widow woman choppingwood, you would think she was in love with the wood-pile." And thus didthat worthy arrive at wrong conclusions. He would not give himself thecredit of being only a man, whom God in the wisdom of His creation didnot intend to understand women and thus deaden a world.
The camp was in ignorance of the points of contact between KatherineSearles and the scout; it felt none of the concern which distressedShockley.
Miss Searles had known Butler back in the States; they were muchtogether here on the Yellowstone, and it was pretty generally admittedthat in so far as she was concerned Lieutenant Butler had the biggestpair of antlers in the garrison. That young officer was a finesoldier--one of the best products of West Point, and was well connectedback East, which was no small thing in an affair of this nature. Alsohis fellows easily calculated that he must have more than his pay.Shockley, however, continued to study the strategy of the scout Ermine,and he saw much to fear.