Chapter XDick Goes Scouting
Dick did not believe that the timber wolves, after suffering somuch in the pursuit of Albert, would venture again to attackeither his brother or himself. He knew that the wolf was one ofthe shrewdest of all animals, and that, unless the circumstanceswere very unusual indeed, the sight of a gun would be sufficientto warn them off. Nevertheless, he decided to begin a campaignagainst them, though he had to wait a day or two until Albert'sshaken nerves were restored.
They wished to save their ammunition as much as possible, andthey built three large dead falls, in which they caught six orseven great wolves, despite their cunning. In addition theyhunted them with rifles with great patience and care, neverrisking a shot until they felt quite sure that it would find avital spot. In this manner they slew about fifteen more, and bythat time the wolves were thoroughly terrified. The scent of thebeings carrying sticks which poured forth death and destructionat almost any distance, was sufficient to send the boldest bandof timber wolves scurrying into the shadows of the deepest forestin search of hiding and safety.
The snow melted and poured in a thousand streams from themountains. The river and all the creeks and brooks roared intorrents, the earth soaked in water, and the two boys spent muchof the time indoors making new clothing, repairing traps andnets, and fashioning all kinds of little implements that were ofuse in their daily life. They could realize, only because theynow had to make them, how numerous such implements were. Yetthey made toasting sticks of hard wood, carved out woodenplatters, constructed a rude but serviceable dining table, addedto their supply of traps of various kinds, and finally made twolarge baskets of split willow. The last task was not asdifficult as some others, as both had seen and taken a part inbasket making in Illinois. The cabin was now crowded toinconvenience. Over their beds, from side to side, and up underthe sloping roof, they had fastened poles, and from all of thesehung furs and skins, buffalo, deer, wolf, wild cat, beaver,wolverine, and others, and also stores of jerked game. The Annexwas in the same crowded condition. The boys had carried thehollow somewhat higher up with their axes, but the extension gavethem far less room than they needed.
"It's just this, Dick," said Albert, "we getting so rich that wedon't know what to do with all our property. I used to think ita joke that the rich were unhappy, but now I see where theirtrouble comes in."
"I know that the trappers cache their furs, that is, bury them orhide them until they can take them away," said Dick, "but wedon't know how to bury furs so they'll keep all right. Still,we've got to find a new place of some kind. Besides, it would bebetter to have them hidden where only you and I could find them,Al. Maybe we can find such a place."
Albert agreed, and they began a search along the cliffs. Dickknew that extensive rocky formations must mean a cave or anopening of some kind, if they only looked long enough for it,at last they found in the side of a slope a place that he thoughtcould be made to suit. It was a rocky hollow running back aboutfifteen feet, and with a height and width of perhaps ten feet.It was approached by an opening about four feet in height and twofeet in width. Dick wondered at first that it had not been usedas a den by some wild animal, but surmised that the steepness ofthe ascent and the extreme roughness of the rocky floor had keptthem out.
But these very qualities recommended the hollow to the boys forthe use that they intended it. Its position in the side of thecliff made it a hard place to find, and the solid rock of itsfloor, walls, and roof insured the dryness that was necessary forthe storage of their furs.
"We'll call this the Cliff House," said Albert, "and we'll takepossession at once."
They broke off the sharper of the stone projections with their axheads, and then began the transfer of the furs. It was no lighttask to carry them up the step slope to the Cliff House, but,forced to do all things for themselves, they had learnedperseverance, and they carried all their stock of beaver furs andall the buffalo robes and bearskins, except those in actual use,together with a goodly portion of the wolfskins, elk hides, andothers.
Dick made a rude but heavy door which fitted well enough into theopening to keep out any wild animal, no matter how small, and infront of it, in a little patch of soft soil, they set out twotransplanted pine bushes which seemed to take root, and whichDick was sure would grow in the spring.
When the boys looked up from the bottom of the slope, they saw notrace of the Cliff House, only an expanse of rock, save a littlepatch of earth where two tiny pines were growing.
"Nobody but ourselves will ever find our furs!" exclaimed Dickexultingly. "The most cunning Indian would not dream thatanything was hidden up there behind those little pines, and thefurs will keep as well inside as if they were in the beststorehouse ever built."
The discovery and use of the rock cache was a great relief toboth. Their cabin had become so crowded with furs and stores,that the air was often thick and heavy, and they did not havewhat Dick called elbow room. Now they used the cabin almostexclusively for living purposes. Most of the stores were in theAnnex, while the dry and solid Cliff House held the furs.
"Have you thought, Dick, what you and I are?" asked Albert.
"I don't catch your meaning."
"We're aristocrats of the first water, Mr. Richard Howard and Mr.Albert Howard, the Mountain Kings. We can't get along with lessthan four residences. We live in Castle Howard, the mainmansion, superior to anything of its kind in a vast region; thenwe have the Annex, a tower used chiefly as a supply room andtreasure chest; then the Suburban Villa, a light, airy place ofgraceful architecture, very suitable as a summer residence, andnow we have the Cliff House, in a lofty and commanding positionnoted for its wonderful view. We are really a fortunate pair,Dick."
"I've been thinking that for sometime," replied Dick rathergravely.
Hitherto they had confined their operations chiefly to their ownside of the lake, but as they ranged farther and farther insearch of furs they began to prowl among the canyons and narrowvalleys in the mountains on the other side. They made, ratherfar up the northern side, some valuable catches of beaver, but inorder to return with them, they were compelled to come aroundeither the northern or southern end of the lake, and the roundtrip was tremendously long and tiring.
"It's part of a man's business to economize time and strength,"said Dick, "and we must do it. You and I, Al, are going to makea canoe."
"How?"
"I don't know just yet, but I'm studying it out. The idea willjump out of my head in two or three days."
It was four days before it jumped, but when it did, it jumped tosome purpose.
"First, we'll make a dugout," he said. "We've got the tools--axes,knives, saws, and augers--and we'd better start with that."
They cut down a big and perfectly straight pine and chose alength of about twelve feet from the largest part of the trunk.Both boys had seen dugouts, and they knew, in a general way, howto proceed. Their native intelligence supplied the rest.
They cut off one side of the log until it was flat, thus makingthe bottom for the future canoe. They cut the opposite side awayin the well-known curve that a boat makes, low in the middle andhigh at each end. This part of the work was done with greatcaution, but Dick had an artistic eye, and they made a fairlygood curve. Next they began the tedious and laborious work ofdigging out, using axes, hatchets, and chisel.
This was a genuine test of Albert's new strength, but he stood itnobly. They chipped away for a long time, until the wood on thesides and bottom was thin but strong enough to stand anypressure. Then they made the proper angle and curve of bow andstern, cut and made two stout broad paddles, and their dugout wasready--a long canoe with a fairly good width, as the originallog had been more than two feet in diameter. It was both lightand strong, and, raising it on their shoulders, they carried itdown to the lake where they put it in the water.
Albert, full of enthusiasm, sprang into the canoe and made amighty sweep with his paddle. The light dugout shot away, tippedon on
e side, and as Albert made another sweep with his paddle toright it, it turned over, bottom side up, casting the rash youngpaddler into ten feet of pure cold water. Albert came up with amighty splash and sputter. He was a good swimmer, and he hadalso retained hold of the paddle unconsciously, perhaps. Dickregarded him contemplatively from the land. He had no idea ofjumping in. One wet and cold boy was enough. Beside, rashnessdeserved its punishment.
"Get the canoe before it floats farther away," he called out,"and tow it to land. It has cost us too much work to be lost outon the lake."
Albert swam to the canoe, which was now a dozen yards away, andquickly towed it and the paddle to land. There, shivering, thewater running from him in streams, he stepped upon the solidearth.
"Run to the cabin as fast as you can," said Dick. "Take off thosewet things, rub yourself down before the fire; then put ondry clothes and come back here and help me."
Albert needed no urging, but it seemed to him that he wouldfreeze before he reached the cabin, short as the distance was.Fortunately, there was a good fire on the hearth, and, after hehad rubbed down and put on his dry, warm suit of deerskin, henever felt finer in his life. He returned to the lake, but hefelt sheepish on the way. That had been a rash movement of his,overenthusiastic, but he had been properly punished. His chagrinwas increased when he saw Dick a considerable distance out on thelake in the canoe, driving it about in graceful curves with longsweeps of his paddle.
"This is the way it ought to be done," called out Dick cheerily."Behold me, Richard Howard, the king of canoe men!"
"You've been practicing while I was gone!" exclaimed Albert.
"No doubt of it, my young friend, and that is why you see meshowing such skill, grace, and knowledge. I give you the samerecipe without charge: Look before you leap, especially if you'regoing to leap into a canoe. Now we'll try it together."
He brought the canoe back to land, Albert got in cautiously, andfor the rest of the day they practiced paddling, both togetherand alone. Albert got another ducking, and Dick, in a moment ofoverconfidence, got one, too, somewhat to Albert's pleasure andrelief, as it has been truly said that misery loves company, butin two or three days they learned to use the canoe with ease.Then, either together or alone, they would paddle boldly the fulllength of the lake, and soon acquired dexterity enough to use itfor freight, too; that is, they would bring back in it across thelake anything that they had shot or trapped on the other side.
So completely had they lost count of time that Dick had an ideaspring was coming, but winter suddenly shut down upon themagain. It did not arrive with wind and snow this time, but inthe night a wave of cold came down from the north so intense thatthe sheltered valley even did not repel it.
Dick and Albert did not appreciate how really cold it was untilthey went from the cabin into the clear morning air, when they werewarned by the numbing sensation that assailed their ears and noses.They hurried into the house and thawed out their faces, whichstung greatly as they were exposed to the fire. Remembering theexperiences of their early boyhood, they applied cold water freely,which allayed the stinging. After that they were very careful towrap up fingers, ears, and noses when they went forth.
Now, the channel that Albert had made from the water of the hotspring proved of great use. The water that came boiling from theearth cooled off rapidly, but it was not yet frozen when itreached the side of Castle Howard, and they could make use of it.
The very first morning they found their new boat, of which theywere so proud, hard and fast with ten inches of solid ice allaround it. Albert suggested leaving it there.
"We have no need of it so long as the lake is covered with ice,"he said, "and when the ice melts it will be released."
But Dick looked a little farther. The ice might press in on itand crush it, and hence Albert and he cut it out with axes, afterwhich they put it in the lee of the cabin. Meanwhile, when theywished to reach the traps on the farther side of the lake, theycrossed it on the ice, and, presuming that the cold might lastlong, they easily made a rude sledge which they used in place ofthe canoe.
"If we can't go through the water, we can at least go over it,"said Albert.
While the great cold lasted, a period of about two weeks, theboys went on no errands except to their traps. The cold was sointense that often they could hear the logs of Castle Howardcontracting with a sound like pistol shots. Then they wouldbuild the fire high and sit comfortably before it. Fortunately,the valley afforded plenty of fuel. Both boys wished now thatthey had a few books, but books were out of the question, andthey sought always to keep themselves busy with the tasks thattheir life in the valley entailed upon them. Both knew that thiswas best.
The cold was so great that even the wild animals suffered fromit. The timber wolves, despite their terrible lessons, weredriven by it down the valley, and at night a stray one now andthen would howl mournfully near the cabin.
"He's a robber and would like to be a murderer," Albert wouldsay, "but he probably smells this jerked buffalo meat that I'mcooking and I'm sorry for him."
But the wolves were careful to keep out of rifle shot.
Dick made one trip up the valley and found about fifty buffaloessheltered in a deep ravine and clustering close together forwarmth. They were quite thin, as the grass, although it had beenprotected by the snow, was very scanty at that period of theyear. Dick could have obtained a number of good robes, but hespared them.
"Maybe I won't be so soft-hearted when the spring comes and youare fatter," he said.
The two, about this time, took stock of their ammunition, whichwas the most vital of all things to them. For sometime they hadused both the shot and ball cartridges only in cases ofnecessity, and they were relying more and more on traps,continually devising new kinds, their skill and ingenuityincreasing with practice.
Dick had brought a great store of cartridges from the last train,especially from the unrifled wagon in the gully, and both boyswere surprised to see how many they had left. They had enough tolast a long time, according to their present mode of life.
"If you are willing, that settles it," said Dick.
"If I am willing for what?" asked Albert.
"Willing to stay over another year. You see, Al, we've wanderedinto a happy hunting ground. There are more furs, by thehundreds, for the taking, and it seems that this is a lostvalley. Nobody else comes here. Besides, you are doingwonderfully. All that old trouble is gone, and we want it tostay gone. If we stay here another year, and you continue to eatthe way you do and grow the way you do, you'll be able to take abuffalo by the horns and wring its neck."
Albert grinned pleasantly at his brother.
"You don't have to beg me to stay," he said. "I like thisvalley. It has given me life and what is to be our fortune, ourfurs. Why not do all we can while we can? I'm in favor of theextra year, Dick."
"Then no more need be said about it. The Cliff House isn't halffull of furs yet, but in another year we can fill it."
The great cold began to break up, the ice on the lake grewthinner and thinner and then disappeared, much of the big gameleft the valley, the winds from the north ceased to blow, and intheir stead came breezes from the south, tipped with warmth.Dick knew that spring was near. It was no guess, he could feelit in every bone of him, and he rejoiced. He had had enough ofwinter, and it gave him the keenest pleasure when he saw tinyblades of new grass peeping up in sheltered places here andthere.
Dick, although he was not conscious of it, had changed almost asmuch as Albert in the last eight or nine months. He had had noweak chest and throat to cure, but his vigorous young frame hadresponded nobly to the stimulus of self-reliant life. Thephysical experience, as well as the mental, of those eight ornine months, had been equal to five times their number spentunder ordinary conditions, and he had grown greatly in everyrespect. Few men were as strong, as agile, and as alert as he.
He and Albert, throughout that long winter, had been sufficientunto each ot
her. They had a great sense of ownership, the valleyand all its manifold treasurers belonged to them--a feeling thatwas true, as no one else came to claim it--and they believedthat in their furs they were acquiring and ample provision for astart in life.
When the first tender shades of green began to appear in thevalley and on the slopes, Dick decided upon a journey.
"Do you know, Al, how long we have been in this valley?" heasked.
"Eight or ten months, I suppose," replied Albert.
"It must be something like that, and we've been entirely awayfrom our race. If we had anybody to think about us--although wehaven't--they'd be sure that we are dead. We're just asignorant of what is happening in the world, and I want to go on askirmishing trip over the mountains. You keep house while I'mgone."
Albert offered mild objections, which he soon withdrew, as atheart he thought his brother right, and the next day, early inthe morning, Dick started on his journey. He carried jerkedbuffalo meat in a deerskin pouch that he had made for himself,his customary repeating rifle, revolver, and a serviceablehatchet.
"Look after things closely, Al," said Dick, "and don't botherabout setting the traps. Furs are not good in the spring."
"All right," responded Albert. "How long do you think you'll begone?"
"Can't say, precisely. Three or four days, I presume, but don'tyou worry unless it's a full week."
It was characteristic of the strength and self-restraint acquiredby the two that they parted with these words and a hand clasponly, yet both had deep feeling. Dick looked back from the mouthof the cleft toward Castle Howard and saw a boy in front of itwaving a cap. He waved his own in reply and then went forwardmore swiftly down the valley.
It did not take him long to reach the first slope, and, when hehad ascended a little, he paused for rest and inspection. Springhad really made considerable progress. All the trees except theevergreens had put forth young leaves and, as he looked towardthe north, the mountains unrolled like a vast green blanket thatswept away in ascending folds until it ended, and then the peaksand ridges, white with snow, began.
Dick climbed father, and their valley was wholly lost to sight.It was not so wonderful after all that nobody came to it.Trappers who knew of it long ago never returned, believing thatthe beaver were all gone forever, and it was too near to thewarlike Sioux of the plains for mountain Indians to make a homethere.
Dick did not stop long for the look backward--he was too intentupon his mission--but resumed the ascent with light foot andlight heart. He remembered very well the way in which he andAlbert had come, and he followed it on the return. All night,with his buffalo robe about him, he slept in the pine alcove thathad been the temporary home of Albert and himself. He could seeno change in it in all the months, except traces to show thatsome wild animal had slept there.
"Maybe you'll come to-night, Mr. Bear or Mr. Mountain Lion, tosleep in your little bed." said Dick as he lay down in hisbuffalo robe, "but you'll find me here before you."
He was wise enough to know that neither bear nor mountain lionwould ever molest him, and he slept soundly. He descended thelast slopes and came in sight of the plains on the afternoonof the next day. Everything seemed familiar. The events ofthat fatal time had made too deep an impression upon him andAlbert ever to be forgotten. He knew the very rocks and treesand so went straight to the valley in which he had found thewagon filled with supplies. It lay there yet, crumpledsomewhat by time and the weight of snow that had fallen upon itduring the winter, but a strong man with good tools might put itin shape for future service.
"Now, if Al and I only had horses, we might get it out and takeaway our furs in it," said Dick, "but I suppose I might as wellwish for a railroad as for horses."
He descended into the gully and found the tracks of wolves andother wild beasts about the wagon. In their hunger, they hadchewed up every fragment of leather or cloth, and had clawed andscratched among the lockers. Dick had searched those pretty wellbefore, but now he looked for gleanings. He found little ofvalue until he discovered, jammed down in a corner, an oldhistory and geography of the United States combined in one volumewith many maps and illustrations. It was a big octavo book, andDick seized it with the same delight with which a miner snatchesup his nugget of gold. He opened it, took a rapid look throughflying pages, murmured, "Just the thing," closed it again, andbuttoned it securely inside his deerskin coat. He had notexpected anything; nevertheless, he had gleaned to some purpose.
Dick left the wagon and went into the pass where the massacre hadoccurred. Time had not dimmed the horror of the place for himand he shuddered as he approached the scene of ambush, but heforced himself to go on.
The wagons were scattered about, but little changed, although, asin the case of the one in the gully, all the remaining cloth andleather had been chewed by wild animals. Here and there were theskeletons of the fallen, and Dick knew that the wild beasts hadnot been content with leather and cloth alone. He went throughthe wagons one by one, but found nothing of value left except apaper of needles, some spools of thread, and a large pair ofscissors, all of which he put in the package with the history.
It was nightfall when he finished the task, and retiring to theslope, he made his bed among some pines. He heard wolveshowling twice in the night, but he merely settled himself moreeasily in his warm buffalo robe and went to sleep again.Replenishing his canteen with water the next morning, he startedout upon the plains, intending to make some explorations.
Dick had thought at first that they were in the Black Hills, buthe concluded later that they were further west. The mountainsabout them were altogether too high for the Black Hills, and hewished to gain some idea of their position upon the map. Thethought reminded him that he had a book with maps in hispocket, and he took out the precious volume.
He found a map of the Rocky Mountain territory, but most of thespace upon it was vague, often blank, and he could not exactlylocate himself and Albert, although he knew that they were veryfar west of any settled country.
"I can learn from that book all about the world exceptourselves," he said, as he put it back in his pocket. But he wasnot sulky over it. His was a bold and adventurous spirit andhe was not afraid, nor was his present trip merely to satisfycuriosity. He and Albert must leave the valley some day, and itwas well to know the best way in which it could be done.
He started across the plain in a general southwesterly direction,intending to travel for about a day perhaps, camp for the night,and return on the following day to his mountains. He walkedalong with a bold, swinging step and did not look back for anhour, but when he turned at last he felt as if he had venturedupon the open ocean in a treacherous canoe. There werethe mountains, high, sheltered, and friendly, while off to thesouth and west the plains rolled away in swell after swell aslong and desolate as an untraveled sea, and as hopeless.
Dick saw toward noon some antelope grazing on the horizon, but hewas not a hunter now, and he did not trouble himself to seek ashot. An hour or two later he saw a considerable herd ofbuffaloes scattered about over the plain, nibbling the shortbunch grass that had lived under the snow. They were rather aninspiring sight, and Dick felt as if, in a sense, they werefurnishing him company. They drove away the desolation andloneliness of the plains, and his inclinations toward them werethose of genuine friendliness. They were in danger of no bulletfrom him.
While he was looking at them, he saw new figures coming over thedistant swell. At first he thought they were antelope, but whenthey reached the crest of the swell and their figures were throwninto relief against the brilliant sky, he saw that they werehorsemen.
They came on with such regularity and precision, that, for amoment or two, Dick believed them to be a troop of cavalry, buthe learned better when they scattered with a shout and began tochase the buffaloes. Then he knew that they were a band of SiouxIndians hunting.
The full extent of his danger dawned upon him instantly. He wasalone and on foot. The hunt might b
ring them down upon him infive minutes. He was about to run, but his figure wouldcertainly be exposed upon the crest of one of the swells, astheirs had been, and he dropped instead into one of a number oflittle gullies that intersected the plain.
It was an abrupt little gully, and Dick was well hidden from anyeyes not within ten yards of him. He lay at first so he couldnot see, but soon he began to hear shots and the trampling ofmighty hoofs. He knew now that the Sioux were in among thebuffaloes, dealing out death, and he began to have a fear ofbeing trodden upon either by horsemen or huge hoofs. He couldnot bear to lie there and he warned only by sound, so he turned alittle further on one side and peeped over the edge of the gully.
The hunters and hunter were not as near as he thought; hehad been deceived by sound, the earth being such a goodconductor. Yet they were near enough for him to see thathe was in great danger and should remain well hidden. Hecould observe, however, that the hunt was attended withgreat success. Over a dozen buffaloes had fallen and theothers were running about singly or in little groups, closelypursued by the exultant Sioux. Some were on one side of himand some on the other. There was no chance for him, no matterhow careful he might be, to rise from the gully and sneak awayover the plain. Instead, he crouched more closely and contractedhimself into the narrowest possible space, while the hunt wheeledand thundered about him.
It is not to be denied that Dick felt many tremors. He had seenwhat the Sioux could do. He knew that they were the mostmerciless of all the northwestern Indians, and he expected onlytorture and death if he fell into their hands, and there was hisbrother alone now in the valley. Once the hunt swung away to thewestward and the sounds of it grew faint. Dick hoped it wouldcontinue in that direction, but by and by it came back again andhe crouched down anew in his narrow quarters. He felt that everybone in him was stiffening with cramp and needlelike pains shotthrough his nerves. Yet he dared not move. And upon top of hispainful position came the knowledge that the Sioux would staythere to cut up the slain buffaloes. He was tempted more thanonce to jump up, run for it and take his chances.
He noticed presently a gray quality in the air, and as he glancedoff toward the west, he saw that the red sun was burning verylow. Dick's heart sprang up in gladness; it was the twilight,and the blessed darkness would bring chance of escape. Seldomhas anyone watched the coming of night with keener pleasure. Thesun dropped down behind the swells, the gray twilight passed overall the sky, and after it came the night, on black wings.
Fires sprang up on the plain, fires of buffalo chips lighted bythe Sioux, who were now busy skinning and cutting up the slainbuffaloes. Dick saw the fires all about him, but none was nearerthan a hundred yards, and, despite them, he decided that now washis best time to attempt escape before the moon should come outand lighten up the night.
He pulled himself painfully from the kind gully. He had lainthere hours, and he tested every joint as he crept a few feet onthe plain. They creaked for a while, but presently thecirculation was restored, and, rising to a stooping position,with his rifle ready, he slipped off toward the westward.
Dick knew that great caution was necessary, but he had confidencein the veiling darkness. Off to the eastward he could see onefire, around which a half dozen warriors were gathered, busy witha slain buffalo, working and feasting. He fancied that he couldtrace their savage features against the red firelight, but hehimself was in the darkness.
Another fire rose up, and this was straight before him. Like theothers, warriors were around it, and Dick turned off abruptly tothe south. Then he heard ponies stamping and he shifted hiscourse again. When he had gone about a dozen yards he lay flatupon the plain and listened. He was hardy and bold, but, for alittle while, he was almost in despair. It seemed to him that hewas ringed around by a circle of savage warriors and that hecould not break through it.
His courage returned, and, rising to his knees, he resumed hisslow progress. His course was now southwesterly, and soon heheard again the stamping of hoofs. It was then that a daringidea came into Dick's head.
That stamping of hoofs was obviously made by the ponies of theSioux. Either the ponies were tethered to short sticks, or theyhad only a small guard, perhaps a single man. But as they werewith the buffaloes, and unsuspecting of a strange presence, theywould not detail more than one man to watch their horses. It waswisdom for him to slip away one of the horses, mount it when at asafe distance, and then gallop toward the mountains.
Dick sank down a little lower and crept very slowly toward thepoint from which the stamping of hoofs proceeded. When he hadgone about a dozen yards he heard another stamping of hoofs tohis right and then a faint whinny. This encouraged him. Itshowed him that the ponies were tethered in groups, and the grouptoward which he was going might be without a guard. He continuedhis progress another dozen yards, and then lay flat upon theplain. He had seen two vague forms in the darkness, and hewished to make himself a blur with the earth. They were warriorspassing from one camp fire to another, and Dick saw them plainly,tall men with blankets folded about them like togas, long hair inwhich eagle feathers were braided after the Sioux style, andstrong aquiline features. They looked like chiefs, men ofcourage, dignity, and mind, and Dick contrasted them with theruffians of the wagon train. The contrast was not favorable tothe white faces that he remembered so well.
But the boy saw nothing of mercy or pity in these redcountenances. Bold and able they might be, but it was no part oftheirs to spare their enemies. He fairly crowded himself againstthe earth, but they went on, absorbed in their own talk, and hewas not seen. He raised up again and began to crawl. The groupof ponies came into view, and he saw with delight that they hadno watchman. A half dozen in number and well hobbled, theycropped the buffalo grass. They were bare of back, but they woretheir Indian bridles, which hung from their heads.
Dick knew a good deal about horses, and he was aware that theapproach would be critical. The Indian ponies might take alarmor they might not, but the venture must be made. He did notbelieve that he could get beyond the ring of the Sioux fireswithout being discovered, and only a dash was left.
Dick marked the pony nearest to him. It seemed a strong animal,somewhat larger than the others, and, pulling up a handful ofbunch grass, he approached it, whistling very softly. He heldthe grass in his left hand and his hunting knife in the right,his rifle being fastened to his back. The pony raised his head,looked at him in a friendly manner, then seemed to change hismind and backed away. But Dick came on, still holding out thegrass and emitting that soft, almost inaudible whistle. The ponystopped and wavered between belief and suspicion. Dick was notmore than a dozen feet away now, and he began to calculate whenhe might make a leap and seize the bridle.
The boy and the pony were intently watching the eyes of each other.Dick, in that extreme moment, was gifted with preternaturalacuteness of mind and vision, and he saw that the pony still wavered.He took another step forward, and the eyes of the pony inclineddistinctly from belief to suspicion; another short and cautious step,and they were all suspicion. But it was too late for the pony. Theagile youth sprang, and dropping the grass, seized him with his lefthand by the bridle. A sweep or two of the hunting knife and thehobbles were cut through.
The pony reared and gave forth an alarmed neigh, but Dick,quickly replacing the knife in his belt, now held the bridle withboth hands, and those two hands were very strong. He pulled thepony back to its four feet and sprang, with one bound, upon hisback. Then kicking him vigorously in the side, he dashed away,with rifle shots spattering behind him.