CHAPTER XXI
THE NEIGH OF A HORSE
The stray horse appeared to be distributing the property of the boysin a promiscuous fashion. So far as they knew, he still retainedhis equipments and a roll of personal effects, fastened in front ofthe saddle instead of behind it, as was the case with the blankets.
"Seems to me," remarked Otto, who began to feel some weariness andimpatience, "dot the animal ish not a good vile getting tired so ashe vants to sot down and rest."
"He is likely to do so when it begins to grow dark, which will bebefore long," added Jack Carleton, noting the closing day.
The friends had been hopeful from the first that they would overtakethe missing horse before sunset. They had been cheered by thebelief that they were not far behind him at the start, and it wascertain they had made much better progress than he, but it nowlooked as if they were to be disappointed.
When they arrived on the edge of a natural clearing, several acresin extent and covered with a luxuriant growth of grass, they weresure the horse was there, but a careful scrutiny showed no signs ofhim, though his tracks indicated that he had cropped some of thegrass before passing on.
It was comparatively easy traveling for the boys, the woods beingnotably clear of the vines and undergrowth, which often added to thelabor of journeying through them. They had not yet seen bird,animal or living person after parting company with Deerfoot, andJack was conscious more than once of a strange feeling ofloneliness, such as comes over the traveler when wandering in a vastand desolate land.
"Is this so different from Ohio and Kentucky?" he asked himself;"are there no Shawanoes because there is no game for them to hunt?"
He smiled when he asked himself the latter question, for his ownknowledge rendered it pointless. He knew that the game was aslimitless on one side of the Mississippi as on the other.
The sun-had gone down behind the rim of forest, when they foundthemselves on the edge of a clearing more extensive than the former,and intersected by a small, winding stream of water.
"Here, we will camp," said Jack, throwing down his moist bundle andleaning his rifle against a tree; "it will soon be so dark that wecan't see the tracks of the horse, and, if we push on, we'll onlyhave to do our work over again."
"Dot ish vot I dinks," said Otto, imitating the action. It must notbe forgotten that the German, since the reproof received from theyoung Shawanoe, had resolved to improve his manner of expressinghimself. He was of the age that he could do so rapidly, and he had(what he never possessed before) an earnest wish to succeed.
Something in the way of food would have been appreciated by both thesturdy youths, but nothing of the kind presented itself, and it wasno great hardship for them to wait until the morrow.
"Vill a fire we kindle?" asked Otto.
"We may as well do so, for we shall need it to help dry ourblankets, which have enough moisture, even after wringing them, tolast a week."
The night was more chilly than the preceding one, and the warmth ofthe blankets would have been pleasant to both. As it was, theironly resource was the extra fire, for which they began preparations.
They were plentifully supplied in the way of fuel, which theygathered, throwing it down in a pile near where they intended tostart the blaze. The stream was small, but the water was clear,cool and refreshing. Whoever has been burned with consuming fever,or tormented by a torturing thirst, can never forget the ecstasywhich thrilled every nerve, when he quaffed his full of thecolorless, odorless and tasteless fluid, more exquisite in thedelight it imparted than can be the "nectar of the gods."
"Ali!" said Otto, with a long-drawn sigh of happiness, "I could liveon dot."
"It's certain you couldn't live very long without it," remarked hisfriend, as he drew down another armful of dry and decayed wood. "Idon't think there is much to fear in the way of thirst in this partof the world. There may be deserts further west toward the Pacific,such as they have in other parts of the world, but I don't believewe can reach them in a week's journey."
"Ish not looking for them," said Otto, with a grin, "'cause I doesnot see vot I does with them ven I finds 'em."
"Our country is too rich in its natural resources to make itprobable that it has much in the way of waste land--"
"Mine gracious!" exclaimed Otto, with a start, "didn't you heardot?"
"Of course I did," replied Jack, turning his head like a flash andgazing across the clearing.
Indeed it would have been impossible for either to avoid noting thesound, which was the unmistakable neigh of a horse at no greatdistance from them.
"Dot vos de golt," said Otto, with a beaming countenance. "He vosnear by and not far off."
Night was closing in so rapidly that the vision of the two wasnecessarily shortened. They could not see entirely across theclearing or opening, but in the dim, uncertain light, Otto Relstaubwas positive he detected the animal they were so anxious to find.
"Dot ish he," he insisted, leveling his arm with the extended fingerpointed at a certain spot. "He ish looking mit dis way; he has seenus and he dinks he don't know us, and he sings out mit dot way to axus who we ain't; dot ish his style."
Jack Carleton was naturally strong of vision, and he believed hiscompanion was right. He was able to discern some object, which,through the gloom, resembled a horse that seemed to have becomeaware of the presence of strangers, and, throwing up his head, hadchallenged them in the manner named.
"I think you are right," said Jack, still going across theintervening space, "though we can't make sure without getting closerto him. It is barely possible that he may be a horse of anothercolor."
Otto shook his head by way of dissent. He could not be convinced hewas not looking upon the very animal for which they had been huntingever since they reached the western bank of the Mississippi.
The only way to settle the doubt was at their command. Nothing wasto prevent a closer inspection of the quadruped that had awakenedsuch interest.
They felt the necessity of great care. The horse was high-spiritedand wild, and the taste gained of freedom had undoubtedly increasedthe difficulty of his capture. Great caution would be necessary toavoid scaring him away altogether.
It will be seen also that if they frightened the colt into dashinginto the woods, it would be hard, under any circumstances, to securehim. He would run a good distance, and the morrow would compelanother long and laborious search.
A simple plan suggested itself: one would make a cautious advanceacross the clearing, while the other worked his way around to theother side, so that the two would close in upon the animal, as maybe said, and if he fled from the first he would run into the custodyof the second.
As Jack was quicker in his movements, beside being a betterhorseman, than Otto, it was agreed that he should pass through thewoods until beyond the animal; when he arrived at the proper pointhe was to notify Otto by means of the whistle which had served themso often as a signal. Then the young German would use the mostseductive methods of which he was master soothe the colt intosubmission.
What was to be feared was that in the gloom the animal would fail torecognize his master an would be unusually timid on that account.The moon would shed no light on the scene for an hour or two, andfrom what has been said it will be admitted that the friends hadundertaken a delicate and difficult task.
But the anxiety of both to obtain the animal was too great for themto throw away an opportunity, however slight. Jack, therefore,passed the few paces necessary to reach the cover of the wood, andwith the promise that he should soon be heard from, disappeared.
The fire had not yet been started, and Otto, stood leaning on hisgun and looking off in the gloom toward the colt that had led him onsuch a long chase. The darkness had increased since the first sightof the animal, so that he was no longer visible; but the lad wasconfident he had not changed his position, nor was he likely to doso for some time to come. The trail showed that he had been on themove almost continuously since mornin
g, and he must feel a certaindegree of fatigue that would make such a rest acceptable.
Otto held his position until Jack bad time to reach a point beyondthe colt, when he laid down his gun and began his cautious advance.He walked straight across the clearing, until once more he was ableto trace the outlines that caught his eye some time before.
"I doesn't knows vot he don't change mit, he stands where he stood afew minutes after awhile," said Otto to himself, relapsing into hisold unintelligible style of expression, now that no one was at hiselbow to criticize him. "Mebbe he don't do dot and mebbe he does,don't it?"
What the lad meant to express was his doubt whether the colt hadmoved during the preceding few minutes. If he had done so, it wasto so slight extent, that it was hardly noticeable.
So soon as the boy's eyes rested on him again he was satisfied thecolt was asleep in the standing position. His head was down, andhis whole demeanor was that of rest, and consequently ignorance ofwhat was going on near him.
"Dot ish goot," was the thought of Otto, "for he don't hear me ven Icreeps up to him, and perfore he don't knows it he don't knownodings and I have him."
There was promise of such an issue of the attempt be proposed tomake, provided he should succeed in stealing up to the animalwithout detection.
Otto stood motionless a moment, hoping to hear some signal from JackCarleton, but none came, and it was only simple prudence on his partto move forward without delay.
"I dinks I does it," he muttered, hopefully, when he found himselfwithin a couple of rods of the colt without having disturbed it inthe slightest degree. "It ish as easy as nefer vos, and I will grabhim in one two dree minute, and den I whips him 'cause he runs mitaway, and den--mine gracious!"
It seems as if the vines which had tormented him so much during theday were not yet through with the honest German. Even on the tractof open-forest or clearing they intruded themselves, and he suddenlyfelt the familiar rasping vegetable wire twisting about his ankles.Impatient that such an obstruction should be encountered, he made aspiteful kick of the foot, meant to snap the vine asunder and tofree himself; but he miscalculated the strength of the resistant.
His foot was more inextricably entangled than before, and a secondfierce effort sent him forward on his hands and knees. Had hisrifle been in hand it is more than likely it would have beendischarged.
Otto was angered, because he was sure he had frightened the coltinto dashing off at full speed. He sprang to his feet and made forthe horse, resolved to secure him at all hazards.
He was spurred on by observing that the animal was slumbering sosoundly that he had not yet taken the alarm. The distance wasshort, and he was very hopeful.
"Whoa, whoa dere," called out Otto, in a soothing voice, "don't youruns away agin dimes more, or py gracious I vill whip you so dot youvill want to die--"
While uttering the words he was advancing with the utmost haste.Feeling himself nigh enough to make the leap, he did so, and threwboth arms around what he supposed to be he head of his colt. And ashe did so he discovered that it was not the colt at all!