CHAPTER XV
SAFE IN THE TIMBER
THAT five minutes seemed a terribly long time to Roger. He could hearthe oncoming herd close at hand now, so that stragglers began to passthem by on either side, and this fact gave new alarm. What if one ofthe buffalo chose to turn and gore the nearest horse with its wickedhorns? Even though only a wound followed, it would mean a spill, andthat would be the same as the end of it all.
But evidently the frightened animals had all they wanted to do inlooking out for their own affairs. Perhaps they considered the runninghorses, with those queer bunches on their backs, only in the light ofsome singular fellow animals, seeking safety in flight. Roger had heardit said that, when a fire chased over these vast prairies, all mannerof wild animals--deer, wolves, and buffaloes--ran side by side, onlyconcerned in making their escape. He had heard his father read outof the Bible about the time when the lion and the lamb would lie downtogether, and he guessed that it would be something like this universalfear that must bring it about.
The trees began to loom up ahead, and both lads began to feel a newconcern with regard to how they could manage, first of all, to pass inamong the sheltering timber, so as to avoid meeting with an accident;and then, after this had been accomplished, escape being crushed in thedense mass of buffaloes that would be surging forward, bent on findinga haven from the pelting rain.
"Be careful now, Roger!" shouted Dick, as they passed the firstoutlying tree.
It required considerable control over the laboring horses to keep fromcolliding with the obstacles that began to be strewn across their path;but by degrees the boys managed to regain control over their steeds,which were almost winded, on account of their long run; and after thatit was not so difficult.
Sure enough, the river proved to be close at hand, and, finding thatthere was an open stretch of beach bordering it, Dick led the way alongthis, his object being to reach a point as far up-stream as possible,so as to get beyond the range of the buffalo herd.
Now their horses were floundering knee-deep in the water, and againrunning along the shore; but all the while making progress, and thatsatisfied the two lads.
"That was as close a shave as we ever had, Dick!" called out Roger,who was in the rear, quite content for once to let his cousin do theleading, for he was still quivering with the recent excitement, andcould hardly believe that they had come out of it with whole skins.
"Yes, and it's a good thing for us this little stretch runs along theedge of the water," was what the other answered back.
"Listen to the buffaloes coming into the timber. There seems to be noend to them. Do you think they'll crowd down to the water before we canget above the edge of the drove? Is there any end to it, Dick?" (Note4.)
"Oh! yes," replied Dick, "and already I think we're getting to wherethere are not so many, for the sound of their hoofs seems less. Keepright on coming, Roger, and in the end we'll have a fire, and dry off."
"That suits me, because already I'm shivering with the cold. Thisthing of riding at top speed with a wet jacket isn't much fun, Dick, Itell you."
So long as there was danger that they might be trampled under the hoofsof the herd, Roger had not given his soaked condition a single thought,for the excitement kept him up. It was only after safety seemed assuredthat he could allow himself to consider his feelings; and then, as hesaid, he discovered that he was shaking all over.
Dick proved a true prophet, for after a while they managed to get to apoint that seemed to be beyond the limits of the vast drove. Furtherdown the river they could hear the greatest splashing imaginable, asthousands of the beasts pushed into the water, either to drink, orbecause the press behind was so great as to crowd them off the bank.
Roger was only too willing to pull up when Dick gave the word.
The rain had stopped entirely, and the mutter of thunder was only heardnow in the distance, showing that the storm was past.
So the two young pioneers jumped to the ground, and the first thingthey did was to slap their chilled arms vigorously back and forth,after the customary method of starting a circulation of the blood.
"Now, how about a fire?" asked Roger.
"Wait until we stake the horses, and then I'll hunt around for an oldstump, or a log, from which to tear the dry heart to make a beginning,"Dick declared.
Of course these boys, having roamed the woods in search of game sincethey were capable of handling one of the long-barreled rifles known tothe settlers of the day, understood just how to go about getting fire,no matter if everything around them seemed to be soaking wet.
Having found the needed stump, Dick used knife and hatchet, andpresently announced that he had enough dry tinder to make a start.
Meanwhile Roger had also been collecting twigs that would be apt totake fire quickly, and had selected the site on which the cheery blazeshould be built. In doing this he had been influenced in some measureby the idea of hiding the fire as much as possible, although the boysdid not believe hostile eyes could see it in the thick timber.
Once Dick had got out his tinder box, and his flint and steel, therewas little time wasted in sending the spark where it glowed amidst theinflammable stuff, being quickly fanned into a tiny flame by the breathof the fire-maker. Matches may be a great invention, and a labor-savingdevice, but in those pioneer days, under favorable conditions it wasamazing how rapidly an expert could light a fire. And in rainy weatherthe "matches" did not get wet, which must have been more or less of aconsolation.
It certainly did feel good to crouch near that hot little blaze, andlet their wet garments steam on them, gradually feeling warmer, and inthis manner drying.
The boys knew that they could not sleep again that night, so there wasno use trying. Accordingly they sat there, keeping their small firegoing, and talking of the thousand-and-one things connected with theirmission, and the wonderful experiences through which they were passing.
When the clouds parted overhead, and they could see the stars, it waspossible for either of them to give a good guess as to how the nightwas passing; for, since watches were almost unknown among the settlers,every boy was taught to read the heavenly bodies, and to observethings that might be passing around him.
So Dick and Roger knew just about when certain bright planets shouldset or rise; and a glance upward at any time when the sky was clear wassufficient to tell them how the day or night might be passing.
"We'll have daylight in less than two hours," Dick announced, when thebreak in the clouds came, allowing him to consult his "clock."
"And when it comes," Roger returned, with a shake of his head, "do youknow what I intend to do? Why, try for a young buffalo with my bow andarrows. I never yet had the chance to shoot such a big animal with thatIndian bow. If it can bring down an elk, why not a buffalo? And let metell you, after the fright they gave us, I feel more like feasting onbuffalo meat than ever before."
Dick declared that he would have no objection to tasting more freshmeat; and so it was arranged that, while he stayed with the outfit,Roger should set out for a little hunt.
He promised not to wander far away, and to stick to the timber belt.When Dick spoke of this latter condition his companion laughed aloud.
"Well, you wouldn't catch me stepping out on that prairie on foot withall those savage bulls around, no, sir, not if I was paid to do it,"he declared. "It was bad enough to be chased while we had our horsesto depend on, and, let me tell you, I don't hanker after trying a footrace."
When the time did come he started off, while Dick busied himself inthe camp, for there were numerous duties to be looked after, besideskeeping the fire going. In their mad gallop the horses had managed toget some of the bundles disturbed, which was not surprising, and thesehad to be rearranged.
Hardly an hour had passed when Dick heard a joyous whoop, and, lookingup, as his hand involuntarily reached out toward his ready firearm, hediscovered his camp-mate staggering in, bearing a package of meat doneup in a portion of hide.
"You w
ere lucky, then, I see," ventured Dick, as the other threw hisburden down.
"It was as easy a job as I ever had," replied Roger, panting a littleafter his exertions. "Why, Dick, I could have shot a dozen, if I'dwanted, they were so thick through the timber, and seemed to be wantingto just lie there and rest. The hardest thing was to get a chance tocut up my game, after it had fallen. You see, I was afraid some oldbull might take a notion to charge me; but I managed it all right, andwithout any fight, either."
"I hope you got a yearling, then," remarked the camp guard, as hestarted to open the meat pack.
"Just what I did," replied Roger. "With all those around to choosefrom, I picked the very choicest and fattest in sight. Oh! I can hardlywait to get some in the pan, I'm so hungry."
And so it came about that even the great buffalo stampede, that at onetime had threatened to bring the journey of the young pioneers to aspeedy termination, was the means of supplying them with food.
When the fresh meat was done to a turn, both lads pronounced it thevery finest they had ever eaten; and somehow it seemed to removesome of the sting from their inglorious night gallop in front of thepanic-stricken herd.
Then once more the forward movement was resumed; for theirdetermination to overtake the expedition that was piercing the Westernwilderness had not abated. Accustomed to meeting and overcomingdifficulties, the boys thought little of things that might seemdiscouragements in the eyes of those less trained in the ways ofborderers and hunters.
No doubt they would see more of these shaggy animals, if they stayedany length of time upon the prairies along the upper Missouri, for atthat time the buffalo entered largely into all the history of the manyIndian tribes living west of the Mississippi, and pictures of its chasecould be found painted on thousands of the skin teepees used by thered hunters. Its meat, when dried, afforded their families sustenancethrough the long winters, and the annual drive, when hundreds of theungainly beasts would be killed, was an event that took place everyautumn. If the buffalo failed to show up in numbers, it promised to bea lean year for that unfortunate tribe, and the hunters would have tokeep busy after the ground was knee-deep in snow, trying to bring inmoose, caribou, or other animals that did not migrate each season tothe warmer southland.
It was only fair that a period of peace should follow after a storm;and for many days the boys met with no particular adventure, butcontinued to make good time along the river.
At the same time they did not seem to be gaining to any appreciableextent on the explorers who were pushing on ahead; which fact gaveRoger occasional fits of the blues, so that his companion was compelledto again show him that sooner or later they were bound to attain theirend. For Captain Lewis had, before starting, announced that he expectedto spend the winter somewhere short of the great mountain chain, which,it was believed, ran north and south somewhere in the distant country.