The Broncho Rider Boys Along the Border

  CHAPTER XIII.

  THE PANGS OF STARVATION.

  "I really and truly believe that's it, coming along at last; and say, Igive you my solemn affidavy right now, that I never saw daybreak asthankfully as this same morning!"

  That was what Billie was telling himself, as he strained his eyes, andperhaps his imagination at the same time, in staring into the magiceast, where all his hopes lay. As the reader has found out before now,this same Billie was something of a talker, and could ask more questionsin ten minutes than most fellows would think up in an hour. And when hehad no one else to impose on as an audience, he did not hesitate to talkto himself, yes, and often carry on a regular conversation in that way.

  But at least his hopes with regard to the breaking of day were notdoomed to be disappointed this time; for that was really the first faintstreak beginning to light up the horizon, where it lay low and flatagainst the east.

  He watched it slowly broaden, and kept telling himself that he was amighty fortunate boy to be able to see the morning, after all histroubles.

  At the same time Billie felt a dash of real pride, to think that he hadmanaged to hold his own, even when pitted against the perils of thedesert.

  "Oh! yes, I'm getting to be a veteran, that's what," he remarked,complacently, when he found that he could begin to see a little over thesandy range, where the small dunes showed the fury of the previous day'sdry storm; "and mebbe I won't have a stunning story to spin for thebenefit of my two chums, when we get together again. Say, by the way, Iwonder where they are right now; and if Broncho Billie after all willhave to do the rescue act for the rest of the bunch?"

  That was certainly putting on airs for you; it would be the climax ofall his experiences if some time or other he, the late greenhorn, couldrun across an opportunity to stretch out his hand and render assistanceto those seasoned prairie range boys.

  All at once Billie remembered something.

  "Wow! I have got a fine lookout before me, now, haven't I; without abroncho to help me along my weary way? Hang that measly Jupiter, whycouldn't he have stuck by me? He ought to have known Little Billiebetter than that. I was able to keep them fierce wolves from devouringhim, sure I was; didn't I prove it by knocking over a whole lot of thecritters. And that reminds me I ought to step out to see what became ofmy game."

  This he at once started to do; and it gave him a creepy sensation whenhe made the discovery that all there was left of the slain animals weresome scattered and clean-picked bones, together with fragments of grayhide. The balance had completely vanished before the assaults of therest of the wolfish pack.

  "Whew! that's what I call going some!" exclaimed the astonished boy, ashe surveyed the battlefield ruefully; "and I reckon I ought to feelthankful they didn't get a chance to try their sharp teeth on me. I owea heap to this faithful gun of mine; and after this nothing will evertempt me to sell the same, or give it away. It ought to be handed downto my grandchildren, and kept with a red ribbon tied on the same,hanging from the wall; like that old Revolutionary musket is in ourhouse, which was once owned by my ancestor, who fought under GeneralMarion, the Swamp Fox. Oh! but I'm hungry, though; and that reminds memy troubles ain't over yet by a jugfull. I could eat a petrified loaf ofbread, or even a--a--well, a muskrat; and I used to think they were thelimit when I saw that trapper in the marsh cook one, and call itmusquash, fine and dandy."

  The prospect for breakfast certainly looked pretty slender to poorBillie.

  He stared hard all around him, as the light grew stronger, and a rosyflush told where the coming sun would presently break above the horizon,to start another hot day. Not a thing in sight was there, that gavepromise of succor. As on the previous day, one could not see any greatdistance accurately, on account of a peculiar haze; and this preventedhim from making out the hilly ranges that he felt sure must lie to thenorth, and not such a tremendous distance away either.

  So Billie heaved a big sigh, as he reduced his girth by drawing in hisbelt.

  "If this keeps on I'll soon be as thin as a living skeleton," he toldhimself, as he counted the remaining holes in the leather, and figuredon how he would look when he had by degrees reached the end of thestring.

  Gathering up his blanket, and making as small a bundle of it aspossible, he shouldered this, and then set his face toward the PromisedLand, which, in his case, lay directly to the north.

  His little compass again came in handy, and showed him his course. Everyfew minutes the anxious boy would consult it feverishly, for he wasdreadfully afraid that he might wander away from his prearranged route,and get to making that fatal circle he had heard lost people usuallytraveled.

  When not staring at the face of the small, brassbound compass Billie wascasting his eyes ahead, and trying with might and main to make outsomething hopeful there, the dim outlines of rocky elevations perhaps,anything to break the horrible monotony of that dreary sandy waste ofwhich he was already so heartily sick that he hoped he might never seteyes on another desert in all his life.

  And of course the more he considered his deplorable condition, the worsehis sensation of hunger became. It seemed to Billie that he could nothave eaten much of anything for a whole week, and he feared he wouldsoon become so weak from starvation that it must be impossible for himto put one foot in front of another.

  And yet this was the same boy who had devoured almost as much of thatcooked venison at noon on the second day previous, as his two chumscombined; followed that up with a hearty supper; then a breakfast and alunch on the day they pushed out on the desert, and finally finishedwhat food he had with him on the preceding evening.

  Still, he was frightfully hungry, just as boys who never have missed aregular meal in all their lives, do get, when up against it for achange.

  Billie plodded on.

  The sun was now an hour high, and getting very hot, he thought, as hestopped to drop his burden and rest; while he took his red bandanahandkerchief and mopped his streaming brow with it.

  "I wonder how long I can hold out this way?" he asked himself, with amost forlorn air, and a dismal shake of the head. "If I only had somedried beef, or venison like the Injuns call pemmican, to gnaw on, itwouldn't be so bad; because then I'd keep my strength; but seems likethere's a gnawing inside me like my appetite was beginning to start onmy vitals. I wonder if all starving people feel that way first. Oh! howashamed I ought to be about the many times I've thrown away good crustsof bread, and such things. I'll never be guilty of such a sinful wasteagain, so help me. I've reformed, I have, and I'm going to lead adifferent life after this, licking my platter clean every time. If Ionly had some of the stuff I've wasted right now," and he fairly groanedas the delightful array came before his mental vision to tantalize him.

  All at once Billie seemed to feel an electric flush. He rubbed his eyes,and looked again, as though fearing that he was dreaming.

  Why, that peculiar haze, which is so often met with in dry seasons ofthe late summer, and hides the features of the landscape even within amile of the observer, had apparently mysteriously lifted, so that hecould see hills ahead; yes, and at no great distance either, the greentrees looking like heavenly dashes of color after his eyes had been solong accustomed to only that deadly white of the desert.

  "It is, I really and truly believe it must be my goal!" he exclaimed,almost in passionate delight. "Oh! there may be a chance for me yet;unless this is just one of them mirages they say dying men always see onthe desert, before the end comes. But I must press on. One more notchI'll take my belt up, and after that you watch me toddle for thatParadise ahead. Oh! don't it look inviting, though? Will poor oldBroncho Billie ever live to reach it?"

  He did press resolutely on, although the heat began to tell upon the fatboy very seriously. It seemed to Billie that he was baking, yet he wasthat stubborn he refused to drop his blanket, or gun, or the first thinghe was carrying like a pack horse.

  "What's that I see over there?" he suddenly asked himself, shading hiseyes from the glare of the sa
nd by holding one trembling hand abovethem. "Moving figures, eh? Now, I wonder if they're Injuns, and p'rapsthem same hostile young Apache bucks we had trouble with before. Well,here's my faithful Marlin ready for business as always. It kept me frombeing made a supper for them wolves, and I reckon now it ought to do thesame--but hello! seems to me I ought to recognize the way them fellersride! Glory hallelujah! if it ain't my bully chums, for sure; and say,if that ain't Jupiter trailing along after 'em, I'll eat my hat! Oh! joyunbounded; for now I don't have to starve to death."

  That was his first thought, and seemed to afford him the mostconsolation; for in the mind of Billie there could not be a moreterrible fate meted out to any mortal here below than having to gowithout his regular meals; which proved that the fat boy was not madeout of the same stuff as the suffragettes over the sea.

  Swiftly the two others bore down upon him, swinging their hats abovetheir heads, just as cowboys always will when excited, and giving ventto the wildest cheers. Billie grinned with happiness as they came closerand closer. He even began to champ his teeth, as though desiring to makesure that his jaws were still capable of doing their customary duty,before starting in to make up for lost time.

  "Hurray for Billie!" cried Adrian, as he drew in his reeking pony closeby. "He's all wool and a yard wide, sure he is; and his pards are proudof him," Donald shouted. "Here, give us your hand, Billie; this is thebiggest round-up ever. We were afraid you'd come into a peck of trouble;but we ought to have known you better than that. Ain't he just thejim-dandy fellow, Adrian? Full-fledged by now, and taking nobody's dust.Yes, I say with you, hurray for Broncho Billie!"

  But the wanderer, though undoubtedly gratified by this expression ofconfidence shown by his chums only stretched out his hands andexclaimed:

  "Food! gimme something to eat, fellows, because I'm starving!"