CHAPTER V.
RIVAL DEER HUNTERS.
"It don't seem to be any use," observed Broncho Billie, after they hadcalled out invitingly several times, without getting any sign of areply; nor seeing so much as the first indication that the unknown mightbe even then advancing in the direction of the spot where the tentstood.
"Looks like he didn't care to make our acquaintance very much," gruntedDonald, still acting peevish, something out of the usual run with him.
"Oh! well, I reckon we can get along without knowing him," remarkedAdrian. "And perhaps after all that shot wasn't meant to help us somuch."
"Eh? What d'ye mean by saying that?" asked Billie.
"Why, the fellow who fired may have meant to send in a random bullet,just to help scare us; but by mistake, perhaps it went the wrong way,and wounded one of his friends," Adrian concluded; though from hismanner it was apparent he himself had very little faith in this ratherfar-fetched theory.
Donald laughed.
"Oh! no, that don't go down worth a cent, Adrian," he went on todeclare. "Why, I tell you there couldn't have been one chance of it inten thousand. Whoever it was fired that shot, he was quick as a flash onthe trigger; and he had a good eye in the bargain. Not many men couldhave nailed that Injun in the moonlight, and when he just exposedhimself a little bit, while crawling along from rock to rock."
They decided that it was useless thinking of sleeping after such anexperience. So they sat there in the shadows as time passed on, now andthen exchanging low remarks, but always keeping the horses underobservation; and their fingers were in close contact with the triggersof their quick-firing guns, so as to be ready for any sort of emergencythat might arise.
But that only applied to two of the boys. For poor Billie, in spite ofall his good intentions, could not keep awake to save his life; andduring the balance of the night he enjoyed quite a number of lengthynaps all to himself. But between these he let the others know that hewas awake by asking numerous questions; and secretly he hoped thatneither of them noticed his regular breathing whenever he fell into adoze.
There are lots of just such fellows in this queer world of ours, filledwith good intentions, but singularly weak when it comes to trying to putthem into practice. Billie always meant well, and did the best he knewhow. With him it was indeed a case of the "spirit being willing, but theflesh weak."
There was no further alarm that night.
Why this should be so they could only hazard one of several guesses. Theyoung adventure-loving bucks may have realized that they were up againsta snag after having one of their number wounded in that strange way; andconcluded that the possible reward was hardly worth the risk of theirlives. Then again, since the shot came from a quarter behind them, theymay have been seized with a sudden panic, to the effect that they wereliterally surrounded, and concluded that they had better make off whilea chance remained.
Little the boys cared which reason it was that actuated the movements ofthe Apache braves who had threatened to give them all sorts of trouble.
"I'm going out there and take a little look around this morning, afterthe light gets better," announced Donald, as they resurrected the fire,and Billie generously offered to do the cooking for breakfast for thecrowd.
"I'd like to go along," remarked Adrian.
"Hope now you ain't thinking of trying to follow them fellows up, andleave me here all alone, to attend to breakfast, and guard the ponies atthe same time," ventured the anxious Billie, looking up quickly.
"We don't expect to wander out of sight of the tent, make sure of that,Billie," Adrian told him, understanding that the other must feel alittle nervous about being left by himself which, under thecircumstances, could hardly be wondered at.
"Oh! all right," mumbled the fat boy; "I'll keep my gun handy, and ifanything comes along to bother me, why, I'll let you know. But when youhear me give a cooee, just trot this way, because I'd hate to have toeat all this breakfast by myself."
They assured him that there was no chance of such a dreadful catastrophehappening; and then, taking their guns with them, started off to scoutaround the spot where, according to Donald, the Indian had been at thetime the shot came.
"See here, you can make out where he crawled along, for his toes made atrack; and here's where his knee knuckled down in the earth," Adrianquickly remarked as they bent low over the ground, the better to pick upthe signs.
"Right you are," echoed Donald, coming to his side immediately; "and ifever you felt inclined to wonder whether I dreamed all that about theyoung buck over here, I reckon now you know it was real, don't you, Ad?"
"I never doubted it in the beginning," replied the other; "because Iknew you weren't given to such things. And then, besides, I heard boththe shot, and that screech after it. What have you found now, Donald?"
"The plain imprint of a moccasin," came from the other boy. "Looks likethis is where he jumped to his feet after that shot came that wingedhim, for you can see that it heads back and away from our camp. Yes, andhere are specks of dried blood on this rock."
"Yes, and notice the smartness of them, would you, creeping up toleeward of our camp, so the horses couldn't scent them?" Adrian went onto say. "You ought to know the mark of a moccasin pretty well, Donald;how about this one?"
"Made by an Apache squaw, for a cooky, I'd take my affidavy on that,"the ranchman's son decided, after minutely examining the imprint; fordifferent tribes have their own way of making elk-skin foot gear, sothat it is not a difficult task, under ordinary circumstances, torecognize these peculiar characteristics.
A minute later and they stood on the spot where, according to Donald,the wounded brave had managed to straddle a pony, and make off with hisfriends.
"Just three of them, and all young bucks," Donald decided, after he hadcarefully inspected the marks around them.
With that amount of knowledge they had to rest content; because it wouldhave been foolish to think of following the would-be horse thieves, evenhad they not promised Billie not to go outside of sight of the tent.
Accordingly they turned back, and arrived at the camp just as the cookwas getting his lips pursed up so as to give vent to a loud "cooee,"that was to serve as notice that breakfast was awaiting their attention;and how any mortal boy could linger after that, Billie would never beable to understand, judging others by his own standard.
After they had done full justice to the meal, they saddled up, andhaving placed the pack on the treacherous Bray, despite his seriousobjections and swelling of his body to prevent the bands from meeting,they again took up the line of march.
Donald had held several conversations with the one who knew the route tothe Zuni village. He had also made a rough map of the trail, and this heverified on every possible occasion. Now it was by means of threequeer-looking stones that stood like a tripod; again it was a row ofstunted cedars that seemed as though they had originally been planted bysome gardener of the wilds long years ago; and later on they were ableto make sure they were on the right path by a most remarkable naturalstone bridge that the trail passed under; all of which were objects ofinterest on his rude chart.
But they did not always keep up here on the sides of the mountainranges. Presently their route trended down into the valley, where theyfound trees growing, and there was always a chance of striking game.
The boys had declared their willingness to go after the very first deerthey might spy. Fresh venison would taste splendid, they assured eachother. Even Billie stood ready to sacrifice his comfort and make a try,if the others failed to show an intention of taking up the burden.
When Billie first came out into the Southwest, bearing that fine newrepeating Marlin firearm, he had never been much of a sportsman. Butambition seized him; and of late he had been doing wonderful stunts,even to shooting a grizzly bear that had threatened to make thingsinteresting for him, unless he proceeded to turn the tables.
Hence Billie felt that he had a perfect right to inflate his chest, andlook of some conseque
nce whenever they talked of hunters' exploits. Hemight be a clumsy hand with a good many things; but he _did_ know how toride, and also shoot.
It was Adrian who first sighted the black-tailed deer down there amidstthe trees, and suggested that he take a try at the animal; so the othershalted to rest the horses, while the young Nimrod crept away.
He knew all about stalking game, and his first thought was to workaround, so as to approach from leeward, because in that way the deerwould not be so apt to catch his scent as if he remained to windward.
So Adrian kept on creeping up, until he began to feel that he wascertainly as close as any reasonable being would hope to get in order tomake positively sure of his quarry.
After that all he had to do was to gently raise his head until he couldsee the feeding deer, and then taking a quick aim, let fly.
Even while he was glancing along the barrel of his rifle Adrian was halfconscious of the fact that there was certainly something moving amongthe branches of a tree just to one side of his. But he had reached thepoint where his quivering finger was already pressing the trigger of hisgun; and nothing could stop him then.
With the report he saw the deer give a leap into the air; but Adrianknew instinctively that he had done himself proud, for he was wellversed in the ways of deer and understood that the animal had received afatal wound. It would not run a dozen yards before falling dead, of thathe felt positive, even as he started to get his rifle in readiness foranother shot if necessary, as a true hunter always should.
As in a dream the boy saw some furry object shooting straight towardhim, coming through the air like a meteor. That one glance was enough totell him that he had stolen in ahead of a hungry panther that at thetime was stalking the deer; and in a rage the aroused beast was nowspringing straight toward him, meaning to settle the question of huntingrights in that patch of woods then and there.
Adrian, more through instinct than anything else, dropped to his knees,and the leaping panther passed just over him, so that he even felt thewind of its flying body.