CHAPTER IX.
A BIGHORN IN CAMP.
The day was spent in the river bottom, all the horses being allowed tofeed at liberty, except one which was picketed. A few hours beforesunset they packed up and travelled north for two or three hoursstopping to camp for the night on the banks of a little stream whichflowed into the Yellowstone River. This valley was narrow, and on eitherside high bad-land bluffs rose to the prairie above, which was dry andalready brown, though mid-summer was not yet here. That night they had along rest, making up then for the many hours of night travelling and daywatching which they had undergone during the last week.
As usual, Hugh was the first to turn out of his blankets; that is tosay, he was the first to awake and sit up, but before he had freedhimself from the coverings, he saw across the narrow valley, and justbelow the top of the bluffs, something that made him call Jack sharply,but in a low tone of voice. Standing on the bare earth, and scarcely tobe distinguished from it, except by the dark shadows which they cast,were three great mountain rams, splendid with their stout curling horns,looking curiously at the horses feeding below them.
"Wake up, son, quick!" said he, "there's your chance; you'll never geta better shot at sheep than that."
Awakened from his sound sleep, Jack hardly understood what was said, butthe word, sheep, caught his ear, and he flew up suddenly to a sittingposture, like a Jack springing out of its box.
"Not too quick," said Hugh; "easy now; don't lose your head. Where'syour gun and cartridges? You want to kill one of them rams, and notleave me to try to do it, just as they're jumping over the ridge. Takethe middle one, he's the biggest, and shoot a little high on him; it'sover a hundred yards, maybe a hundred and twenty-five; aim just abovethe point of his breast, and hold steady; if you make a line shot you'resure to get him."
The biggest ram was standing with his head toward them, and his hips alittle higher than his shoulders. The other two stood quartering, one upand one down the valley, and any one of the three offered a fair shotfor an ordinary rifleman. Jack drew his gun out from beneath hisblankets, loaded it, and drawing up his knees, and resting his elbow onone of them, drew a careful bead at the point named by Hugh, and fired.At the report, the ram shot at gave a long bound down the hill, and thenstood for an instant. The other two had each sprung into the air, andnow all three turned and began to climb the hill, the two smaller onesat a gallop, the other walking.
"Shall I shoot again, Hugh?" said Jack, much excited.
Hugh still sat with his blankets around his legs, and a smile on hisface, as he answered, "I don't believe I'd waste another cartridge;he'll do us for quite a ways yet."
As he spoke the last ram turned off to one side, and disappeared behinda little ridge on the shoulder of the bluff.
"Ah," said Jack, with a long sigh of contentment, "I thought I heard thebullet strike, but I wasn't dead sure."
"Well, I guess he's stopped over there somewhere: we surely would haveseen him if he'd run off anywhere. What's that?" As Hugh spoke, Jackheard a clatter of stones, which to his ears sounded as if the wholeface of the bluff were sliding down, and a moment later a cloud of dust,rising over the shoulder of the little ridge behind which the sheep haddisappeared, showed that some commotion was taking place over there. Amoment more and the great sheep appeared, slowly rolling over and overdown the hill, his legs sticking up in the air at one moment, then hisback and great horns showing, as he rolled on toward the valley.
"Ha!" said Hugh, "he's saving us quite a lot of packing. Now, the firstthing we'll do is to go over there and butcher him, and bring the meatinto camp; and then we'll eat breakfast."
They crossed the stream, which was only two or three inches deep, on awide riffle, and were soon standing over the game. It was a magnificentanimal; far handsomer, Jack thought, than any game he had as yetkilled--a picture of strength, grace and beauty.
"Well," said Jack, "I did hope that maybe sometime during the year I'dget a chance to shoot a sheep, but I never expected to have it come sosoon."
"And I expect you never thought a sheep would walk right into camp to bekilled, either."
"No, I surely didn't think that."
"Now, I expect," said Hugh, "that you'd like to save this skin, and thehead, too; it's a good head, and you may kill a whole lot of sheepbefore you'll ever see a better, and yet I don't like the idea ofpacking this head all over the country; I wonder if we couldn't cache itsomewhere, and then try to come back here and get it when we're goingsouth this fall."
"That would be good, but how would you ever find it again? Of course youcouldn't be sure of coming right back to this place. You might have totravel up or down the Yellowstone a long way, hunting for the head."
"Don't you fret yourself about that, son; I know where this creek isjust as well as you know where the corrals are, down at the ranch. Manya time I've camped here, and if we hang this head up in a tree somewherenear here, I can find it the darkest night that ever was; but what I'mthinking about is, that maybe we won't come back this way, and I don'twant to travel a hundred miles just to get a sheep's head. Anyhow, I'llcut the skin of the neck low down, and we can make up our minds laterwhat we'll do with the skull."
It did not take very long to butcher and cut up the sheep, but severaltrips had to be made before the meat and hide and head had been carriedto the camp.
"Now," said Hugh, "I want you to make the fire and cook breakfast, andI'm going to dry some of this meat."
While Jack was at work getting breakfast, Hugh stretched two of thesling ropes double, between a tree and some tall bushes that grew nearit, and then went to work at the carcass of the sheep, cutting the fleshfrom it in wide flakes, of which before long he had a considerable pile.These he hung over the sling ropes, much as a laundress would hanghandkerchiefs on a clothes line, and before Jack had announced thatbreakfast was ready, one of the lines was covered with red meat, whichwas already beginning to turn brown, in the rays of the hot sun.
"Whew!" said Hugh, as he came up to the fire to eat his breakfast, "thisis going to be a scorching hot day. I believe we'll stop here for awhile, and give that meat a chance to dry, and the horses a chance torest up, and feed good; they're beginning to get poor, and I don'twonder, for they haven't had much chance to eat for the last six days.Is that all the breakfast you've got?" he continued, looking at thefrying-pan full of meat which Jack had cooked; "why, that ain't amarker; I could eat all that myself. You'll have to put on some morebefore long, if you've got anything like the appetite I've got."
Breakfast was a deliberate meal, and greatly enjoyed. Jack thought thatthe flesh of the mountain sheep was the best meat that he had evereaten, and said so.
"It's good," said Hugh. "It's sure good; but don't make up your mindit's the best meat in the world till we get among the buffalo; thenyou'll be eating what the Pawnees call, real meat, and if you don't saythat fat cow is the best meat in the world, I don't want a cent. Did younotice anything when we came down into the valley last night?"
"Yes, I saw where some cattle had been."
"Ah, that's what I meant; but them cattle ain't the white-horned spottedcattle that you're used to see; they're the cattle that belong here onthese prairies."
"What, are those buffalo tracks?"
"That's what. They're old, but there's been buffalo here this spring,and I miss my guess if we don't see some of 'em before many days havepassed."
"Well," said Jack, "I'm going over to take a look those tracks, so I'llknow 'em again when I see 'em."
"Well," said Hugh, "you won't have to go across the creek, becausethere's plenty of 'em right down below here. The first thing I want youto do," and he put his hand in his pocket and drew out his pipe, "is tohelp me to slice up the rest of this meat, and put it up where it'lldry. With the sun as hot as it is to-day, it won't take long for it toget hard, and maybe toward night we can pack up and travel a few milesfurther on."
They now returned to the sheep's carcass, and before long almost thewhole of it
was hanging in the sun to dry. One of the hams and a sirloinwere saved, to be eaten as fresh meat; the rest, when dry, would bepacked in a sack and carried with them.
By the time they had completed their task it was mid-day, and the sunwas blazing down with all its force into the little valley where thecamp was.
"Whew!" said Hugh, "it's hot here, ain't it? Now let's go down to thecreek and wash up, and then we'll fry some sheep meat, and set in theshade for an hour or two; and then, if you like, we'll take this sheep'shead down below here, and maybe get it when we come back in the fall."
"All right," said Jack, "I'd like to put it up somewhere where it willbe safe, because I want to take it home with me and have it mounted, andgive it to mother. You see, I didn't take anything back with me lastyear, except those hides, and I'd like real well to be able to point tothis head hanging in the house, and tell the fellows how I killed it."
"Well," said Hugh, "there's a safe place to put it, not more'n a mileaway, and the only thing is not to forget to come this way when we'regoing south in the fall."
After a hearty meal, and an hour or two of rest in the shade, Hugh said,"Now, son, round up your horses and we'll start. Suppose you ride theblack to-day, and leave Pawnee and the others here; I'll ride thebucking dun."
Jack walked out toward where the horses were standing, and, drawing hiswhistle from his pocket, blew a shrill blast. At once all the horsesraised their heads and looked toward him, and in a moment Pawneestarted, trotting across the flat, and all the other horses followed.Pawnee trotted straight up to Jack and reached out his nose toward him,and Jack, taking from his pocket a piece of bread, held it toward thehorse, which nosed it for a moment and then took it between his lips andbegan to eat it. While he was doing this, Jack passed his right arm,which held the rope, around the horse's neck, knotted it through in abowline, and then stepping quietly around among the other horses, passedthe other end of the rope over the neck of the black, and tied that.Hugh, meanwhile, had walked around the horses and up to the bucking dun,on the other side, and attached his rope to its neck. Pawnee was thenfreed, and the two horses to be ridden were led over to where thesaddles were.
Hugh was soon saddled up, but before he finished he noticed that Jackwas having trouble. He had dropped the rope on the ground, and holdingthe bridle open, tried to pass it over the head of the black horse, butwhenever he did this the horse threw his head up in the air so high thatJack could not reach it. Hugh watched the performance for a littlewhile, and at last saw Jack throw his right arm around the horse's neck,near the head, and again try to put the bridle on, but again the horseraised its head. Jack held on, and was swung quite off his feet, andwhen the horse lowered its head again and Jack's feet touched the groundhe seemed angry, and struck at the horse's nose with his right hand, butdid not hit it, and then, very angrily, tried to kick the horse in thebelly. The horse stepped a little to one side and Jack had kicked sohard that he sat down very suddenly in a bunch of sage brush.
"Hold on, son," said Hugh, "that ain't no way to manage that horse;you'll never do nothing with a horse by getting angry at him andhammering him; keep cool, and you can conquer most any horse; get mad,and swear and kick and throw clubs, and you will spoil the best horsethat ever lived."
"Well, confound it," said Jack, "I can't bridle him and it would make asaint mad to have to do with such a fool of a horse."
"Well, I guess that's so, but even if the saint did get mad, he wouldn'tget his horse bridled. I want you to have sense, and not make a fool ofyourself, even if the horse is one. Throw the bridle down on the ground,now, and put the saddle on him."
Jack felt a good deal ashamed of what he had done, and he knew that whatHugh had said was true, that nothing could be gained by getting angry.He got his saddle, folded the blanket, and saddled the horse. "Now,"directed Hugh, "throw the end of your rope across the saddle, so that ithangs down on the off side." Jack did so, and then Hugh called himaround to that side of the horse.
"Now," said he, "tie your rope around his fetlock," and when this hadbeen done, he added, "now, take up his foot and bend his knee, and takea couple of turns of your rope around the saddle horn, so's to hold hisfoot up; now, slip round on the other side and put the bridle on him,quietly; don't be in a hurry."
Jack took up the bridle and opened it, and was about to try to pass itover the horse's head, when Hugh said, "Push against his shoulder hard."Jack did so, and the horse lost its balance a little and awkwardlylifted his front foot and put it down again, so that it could standsteadily.
"Now," said Hugh, "put your bridle on quietly." The horse paid noattention to the bridle, opened his teeth when Jack pressed his jaw, andin a moment the bridle was on and the throat-latch buckled.
"Now, turn his foot loose," said Hugh, "and we'll go on up to thatclump of trees." Hugh took the sheep's head in one hand, mounted andstarted on, and Jack followed. As they rode up the valley, side by side,Hugh said, "That horse you're riding isn't a bad horse, and he isn'trightly a fool horse, either, but your uncle lent him last fall to acow-puncher that was working for the Bar X outfit, and had lost hishorse and stopped with us for a few days. That fellow didn't have thesense that God gave him; he was always hammering his horse in some wayor other. If the horse didn't lead good, he'd take a club and pound itover the head. He came pretty near spoiling two or three horses he rodewhile he was here. Finally, one day Jo found him in the corral,hammering one of them young horses that was rode last summer, with aclub, and he took the club away from the fellow and began to hammer him.The fellow tried to draw his gun, but Jo was too quick for him, andclinched him, and got the gun and threw it out of the corral. Then theyfought all over the place, until Rube and Mr. Sturgis heard 'em, andcame out and stopped it. When your uncle heard what had happened, hetold that cow-puncher to take his blankets and walk, and the last theysee of him he was walking.
"When you tied up this horse's foot, and gave him a shove, so that hesee he wasn't very steady on his legs, you gave him something to thinkabout, and he forgot all about that he didn't want to be bridled, andwas just thinking of keeping his right side up."
"Well, Hugh, it's a mighty good thing to know that about taking up ahorse's leg. I was awful mad when I couldn't bridle that horse, andfelt as if I'd like to kill him; then when I kicked at him and missedhim, and sat down, I felt what a fool I'd been, and I was madder thanever."
"Well, it don't pay for a fellow to lose his head. A man wants to keephis wits about him all the time, and when you get mad and try to fight ahorse, whether it's a bad horse or just a scared horse, you're kind o'losing the advantage that a man has over an animal, and putting yourselfdown on his level."
"That's so, isn't it?" said Jack, "I never thought of it just that waybefore."
"Yes, that is so; the only thing that a man has got that's much use tohim is his sense; a buffalo is bigger and stronger; a deer is swifter; awolf can crawl around better out of sight, and all them animals arebetter armed than a man is. It's his sense that gives a man the pull onall of 'em, and makes him able to creep up on 'em and kill 'em, if hewants to; makes him able to tame horses, and makes him smart enough toget up guns and gunpowder, and railways and all them things. So,whatever you do, son, you want to try to hang on to your sense, andnever lose it even for a minute. A man that's got a level head, thatisn't away up in the air one minute, and away down to the groundanother, is the man that's going to come out ahead."
As Hugh finished speaking, they rounded a point of the bluffs and sawbefore them a group of half-a-dozen box-elder trees, with a few clumpsof willows growing beneath them. "There," said Hugh, "if we put thatskull up in that thickest box-elder tree it's pretty sure to stay thereuntil we come back. Nothing will bother it except the magpies, and allthey'll do will be to clean off the meat there is on it."
They stopped under the tree, and dismounted. Hugh pointed upward, andJack, obeying his gesture, quickly scrambled up to the lowest of thebranches. Hugh threw him the end of his rope, which Jack caught, andcar
rying it, climbed up in the thick foliage.
"Now," said Hugh, "you haul up the skull, and hang it by the horns,close to the trunk, across two branches. See that it is so firm that itcan't blow down; or, if you can't make it firm, tie it with thesebuckskin strings that I'll put around the horn." Hugh took two longthongs of buckskin from his pocket, wound them around the horns, andthen lifting the skull as high as he could, Jack slowly hauled it up towhere he was.
"Here's a bully place," he said, "a branch to hold each horn, and astrong, dry stub coming out, that will support the chin."
"All right," said Hugh, "maybe you'd better tie it, anyhow, with themstrings; then we'll be doubly sure that it will stay there."
After a few moments' work, Jack threw down the end of the lariat, andcalled to Hugh, "It's firm and steady as a rock, now, and I don'tbelieve anything can move it."
"All right," said Hugh; "come on, we'll go back to camp and maybe moveon a little further to-night."
A little later they were again in camp.
Two or three hours before sunset they packed up and set out again,travelling until nearly dark, when they came to a water course whichwas dry, except for an occasional hole where there was a little mud andstagnant water. Hugh paused and looked about, saying, "We've struck thiscreek a little too far down; there's a spring just a little abovehere--right good water." Turning, he rode up the stream and before longcalled back, "There's the place just ahead; we'll camp there to-night."
For the next two or three days they continued their journey. Jack nowhad plenty of chance to see buffalo tracks, for it was evident that notlong before there had been plenty of buffalo on the prairie here.