CHAPTER V.
THE FIRST FRESH MEAT.
All day long the two travelled steadily forward, stopping only once ortwice to look at the packs, and to smoke. The pack horses followed theirleader pretty well, and gave Jack little trouble, so that he was free tolook about him and enjoy the bright sun, the cool breeze, and the birdsand animals that from time to time showed themselves near them. Therewas no trail, but Hugh seemed to be travelling north without any landmarks to guide him. During one of their halts Jack asked Hugh where theywould camp that night.
"Well, we can camp most anywhere, for we'll find plenty of water towardthe end of the afternoon. We'll either come on La Bonte, or on somelittle creek running into it. There's good feed anywhere, and woodenough for us, too. I reckon we'll have to picket all the horsesto-night, and maybe every night for the next week, but after that itwill be enough if we picket three of 'em, and let the other three dragtheir ropes. After they once get used to being together they ain't noneof 'em likely to wander off, without the whole bunch goes."
"It would be pretty bad if we were to lose our horses, wouldn't it,Hugh?"
"It sure would," was the reply; "there's mighty few things that's worsethan being left afoot on the prairie. I often wonder how it was in theold times, when one of the Companies would send a man off to go on foottwo or three hundred miles, with no grub, and one blanket and a copperkettle, and maybe twelve balls."
"How do you mean, Hugh; twelve balls?"
"Why, don't you know," said Hugh, "in them days, when a man worked forone of the Fur Companies they only gave him just so much powder andlead. Of course, ammunition came high then, and they might send a manoff to make a long journey on foot and not give him any grub, and justsix or eight or ten charges for his gun, expecting him to kill whateverhe ate. Travelling in this country in them days couldn't have been muchfun."
"I should think not. But suppose such a man met Indians, and had tofight; what would he do then?"
"Well," said Hugh, "them men didn't calculate to fight; they calculatedto keep out of sight; and then the Indians weren't right mean then. Ifthey found a fellow travelling on the prairie they'd charge up to himand scare him about half to death, but likely they wouldn't hurt him.Maybe they'd just talk to him and let him go, or at worst they'd takehis gun and his clothes, everything that he had, and turn him loose."
"But then I should think he'd starve to death."
"Well, I expect maybe a good many men did starve to death that nobodyever heard of. It's a sure thing that lots of men started out to go fromone place to another, and never got to the other place."
"Did you ever have to do that, Hugh?" said Jack.
"No," said Hugh, "I never did. Fact is, I never worked regular for nofur company, I was always a free trapper, as they called it, untilbeaver went out, and trapping was over; then I hired out to theGovernment, and took parties of troops around over the country, fellowsthat were making maps; and some seasons I guided emigrant trains, andhunted for posts. One or two years I traded with Indians, working forBent and St. Vrain. I liked that about as well as any work I ever did.Then presently the railroad came along, and I got work with them; andby-and-by I settled down to kind o' learn the cow-punching trade, andhere I am to-day."
"My, Hugh! you must have seen an awful lot in all this time. How manyyears is it since you first came out?"
"It'll be forty-three years next August since I started from oldKentucky. I was sixteen years old then, and that same fall I got out toSt. Joe, and I have been travelling the prairie ever since."
"Forty-three years ago!" said Jack, thoughtfully; "then you must befifty-nine."
"Yes, I am fifty-nine years old, and I expect I look it, don't I?"
"Yes, you do look pretty old, but I think that's because your hair andbeard are white; your face doesn't look old."
"Well, I'm old enough to have learned a heap, and I expect if I wasfifteen years old to-day, and knowed as much as I know now, and was backin old Kentucky, I'd stop right there."
The sun was drawing toward the western horizon when, on riding over thecrest of the hill, Jack saw a mile or two before him a long winding lineof dark green, which he knew to be the timber that marked the course ofa stream. Many antelope were feeding on the slope down which theypassed, and these seemed to be quite fearless, and moved out of the wayslowly as the train drew near them. The stream was a small one, butflowed through a wide, level bottom, and Hugh, directing his coursetoward a group of cottonwood trees, drew up under them, dismounted, andthrowing down his bridle rein, said, "Let's camp."
In a very short time the loads were taken from the animals, and piled onthe ground at the foot of one of the trees; the saddles were placed onthe packs, and the blankets upsidedown on the saddles, so that anymoisture on them might dry, and the mantas were thrown on the groundnearby, and would be used at night to cover the riggings and the goods,so as to protect them from wet in case of rain. A lariat was tied to theneck of each horse, and they were allowed to wander at will over thebottom, except old Baldy, whose rope was tied to a bush.
"It's a pretty good thing," Hugh explained, "to have one horse anchoredwhere you know you can get at him. Might be such a thing that somethingwould scare these horses and they'd all take off over the bluffs, but ifwe've got one riding horse where we can put our hands on him, we can get'em back easy enough, while if we had to chase 'em afoot it might be along, slow business. Now, son," he went on, "you take this kettle andget a bucket o' water, and I'll start a fire, and we'll have somesupper."
Jack picked up the bucket and started down to the stream, but before hehad taken a half dozen steps Hugh called him back.
"I guess you've forgot something, ain't you?" he said; and then whenJack looked puzzled, he went on to say, "Now, son, I've got to say overagain to you something that I said last summer; that's a long time ago,and I don't much wonder you forgot it. We're going into a strangecountry now, and we may meet strange people, maybe enemies, so you'dbetter just get into the way of packing your gun around with youwherever you go, it ain't a very heavy load to carry, and you may wantit bad some time."
Jack had not taken off his cartridge belt, and he stepped over andpicked up his rifle, and then went and got the water. By the time he hadreturned, Hugh had kindled a fire and had brought quite a pile of wood,and Jack helped him to gather more; so that before long they had morethan they could use during the night. It did not take long to cook theirsimple supper, which consisted only of bacon, bread and coffee. Whilethey were doing it, Hugh remarked, "I don't believe it's going to rainto-night, and I don't think it's worth while to put up a tent, unlessyou want it."
"No indeed," said Jack, "I'd rather sleep in the open air, unless we'relikely to have a storm."
"Well, let it go at that.
"Now, there's one thing we've got to do, and that is to keep a lot ofpicket pins on hand until these horses get wonted. I put a half dozenhard wood pins in the gunny sack in the mess box, but we'll be losingthem right along, and I believe I'll go to work on an old lodge polethat's lying over here in the brush and make some pins for to-night. Youmight go out and get around them horses and start them back this way;they're working too far up the creek. Don't chase 'em or scare 'em; justgo around 'em and drive 'em slowly until you get their heads turned thisway. If you should see a buck antelope on the way, you might kill him,if you can, and we'll put him on one of the packs and take him along."
"I'd like to do that, Hugh, but there ain't much likelihood of seeing anantelope down in the bottom, is there?"
"Oh, I don't know," said Hugh; "you might see one; or you might jump adeer out of some of this brush. Don't kill a doe, though; she won't beno account to eat; and don't go too far, and mind you keep your eye outfor signs. If you see any people, or sign of where people's been lately,get back to camp as quick as you can."
The horses had been feeding away from camp, and some of them werealready hidden among the underbrush that grew in the valley. Jack walkedover to the foot of the blu
ffs, and up the stream half a mile, and then,having got beyond the horses, he walked quietly toward them, turned themdown the stream toward camp, followed them to the edge of the brush, andsaw that they were now busily feeding in the right direction; then heturned about and walked up the stream.
He had not gone far when he saw in the sand at the edge of the creek thetracks of two deer, one set quite large, and the other rather small. Helooked carefully about him in all directions but could see nothing,though the tracks seemed quite fresh. Keeping on up the stream, walkingvery quietly, stopping often to look all about him, he came to the edgeof a little meadow, almost surrounded by bushes, and there, as he pausedbefore stepping out of the brush, he saw near the other side, two deer.
Luckily for him, the gentle breeze was blowing down the stream, and sothe deer did not smell him. When he first saw them their heads weredown, and what first caught his eye was the rapid side-wise motion ofthe white tail of one of the animals. Almost as he stopped, the deerraised their heads, looked about for a moment, and then began to feedagain. He could see that both of them had small horns, and yet oneseemed quite a large deer. They were not far off, only about sixtyyards, and Jack quietly dropped on his knee, slipped a cartridge intohis gun, and made ready to fire. He hesitated a little, for both deerstood with their hips almost toward him, and he hoped that in a momentor two they might change their positions, so as to give him a broadsideshot. Presently that very thing happened; the larger deer turned alittle to the left, and then still more, so that its shoulder and sidepresented a fair mark. The next time that it raised its head and stoodquite still, Jack drew a very fine bead on it, behind the shoulder andlow down, and fired.
The deer leaped high into the air, and with two or three gracefulbounds, disappeared into the underbrush, followed by its companion. "Iwonder if I missed it," thought Jack; "it don't seem possible that Icould have done that, for it was standing still, and I don't think Ifelt a particle nervous. I believe I'll go over there and try to followtheir tracks a little way, anyhow."
When he had reached the place where the deer had been standing, theirhoof-prints were plain in the soil, and following the direction they hadgone, he saw other deep tracks, where they had made long leaps. He wasso interested in following these tracks, that he almost forgot thequestion of whether he had missed or not, but suddenly, to his surprise,as he was puzzling out the tracks, he saw that the leaves of the brush,through which he was passing, were smeared with blood. "By jimminy!"thought Jack, "I did hit him! And now I wonder if I can find him."Looking carefully both for blood and tracks, he soon saw that the deerwas bleeding freely, and that he need no longer look for tracks, sincethe blood on the underbrush and the grass and weeds was a constant guideto him. He had gone only forty or fifty yards, though to him it seemedmuch longer, when suddenly he stepped out of the brush at the foot ofthe bluffs, and saw, lying a few yards before him, the deer, dead on thegrass. The other deer was standing nearby, looking back, as if puzzled,and Jack was strongly tempted to take a shot at it, but he reflectedthat one deer was more than they could use, and that it would bewasteful as well as cruel to kill a second.
As Jack stepped out into the open, the other deer stood for a momentlooking at him, and then trotted off up the slope, stopping once ortwice within easy shot, and looking back, but at last disappeared overthe hilltop. The deer on the ground was quite dead, and the position ofthe bullet hole showed that it must have been shot through the heart.
Jack drew his butcher knife from its sheath, bled the deer, and began tobutcher it. He had often seen this done by other people, but this wasthe first attempt at it that he had ever made, and he found it not soeasy as it looked. He worked slowly and awkwardly, and once was temptedto give the job up, and go back and get Hugh to do it. Still, hepersevered, and although now the sun had set, he was still cutting andpulling, absorbed in his task, when a voice at his elbow said, "Well,you've got some meat, I see;" and looking up, he saw Hugh standing byhim.
"I heard you shoot," said Hugh, "and when you didn't come back, Iallowed you might have trouble getting your meat into camp, and so Icame along. Now, it's getting late and you'd better let me finish thatjob."
"I wish you would, Hugh; it's the first animal I ever butchered, andthough I've seen you do it a good many times, I find I don't know how."
"Well, it does look a little bit as if the rats had been gnawing at it."He took out his own knife and made a few quick cuts, which finished thework; then, cutting off the deer's head he laid his rifle on the ground,lifted the carcass on his back, and then, telling Jack to hand him therifle, which he rested across the deer's legs before him, he strode offtoward camp.
When they reached camp, Jack saw that the six horses were picketedclose at hand; that the beds were unrolled and spread out on the ground,beneath one of the larger trees, and that the fire was burning cheerily.
"Now," said Hugh, as he threw the deer's carcass on the ground, "let'sget the jacket off this fellow, and hang him up in the tree to cool."
The operation of skinning the deer and hanging it up did not take long,but before this was ended, night had fallen. Hugh lighted his pipe, andthen sat by the fire for a little while, staring at it, and Jack lay atfull length beside him, and as they sat there, told Hugh about how hehad found and killed the deer.
"Well, son," said the old man, "I'm mighty glad we got that meat; it'llmake things a heap more comfortable for us for the next few days. Now,we want to go to bed pretty quick, and get all the sleep we can. Youknow the nights are pretty short this time o' year, and we want to be upby daylight to-morrow morning and change them horses to fresh grass, andlet 'em feed while we're getting breakfast; and then as soon as we'rethrough, pack up and get started again. We've got a long way to go, andthe quicker we get to the Piegan camp the better I'll be suited. We'relikely to have plenty of delays on the road, and I want to make the besttime I can."