CHAPTER VIII.
DODGING INDIANS.
The night after Jack's capture by the Piegans passed quietly and veryearly the next morning they continued their journey, travelling fast,but very cautiously. At every considerable rise of the prairie whichgave a wide view over the country, Hugh halted Jack and the animals, andwent alone to the top of the hill, from which he scanned the prairiewith care before showing himself. Once or twice signs of people wereseen, but in each case the trail was an old one, made in spring when theground was wet and the grass just starting.
One day after they had made camp, Hugh left Jack to watch the horses,and climbed on foot to the top of a lofty butte nearby. When he returnedto camp he told Jack that they must move on as soon as it was dark, andthey gathered up the horses and brought them close to camp, and soonafter the sun had set, packed and rode away.
"There's a camp of people down the creek, not very far off," Hugh said."From the top of the hill I saw two sets of hunters carrying their meatto camp, and two or three miles below here I saw an old woman gatheringwood. I don't know who the people are, likely enough they're Crows, andfriendly; but they may be Sioux or Cheyennes, and I don't want to takeno chances; so we'd better pack up and light out. Them Piegans willthink they missed a great chance when they didn't stay with us."
"I suppose there's some danger that some of these hunters might walkright into our camp at any time," said Jack.
"Yes," said Hugh, "I'm kind o' surprised they didn't do it. We'll belucky if we get off without them seeing us. From now on, until we crossthe Yellowstone we've got to go pretty careful; that'll be in two orthree days though, I hope."
"Why," said Jack, "are we as close to it as that?"
"Yes," said Hugh, "if we could go straight ahead, and travel fastwithout stopping, we could get there in two days."
They travelled almost all the night, and toward morning Jack grew verysleepy. By this time the pack horses were so well trained that theyneeded no driving whatever, but kept along close behind the horse thatHugh led; so Jack dozed in his saddle through the latter half of thenight. Toward morning it grew quite cool, and he put on his coat. Thecountry had now become rough with high hills, and they were followingthe valley of a river, on either side of which steep buffs stoodoutlined against the sky. Suddenly Hugh stopped his horse, all the packhorses came to a stand, and Jack was aroused from his doze by the suddenhalting of his horse. He could see the animals just ahead of him, butcould not see Hugh. Presently, however, he heard a horse's tread, and ina moment Hugh stopped beside him and said, "We've got to get out ofthis; there's a camp down the creek; I just heard a dog bark. We'll turnup this side ravine, and travel until it gets light, and then cache inthe brush, or in the timber, if there is any."
An hour later, with the horses they were hidden in a great patch of plumbrush and pine trees, near the head of the ravine. Not far away was ahigh conical hill which overlooked the valley that they had left, andHugh, climbing to the summit of this, walking all the time among thepines, looked up and down the valley. Almost beneath him, so near thatit seemed as if he might fire a rifle ball into it, stood the lodges ofa camp, all unknowing of the watcher.
Hugh stayed there for a long time, to see what the Indians were doing,and, also, to learn, if possible, what they were likely to do; that isto say, whether they would probably stay where they were, or weregetting ready to move.
They had been there a long time. All through the camp the grass was wornfrom the ground; well-beaten trails led about through the sage brush anda course for playing the stick game had been cleared of brush andstones. All about the camp were drying-scaffolds, hung with strips ofmeat, some of it dry and brown, some bright red, and some almost white.Hugh wished that he had Jack with him, so that he might point out to himall the features of the camp. He was too uneasy, however, to think muchabout that. He watched the direction taken by the men as they left thecamp, and saw that most of them went off up and down the creek, thoughsome crossed it and rode up a broad valley that came down through thebluffs on the other side. On the tops of some of the lower hills hesaw, standing or sitting, the figures of men wrapped in their robes orsummer sheets, but all had their faces turned toward the valley, or upor down the stream; none looked back toward the hills. Hugh grumbled alittle to himself, as he lay there, and said, "Yes, that's all right,but suppose some old squaw, with her dog and travois, should come up ourravine after a load of wood. Then where'd we be? The dog would suresmell us, and we'd have to catch the old woman, and maybe kill her, orelse she'd have the whole camp buzzing about that brush patch, like anest o' bees."
About the middle of the day he turned to go back, and before he had gothalf way to the horses, he saw just what he had feared. An old woman,followed by a dog dragging a small travois, was slowly making her way upthe ravine.
Hugh travelled along among the pines, watching her to see what she woulddo, and it was with great satisfaction that he saw her stop more than amile below the horses, and commence to attack a fallen pine stick, withthe great stone maul that she carried. She worked for more than an hour,and at length, having collected a large pile of wood, she bound a partof it on the dog travois, made up another huge bundle which she liftedon her own back, and then started down the ravine to return to the camp.
When Hugh reached the horses Jack was not there, but presently he creptinto camp through the brush, looking anxious and worried. His facelighted up when he saw Hugh, and he said, "What was that hammering andchopping I heard down below, Hugh? I listened to it, sitting here,until I couldn't stand it any longer, and then I crept out to the edgeof the brush to see what it was."
Hugh told Jack about the woman, and said, "Now, just as soon as it getsdark, we've got to start over to the other creek, and take down that. Iwant to put fifteen or twenty miles behind us before we stop, but whenwe do stop we've got to let these horses feed, and give 'em some water.I believe the best thing we can do is to keep on the divide, after weget up there, and not travel down these river valleys. The country seemsto be full of Indians. Just as soon, though, as we can get across theYellowstone we'll be out of the range of these people and not likely tomeet anybody, except Piegans, and maybe Crows or Gros Ventres; they'llall be friendly."
The horses had been tied up to trees all day long and had had no chanceto eat, though their packs had been taken off so that they were prettywell rested. As it grew dark they were packed again, and Hugh led theway up onto the plateau, along which they rode almost the whole night.Toward morning they came to a little stream, and camped in theunderbrush on the edge of a little park, where they let the horses feeduntil day, and then brought them into the brush and tied them up. Afterthe sun had risen they built a small fire, cooked some food, and thenput the fire out.
"Now, son," said Hugh, "you lie down and go to sleep, and I'll go uponto this hill, and stand guard. I'll call you about the middle of theday, and let you watch till nearly night. I feel pretty sleepy,myself." Jack took his robe, and spreading it out of sight in thewillows, was soon fast asleep.
The sun was well toward the west before Hugh's hand on his shoulderawoke Jack, who sat up, bewildered for a moment, not knowing where hewas.
"Come, son," said Hugh, "it's near the middle of the afternoon; you goup on that hill and watch for awhile, and I'll sleep. Just about sunsetyou come down and wake me, and we'll eat, and pack up and go on. Keep agood lookout, and don't show yourself, and if anybody should come rightclose, just slip down through the gulch and come back here to me. Thesepeople ain't got no idee that we're around, and I don't want 'em tohave." Jack took his gun and started up the hill, and Hugh took hisplace in the bushes and went to sleep. For some time nothing was to beseen from the hill-top, but an hour before sunset Jack saw threehorsemen come in view, riding across the plain, as if they were goingfrom the river bottom on the east, westward toward to camp. They rodeslowly, leading two pack horses, apparently loaded, but they were so faroff that he could not be sure of anything about them, except that theywere peo
ple.
A little later he saw something move on the hillside close to him, andfor a moment was startled; then, as the object came into view, he sawthat it was only a little kit-fox. The first that appeared was followedby three others, and the four moved up over the grass, quartering theground, and smelling here and there, almost like hunting dogs when theywork ahead of their masters, searching for birds. Now and then onewould make a sudden pounce in the grass, and then toss up its head andseem to swallow something. They worked around the hill, most of the timein sight, but sometimes hidden by elevations of the ground, until theyhad passed from Jack's left hand almost to his right; then they stoppedon a little level bench of the hill, in plain view, and while thelargest of the four lay down, the other three had a game of romps, justsuch as three puppies might have. One sprang upon another, caught it bythe back of its neck, and seemed to shake it, while the one so attackedturned on its enemy, caught the skin of its shoulder in its teeth, andthe two rolled over and over, seeming to fight fiercely. After a momentor two of this, the third puppy plunged at the squirming pair, which atonce separated and dashed away, running as hard as they could, while thethird pursued. They kept this up for some little time and then, seemingto weary of the play, all three returned to the larger one, and all laydown close together, so that they formed just a mass of fur, almost theexact colour of the prairie grass.
Jack waited and watched, but nothing happened. High in the air he heardthe squeaking cry of the prairie night-hawk, and every now and then therush of its wings, as it stooped toward the earth. One of the birdswhich he was watching, darted to the ground, close to where the littlefoxes lay, to their evident astonishment and alarm, for all four sprangto their feet and looked about as though greatly startled. From thehillside below him the song of the meadow lark rang out sweet and clear,and in the brush where the horses were tied and Hugh was sleeping,there were faint songs and twitterings of birds that were resting there,or seeking their evening meal. No more people were seen, and when thesun had reached the tops of the high bluffs to the west, Jack slippedcautiously down the ravine, and went through the brush to where Hughlay. As he approached the spot, Hugh threw off the robe and stood up,and with a glance at Jack and at the sky, shook himself, and said,"Well, did ye see anything?"
"Yes," said Jack, "about an hour ago I saw three people leading two packhorses right over toward where the camp is; but that is all I saw."
"Well, I guess we'd better pack up and make tracks, without lighting anyfire. The chances are no one would see it if we did cook, but we won'ttake no risks."
They went into the brush, untied the horses, watered them, and put onthe packs, tying up each horse after his load was secured. When this wasdone, Hugh said, "Now I'm going up to the top of the hill to takeanother look, and if there ain't nothing in sight, we'll move."
Hugh was not gone long, and when he returned he said, "It's all right, Iguess, but before we get out of this brush we'll stop and take a lookfrom the other side." They mounted and passed slowly along, crossing thebrook and climbing the opposite hill. Before riding out of the willows,however, Hugh dismounted, walked to the edge, and looked over the plainbefore him. After a moment he turned and signed to Jack to dismount andto come towards him. Jack did so very carefully, and Hugh pointed outinto the open, where Jack saw a large dog trotting along. "That dogbelongs to the camp," said Hugh, "and likely there are people rightaround here. We'll have to wait here until it gets plumb dark. There maybe two or three lodges camped here on this creek, though I can't hardlybelieve it. Anyhow, we won't take no chances; we'll stop here till dark.You go back and stay with the horses, and leave me here to watch."
Jack returned to the horses, and taking the bridles of the two saddlehorses, he stood there with them at the heads of the pack horses,waiting and listening. It grew darker and darker, and presently a voiceat his elbow said, "Well, that dog's gone off, and I haven't seen orheard anything; we might as well go too;" and with that they mounted androde out over the plain.
They travelled all night, stopping for two or three hours about midnightto let the horses feed, and when day broke next morning, they could seefar before them the low line of green timber which marked the course ofthe Yellowstone River. A little later Hugh rode down into the valley ofa small stream, and they made camp and turned all the horses loose onthe bottom.
"We've got to stay here and watch them horses feed until they get theirbellies full," said Hugh, "and then we'll take and tie 'em up. I'm goingto start to-night, and not stop until we've crossed the river. After weget on the other side I'll feel that we're safe."
All through the day they watched the horses, and rested and slept, andat night they set out again on their journey. The next morning foundthem riding down into the wide bottom of the Yellowstone, and overtoward the water. It looked deep, swift and turbulent to Jack, but Hugh,turning to the right, rode down the stream for a mile and a half, andthen descending through a little ravine, rode out into the water. HereJack could see that there was a long bar running diagonally across theriver, over which the water rippled, showing that it was not deep. Justbefore he entered the stream, Hugh called back, "Keep the horses wellup, son, and don't let them turn off up or down stream. The water's deepon either side of this bar, but if they follow me they'll go through allright."
Jack watched Hugh as he rode along, and saw that the water scarcely cameup to his horse's knees until he had nearly reached the opposite bank,when it suddenly grew deeper and came half way up the horse's side, sothat Hugh had to take his feet out of the stirrups and hold them up, tokeep from getting wet. The water here appeared to run with greatviolence, and Hugh turned his horse's head a little up stream so thatthe full force of the current would not strike the animal broad side on.Jack had kept the pack horses close behind Hugh, and they followed himwell, and at last all hands crawled out on the bank.
"Now," said Hugh, as he drew up his horse, "I feel easier in my mind.We've got past the only place I was anyways nervous about, and from nowon we'll have straight, easy going, if I ain't mistaken."