CHAPTER XX
A PUZZLING TRAIL
The next morning Hugh put a light load on the lame horse, and theystarted down the stream. The going was fairly good, through opentimber, and at last they came to what Hugh said was the main river,and followed that down. There was a good game trail all the way,and they went pretty fast, but Hugh stopped early because he didnot want to tire his cripple. The horse, however, was in good heartand fed eagerly, and Hugh said that it was all right.
For several days their journey down the Sweetwater was withoutincident. They reached the open country, where there were manyantelope, and saw two or three bunches of elk. Several times Jacktried fishing in the river, but without success, as Hugh hadprophesied, saying: "You won't find any trout in this stream,nor in any other stream that runs into the North Platte, withoutthey've been put there. There's lot's of trout in the South Platte,and just as soon as you strike the tiny little creeks that run fromsprings on the other side of the Divide you can catch from them allthe small trout you want; but there are none in the North Platte."
"But why is that?" said Jack.
"You can't prove it by me," said Hugh. "I don't know. I've heardtell that the trout in all the streams on this side of themountains come from the other side;--that is, that they reallybelong on the west slope, but that somehow they got over on thisside. Now, you take a place like Two Ocean Pass, that we heardabout up in the Park, and other places that I have seen like that,where there's a low place on the Divide,--a place that often holdswater, and from each end of which a little creek runs down, onegoing east, the other west. If the trout ran up the creek thatgoes west into this little pond on the Divide, why it might easyenough be that some of them would run down the creek that runseast. Anyhow, it's a sure thing that there are no trout in any ofthe North Platte waters that I ever saw, while in the South Platte,and in the Wind River, and the Bighorn, and the Yellowstone, andpretty much all the streams to the north, there are lots of trout.It always seemed queer to me that the North Platte don't have any."
One night in camp, as they were sitting around the fire aftersupper, Jack said, "Hugh, tell me a bear story. We've seen a lot ofbears this trip and killed quite a lot. Were you ever badly scaredby a bear? Of course that old bear charged us the other day, but Idon't suppose you were scared by it, and I wasn't; but I'd like toknow if you were ever really scared by a bear."
"Well," said Hugh, "I reckon I have been. I remember one time thata bear made me run pretty lively for a ways."
"How was it?" said Jack.
"Well," said Hugh, "it wasn't so very long ago, and I was up onthe mountains back of the ranch trying to kill some meat. I hadleft my horse and gone quite a way without seeing anything, whenI came over a ridge and looked down into a piece of timber. Abouta hundred yards off, lying at the foot of two or three trees, justin the edge of the timber, I saw a kind of a black pile, and fora little while I could not make out what it was. I stopped andlooked, and presently a part of the pile got up, and a bear beganto walk around, and then another, and then a third got up, and theyall walked around the others that were lying there, and looked asif they were snarling and wanted to fight. I saw in a minute thatthere were too many bears for me to tackle and was just about toback off over the hill and clear out, when one of them saw me andstarted running toward me as hard as he could. I knew then it wasno use to run, and I sort of braced myself, and got a half a dozencartridges in my hand, and waited until the bear got up withinfifteen or twenty steps of me, and then fired at it, and turned andran as hard as I could. I didn't hear anything following me, andpresently looked over my shoulder, and saw that there was nothingin sight; but I kept on running until I got out of wind, and then Iwent to my horse as quickly as I could. When I had mounted I wentback, went round a little way, and rode up over the hill in anotherplace and looked down, and there was nothing alive in sight. I wentpretty carefully along the ridge until I got to the place where Ihad stood, and then I went down to where the bear had been when Ishot. There was plenty of blood there, but that was all. Then Iwent down to the tree and found that these bears--and there musthave been a half-dozen of them--had dug down into the ground underthe trees and had been lying there, as a dog sometimes digs in thedirt and lies there to get cool.
"The bears had started off together, but it was hard to telljust what they had done. I followed them for quite a way, andsome of them must have left the bunch, for when I got to a bigsnow-drift--it was toward the end of June, and there were plentyof big drifts that hadn't melted yet--there were only three of thebears together. The snow-drift was hard, and I walked along overit, leading my horse and following the tracks. The horse hardlysank in at all, and my feet made no impression on the snow; butthe big bear,--the one that was bleeding,--sank in about six oreight inches every step, while the two others only sank in a halfan inch. That must have been a big one. I followed them into thetimber, and finally they went into a place where the spruces grewlow and so thick that you could not see through them, and there Igave up the trail. I didn't want that bear bad enough to follow himinto that place."
"Well, of course you never knew anything more about it than you donow," said Jack.
"No," said Hugh, "I never knew anything about it except what Ilearned from following the trail. The bear was hit somewhere in thebreast or neck or head; he was bleeding from the front part of thebody; and I expect the bullet must have knocked him down, or elsehe would have followed me and likely caught me. But it was aboutthe longest and fastest run that I've made in many a year."
For some days they travelled down the Sweetwater, having an openeasy road and making good progress. They passed the canyon at themouth of the river where it enters into the Platte, and now feltthat they were getting near home.
One morning as they were riding along, Jack noticed the trail ofa big bunch of horses, driven fast, going the opposite way fromthemselves and turning off into the hills to the north. He askedHugh who would be driving a bunch of horses through that country,and where they were going; but Hugh could not tell him.
"I don't know anybody, son," he said, "who would be taking horsesthrough here, and I don't know where they'd be taking them to,without it's up to some small town north, or up to the newrailroad, and then I don't see why they should be coming thisway, unless perhaps they wanted to get over on Powder River andfollow that down. The railroad, I hear, is pushing west from theMissouri, and it may be that some contractor came down here to gethorses. And yet that don't seem right either. These are not workhorses,--you can see that from their tracks,--and besides thatthere are lots of colts with them. If it was a few years back, Ishould think that a bunch of Indians had gone through; but thenthere are no travois trails, and I don't know what it is. Mightbe horse thieves; it's been so the last few years that people arestealing stock some."
The trail came from down the river, and they had followed it forsome miles when a dark spot seen on the bottom showed a largeanimal lying down. Hugh rode over and found it to be a dead horse.He waved to the boys, who followed him, and they sat there ontheir horses, looking down at it. The animal had been dead perhapsa day; it lay on its side, and the brand was plainly visible. AsJack looked at the brand he recognized it as his uncle's, and helooked at Hugh in perplexity to see what this could mean. For atime Hugh said nothing, and then getting down from his horse, helooked more closely at the brand, and then, re-mounting, said tothe boys, "We'll camp right here; over in that bunch of timber."
It was but little after midday, and Jack knew that somethingimportant must have happened, but he asked no questions, waitingfor Hugh to speak. After they had unsaddled, and put up the lodge,Hugh told the boys to picket the three riding horses while he gotdinner. Jack had told Joe about the brand, and both boys were agood deal excited, wondering what was coming next.
After they had eaten, Hugh filled his pipe and said: "Now boys, Idon't know what all this means, but to me it looks as if a gang ofhorse thieves had been riding our range and had driven off a bunchof horses, and am
ong them some of ours.
"I know that three-year-old filly lying over there perfectly well.She had her first colt this spring. It looks to me as if she hadbeen run so hard that it killed her. Maybe she got a chance to fillherself up with water, somewhere back. But anyhow, there she is,and she came from the ranch, and what is more, she never was soldto anybody. She's been driven here, and driven so hard that itkilled her. Now I am going to find out, if I can, what this means.I am going to see if I can find this bunch of horses, and seewhose they are and who has got them. If they, or any part of them,belong to us, or came from our country, why we'll get them back ifwe can. Of course if we can't get them back, why they've got to goon. I don't think there are enough horses in Wyoming to pay forthe life of either of you two boys; but if these horses have beenstolen I reckon we can get them back, and I am mighty sure we'lltry.
"Now, presently, as soon as the horses have eaten, I am going offon the trail of this bunch. I want you boys to stop right hereuntil I come back, and if I should not come back in the course ofthree days, I want you to go to the ranch and tell them what you'veseen. It will be no trouble to get back home. You'll know when youget to Casper or to Fetterman, and you can cross the river mostanywhere there, and then it's pretty nearly a straight shoot south.You and me have ridden enough around the country, Jack, so thatyou know the principal hills, and I'm sure you'll know RattlesnakeMountain when you see it. You know where the ranch lies from there.You've got plenty of grub, and it's only a little more than twodays hard ride to get home.
"But I expect that you'll see me back here about day afterto-morrow, in the morning, and then I'll have something to tellyou:--either that I haven't found the stock, or else that I have:and what it is; and who it belongs to.
"Now, I want some grub--just some of that dried meat. I won't havea chance to kindle a fire while I'm gone, and I've got to ridepretty fast and can't carry much. One thing I must have though,and that is your glasses, son."
Jack rose and went into the lodge and brought out his glasses andgave them to Hugh, who opened them, looked at the clasp of thecase, and then, shutting it and seeing that the spring was in goodorder, tied a buckskin string around it. As the sun fell toward thewest he sent one of the boys to bring in a horse and said to him,"Let old Baldy stay out there, and fetch the dun; he's stronger,and fatter, and tougher than any of the rest.
"Now, boys," he said, after he had mounted, "this next two or threedays will be business; you want to forget you're boys, and thinkthat we may have to do something pretty hard and pretty activebefore long. Don't go off hunting; don't neglect your horses; stay'round camp, and keep a good lookout during the daytime. If you seeanybody coming, get your horses in close and tie them among thetrees. Keep your riding horses on picket all the time, and at nightkeep them pretty close to the lodge." Then he rode off.
"Well," said Jack, as Hugh's form grew smaller and smaller in thedistance, "what do you suppose this means, Joe?"
"I don't know," said Joe, "except what Hugh said. If he finds thesehorses belong to your uncle, why I expect maybe he'll come back,and we'll have to go up there and kill the man that stole them, andtake them back."
"Oh, nonsense, Joe, Hugh didn't mean anything like that. Don't youknow, he said there weren't horses enough in Wyoming to pay for ourlives? That means that there isn't going to be any fighting."
"Well," said Joe, "maybe then if he finds they're your horses,we'll have to go up there and steal them, and take them back thatway."
Jack slapped his thigh with his hand, as he said, "That would bebully, wouldn't it? It would be real fun to steal horses, and haveall the excitement of it, and yet know that you were not doing anyharm, only getting back your own.
"Well, anyway," he continued, "we've got to look out mighty sharpfor things, for whatever Hugh said has got to be done. I rememberone time when I failed to do as he told me, and I got the worstscare that I ever had in all my life. That was the time whenHezekiah and young Bear Chief caught me in swimming." Joe grinnedappreciatively, as he said, "I heard about that a good many times."
"I suppose you have," said Jack; "that's always been a good joke onme."