Jack in the Rockies: A Boy's Adventures with a Pack Train

by George Bird Grinnell

  CHAPTER XIII

  A PACK HORSE IN DANGER

  They had not gone far down the river the next morning when themountains on either side drew closer together, and the valleynarrowed greatly. Before they had gone far Hugh stopped, and,turning, said to the boys as they came up, "I don't like the looksof things ahead; I reckon we'll have to go up on the hillside downbelow here. Looks to me like we were coming to a canyon."

  A little farther along it proved so; and Hugh, after going aheadand making a little investigation, called out to the boys to bringon the animals. They found him on a narrow game trail, which beganto climb the hill among thick timber, where the trees stood soclose on both sides of the trail that it was evident that theremight be trouble in getting the packs along. Hugh got an axe outof the pack, and, going ahead on foot, began to chop the brancheson either side, so as to make room for the loaded horses. Two orthree times he found small trees fallen across the trail, and, asit was extremely steep, it was necessary to cut out each one ofthese. Progress was slow, but after two or three hours they emergedfrom the timber and could see ahead of them the trail leadingalong a very steep hillside. Immediately below the trail grewunderbrush, and below that the rocks fell off sharply to the river.From the hillside a number of little brooks and springs trickleddown, making slippery, muddy places in the trail over which itwas necessary to go carefully. Hugh several times called back tothe boys, saying, "Go slow along this place, and don't crowd theanimals; let each one take its time, and you boys go on foot. Thehorses will follow all right."

  There was nothing on the trail that was difficult for a man on footor for a careful horse, and for some time they went on very well,and made good time; but in crossing a little brook which ran downover the trail, and where there was a mud-hole, the bay horse,pausing and putting down his head to investigate the trail, wascrowded upon by the dun and kicked back at him with both heels,and when his feet came down they were over the edge of the trail,and, trying to recover himself, he clumsily fell down and rolledover once or twice. Just below the trail at this point there wasa big patch of stiff alders growing close to the steep hillside.Jack saw the horse begin to fall, and, dropping his own bridle reinand placing his gun on the hillside above the trail, he slipped bythe dun, and before the pack horse had turned over twice he hadcaught it by its hackamore and checked it. In a moment Joe was byhis side, and the two hung on like grim death, and held the horsethere on its side, with its head a little up the hill. MeantimeHugh had left his horse and come back along the trail, and in amoment he too had hold of the horse's head. Fortunately, the horselay perfectly quiet, and neither slid nor rolled, his hips beingmore or less supported by the alders. Hugh quickly unfastened thehackamore, which gave all hands a better hold, and then said toJack, "Slip down there now, behind the horse, and see if you canloosen that lash rope. If you can't, cut the lacing that holds itto the cinch. We've got to get that pack off, or else lose theanimal. Don't get where the horse can hit you with his feet; reachover his back."

  The horse was lying on its off side, and it was impossible toloosen the lash rope, but reaching over the back, Jack cut thelacings of the lash cinch, so that the whole lash rope fell off."Now," said Hugh, "come back here and hang on to the hackamore."Jack took Hugh's place, and Hugh quickly loosened the sling ropes,and removing the packs from the saddle, carried them up to thetrail, and then along it a little distance until he reached a placewhere the ground on the upper side sloped more gradually. Here hedeposited the packs one by one; then he took hold of the hackamoreagain and said to Jack, "Go and get your rope and bring it here,and tie it round this horse's neck in a bowline." When this hadbeen done, the end of the rope was passed round a small sprucetree, which grew just above the trail, and then all three held therope, so that now the horse could not possibly roll down the hill,unless the tree gave way, or the men let the rope go. While two ofthem held the rope, Jack led the horses along the trail, until aplace was reached where it came out on a wider ledge, and leavingthem there returned. Then the pack horse was made to rise to itsfeet, and without very great difficulty, assisted by the rope aboutits neck, it climbed back to the trail and was led along to a placewhere there was more room. Now, while Hugh mended the lash cinch,the boys carried the packs along the trail to where it was wider,and at length the horse was re-packed, and they started on.

  While they were at work, Jack said to Hugh, "I want you tounderstand, Hugh, that I didn't drive the dun onto that horse. Thedun came up behind him and stopped, and the bay kicked at him, andlost his footing, and went over the side of the trail."

  "I know," said Hugh, "I know; I was watching. It wasn't anybody'sfault, but the fool horse that tried to kill himself. You didmighty well to get hold of him as quick as you did, and if ithadn't been for that, if he'd made one more roll, he'd have goneover the rocks, and we'd have lost him, and likely a lot of theload he's carrying.

  "We've got to look for things like this when we're travelling witha pack train, and I'm mighty surprised that we've had as littletrouble as we have."

  It was near sundown when Hugh stopped as they came out on a benchof the hillside, and said: "I reckon we'll have to camp up hereto-night, boys. There don't seem to be any place where we can getdown to the river. There's good grass here for the horses and aplace where we can picket two or three of them, but I don't see anywater just here. Jack, you ride up the hill, and see whether youcan find anything that looks like a spring. Joe and I'll stop herewith the horses."

  Jack had not ridden far, when, passing over a little ridge, hefound, issuing from a ledge of rock, a good spring, which ran downinto a little ravine, and calling to the others, they came upthere, unsaddled, and made camp. It was dark when supper was over,and their talk was chiefly of the difficulties of the day, and thenarrow escape had by the pack horse.

  "A man is bound to lose an animal in the mountains now and then,"said Hugh, "not always through his own carelessness, but becausethere's always some horses and mules that are fools. After all ahorse is nothing but a bundle of nerves, and if he gets scared andloses his head, why he doesn't do anything but jump round and kickand make things worse for himself. Now, that's where a good manhas the bulge on any dumb beast that ever was. A man, if he's gotsense, will stop and think, and reason, and try to find some wayout of his difficulty; but a critter doesn't do that. That's thereason horses and mules and cattle stampede, and that's the reasonoften that human beings stampede too; they lose their senses, andbecome no better at all than just so many animals. We've alwaysgot to keep our wits about us, be ready, and when anything happensdo the right thing, and do it right off--like you did to-day, son,when you ran to grab that horse's head, and like you did too, Joe;for I saw that you were both ready. You saved us the horse, and amighty good job it is.

  "I remember one day, years ago, we lost our whole kitchen outfitjust through the foolishness of a mule. It was near Henry's Fork ofGreen River, and I was guiding a lot of soldiers and bug huntersup from the Unita agency. To get down into the valley we had tofollow down a mighty sharp crest that ran out between two deepravines. It was mighty narrow, and a terrible long way down oneither side, but there were no bad places in it; but a big bay mulethat carried the kitchen, in two big baskets, tried to turn roundand look at the rest of the train that were coming, and somehowshe caught her hind legs over the edge, and they slipped down,and she hung a little while with her forefeet, but before any onecould get to her she let go, and she fell. She was dead long beforeshe struck the bottom, I guess, and the kitchen was all smashedand broken up. I believe we did get some knives and forks and tinplates out of the mess, but the plates were all battered, and hadto be hammered out on a tree with an axe before they would set onthe ground. It was one of the worst falls I ever saw an animaltake."

  The next morning the horses were seen scattered all along thehillside above the camp, and it took the boys some time to gatherand bring them in; and while they were doing this, a big doe,followed by two little fawns, jumped up out of a patch of quakin
gaspen, ran a short distance up above them on the hillside, and thenall three animals turning round stood looking at them, with theirgreat ears thrown forward. The boys stood for a few moments andlooked at her, and then she turned again and clambered still higherup, only to stop again for another look. Neither felt any desire toshoot at her.

  The greater part of the day was devoted to working down streamalong the hillside. They found that they could travel with somecomfort on the benches, except when these were interrupted atfrequent intervals by deep ravines, cut out by streams coming downfrom the hills, and the plunge down into these, and the subsequentclimb up the other side, was tiring to the animals. Also they hadto stop frequently to adjust the packs and tighten the saddles.

  That night they camped again on the benches, and Hugh said, "Ibelieve we'll do as well to stop somewhere, if we can find a goodcamp, and rest up for two or three days. These horses have beenhaving hard work now for some little time, and they'll get poor.Besides that, this up and down work is awful hard on their backs,and I think it would be a good idea to given 'em a rest. If wecan find a good camp to-morrow, any time in the day, as we'retravelling along, I think we better stop and rest up, or we canstop right here. You boys might want to take a hunt or a fish. It'snice weather now, and we're low enough down so that there's nodanger that the snow will catch us, and I think we can spare thetime."

  "Well, Hugh," said Jack, "I think that's a pretty good idea. I'dlike to look over these hills and see what there is in them, and Iguess we'd all like to rest for a day."

  The next few days were spent in this camp. Hugh was busy mending upsaddles and riggings, fixing blankets, and getting things in goodshape for their further journey, while Jack fished a good deal inthe river and took many trout.

  One day while working around the edge of a large pool, and tryingto cover it all with his line, he found himself close to a steeprocky wall, over which poured a fall six or eight feet high. He hadfished here for some minutes, when suddenly his eye caught a roundbrownish-green bunch of something, resting on a little ledge closeto the falls and over deep water; and as he saw it he thought thatthis must be a nest of the dipper. It was impossible to get closeto it, and remembering that it was now autumn and that the nest byno possibility could contain anything, he reached over with hispole, and pushing it from its position, it fell to the water andwas soon in his hand. He found it just what Hugh had described: abunch of moss, containing a chamber within, lined with dried grassand a few feathers, and with a round hole at the front for thepassage in and out of the birds. It was a beautiful piece of birdarchitecture, and he determined to take it with him and to try tocarry it back east.