CHAPTER VI.
Lost on the Prairie.
The next morning, by the time the sun had risen, the travelers hadeaten their breakfast, and were again on the move. The entire partywas in high spirits. The trappers laughed and joked with each other,and pointed out to Mr. Winters the familiar objects that met their eyeon every side, while the boys galloped on before, and in a few momentshad left the wagon far behind. Their horses were in excellent trim,and bounded along over the prairie as if some of their riders' spiritshad been infused into them.
"I say, Frank," said Archie, at length, suddenly drawing in his rein,"what if Dick was mistaken about the Indians all being gone, and aparty of Comanches should suddenly pounce down on us? Wouldn't we bein a fix? I declare, I see an Indian now," he added; and, as hespoke, he pointed toward an object that could be dimly seen movingalong the summit of a distant swell.
"That's something, that's a fact," said Frank, gazing in the directionindicated; "but it don't look like that Indian we saw the other day.If it was a Comanche, he wouldn't move about and show himself soplainly. There's another--and another," he continued, as several moreobjects came over the brow of the hill. "Let us ride up a littlenearer. If they are Indians, we can easily reach the wagon before theycan overtake us."
"Well, come on," said Archie. "If we should get into a fight all byourselves, and come safely out of it, it would be something to talkabout, wouldn't it?"
The boys rode cautiously toward the objects, which were stillincreasing in number, holding themselves in readiness to beat a hastyretreat in case they should prove to be Indians, until they had goneabout half a mile, when Frank suddenly exclaimed:
"They are antelopes!"
"Are they?" asked Archie, excitedly. "Let's shoot one of 'em," and,springing from his saddle, he began to unbuckle his halter and hobblehis horse, as he had seen the trapper do on a former occasion.
Frank followed his example, and then, securing their rifles, theythrew themselves on their hands and knees, and began to crawl towardthe game, which was fully a mile and a half distant. But that was noobstacle to the boys then. They would willingly have gone twice thatfar to have a shot at an antelope, if for nothing more than to showthe trapper that they were better hunters than he had supposed. It istrue they did not expect to succeed, but the name "antelope killers"was well worth trying for, and they determined to do their best. Theycrawled along slowly and as carefully as possible, pausing now andthen to look over the grass at the animals, which, to their delight,they found were feeding directly toward them.
"I don't think it is safe to go much further," said Frank, after theyhad crawled nearly half the distance in this manner. "Let's stop andsee what we can do."
"Well," said Archie. "If you will hold up your handkerchief on yourramrod, I'll try and shoot one of them, if they come near enough."
Frank, in compliance with his cousin's suggestion, drew his ramrodfrom his gun, fastened his handkerchief to it, and, throwing himselfupon his back, carefully raised it above the grass. While in thisposition he could not, of course, see the movements of the game; butArchie kept vigilant watch, and at length whispered:
"They see it! They're coming!"
The animals had, in reality, caught sight of the handkerchief, and,after regarding it for a few moments, they began to approach it--afine large buck leading the way.
Now the boys knew that the hunt began in earnest. The least awkwardmovement on their part--the exposure of the smallest portion of theirbodies, or the slightest noise in the grass--might, as Archieexpressed it, "knock the whole thing in the head." Frank lay perfectlyquiet, watching the movements of his cousin; and he could tell, by theexpression of his countenance, pretty near what the game was doing.When the antelopes stopped--which they did every few feet--Archie puton an exceedingly long face, as if fearful that they were about toturn and run; and when they approached, the fact would be indicated bya broad grin and a nervous twitching at the lock of his gun. Forfully half an hour--it seemed much longer to the impatient boys--theyremained in their place of concealment; but at length their patiencewas rewarded, for the game was within easy rifle range. In an instantArchie's nervousness all vanished, and Frank almost held his breathwhen he saw him slowly, inch by inch, raise his gun to his shoulder.He took a long, steady aim, pulled the trigger, and sprung from theground, shouting:
"I've got him! I've got him!"
Frank was on his feet almost as soon as his cousin, and, to hisdelight, saw the leader of the antelopes struggling on the ground,while the rest of the herd were scampering away at the top of theirspeed.
"What will Dick and Bob say now?" exclaimed Archie, who skipped aboutas though he were almost beside himself. "What will they--holdon--hold on--shoot him, Frank!" he shouted. "We're going to lose himafter all."
Archie's shot had not been fatal. The buck was only disabled for amoment, and, after a few struggles, he succeeded in regaining hisfeet, and started to run. Had his cousin been as excited as he was,they certainly would have had all their trouble for nothing, forArchie, instead of stopping to reload, dropped his gun and started inpursuit of the wounded animal, which--although he ran but slowly--wasfast leaving him behind, when Frank, by an excellent shot, againbrought him to the ground. This time the wound was fatal; but Archie,to put all further attempts at escape out of the question, ran up andseized the buck by the horns.
"He's done for now," said Frank, as he proceeded to reload his rifle;"I shot him through the head."
"I see you did," replied his cousin, still retaining his hold upon theantelope; "but there's no knowing what he might do. I wouldn't trusthim." And it was not until he had turned the deer over several times,and fully satisfied himself that he had ceased to breathe, that Archiereleased him.
"What will Dick and Bob say now?" he continued, as Frank came up, andthey began to examine their prize, which was much larger than the onethe trapper had killed. "You know they said we couldn't shoot anantelope. Now, the next thing is to get him back to the wagon. He'stoo heavy for us to carry, so if you'll stay here, and watch him andkeep the wolves off, I'll go back and get the horses."
Frank agreed to this arrangement, and Archie, after he had found andreloaded his gun, started off after the horses. He was gone almost twohours--so long that Frank began to be uneasy; but at length heappeared, riding post-haste over a neighboring swell, mounted onSleepy Sam, and leading Pete by the bridle. As soon as he came withinspeaking distance, he exclaimed, with blanched cheeks:
"Frank, we're lost! I can't see the wagon any where."
"Don't be uneasy," replied his cousin, who, although thoroughlyalarmed by this announcement, appeared to be perfectly unconcerned."Don't be uneasy."
"But I haven't seen the wagon since we left it this morning,"persisted Archie. "I thought it was close behind us. I tell you we'relost."
"Oh no, I guess not," answered Frank, as he lifted the antelope fromthe ground and placed it on the saddle before his cousin. "The wagonis no doubt behind some of these hills. Besides, Uncle James won't belong in hunting us up."
"I wouldn't stay alone on the prairie to-night for any thing," saidArchie. "I know it wouldn't be the first time I have camped out, butthen there are no wild Indians in the woods about Lawrence."
Frank had by this time mounted his horse, and together they set out ata rapid gallop to find the wagon. The mountain which Dick had pointedout the night before was plainly visible, and the boys determined totravel toward it with all possible speed, in hopes that they wouldovertake their friends before they halted for the night. Frank thoughtthe wagon could not be far off, and every hill they mounted he gazedabout him as if fully expecting to discover it; but, after riding anhour without seeing any signs of it, he began to be a good deal of hiscousin's opinion, that they were lost. But he made no remark, for heknew that a good deal depended upon keeping up Archie's courage.
"We have not been gone from the wagon three hours," said he, "and theyhaven't had time to get very far away from us. We'll find the
m behindsome of these swells. Perhaps we'll be in time to give them a piece ofour antelope for dinner."
Archie made no reply, for he derived no encouragement from this; buthe silently followed his cousin, who led the way at a rapid gallop,riding over this swell, and turning round that, as though he wasperfectly familiar with the ground over which they were traveling. Fortwo long hours they kept on in this way, almost without speaking, eachtime they mounted a hill straining their eyes in every direction, inthe hope of discovering the wagon. Sometimes they were almost certainthey saw its white cover in the distance; but upon taking a secondlook, it proved to have been merely a creation of their imagination;and Frank began to be discouraged. To add to their discomfort, theheat was almost intolerable, and they began to be tortured withthirst. Their animals also appeared to be suffering, for they paidless attention to the spur, and were constantly jerking at the reins,and endeavoring to go in a direction almost contrary to that which theboys desired. The hours seemed lengthened into ages, and at threeo'clock in the afternoon they had seen no signs of the wagon, and themountains appeared to be as far off as ever.
"There's no use talking," said Archie, at length, reining in hishorse, "I can't stand this any longer, I'm so thirsty."
"But what else can we do?" asked Frank, in a husky voice, for histongue was so parched that he could scarcely talk plainly. "We can'tfind our friends, or water either, by staying here. We _must_ go on."
As he spoke, he again spurred his horse into a gallop, Archie, asbefore, following after him, now and then looking down at theantelope, which lay across his saddle--and which he considered to bethe cause of all their trouble--as though he heartily wished him safeamong the others of the herd. Two miles more were passed, but still nosigns of water. The idea of finding the wagon had now given away to adesire to discover some stream where they might quench their thirst,which was becoming almost unbearable. But the dry, parched prairiestretched away on each side of them, while in front loomed themountains, apparently as distant as when they started in the morning.Their horses grew more and more restive. Upon applying the spur, theywould gallop for a few yards, and then settle down into a slow walk,turning their heads and pulling at the reins as if anxious to go in acontrary direction. This set Frank to thinking. He had often read ofthe remarkable sagacity sometimes displayed by the horse--how theanimal had been known to carry his lost rider safely into the midst ofhis friends--and, turning to his cousin, he exclaimed:
"Archie, I'm going to let Pete take his own course. Both the horseswant to go back, so let's see where they will take us to. We can't bein a much worse fix than we are now."
As he spoke, he threw the reins on his horse's neck, and the animal,finding himself at liberty, at once turned, and, pricking up his ears,galloped off exactly at right angles with the course they had beenpursuing. Archie, too dispirited to raise any objections, followed hiscousin's example, and the old buffalo hunter, which, during the lasttwo hours, had traveled with his head down, as if scarcely able totake another step, snuffed the air and bounded off at a rapid pace.For an hour the animals tore along at a tremendous rate; butdiscovering no signs of the wagon, Frank was rapidly losing faith inthe sagacity of his horse, when, as they came suddenly around the baseof a swell, they found before them a long line of willows. Toward thisthe animals made their way with increased speed, carrying their ridersthrough the trees into a stream of clear, running water.
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