CHAPTER XX
LONG GUN IS AFRAID
From below them Jack and Nat could hear cries of alarm, and they couldsee several waving firebrands and note ghostly figures circling aboutthe camp blaze.
"Can you stop your horse, Jack?" called Nat.
"I'm not going to try," was the reply. "I've got all I can do to holdon. How about you?"
"I'm in the same boat. I hope we don't strike anything, for if we doI'll shoot over his head and land I don't know where. This is fierce!"
"Hold on tight!"
"That's what I'm doing!"
The horses reached a place that was not quite so steep, and managed tostop sliding, running for a short distance. Then the slipping beganagain, but both animals were like cats on their feet, and seemed to takeit all as a matter of course.
"We're almost there!" cried Jack as he saw the camp fire more plainly,and could distinguish Sam's and Bony's voices calling to them.
"I'm--glad--of--that," replied Ned brokenly, for he was bounding up anddown in the saddle.
A minute later and the horses had come to a stop on the level groundwhere the camp was pitched.
"'Sanyoneurt?" asked Budge anxiously.
"No, I guess neither of us is hurt," answered Jack, "though we're someshaken up."
"Where in the world have you been?" asked Bony.
"What did you come down that way for?" was Sam's question.
"Were you lost?" inquired Budge.
"Heap long time gone," was Long Gun's contribution.
"Say, if you'll give us a chance we'll tell you," said Jack. "I wonderif the horses are hurt, though? I never expected to get down with themalive."
"Horses plenty much all right," announced the Indian after a shortexamination. "They do that afore. Slide down mountain many times. Knowhow--easy."
"Well, I'm glad they knew how," spoke Nat. "I thought it was anaccident."
Then Jack told of the shooting of the deer, how they were lost in thebad lands, and how they found the horses and slid down to the camp fire.
Long Gun, in his broken English, explained that the horses which theyhad were often used by hunters, who thought nothing of sliding down afavorable place in the side of the mountain on the backs of theirsteeds. Jack's and Nat's animals had probably thought that their ridersdesired to come down that way, as it was the shortest route to camp andsupper.
"Well, you certainly had us worried," said Sam as the two wanderers wereseated before the fire, eating a late meal. "We could hear your guns,but the echoes confused us. Long Gun said you'd be all right, but if youhadn't come pretty soon Bony and I were going after you."
"Say, what about our deer, that you shot, Jack?" asked Nat a littlelater. "Can't we go get it?"
"Not to-night," replied Jack. "I wouldn't venture in among those peaksin the dark for ten deer. We'll get it in the morning."
"Hu! Mebby none left," grunted the Indian.
"None left? What do you mean?"
"Plenty things eat um. Bears, rats, foxes, mebby."
"Well, we'll have to shoot another, that's all," said Jack. "But did youfellows have any luck?"
"Bony shot a jack-rabbit," replied Sam, "but the rest of us didn't getanything, though I fired at a big sheep."
"Too far off," explained Long Gun.
It was getting colder, and there was a promise of snow in the air,which, the Indian explained, would make it all the better for trackinggame. The boys were glad to wrap themselves up well when they went totheir beds, which consisted of heavy blankets spread over hemlockboughs, placed inside the tent on the ground. A big camp fire was keptgoing, with enough wood at hand, so that if any one awakened in thenight and found it low the fuel could easily be thrown on.
The whole party, with Long Gun included, left after breakfast to bringin the deer Jack had shot. They found it without any trouble under LongGun's guidance, but the carcass had been so torn by other beasts that itwas not fit for food.
"Rambunctious ram's horns!" exclaimed Nat. "I was counting on some nicevenison steaks, too."
"Well, we'll try again," suggested Jack, and the whole party, onhorseback, started off to hunt.
This time they did not go into the region of the bad lands, but to aneasy slope of the mountain, well wooded, yet with rocky precipices hereand there, with bare spots where, the Indian said, the big-horn sheepmight be found.
On Long Gun's advice the party separated, Jack, Nat and Budge going offto one side, and the others in a different direction. As there was aplain trail back to camp, and plenty of landmarks, there was no dangerof any one getting lost.
Jack, Nat and Budge rode along, watching for signs of game, but all theysaw were numbers of jack-rabbits.
"ShallIshoot'em?" asked Budge, as a particularly large one dashed by.
"If you want to," replied Jack. "But I'm going to wait for bigger game.A buck or a ram for mine, eh, Nat?"
"That's what."
But the bucks and the rams did not seem to be on view that day, andafter riding about all the morning the three boys stopped to rest near aspring and eat their lunch.
"I tell you what we'll do," suggested Jack as they prepared to resumetheir journey. "Let's leave the horses here and work up that mountain,"and he pointed to the steep sides of a towering peak, at the foot ofwhich they had halted.
"I'm with you," agreed Nat.
"'Stoomuchwork," announced Budge as he turned over on his back and beganchewing some fresh gum. "I'll stay here until you come back."
They tried to get him to come with them, but he would not, so Jack andNat started off alone. They had not gone more than a mile before Jack,who was slightly in advance, came to a sudden halt and motioned to Natto make no noise.
"There he is," whispered Jack, when Nat had joined him, and he pointedto a distant boulder that jutted out from the side of the mountain, ashort distance away.
Nat looked, and saw something that made the blood leap in his veins. Itwas a big mountain ram, with a massive pair of horns--a fine specimen.The animal's back was toward them, and it seemed to be viewing thevalley spread out below it.
"You shoot first, and if you miss I'll take him," directed Jack in awhisper, wishing to give his chum the first chance.
Fixing his eyes on the ram, Nat brought forward his gun, cocked it, andaimed. Then for some unaccountable reason his hand began to tremble. Itwas his first shot at big game, and he was nervous.
"I--I can't shoot," he whispered, lowering his rifle.
"Nonsense! You've got to," said Jack sternly, and this brought Nat tohimself. Once more he raised his weapon. Jack was in readiness with hisin case his chum should miss.
There was a moment of breathless suspense, and then Nat fired. Instantlythe ram wheeled about and stood facing the spot where the two lads were.He must have seen them, for the floating cloud of smoke drew his gaze.
"I've missed! You fire!" exclaimed Nat.
And, indeed, he had missed the ram cleanly. Jack threw his gun to hisshoulder, and instantly it cracked out.
"You hit him! I saw him jump!" cried Nat excitedly. "Come on! We'll gethim!"
Without a word Jack pumped another cartridge into the chamber, and firedagain. But just as he did so the ram gave a leap and disappeared fromthe rock.
"We've got him! We've got him!" yelled Nat excitedly. "Come on!"
"No use," said Jack quietly, placing a restraining hand on Nat's arm.
"No use? Why?"
Jack pointed to a bare spot below the rock and some distance to theright. Along it the ram was running at full speed.
"Guess I only grazed him," he said. "He isn't hurt much when he can runlike that."
"Side-splitting sandpaper!" exclaimed Nat. "That's tough luck. Why did Imiss?"
"That's nothing. I missed him, too. We can't hit everything we aim at,or it wouldn't be any fun--especially for the animals."
"Let's trail him," proposed Nat.
"No, it's too late. We'd better get back to camp."
They found
Budge with the horses, and the gum-chewing lad did not appearto have moved, but three big dead jack-rabbits at his side showed thathe had not been idle.
"Well, you had some luck," observed Jack.
"'Stooeasy--killin' them," remarked Budge. "They are almost tame."
"Well, they'll make good eating," observed Nat. "I hope the others didbetter than we did."
And when they were back at camp, which Long Gun, Sam and Bony reachedshortly after they did, they found that Sam had killed a fine deer, andBony a small sheep, which gave them plenty of fresh meat.
It was very dark that night, for it was cloudy, and the moon and starswere obscured. Outside the circle of light from the camp fire, there wasblackness so deep that it seemed like a wall of ebony.
"I'd hate to be lost out there," observed Bony, motioning toward thedark valley as he prepared to turn in with the others.
"Yes, it wouldn't be very pleasant," admitted Jack. "I wish wecould----"
He stopped suddenly. From the black void above them there came apeculiar sound. It was like the blowing of a wind, that sighs and moansin the pine trees, but there was no wind blowing. Then it was like therush of some mighty wings, while there sounded a deep throbbing, and allin camp were conscious of some large object passing close over theirheads, but they could see nothing.
The boys stared at each other in wonder, not unmixed with fright.
"Are there any big eagles around here?" asked Jack, quickly turning toLong Gun.
But the Indian did not seem to hear. He was staring up into the blacksky.
The noise passed on, the throbbing becoming fainter.
Then Long Gun cried out:
"Great spirit! Danger come! Bad luck!"
With a howl that did more to frighten the boys than had the mysterioussound, the Indian made a dive for the tent, and hid himself under hisblankets.
Jack Ranger's Gun Club; Or, From Schoolroom to Camp and Trail Page 21